Words by Hallway Jay
OVERALL RATING:
I can sum my feelings about Ghost in one of his verses on the well known 36 Chambers:
“Yo!/Kickin the fly cliches/Doin duets with Rae and A, happens to make my day/Though I'm tired of bustin off shots havin to rock knots/Runnin up in spots and makin shit hot/I'd rather flip shows instead of those/Hangin on my living room wall/ My first joint, and it went gold/I want to lamp, I want to be in the shade/ Plus the spot light/Gettin my dick rubbed all night/I wanna have me a phat yacht/ And enough land to go and plant my own sess crops/But for now, it just a big dream/ Cause I find myself in the place where I'm last seen/My thoughts must be relaxed/ Be able to maintain/Cause times is changed and life is strange/ The glorious days is gone, and everybody's doin' bad/Yo, mad lives is up for grabs/ Brothers, passin away, I gotta make wakes/Receivin all types of calls from upstate/ Yo, I can't cope with the pressure/Settlin for lesser/The god left lessons on my dresser/So I can bloom and blossom, find a new way/Continue to make hits with Rae and A/Sunshine plays a major part in the daytime/Peace to mankind Ghostface carry a black nine, nigga/Word up”For the man with no face and a million names (Dennis Coles, Abdul Raheem, Ghostface Killah, Tony Starks, Pretty Toney, P Tone, Clyde Smith, Paisley Fontaine (my personal fav.), Theodore Deini, Talk of New York Tony, Starkey Love, Captain America, Ironman, Wally Champ, etc..) his 7th solo release, “The Big Doe Rehab” seems to be just the remedy to an industry on bed rest.
With the always comical characters that Ghost presents to us the beginning starts with a Davey Chegwidden produced skit featuring the Rhythm Roots All-Stars, “At the Cabana” is a fitting intro as P Tone gets down the nitty gritty to get his guap, period. This is followed by a resolute anthem with an Al Wilson sample of “Fallin’ In Love with You” laced by LV & Sean C. as they introduce the classic “Toney Sigel aka Barrel Brothers” featuring Styles P. and the broad street bully Beanie Sigel.
Ghostface - Barrell Brothers (Ft. Beans & Styles)
Probably my favorite tracks that Pretty Toney releases are his stories, thus is the same with “Yolanda’s House”, produced by Ant-Live featuring Wu’s Method Man and Raekwon. This track is a melodic epic of Ghost “jetting through bushes and backyards” as a weeded Paisley hides up in a females house after a hiatus only to find his brother beaten it up, Listen to it, craziness. Again LV and Sean C. bring a classic sample to the table from Rare Earth as “I Just Want to Celebrate” is reinstituted to the world with Kid Capri as “We Celebrate” is a decent attempt at an anthem that truly brings the essence of ghost as a overly hype Kid Capri brings adlibs over a repetitive and often annoying verse.
The best part about track 5 is the Anthony Acid’s usage of Little Milton’s “Packed Up and Took My Mind” as Ghost tells of hood problems through the sample laden “Walk Around”. A rarity in hip-hop to have your son on a track with you as “Yapp City” is a great epic with a perfect build up featuring Trife Da God and Sun God (Ghost’s son), Scram Jones puts out a classic Wu track. I pride myself in finding samples and this one was relatively easy as Frequency uses samples of “That’s the Way It’s Got to Be(Body and Soul)” by Soul Generation yet the “White Linen Affair(Toney Awards)” featuring Shawn Wigs is a hilarious yet fulfilling horn saturated set-up. This also shows how conceptual songs are always refreshing and essential to a good album.
“Supa GFK” is a great sample from “Superman Lover” by Johnny “Guitar” Watson. This gets my sample award as far as innovative sample usage as it plays randomly over horns and simple jazz-esque background as Ghost rhymes about his pursuits with the opposite sex. The rec room is an open session of Raekwon the Chef and U-God giving a younger generation the lay-out of what used to go down as Baby Grand’s “Rec Room Therapy” reinvents a classic Issac Hayes sample of “They Long To Be Close To You”. The best interlude I’ve heard and most soulful voice on the whole album is an accapella, “The Prayer” performed by OX is a great testimony.
It seems that sampling is there forte as LV and Sean C. bring a canvas of piano chords and laid back drums over a sample of The Independents “Its All Over” on “I’ll Die for You”. There always has to be that posse cut on any Wu album so without further ado “Paisley Darts” flexes the muscles of Raekwon, Sun God, Trife Da God, Method Man, and Cappadonna again a LV and Sean C. produced song with a classic sample of “Lie No. 2” by The Originals.
With more and more production from LV and Sean C. we see another story introduced by guitars and horns courtesy of El Michels Affair as samples of “Musings to Myself” help convey Raekwon and Wally Champs story. The Rhythm Roots Allstars are to be the best people to put on a skit and I would love to see ghost put them on an actual song. Followed by quite possibly the most melodic song of the album with “Ridin High” by Fazo – O repetitively serenading your ears as Ghostface co-produces “Killa Lipstick” with Anthony Acid featuring Method Man on the hook. It takes the last song to truly bring the album full circle as my the best song on the album is the last one “Slow Down” boasted synth heavy production that is truly unique as Chrisette Michele signature voice adds to Syience’s elevated production.
Overall the hype of new ghost album is great for his career and classic Ghost is conveyed without a doubt, yet the over usage of story telling, while this is my favorite form of Ghost, slows the album a bit and mundane production can sometime lack diversity. While a great album is given to the masses, I still see the same ghost of years past, so if your looking for a completely different ghost then look next year because this one isn’t for year. Yet for true fans of the man with many names this is possibly one of his better solo ventures.
