The Informed Drinker: In the Beginning, There Was Rum
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Weekend Music Preview: Woven Bones Tour Kick-Off [Beerland / Friday]
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Turkey Time Means Focusing on Football, Film, and Food! [Extra Extra]
Over the years, Staten Island NY's Ghostface Killah has proven himself, at least for now, the last of the Wu-Tang Clan left standing in the public eye. Unless you count Method Man's devolved mainstream pap, Ghost is the only one still putting out records at all, let alone making vital, relevant music. Ghost rebounded from 2004's lackluster Pretty Toney Album with FishScale, a weird, raw, and very funny record that wound up being one of the most admired releases in any genre this year.
As evidenced by its title, More Fish would seem to be FishScale's leftovers, released with post-holiday Sam Goody gift cards in mind; and you'd be forgiven for thinking that, like most cash-in records, it might also be lukewarm, stale and a little smelly. In actuality, More Fish is more of an informal workout for Ghost's Theodore Unit crew, composed of lyrical wonders Trife Da God, Solomon Childs, goofy Shawn Wigs, and Ghost's teenage kid, the appropriately named Sun God. Given the absolute dearth of guest spots on FishScale, it's heart-warming to finally hear some posse cuts, even if they're only peripherally Wu-Tang related.
Trife comes off as the breakout star, spinning action yarns on "Miguel Sanchez" and "Guns N Razors" with a pleasantly nasal, elastic flow; a solo record can't be far behind. Sun God also impresses with his thuggish delivery and gruff, made-for-the-mic voice (oddly, he could pass for Wu-Tang's Inspectah Deck); could "Street Opera" be the birth of the father-son gangbanging track? It's one of the records oddball highlights, balancing such endearingly cute rhymes like "Will Smith on the guest list/pops is the king, I'm the fresh prince" with slightly creepier lines about running "trains for hours up at the Days Inn." Talk about bonding.
With More Fish becoming a showcase for T-Unit, it may disappoint fans that Ghost is only here and there on his own record; nonetheless he shines brilliantly at every turn. Whether speed-rapping over a wild throwback-80s beat on opener "Ghost Is Back" or detailing an intricate Hollywood bait-and-switch on "Alex (The Stolen Script)," Ghost pulls the listener into the outsized, hyper-comic world he calls his own. So More Fish is pretty much a for-fans-only type deal, but these days, the real question is who doesn't like Ghostface?
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HEY GHOSTFACE, I KNOW YOU READ THE AUSTINIST, SO GIVE ME A BUZZ WHEN YOU READ THIS. CALL MY RED PHONE, NOT THE BLUE ONE, BECAUSE I HAVE THE GREEN ONE. WINK-WINK.
JUB