Album Review: Ghostface Killah - Twelve Reasons To Die

Featuring production from musician/lawyer Adrian Younge, you'd be forgiven for mistaking the new Ghostface album as a RZA throwback to the '90s. Younge revels in the old school Wu-Tang leader's production styles, fucks it up and mixes it with some really classic soul and funk style live instrumentation, and spits out something incredible.

Sure Shots (Part 1 and 2) start with a blatant massive Amen loop lift, before adding the right blend of dirty samples to make it sound like Wu – he drops the tempo halfway and its gets even more impressive. Murder Spree is ridiculously on point. The beat almost falls over while Ghost, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa and Killa Sin add verses in what is a perfect example of how vital the Wu can still be with someone making beats who gets the legacy but wants to try new things. The aforementioned Wu Gambinos show up on a few other tracks, and even Cappadonna turns in a verse on The Centre Of Attraction. There's a rap opera style story to run along with the whole thing, although you really don't need to get into it to appreciate this shit on the necessary base level.

It's strange that when RZA takes Wu-Tang production styles off in new tangents it often falls flat and lacks the same sense of Wu-Tang cohesion that other producers seem to pick up on all too easily. When the Clan reunite for the next album it's going to be interesting to see if RZA takes a cue from those he has influenced and returns to his hard and messy roots.