2012年 Feb 23日 Thursday, 4:08
10. Baby C’mon. Ol’ Dirty Bastard. Return to the 36 Chambers. 1995.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WF-5INisp6k
Featuring: Ol' Dirty Bastard
“There aint no father to his style,” was the rationale given for the surname of Ol’ Dirty Bastard. Try to deny the appropriateness of this alias, and prepare to be met with the unprecedented, unhinged genius of “Baby C’mon.” O.D.B.’s craziness shines throughout his vocals on this track. By the time the beat drops and O.D.B. announces his reputation for getting “riggy-riggy raw” on the mic, the listener cannot help but find himself at the emcee’s complete mercy. If “Baby C’mon” was the finest moment from O.D.B.’s catalog, it is because this track represents the mutual meeting of the O.D.B. and a beat finally capable of matching his funkiness. The final minute of the song requires no lyrical contribution, just that filthy-ass backbeat and the echoes of O.D.B.’s unbridled, chemically-enhanced charm.
9. Hellz Wind Staff. Wu-Tang Clan. Wu-Tang Forever. 1997.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwUXiLm9cAk
Featuring: Streetlife, Ghostface Killah, Inspecktah Deck, Method Man, the RZA, Raekwon
Like “Triumph,” excels in presenting the entirety of the Wu. Unlike “Triumph,” features at-worst above-average contributions from every emcee over a quintessential Wu-Tang beat. Everyone brings it on this track, from Ghost (“The Rap Damian!”) to RZA (“The Heineken’s imported from Holland!) to Rae ("Rap’s is hotter than hot tamales in Toledo!”). Too easy.
8. Shakey Dog. Ghostface Killah. Fishscale. 2006.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf_BsCiJ6Sc
Featuring: Ghostface Killah
So brilliant. Who needs the rest of the Wu when you have the Ghost getting’ on some Theodore shit like he does on this track here. (“Makin’ moves back and forth uptown!”). Ghostface is happy to be here, folks (“I’m ready for war!”). Artful storytelling abounds (Minor character development: “She bout 77/she paid her dues when she smoked her brother-in-law at his boss’s wedding"). The narrator is unreliable, yet inspired (“I’m on the floor/like ‘Holy shit!’”). Try deconstructing the storyline at your own peril, it’s like The Usual Suspects in hip-hop form. Ghost had spit an astonishing series of ultra-complex, highly literate, and undeniably captivating lyrics in song before (See: No. 4 on this list), but the storytelling on “Shakey Dog” remains unrivaled in the Wu catalog.
7. It’s Yourz. Wu-Tang Clan. Wu-Tang Forever. 1997.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L14qLvBPUjU
Featuring: Raekwon, U-God, the RZA, Inspecktah Deck, Ghostface Killah
Would merely be excellent, had it not included perhaps the best Wu-provided verse contributed to the Wu catalog. Let it be known that no rapper in hip-hop history has ever been as underrated as the Inspecktah Deck. Following two verses that absolutely kill it (courtesy of U-God and the RZA), the Mic Wrecker lays waste to the track in sublime fashion:
"It's only natural, actual facts are thrown at you./The impact'll blow trees back and crack statues./Million dollar rap crews fold, check the sick shit/explicit, I crystalize the rhyme so you can sniff it./We live this, fitted hats low conceal the Crooked I/No surprise, verbal stick up – put em high/rebel I, outlaw, split second on the draw/Blow the door off this shit, like bricks of C-4."
I mean, this is the fourth best emcee in the Clan delivering this Nas-on-It-Aint-Hard-to-Tell level verse. Almost incomprehensibly badass, and coming from a guy who never had a solo career take off like that of the majority of the Wu’s emcees. No other group in popular music can lay claim to this type of depth, end of story.
6. Criminology. Raekwon. Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. 1995;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yUk683Sl3U
Featuring: Ghostface Killah, Raekwon
A track that basically sets the template for the successful Wu solo track, “Criminology” excels in its universally dominant production( the RZA goes mainstream on this shit with pinpoint accuracy) and pitch-perfect interplay between Ghost and Rae. (Ghost: “No questions!/I’ll send your ass back right to the essence!” Rae: “Fuck rap! Hip-hop for me off top!”) Forsaking Kung-Fu samples for excerpts from Scarface, “Criminology” put the non-African “gangsta” in Gangsta Rap. Ghost and Rae conceive of themselves as something more grandiose than kings of the block, something above killing gang rivals merely for the sake of loyalty. A decade and a half later, Rick Ross would proclaim that he thought he was Big Meech, he thought he was Larry Hoover, and release a classic track in “B.M.F.” But he’s no Big Meech. He’s no Larry Hoover. To paraphrase former Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate Lloyd Bentsen, I’ve met the two men who first proclaimed to be Big Meech and Larry Hoover, and you’re no Ghost or Rae, Mr. Ross. Every Don Corleone-inspired rap song you’ve ever heard owes a debt to this track for making the Gambino rap song mainstream in the same way N.W.A. make the gangsta rap song mainstream in 1988.