While you’re considered one of rap’s foremost figures, architect of generational lodestars and cult classics alike, two paths current themselves. You’ll be able to tack left, chase lightning, search higher and bolder heights by means of formal innovation. Or you possibly can revisit previous glories, play to your strengths, give the folks what they paid for. Save for a number of turn-of-the-century hiccups, Raekwon has prioritized buyer satisfaction. He has considered one of hip-hop’s (solely) nice sequels to his identify, his vivid reinterpretations of well-trod lore persevering with on 2011’s Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang and 2017’s steely, overachieving The Wild. The place Wu’s latter-day reunion efforts undergo from thematic and musical disjointedness, the results of too many five-star cooks within the kitchen, Rae’s solo catalog is roomy and flamboyant; a succession of major-label offers assured prepared audiences even in lieu of chart-topping hits.
The Emperor’s New Garments—the second entry in Mass Attraction’s Legend Has It sequencea Blue Be aware-style venture commissioning new efforts from rap’s embellished elders—goals to separate the distinction. It’s the album you’d launch in 2006 to show you’ve nonetheless obtained it, adaptation earlier than rebirth, fingers crossed that Sizzling 97 slots you into the drivetime playlist. It’s a kind of Wu albums that doesn’t really feel like a Wu album, brimming with horns and Akai drums. The songs are outlined much less by sounds or concepts than by their sanded-down edges: plodding beats from Nottz and J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, histrionic Marsha Ambrosius hooks, putative passings of the torch.
Fishscale and Extra Fish are the most effective variations of this report, they usually got here out when George Pataki was governor; the datedness of Emperor’s New Garments is compounded by its listlessness. “Wild Corsicans” is the principle attraction, Rae operating the anchor leg on a monitor with disciples Benny, Conway, and Westside Gunn. It virtually goes with out saying that Rae might do Griselda higher than Griselda, however he’s not stepping on toes, and the lackadaisical chipmunk soul does them few favors. On “The Man That Plans It,” Rae outlines a chase scene; producer RoadsArt, greatest identified for his work with outer-ring Wu affiliate Hell Razah, weaves in dialogue and avenue noise. It will’ve been the most effective tune on the report, however Rae’s narrative screeches to a halt after a minute, the protagonist shot useless in his tracks.
The Ghostface duet “Mac & Lobster,” not less than, is enjoyable in a getting-the-band-back-together manner. The place Ghost’s voice has been ravaged by incessant touring—these sample-clearance fits aren’t going to pay for themselves—Rae sounds just about unchanged since ’95. “Debra Evening Wine,” then again, is disastrous, an atonal struggle-love ballad suffused with minor-key unease. The tune’s practically half over by the point Rae wanders into the body, name-checking a melange of cross-streets and jewellery items earlier than wandering again out. He can name in favors—Meth and Deck clock in obligingly—however the cut-rate preparations lend the air of a work-for-hire, and RZA isn’t strolling by means of that door. Rae should be lavished or else humbled; he wants extra assets, or none in any respect.
Structural deficiencies apart, Mass Attraction would possibly’ve workshopped the pitch a bit additional. For all of the fanfare round Legend Has It, Raekwon’s eighth album isn’t the identical draw as a Slick Rick comeback in 2025. Wu loyalists have already shelled out for a stitched-together reunion effort and farewell tour this yr; The Emperor’s New Garments by no means makes a case for itself. (There was some palace intrigue when Ghost tried to launch The Huge Doe Rehab on the identical day as 8 Diagrams, however this can be a saturated market.) Rae’s earlier outing, The Wild, was expansive and costly, an insistent declaration that Rae wasn’t fairly prepared for the nostalgia circuit. He can e-book a nightclub tour and run the purple tape each time he likes—certainly there are a number of untapped chambers left to discover.
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Raekwon: The Emperor’s New Garments
