Fishscale Friday, get high day

So lately I'd been scribbling out some of my thoughts about Fishscale, talking about some reasons why I had mixed feelings about it, this and that, but then maybe it was the combination of catching the Webster Hall show, seeing all the energy live and whatnot, and a small piece of proof that someone other than the contributors has ever read this page, that just made me not feel like trashing it anymore. See I have this tendency, sometimes, just sometimes, I'll take an opinion that's contrary to some established norm. I don't even do it consciously most of the time, it just seems to work out that way. So I think I might have just been searching for bad things to say about the new album, since not too many other people had. I mean, maybe it's true to say that Ghostface will never sound as raw and powerful as he does on "Wisdom Body", but is it really a fair comparison? 25 and 36 are two totally different places in a person's life and it comes through listening to differences in the aggressiveness of Ghost's flow and the structure of his rhymes. Further illustrating that "different time, different place" theory, I was skimming through articles online and found this quote about the cuban linx album in an XXL article,

"We wrote it in South Beach. It was just me and
Rae down there for two or three weeks. It was
recorded in the basement of RZA's old house in
Staten Island. We had a lot of good luck in that room.
We was in our prime. Back then I was punchin' a lot of
rap n----- in their face, and n----- was getting beat up
in the clubs. We were banned from everything. They
wouldn't even let me in the Tunnel. N----- was scared to
death when I was out there wilding. I was fucking n----- up,
robbing n-----, fucking a lot bitches, just doing dumb shit -
and I'm rhyming. We was on it. We was going in at the time.
We did everything. Rap n----- sniffed coke, too. Black n-----
sniffed coke, too. Black n----- was street n-----. I was a dusthead.
Rae didn't really like that high. We was young n----- getting a
lot of shit poppin'. Talking shit about n-----, all types of shit.
I used to drink a lot back then, which is why I sound
so aggressive on a lot of shit."
-Ghostface Killah

I mean, when you describe it like that, how could you even hope to recreate it, or better yet, why would you want to? It captures a very specific timeframe and a youthful desire that just doesn't last forever, but age and experience open up the doors to so many more possibilites for the music. We happen to live in a time where talented and untalented rappers alike love to flaunt how many bricks/rocks/pounds/etc they move. It's certainly nothing new, but would it really be the same phenomenon it is if a certain Spectral Faced Murderer hadn't teamed up with the Chef on that famous purple tape? I'd tossed about the idea that this could be just a corny attempt to cash in on the latest trends in Cocaine rap, a la Busta Rhymes (although Busta does a good job with it). I think I'm going to go with an idea the Douchipster mentioned however, that Ghostface came out and demonstrated that an edgy album, drug related or not, can still be radio friendly, creative and well executed. I mean, honestly, isn't "Big Girl" a great song? And as much as I love Cuban Linx, Supreme Clientele, etc I don't think the guy who refused to spot Woodrow a dollar for two cracks would've been enlightened enough to spit a song like "Big Girl". Not that Fishscale is better, it just shows a matured Ghost. I think as far as personal favorites go, mine is still gonna be Pretty Toney, but ya know, that's just me.


the elder statesman


"Big Girl" by Ghostface Killah

the elder soulsman


"Holla" by Ghostface Killah

young and hungry


"Wisdom Body" feat. Ghostface Killah by Raekwon the Chef