A Tale of Two CDs - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...PT II and The Blueprint 3

“Stop playing. / You know we run rap. / You know we done that. / Stop frontin, son. Put the gun back” - Raekwon

Two Emcees. Each from The Era. Each stepped into rap kicking ill rhymes revolving around the drug game. Each one etched his own, undeniable, legacy in the talisman of this rap shit by achieving the nearly unachievable: crafting a certified classic album.

This year, two legendary Emcees released highly anticipated sequels on the same day.

In various ways, Raekwon The Chef and Hova The God have walked perpendicular career paths since their nineteen-nineties debut. Rae of course experienced immediate classic status as a part of the ubiquitous Wu-Tang Clan and then again as a solo artist with the release of “The Purple Tape” (Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...). And although he would continue to maintain lyrical credibility as a part of later Wu releases and notable guest appearances, his solo career has been littered with under promoted and unimpactful follow-ups (Immobilarity, The Lex Diamond Story). Eventually, it would seem, The Chef’s individual contributions to The Culture plateaued.

Jay-Z’s musical career, on the other hand, spawned from within the shadows of The Purple Tape and Illmatic and Ready To Die and All Eyes On Me - outmaneuvering Industry naysayers and popular opinion to become the most accomplished, most respected, most prolific Emcee in the history of Hip Hop. His musical career alone exemplifies constant progression with mixed in shots of brilliance - represented most potently on his most revered albums Reasonable Doubt, The Blueprint, and The Black Album. But what can The Company Man say about Jay-Z that you don’t already know?

September Eight, Two Thousand and Nine marks an interesting intersection between these two legendary Emcees. Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...PT II is one of the most anticipated albums of the decade. All together, its been 4 years in the making complete with numerous production changes, guest appearances, label quagmires; you name it, OB4CL2 went through it. But with so much time and trepidation put into one project, not to mention that this is the sequel to one of the most celebrated albums of all time, can OB4CL2 live up to the astronomical hype?

Jay-Z’s The Blueprint 3 is without a doubt one of the most anticipated albums of 2009. Its the latest addition to the Blueprint series and in many ways represents Jay’s truest return to the album game since his 2003 pseudo retirement (Kingdom Come was like when Jordan came back wearing the four-five; a little rusty but still better than most. American Gangster was his conceptual excuse to step back into Reasonable Doubt mode and wash away Kingdom Come’s aristocratic undertones). The original Blueprint was a watershed moment in Hip Hop as it cemented Jay’s legacy as the undisputed title holder. The Blueprint 2 was....well, lets just say that The Blueprint 2 was “due.” Can part 3 restore the luster to The Blueprint brand?

“I’m talkin’ about music, I ain’t talkin about rap...” - Jay-Z

Jay-Z’s lyrical superiority on TB3 represents the best of rap music. Faux-progression and lapses into stagnant production represents the worst of rap music.

Raekwon’s dark images and crime rap depictions stereotypically represents the worst of rap music. OB4CL2’s unified sound scape and visual storytelling represents the best of rap music.

TB3 feels too long at 15 tracks. At 23 tracks, OB4CL2 feels too short.

Both artists enlisted several different top flight beat makers to craft their sonic backdrops. Where Rae’s production selection united to provide a cohesive sound supporting his album’s intentions, Jay’s production selection comes across as fractured and commercial, limiting his album’s intentions. Where Dilla and Rza and Dre and company seem to artistically compete for Rae’s best beat, Kanye and Pharrell and Swizz Beats and Timbo seem to compete for Jay’s top selling single.

On OB4CL2, every producer steps up. On TB3, Timbaland lets down.

The Blueprint 3 (complete with a week long media blitz including guest appearances on Letterman, Leno, Bill Maher, and a live concert broadcasted globally on Fuse TV) is CEO rap at its finest, packaged for today’s general consumer.

OB4CL2 (complete with early proclamations of classic status from fellow Emcees and those disenchanted with the Industry) is crime rap at its finest, packaged for longing Hip Hop heads.

The Blueprint 3, by design, symbolizes Hip Hop progression. Jay states he’s talking about music, he’s not talking about rap. Although his rhymes remain otherworldly throughout, stale beat selection (“On To The Next One”, 2 of 3 Timbo contributions) and repetitive commentary (“Off That”, “Reminder”) gravitationally pulls the progression back down to Earth. In the end, this album ends up being more about the raps than the music.

Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...PT II, by design, symbolizes a return to gritty, New York City Hip Hop. That good ‘ole Boom-Bap shit. Although Rae sticks to the least progressive rap subject (crime rap) throughout, otherworldly production and cinematic story telling propel his album out of this atmosphere. In the end, this album ends up being more about the music than the raps.

1995. The Era of wisdom. The Era of foolishness.

Two Emcees from that Era.

2009. Two sequels. The Blueprint 3. Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...PT II.

A Tale of Two CDs...

Read The Blueprint 3 review here.

Read Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...PT II review here.

The Quotable Reviews: Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...PT. II

“Soldiers in the front. / Let the heat pump!” - “House of Flying Daggers”

From mic to plug, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...PT. II is a masterpiece. 23 tracks. 13 producers. 4 years in the making. The wait was worth it. Lets get that part out of the way.

At 23 tracks in length, OB4CL2 is long. Yet somehow doesn’t feel that way. Its amazingly cohesive, especially considering how many different producers stopped through to drop bombs like Uncle Sam. The primarily crime tale content plays out nearly cinematically. Rae and fam all came spit game tight, vividly depicting all aspects of the drug game - the guns, the grams, the birds, the fiends, the cash, the consequences - all delivered with classic Wu-Tang aggression and vernacular.

OB4CL2 head-bangs in with J. Dilla’s marching drums and subtle sped-up soul sample on “House of Flying Daggers” as Raekwon, Ghost, Deck, and Meth toss the mic back and forth kicking scathing cypher rhymes like its 1995. The vibe turns more soulful on the Pete Rock produced, quintessential Rae crime story “Sonny’s Missing” and continues that way through the nostalgically triumphant “The New Wu.” “Pyrex Vision” finds The Chef “trying to form a rock up and double it” while “Cold Outside” delivers an early image of the dark side of that career path. “Sex, lies, murders, reps / bag the cassettes. / Vets dying on steps. / What’s really taking place in them hoods?”

The Eric Sermon produced, “Baggin Crack” through the sublime album closer “Walk Wit Me” is arguably the best track sequence on OB4CL2. Rae kicks the perfect flow over Alchemist’s gritty drums and trippy keys on “Surgical Gloves.” “Broken Safety” makes you wish Rae, Jada, and Styles would team up for a collabo album. Dilla delivers another soul moving beat on the emotional, Ol‘ Dirty Bastard tribute, “Ason Jones.” Tracks like “Have Mercy” and “Fat Lady Sings” portray the steep consequences of a life in the under world, adding a deeper, realer prospective to the crime rap content. The Dr. Dre produced, Lyfe Jennings assisted “Catalina” is both radio and club ready. Busta Rhymes‘ inspired performance on “About Me” is better than any verse he spit on his B.O.M.B.S. album. And the triumphant “Kiss The Ring” followed by the lyrically ridiculous “Walk Wit Me" wrap the album with an exclamation point.

Honestly what separates OB4CL2 from just about every other album is the extreme level of cohesive, artistic competition throughout. Every beat is doper than the previous at the same time every beat is doper than the next. Icewater and Scram Jones and Allah Justice and Necro brought just as much ruckus as Alchemist and Dilla and Rza and Dre. No one lets up. All did their duty in maintaining the vibe. The same can be said about each rhyming guest appearance’s lyrical performance. Everyone forces you to listen to them...even Cappadonna. The beats are live enough to listen to as background music. The rhymes are tight enough to compel you to run that ish back. The song transitions are near perfect - guiding the listener through a wave of sonic experiences, segued by classic Wu-Tang kung fu movie clips, of course. And most importantly, OB4CL2 improbably upholds if the not competes with the legacy of the original. Nostalgic and progressive. Simultaneously.

When so many different forces change and unite like an Obama campaign, you can’t help but want to know the story behind the creation of the opus. How did something this dope with so many different moving parts come to exist at all? What really went down during those 4 years?

I could nit-pick this album to death, searching for something wack about it. I could harp on minutia like the corny hook on “We Will Rob You” or the fact that after several discussions with my roommate, Maine, I’m still not sure of what’s going down on “Penitentiary.” Or maybe sit perched on my sometimes too high horse and slam the nearly all drug game content (which is rarely compelling these days), ignoring the ample amounts of artistic integrity and lyrical credibility included within.

But I hate to play myself. None of those things is enough to keep this album out of jPod rotation.

The unavoidable downside to OB4CL2 is that the rhymes, at times, are so coded in Wu-isms and 5 Percerter terminology that its difficult for the unfamiliar ear to decipher; to grasp what’s being said; to pick up what’s being put down.

But thats The Chef. Either you like it or your don’t. Either you ride or you walk.

The Company Man can’t fault anyone for being true to who they are. And OB4CL2 represents the best of who Raekwon is - one of the illest crime-storytellers of all time. Hip Hop’s Scorsese.[1] So salute, and toast to the best who done it. Its murder rap shit spit for the vets who love it.”

Rating: QQQQ.5

[1] True Story: My boy Yahnick showed up ticketless to Rae's sold-out album release party last week, hustled his way into the show for free, slithered his way past two different bouncers at two different checkpoints, and quickly swagged his way into Rae's inner circle. By the time we accepted our denial at bouncer #2 (shouts to Raven The Blazin Eurasian at Da Listening Session. Dope underground Hip Hop radio at its finest) and sprinted outside to intersect Rae before his Maybach escape from S.O.B.s back garage, Yahnick was fresh off an invite to roll with Rae to the after hours spot and dapping him up in the middle of The-Quotable's interview. It was there that he coined the phrase "Hip Hop Scorsese." Rae loved it. Props to TRL Management. Now thats relationship building.