Finally breaking into the Top Ten with three sprawling somewhat-personal album picks and an all-hip-hop singles list.
12.
Album: Fishscale — Ghostface Killah (Def Jam, 2006)
A dense, weird record that was my #1 album of 2006 and that I like even more now. My original year-end write-up:
This epic album from the Wu-Tang Clan’s greatest MC artist comes at you in movements. In the first third, Ghostface proves he can spin gripping drug-trade yarns better than any new jack while never once trying to convince you he didn’t long ago rise above that world. The middle third is pure show-off: Luther Ingram-sampling endorsement of child abuse Ghost remembers as good parenting, Willie Hutch-driven battle of the sexes, explosive Pete Rock-produced rave-up. The final third he goes all “Old Jeezy” on us, bringing deep-soul wisdom and moral center to a newly resurgent subgenre (coke-trade rap) desperately in need of it. Throughout, you get a dense collection of grimy crime stories, offbeat boasts and exhortations (“Y’all be nice to the crackheads!”), soaring ’70s soul samples, random bursts of reality (our hero opens one song kicked back at the crib watching Larry King Live), and extravagant production that splits the difference between Bomb Squad and Kanye West. If you’re not a pretty serious hip-hop fan, you might struggle to find a point of entry. If you are a pretty serious hip-hop fan, you can get lost in it. Thirteen years after the debut of the posse classic Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers and 10 years too late, here’s the best Wu-Tang album since the first one.
Sample Song: “The Champ”
