Ghostface Killah was on a roll. Fishscale, More Fish, he couldnt be stopped. He was out Wu-Tanging the Wu-Tang. Then he dropped the Big Doe Rehab. And it broke the spell. I mean, I bet you heard that it was good. And heard wrong. But you believed them. It’s bad. But one song is good. Walk Around starts off with a sort of creepy 70’s soul singer, and she lends the entire track its glue and its slightly musky, psycotic feel. Oh it helps that Ghostface tells us
“It was him, the cornerstore and a buttered roll/
The shit dropped when I gave him two stomach holes
One to the face, he fell sideways
I was up close, so part of his nose was stuck to my padres”
and goes on to say that he shot the dude 3 times because he slapped his girl.
Later on Ghostface gives up the ghost, er, his lunch, on his buddies’ Gucci seats, proving that a gangster’s life ain’t fun. If all goes according to plan, there will be many more Fear of a Black Hat references.
Ghostface posses a narrative flow that, while obviously over the top in terms of brutality, also portrays an honesty that I find humbling. I mean, here is his album cover, he’s got his bitch and his fort knox o’ money behind him, but he is telling us that blowing a dudes face off made him gittery for days, got him so scared that he went into hiding with a whore, threw up on his buddy’s seat cushions, and is pointing a nervous gun at everything and anything, for fear it might be the cops, who he obscurely promises he will ‘larry davis’ if they get too close. I mean, that makes a fucking interesting song. And! Unlike the Wu-Tang, because his solo albums generally just feature one guest per track (if that) he is able to craft far more compelling narrative sequences than he could within the Wu formula of at least 4 vocalists per track. Not that doesn’t have its place.
Honey, where is my huge golden eagle bracelet? Oh shit, I am wearing it!
Walk Around, from Big Doe Rehab.
