Ghostface Killah: Supreme Clientele : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

The Wu-Tang Clan is filled with rappers whose rhymes are so claustrophobic as to be almost impossible to decipher, let alone comprehend, but Ghostface Killah's lines may be the toughest to crack. While RZA and GZA, for example, draw on obviously esoteric sources (mystical Islam, kung-fu films, science fiction), Ghost's references -- the streets, food, soul music -- are the stuff of everyday life. But his urgent, overpowering flow is designed to maintain the unrehearsed immediacy of freestyle rapping, in which cadence, sound and unconscious association triumph over logic.

So when, atop a punishing string sample in "Apollo Kids," he slams lines like, "Ghost is back, stretch Cadillacs, fruit cocktails/Hit the shelves at cuz's pastry rack/Walk with me, like Dorothy/Try to judge these plush degrees," you're meant to catch the emotional charge of the moment, not any particular literal meaning. That gleeful love of language for its own mad sake has made Ironman, Ghostface's 1996 debut solo album, a favorite of the most evangelical Wu fans, and Supreme Clientele will only strengthen their faith.

The album goes a long way toward reuniting the otherwise disparate Clan itself. RZA produces or mixes at least four of Clientele's tracks; Inspectah Deck produces another; Raekwon, Method Man, Cappadonna, GZA and Masta Killah all kick in support, and even the kung-fu snippets return. Still, Ghostface keeps a firm grip on the mike. His torrents of words drive the hypnotic "One" (produced by Juju of the Beatnuts), "Nutmeg" (featuring a lunatic one-note flute sample from producer Black Moes Art) and "We Made It" (the sort of escape-from-the-ghetto saga at which Ghostface excels).

"Child's Play" recollects the pleasures and hardships of youth -- think of it as Ghostface's Ashes -- just as "All That I Got Is You" did on Ironman. Unfortunately, it never achieves the depth of feeling or the radio-friendliness of that earlier song. Supreme Clientele's one flaw is that it lacks an accessible breakout track. That may keep it within the confines of Wu world, where, appropriately, the supreme clientele resides anyway. (RS 836)

ANTHONY DeCURTIS