13. "Weak Spot:" Another vintage Kung-Fu intro that leads right into vintage Wu-Tang. This song is dark and dense and immediately identifiable as a Wu banger. You wouldn’t even need to hear the RZA verse to know that he made it. It isn’t transcendent in any way or anything too terribly new, but it is just flawless Wu-Tang. People who love these guys likely love this song. Rae brings it, GZA brings it, and it’s all smothered in a stomping beat and martial art sound bites. If only it was the final song on the album.
14. "Life Changes:" I believe this is the weakest song on the album. The Freda Payne sample is pretty much a straight rip and drop in and over half the verses are lazy and boring. I think that this mediocre tribute to ODB is one of the reasons that people are kind of down on the album, which is a little ludicrous. It is, after all, just one song. But I understand that it is disappointing.
All told, this is an album with few flaws and a ton of highlights. I wish there was more GZA on the first half and Ghost on the second half and that they had done more with the ODB tribute, but overall, I have few complaints.
Add it all up and it is enough to get the Wu past Kanye and into the top spot on my list of 2007 rap albums. I just wonder why no one else sees it that way.
Article comments
1 - Nancy
Nice job Adam! I enjoyed reading it.