Raekwon f/ Method Man & Ghostface: "Wu Ooh"

If nothing else, let it be said that Raekwon is taking this Cuban Linx 2 thing seriously. The pre-release interviews exude a monk-like determination to live up to his debut’s legendary status, something Nas similarly invokes (or at least used to) but with flippancy, like, “Of course my new record’s going to be great. It’ll be better than Illmatic.” And we’re like, seriously, Nas, is it for real gonna, and yawn ostentatiously. But Raekwon seems straight terrified by the prospect of following up Only Built 4 Cuban Linx (1995), which he fucking should be. It’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx.

He has respected our anticipation, which guarantees nothing but endears the man to us. (Likewise endearing was the album-length fire he spit on 8 Diagrams.) Here, though, is something tangible. This “Wu Ooh,” while necessarily not the distillation of the hip-hop mythos into a new formulation entirely (as the original was), certainly seems replete with the baleful fire of that spirit. Apparently the universe still contained within it a few ghostly samples to be filtered ad infinitum over dusty drums: it’s RZA-as-RZA, the type of funk that makes dust-breathing skeletons crawl dirty out the grave and nod skull. Does Raekwon ride the beat low and close to the rail, and when we attempt to move closer to it does the friction flash sparks of slang in our eyes? Yes, that happens. Is Method Man all charisma and libido and quick audible blunt hits? Yes, he is. Does Ghost bounce around hype but vengeful like a drama queen at the end of a coke binge? Verily, with flagrance. Here is one good track; here is to small things and fifteen years later, more Wu, still Wu. Let’s net get in over our heads here.