Ghostface Killah

Ghostface has always been known for abstract rhymes that require one to slow down the tape, rewind, and analyze. The Big Doe Rehab, however, is about the murderer with no face spitting his words directly into ours, less concerned with startling than with unpacking the depths of his lyrical chambers and loosening them up for the surface. Nonetheless, a straight-tongue’d Ironman is still as captivating as a television’s glare on a baby’s eyes; instead of sending us on a head-trip, Ghost’s sixth album (do you truly count, More Fish [2006]?) allows us to sit back, bob, and confidently sing along the second and third times around. For sure, there’s some filler here and a handful of run-of-the-mill support rappers but there are also some banging soul beats and gripping guest appearances: Ghost, Meth, and Raekwon tackle the sexual escapades of “Yolanda’s House” with such ease it reminds us just how deftly these rappers have mastered their craft over the years. This may seem like he’s taking a piss on all the critical hyperbole he’s gotten in the past decade, and yes, while it’s difficult to recreate the finest moments of Ironman (1996) and Supreme Clientele (2000) in 2007, it’s also a strange afterthought for Ghost to drop one of the best hip-hop albums of the year and make it just seem like a harmless, fun time.