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| The title More Fish implies some sort of continuation,
or leftovers from Ghost's near-classic Fishscale, as
in: Ghost was giving us more of the same, or possibly just
releasing the tracks that didn’t make the cut for the
Fishscale release in March. This album, however, is not
that at all. In fact, this album is not as much the sixth
Ghostface Killah release as it is the second Theodore Unit
album (the first being 718 released in August of
2004). Attaching a title that implies "more Fishscale" and
marketing it as a Ghost release, is probably more of a smart
ploy on Def Jam's part, since it would seem to possibly
bolster sales and put the Theodore Unit out in a more
prominent space.
There are some similarities between More Fish and
Fishscale, namely the caliber of the production. More
Fish has several production highlights and no real
production low-lights. MF Doom offers his production talents
on two tracks “Guns N’ Razors” and “Alex (Stolen Script)”
which only wets your appetite for the upcoming Ghost/Doom
collaboration slated to be released next year. The issue with More Fish, that wasn’t an issue on
Fishscale is the |
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level of emceeing. The Theodore Unit
consists of Trife da God (clearly the best emcee save
Ghostface), Cappadonna, Shawn Wigs, Solomon Childs and Sun God
(Ghost’s son) -- all of whom are able to hold there own on
More Fish – but none have the dope-capabilities of Ghost.
For example, on the Shawn Wigs solo-track, “Pokerface,” Wigs
does a good job telling the story of a no limit Texas Hold ‘em
poker game, which is a pleasant change from the traditional
hip-hop stories of dice games going wrong (don’t worry More
Fish has one of those too), but there is nothing
outstanding or special about his story telling abilities. And
we all know that’s not the case with Ghost, one of the most
gifted story-tellers in the history of music. That’s where
More Fish falls short, but only when held against the
Fishscale-standard.
Ghostface gives the album a few shots in the arm to boost it
along, in case you aren’t really big fans of the Theodore
Unit, with four solo tracks. The aforementioned “Alex (Stolen
Script)”, “Outta Town Shit”, “Block Rock” and “Ghost is
Back”. “Ghost is Back” is the best lyrical song on the album,
doing something that's pretty much impossible: he used a beat
that Rakim made famous ("Know The Ledge"), and made it his
own.
Go in with an open mind and open ears for this one and you'll
be pleased. Don’t expect to hear Fishscale because
that is not what this album is, or what it is supposed to be.
This is Ghostface presents the Theodore Unit.
Gee Lowery |
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I
suspect that the average ‘Hip Hop’ purist will love More Fish.
(I have a really offensive image of what this dude looks like
in my head that I sadly cannot share). I suspect that others
(myself included) will like this album … but think that
Ghostface, like so many New York rappers from the 90’s, is
forever stuck in an old school Hip Hop time warp. The 80’s and
early 90’s were crackin, but man, come on, it’s 2007 … let’s
progress a little and not keep hearing the same deep soul/70's
Kung-Fu movie samples. Are you really still rapping over that
fucking Bruce Lee soundtrack? Don’t get me wrong, “Ghost Is
Back” is the best song on the album (if you can get past the
long ass intro), and there is no denying that he kills Juice
(Know The Ledge) ... but uh, didn’t Rakim already do dat?
Yeah, he did.
http://theslapreport.com/
California |
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