Urban Music Reviews

GRADE: B+

Ghostface Killah resurfaces in familiar form with The Big Doe Rehab. The album finds the Wu-Tang Clan’s golden child back in his comfort zone.

Be warned, if you were never a Ghostface Killah fan, The Big Doe Rehab will not change your mind. Ghost is a creature of habit and every track on this album would fit comfortably on any of his previous 6 efforts. Predictable collaborations with Wu members (Method Man and Raekwon) are solid as always, as are his off-the-wall and borderline abstract lyrics. But sometimes, when something is not broke, its best to leave it alone.

The album opens with a Latin flavored skit, in the style of an old Scarface outtake, which does its job of setting the stage for a violent, chaotic and tumultuous ride. From there, we are thrown directly into the belly of the beast with the exceptional “Toney Sigel” feat Beanie Sigel. From there, its back to the classic Ghostface tracks that we have grown to love. Explicit storytelling laced with obscure and downright odd metaphors (”shots blow through your meatloaf and lace ya back, turn you over like a pancake and take your gat”) dominate the album. He closes with one of his strongest closing tracks yet, the foreboding yet mildly comical “Slow Down.”

Ghost’s style, which was truly developed on Ironman and Built Only For Cuban Linx, finally saw itself perfected on his 2006 masterpiece, Fishscale. Now, armed with a winning formula, he is able to give his fans exactly what they want and expect: absurd, witty and almost deranged lyrics over 70’s samples that only Ghostface Killah can deliver.