Sunday, December 9, 2007

GENIUS/GZA – LIQUID SWORDS (GEFFEN)


GENIUS/GZA – LIQUID SWORDS (GEFFEN)

Of all the Wu Tang solo efforts, this is the ONE!

Proceedings open with a trademark Wu sample, an introduction to the drama that lies ahead as a damaged girl reels off some kind of shellshock narrative before an opening declaration from RZA of “…see niggaz don’t know where this shit started, Y’all know where it came from, I’m sayin’ we gonna take y’all back to the swords” and then the record launches with swagger.

There is a disarming sense of urgency attached to this record as the John Coltrane-esqe stature of GZA spits out a plethora of commands and directions wrapped up in metaphor but also spoken/taken from experience.

Continuing the eternal superhero motif it feels as if his rhymes are delivered with such ease that the accuracy of his genius moniker is criminal.

The prime cuts are “Swordsman” and “Livin’ In The World” before it all closes philosophically with “B.I.B.L.E. (Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth)”. With “Swordsman” there is a true immense menace, a track that appears to come out of nowhere suffers no fools as it clears the decks of anyone or anything in the GZA that is jerking around. As the beats hit hard this is only topped by power of words spitting from his mouth. With the line “cause at a young age I was molded in religion I relied on and got caught up in superstition” he describes a universal scenario that I have definitely witnessed in affect.

As the RZA takes on production duties, as horror movie samples open numerous cuts, as Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah all make appearances and as the tracklisting shows no coherence in its sequencing this is a typically astute Wu-Tang delivery, one played out using their rules and methodology.

With Liquid Swords Gary Grice owns/inherits the earth.

Thesaurus moment: check.

GENIUS/GZA
Geffen

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