http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13441-only-built-4-cuban-linx-pt-ii/
8.8
Yes, it exists, and yes, it's as good as fans have been hoping for. We'll get more in depth on that shortly, but with the two most important questions surrounding this album finally answered after four years of anticipation, that leaves a third one: why a sequel? The easy conclusion is that Raekwon needed a benchmark-- that he couldn't just put together any slapdash collection of skits and weedcarrier features and b-grade beats, then slap the words Cuban Linx on the cover. So while some people might read this album's title as a gimmicky hook to lure in bring-NYC-back nostalgists, it actually acts more as a reassuring seal of quality from an MC who some people think lost his way the moment he released Immobilarity without a single RZA beat.
The connections to Cuban Linx's roots of grimy, Mafioso opulence run deep here, starting with a partial reprise of the original album's closer "North Star (Jewels)" as Pt. II's opening track. In 1995, Popa Wu admired the way Raekwon was growing and coming up in the world in the same way a master teacher regards his star pupil; 14 years later he's simultaneously marveling at Raekwon's success and warning him of the treachery that elevated status brings. From there we get not so much a single narrative as a vivid overview of a criminal empire that's grown in scope since the first Cuban Linx. Raekwon's gift for deep focus-- homing in on an adversary's apparel one moment, zooming out to take in an entire hood's social system the next-- is at its sharpest, and in running the gamut of criminology rap from kitchen stove to prison yard, he reinforces his reputation as a lyricist with a supreme ability to simultaneously set an evocative scene and turn a slick phrase.
Two early detail-oriented highlights come back-to-back: "Sonny's Missing", a compact, Pete Rock-produced narrative concerning the grotesque interrogation of a rival segues into the strangely calm crack-cooking setpiece "Pyrex Vision", where Rae simmers his voice down to a murmur and gives a tactile snapshot of the crack-cooking process. That mixture of tightly knit procedural storytelling and lyrical virtuosity carries through on the other solo showpieces, the business plan/inventory rundown "Surgical Gloves" and the confrontation with a kiss-blowing, **** talking Jamaican dealer in "Fat Lady Sings" chief amongst them.
But it's the guest spots that make the album widescreen, particularly with the involvement of every remaining Wu-Tang member (except for U-God, possibly as a canonical continuation of his being "killed off" on the first Cuban Linx). Inspectah Deck, Masta Killa, and GZA bolster the narrative, Method Man provides a couple respites from the criminal theme with some flat-out vintage lyrical boasting on early-leak highlights "New Wu" and "House of Flying Daggers", and the the RZA has a memorably unhinged cameo at the end of "Black Mozart". Even ODB's there in spirit, with the Dilla-utilizing "Ason Jones" cutting through all the mythologized goofball eccentricity to depict him as a wise man with real love in his heart. All that, and you get Jadakiss and StyIes P waxing grimy on "Broken Safety", Beanie Sigel at his remorseful best on "Have Mercy", Slick Rick pulling diabolical Queen-mocking hook duty on "We Will Rob You", and Busta Rhymes dialing down his characteristic bellow to growl on "About Me".
And then there's Ghost. Maybe the biggest strength of the original Cuban Linx was how well Ghostface and Raekwon complemented each other, with Tony Starks' rampaging wail underscoring Chef's calculating intensity, and Ghost's appearances here hold that same power. He opens his verse on "Cold Outside" with one of his most evocatively disturbing lines ever-- "They found a two-year-old strangled to death/ With a 'Love Daddy' shirt on/ In a bag on the top of the steps"-- and expands that into a ball-of-confusion breakdown of friends' betrayals, AIDS mothers, "swastikas on the church," being broke during Christmas, and the need for troop withdrawal from Iraq. Later on, he has a sharp back-and-forth dialogue-styIe prison-hustle account with Rae in "Penitentiary", castigates a street soldier after being caught getting a blowjob from the man's girlfriend in "Gihad", and has a cIassic outrageous-swagger line in "10 Bricks": "the currency rushes like poppin' a wheelie/ Holdin' a bike with one hand, the other countin' the billies". Listening to him going R&B on Wizard of Poetry's gonna be weird after this.
That said, there's one crucial difference between the two Cuban Linx records that could've tripped this album up: The switch from an all-RZA palette of beats to an all-star roster of production names. RZA does contribute three of the best tracks-- the fuzzed-out cinema funk of "Black Mozart", the choral headknock sway of "New Wu", and the lavish, orchestral mid-70s soul of "Fat Lady Sings"-- which fall between his cIassic first-wave cIassic and a less out-there strain of the experimentation that alienated Ghost and Raekwon circa 8 Diagrams. But aside from Dr. Dre getting a bit too polished and joylessly glossy on the faux-Latin cheese of "Catalina" and the plodding "About Me", the rest of the production proves to be an eclectic yet fitting take on the cIassic Wu-Tang aesthetic. "House of Flying Daggers", "Ason Jones", and "10 Bricks" benefit from a trip to the Dilla vaults that brought back three of his most RZA-esque beats. The Alchemist's chopped-up chimes and woozy guitars give "Surgical Gloves" a hypnotic edge. Pete Rock maintains the integrity of his styIe with the flute and horn-driven bounce on "Sonny's Missing" (repurposed from NY's Finest track "Questions" and an even better fit here). And Marley Marl gets a lot of atmospheric mileage out of the subdued yet gripping guitar loop that comprises the 55 seconds of "Pyrex Vision".
Between the hype, the anticipation and the attachment of a legendary album's legacy, anything less than a cIassic would have proven to be a major disappointment. Few albums have gone through this much turmoil and delay in the planning stages yet turned out so cohesive and tight. The last time a Wu-Tang record came together with this kind of personnel and succeeded under a grand conceptual vision, we got Fishscale, and calling Cuban Linx II Raekwon's equivalent to it isn't out of the question. Like Ghostface's modern cIassic, this album defies hip-hop's current atmosphere of youthful cockiness and aging complacency: instead, it's driven by the sometimes celebratory, sometimes traumatized sense of stubborn survival and perseverance, a veteran mindset that can no longer picture success without having to defend it. Consider this a triumphant defense.
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