Stylus Magazine: Ghostface Killah - More Fish Review

Montana Diary · 12-20-2006, 09:51 AM

Ghostface Killah
More Fish
Def Jam Recordings
2006
B+

Honestly, what does Ghostface need to prove? As little as he stands to lose—he's never going to run wild up the charts, he's certainly in no danger of breaching platinum sales figures (Fishscale, despite listing for $9.99 and being unloaded by a certain massive retail chain at a wallet-loosening seven bucks, has yet to go gold), and he's unlikely to ever alter his vocab-crunching style enough to penetrate the dome of the average fan of pop-rap pablum. Yet, he has all the critical acclaim of an Outkast with absolutely none of the eye-rolling. Bloggers, underground heads, acclaimed producers, and thugs all love Tony Starks.

Why?

Because the son of Man born Dennis Coles combines two arcane elements into one unstoppable force: he's gritty and he's funny. It takes nothing away from the man to boil it down like that—because, right now, who out there do it like Ghost do? Some have cited his devastating wordplay (rarely unsheathed to its full potential on More Fish) as the secret to his success, but it's really the tone of Ghost's verbiage that puts him over—you laugh, you cry, you're scared to be left alone in a room with him. That and the fact that he can casually drop references to the Flintstones, Hardy Boys, and Kelly Clarkson and still be hood.

So why More Fish?

Because hip-hop is in transition. It's never been more commercially omnipresent or creatively vacuous. While critics are busy spilling unwarranted syllables over the mundane likes of Young Jeezy, Ghost is cutting bricks and wrapping them in foil for the starving masses bored with the creative dead-end of undie rap and unstimulated by the crunk, the hyphy, and the whatsit. Meanwhile, Ghostface is on some Old Man of the Mountain-type shit, a mystic meditating beneath a tightly-drawn hoodie. He may have actually absorbed the essence of ODB when he passed—singing over Delfonics songs and making cookie-cutter club tracks with Missy, he's become the Wu court jester in Russell Jones' place. At the same time, he's more street than ever, exchanging Pretty Toney's more emotional timbre for the rugged drug tales of Fishscale and More Fish.

Early on, cuts like "Guns N' Razors" (despite a brilliant sample) worry the listener into mistaking More Fish for a mere posse record—toploaded with the aggressively average drug raps of Trife Da God and other miscellaneous Theodore Unit linemen (including Ghost's relatively promising offspring, Sun God). Luckily, the trademark Ghostface quirks are littered throughout—"Block Rock" features some "Bob George"-action on the chorus vocals, "Alex (Stolen Script)" hallucinates a backstory to Ray while Ghost absolutely murders the beat, "Greedy Bitches" and "Ghost Is Back" recycle classic ‘90s beats and actually improve them, and on "You Know I'm No Good," Amy Winehouse appears, to everyone's surprise.

At this point, it would seem churlish to suggest that Ghost is milking his audience—not only does such thinking run counter to the Wu-Tang ethos (if they've been squeezing a dry teat, they've been doing it all along), but the evidence here supports the contrary assertion—that he's simply sharing the overabundance he's been blessed with. Which isn't to suggest that Ghostface is incapable of throwaways—his albums and mixtapes are littered with them—but more that he's unable to explain or divide his own gift. Artistically, Ghost is your classic overeater—he lays forth a banquet when a light supper would do, but the feast is held at his expense, not yours. So, while it could be asserted that More Fish is leftovers to Fishscale's ten-course spread, we're still talking about something well beyond your average table scraps.

Rebel INS {CF} · 12-20-2006, 10:03 AM

More Fish is fuckin insane, much better than Fishscale, and NO ONE should complain that there is loads of Trife on this, Trife is the fuckin man, im dyin to hear a solo drop from him, he owned this album left right and centre

Shawny_G · 12-21-2006, 08:37 PM

^^^ True, i did'nt like "Fishscale' it was like a down-fall from "Pretty Toney'
but "More Fish' was a good follow up to the "fishscale' album. More Fish was also better for people who like to hear feats on a album. This also felt like a follow up to "Theodore Unit - 718'

Still i think Supreme Clientele & Ironman are the best ghost albums

P.S. WU Runnin New York

Rebel INS {CF} · 12-26-2006, 08:49 AM

^ new Theodore Unit album comin soon enuff man ! called From Staten To Samalia ! its gonna be the shit, Shawn Wigs has gotten a hundred times better since their debut and Trife amazes me even more after every new track i hear from him

Jarome · 12-26-2006, 01:39 PM

man I never herd Ghost released another album SO fast after Fishscale fuck I gotta cop that shit since it's pure hip-hop, one of the realest artists still droppin' some heat but people won't make his albums gold... fucking sad shit.

propz man, this album looks real tight.

Rebel INS {CF} · 12-26-2006, 08:12 PM

^ i know what u mean, i was scared when i heard this shit was droppin cus it felt really rushed but he comes correct on every track

1.2.3 · 12-27-2006, 01:31 AM

i bought this today. well worth the money.

more fish > fishscale
easily.

xXTheRocXx · 12-30-2006, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1.2.3

i bought this today. well worth the money.

more fish > fishscale
easily.

Chea, this album is tight.

Trife and SG comes godly on this shit, too.

Ballllllllllllin' · 12-30-2006, 02:48 PM

More fish >>>>>>> fishscale

But booth of them are hot

Sole1 · 12-30-2006, 10:56 PM

FishScale>>MoreFish imo

12-20-2006, 09:51 AM	#1
Montana Diary Veteran Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Brampton, ON, Canada Posts: 2,845 Repped: 173 Repped 2,242 Times in 307 Posts Neg Reps: 1 Neg Repped at 1 Time in 1 Post	Stylus Magazine: Ghostface Killah - More Fish Review Stylus Magazine: Ghostface Killah - More Fish Review Ghostface Killah More Fish Def Jam Recordings 2006 B+ Honestly, what does Ghostface need to prove? As little as he stands to lose—he's never going to run wild up the charts, he's certainly in no danger of breaching platinum sales figures (Fishscale, despite listing for $9.99 and being unloaded by a certain massive retail chain at a wallet-loosening seven bucks, has yet to go gold), and he's unlikely to ever alter his vocab-crunching style enough to penetrate the dome of the average fan of pop-rap pablum. Yet, he has all the critical acclaim of an Outkast with absolutely none of the eye-rolling. Bloggers, underground heads, acclaimed producers, and thugs all love Tony Starks. Why? Because the son of Man born Dennis Coles combines two arcane elements into one unstoppable force: he's gritty and he's funny. It takes nothing away from the man to boil it down like that—because, right now, who out there do it like Ghost do? Some have cited his devastating wordplay (rarely unsheathed to its full potential on More Fish) as the secret to his success, but it's really the tone of Ghost's verbiage that puts him over—you laugh, you cry, you're scared to be left alone in a room with him. That and the fact that he can casually drop references to the Flintstones, Hardy Boys, and Kelly Clarkson and still be hood. So why More Fish? Because hip-hop is in transition. It's never been more commercially omnipresent or creatively vacuous. While critics are busy spilling unwarranted syllables over the mundane likes of Young Jeezy, Ghost is cutting bricks and wrapping them in foil for the starving masses bored with the creative dead-end of undie rap and unstimulated by the crunk, the hyphy, and the whatsit. Meanwhile, Ghostface is on some Old Man of the Mountain-type shit, a mystic meditating beneath a tightly-drawn hoodie. He may have actually absorbed the essence of ODB when he passed—singing over Delfonics songs and making cookie-cutter club tracks with Missy, he's become the Wu court jester in Russell Jones' place. At the same time, he's more street than ever, exchanging Pretty Toney's more emotional timbre for the rugged drug tales of Fishscale and More Fish. Early on, cuts like "Guns N' Razors" (despite a brilliant sample) worry the listener into mistaking More Fish for a mere posse record—toploaded with the aggressively average drug raps of Trife Da God and other miscellaneous Theodore Unit linemen (including Ghost's relatively promising offspring, Sun God). Luckily, the trademark Ghostface quirks are littered throughout—"Block Rock" features some "Bob George"-action on the chorus vocals, "Alex (Stolen Script)" hallucinates a backstory to Ray while Ghost absolutely murders the beat, "Greedy Bitches" and "Ghost Is Back" recycle classic ‘90s beats and actually improve them, and on "You Know I'm No Good," Amy Winehouse appears, to everyone's surprise. At this point, it would seem churlish to suggest that Ghost is milking his audience—not only does such thinking run counter to the Wu-Tang ethos (if they've been squeezing a dry teat, they've been doing it all along), but the evidence here supports the contrary assertion—that he's simply sharing the overabundance he's been blessed with. Which isn't to suggest that Ghostface is incapable of throwaways—his albums and mixtapes are littered with them—but more that he's unable to explain or divide his own gift. Artistically, Ghost is your classic overeater—he lays forth a banquet when a light supper would do, but the feast is held at his expense, not yours. So, while it could be asserted that More Fish is leftovers to Fishscale's ten-course spread, we're still talking about something well beyond your average table scraps. __________________

12-20-2006, 10:03 AM	#2
Rebel INS {CF} - iLLuminati ~ Rapsody - Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ireland Posts: 11,453 Repped: 151 Repped 644 Times in 301 Posts Neg Reps: 1 Neg Repped at 77 Times in 69 Posts	More Fish is fuckin insane, much better than Fishscale, and NO ONE should complain that there is loads of Trife on this, Trife is the fuckin man, im dyin to hear a solo drop from him, he owned this album left right and centre __________________ "Fighting Ignorance every day is gettin weary" [name pending] --- The Gateway Drug --- Sometime Soon --- myspace.com/namepending08

12-21-2006, 08:37 PM	#3
Shawny_G Papoose is Coming !!! Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Brooklyn New York Posts: 845 Repped: 2 Repped 124 Times in 22 Posts Neg Reps: 0 Neg Repped at 0 Times in 0 Posts	^^^ True, i did'nt like "Fishscale' it was like a down-fall from "Pretty Toney' but "More Fish' was a good follow up to the "fishscale' album. More Fish was also better for people who like to hear feats on a album. This also felt like a follow up to "Theodore Unit - 718' Still i think Supreme Clientele & Ironman are the best ghost albums P.S. WU Runnin New York __________________ I Juz added 3 Nu Trax... Take a look and Drop Some feed Bac, So We Can Stay In Contact myspace. com/ironboardfresh

12-26-2006, 08:49 AM	#4
Rebel INS {CF} - iLLuminati ~ Rapsody - Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ireland Posts: 11,453 Repped: 151 Repped 644 Times in 301 Posts Neg Reps: 1 Neg Repped at 77 Times in 69 Posts	^ new Theodore Unit album comin soon enuff man ! called From Staten To Samalia ! its gonna be the shit, Shawn Wigs has gotten a hundred times better since their debut and Trife amazes me even more after every new track i hear from him __________________ "Fighting Ignorance every day is gettin weary" [name pending] --- The Gateway Drug --- Sometime Soon --- myspace.com/namepending08

12-26-2006, 01:39 PM	#5
Jarome The French Connection Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cowansville, Québec, Canada Posts: 2,692 Repped: 1,084 Repped 12 Times in 6 Posts Neg Reps: 0 Neg Repped at 0 Times in 0 Posts	man I never herd Ghost released another album SO fast after Fishscale fuck I gotta cop that shit since it's pure hip-hop, one of the realest artists still droppin' some heat but people won't make his albums gold... fucking sad shit. propz man, this album looks real tight. __________________ My heart's torn from the pain of bein' forced to watch the game. I'd rather die gettin' my hustle than live my life on the lane.

12-26-2006, 08:12 PM	#6
Rebel INS {CF} - iLLuminati ~ Rapsody - Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ireland Posts: 11,453 Repped: 151 Repped 644 Times in 301 Posts Neg Reps: 1 Neg Repped at 77 Times in 69 Posts	^ i know what u mean, i was scared when i heard this shit was droppin cus it felt really rushed but he comes correct on every track __________________ "Fighting Ignorance every day is gettin weary" [name pending] --- The Gateway Drug --- Sometime Soon --- myspace.com/namepending08

12-27-2006, 01:31 AM	#7
1.2.3 Veteran Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: new york Posts: 1,388 Repped: 166 Repped 40 Times in 19 Posts Neg Reps: 0 Neg Repped at 0 Times in 0 Posts	i bought this today. well worth the money. more fish > fishscale easily.

12-30-2006, 02:48 PM	#9
Ballllllllllllin' www.myspace.com/lilpyeah Join Date: May 2006 Location: Germany Posts: 2,807 Repped: 272 Repped 915 Times in 138 Posts Neg Reps: 0 Neg Repped at 0 Times in 0 Posts	More fish >>>>>>> fishscale But booth of them are hot __________________ myspace.com/lilpyeah

12-30-2006, 10:56 PM	#10
Sole1 Still Versatile... Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: T.O. Posts: 1,481 Repped: 170 Repped 78 Times in 39 Posts Neg Reps: 0 Neg Repped at 0 Times in 0 Posts	FishScale>>MoreFish imo __________________

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