A-Z raps have been written by MC’s of nearly every letter –from Aesop Rock to Saigon, with Masta Ace, Blackalicious, Papoose, Busta Rhymes, and Kool G Rap filling in the blanks. But as Sach pointed out, “every decent concept has been done, the Alphabet thing is like the “Rhyme from a bullet’s POV” thing: it’s worth bringing back every couple of years. The thing about this song is that the concept is really secondary to the fact that Rae is rhyming like he’s ready to tear your fuckin’ head off.” While Ghost has laid low of late, Raekwon has picked up the slack for the Clan, which is one of the things that’s so remarkable about their 17-year run. Even when the majority of the members are off toilet-papering U-God’s house, someone will get on a hot streak and prove that like 80s nostalgia, the Wu-Tang Clan are too weird to die.
Right now, Rae sounds like he’s having more fun rapping than he has at any point since the mid-90s. How else to explain the final three letters: “X-exterminator/ Y-young terminator, i burn a hater/Z–aiyyo son, bring my fucking zebra out the garage and shit…word up I’ma take that n**a to the Zanzibar, get em a zsa zsa drink.” Even stranger is that it seems totally conceivable that the Chef keeps a stable of zebras in a 14-car garage.–Weiss
Download:
MP3: Raekwon – “Alphabet Soup”
MP3: Raekwon – “Jolly Ranchers”
