A serious contender for the title of best
Wu-Tang
solo album (rivaled only by
the Genius
'
Liquid Swords
),
Only Built 4 Cuban Linx
is also perhaps the most influential, thanks to
Raekwon
's cinematic imagination. If
is
the Wu
's best overall lyricist,
is arguably their best storyteller, and here he translates the epic themes and narratives of a Mafia movie into a startlingly accomplished
hip-hop
album.
wasn't the first to make the connection between
gangsta rap
and the Cosa Nostra (
Kool G Rap
pioneered that idea), but he was the one who popularized the trend.
Cuban Linx
's portraits of big-money drug deals and black underworld kingpins living in luxury had an enormous influence on the new New York
hardcore
scene, especially
Mobb Deep
and
Nas
, the latter of whom appears here on the much-revered duet
"Verbal Intercourse."
The fellow
Clan
members who show up as guests are recast under gangster aliases, and
Ghostface Killah
makes himself an indispensable foil, appearing on the vast majority of the tracks and enjoying his first truly extensive exposure on record. Behind them,
RZA
contributes some of the strongest production work of his career, indulging his taste for cinematic soundscapes in support of the album's tone; his tracks are appropriately dark or melancholy, shifting moods like different scenes in a film.
's first-person narratives are filled with paranoia, ambition, excess, and betrayal, fast rises and faster falls. There are plenty of highlights along the way -- the singles
"Criminology"
"Ice Cream,"
the gentle
"Rainy Dayz,"
the influential posse cut
"Wu-Gambinos"
-- and everything culminates in
"Heaven & Hell"
and its longing for redemption. Like
,
takes a few listens to reveal the full scope of its lyrical complexities, but it's immensely rewarding in the end, and it stands as a landmark in the new breed of
. ~ Steve Huey