Category: Albums

Albums, Ghostface Killah

The Blue & Cream Is Finally Coming? Supreme Clientele 2 release date set

It seems it took Nas to drag Ghostface across the finish line and set us up with a release date for Supreme Clientele 2: Blue & Cream: June 19th. An album that was announced over a decade ago, and which history I previously covered here. Honestly, I am a bit stunned that it is actually coming.

The album is set to be part of the Legend Has It… album series by Mass Appeal. A series which includes releases by his co-host Raekwon, Slick Rick, Mobb Deep & Big L. Nas really has been doing his thing with Mass Appeal, and it might just be the right home for Ghostface and his Blue & Cream. Last year we already saw the first collaboration between Ghost and the label with the release of Set The Tone (Guns & Roses). In my opinion a flawed album that was okay at best. Curiously enough that album was kicked off with the same 6 minutes track which was previously featured on his exclusive Stem Player EP. [mfn]The Stem Player page seems to be offline as of writing, and I have heard nothing about that EP since, nor did it surface. Which begs the question if it was ever actually released. [/mfn] This fact makes one wonder if more tracks from that venture ended up on this project.

What was on point for Set The Tone, was the marketing. Mass Appeal knows how to do this, and had a release party set up, a video for Pair of Hammers with Meth with proper production. And some special stuff on their website for sale. (Personally, I forgot about the album just as quick as it was announced.) Shit, just now I even discovered there is a video for Scar Tissue with Nas.

So what can we expect? It has been said that there are tracks that are over 10 years old. That would mean that this really could be a real musical odyssey of what Ghost has been doing in the last 25 years. Couple years ago it was mentioned that Kanye West & Mike Dean were executive producing the album. This was mentioned alongside the name Producer Plug Uni (whom produced 6 Minutes on Set The Tone and has a credit on Shots) were supposed to be exec producing. As it is a sequel I would also look back at Supreme Clientele itself. This album was loaded with tracks which were used by other people. From G-Dini using the Bastards beat, to Stay True being called Deck’s Beat on the Canadian version of the album.1The Canadian version of Supreme Clientele is infamous for having a different sequencing and some huge differences. First being the inclusion of the track In The Rain (Wise), second is the Ghost Deini using the Bastards beat, third is having his Impossible verse on there. If the original is any indication, we might be hearing some beats that were used elsewhere before., if only the Wu was as tight as they were back in the day.

Now I would be a miss if I did not mention Lord Superb.2I have to make a quick note here that Lord Superb is not without his problems. He was in jail for a while, convicted twice of sexual abuse charges involving a minor. Originally he was part of the American Cream Team with Raekwon, but showed up on Ghostface his sophomore too, as well as on Bulletproof Wallets. He died in 2014 at the age of 41. His presence on Supreme Clientele is undeniable. Whether it be his verses or his appearance as Woodrow. Matter of fact, it was so undeniable that in the early 2000s Superb actually claimed that he was responsible for a lot of Supreme Clientele, in writing and style.3This all started with the 2004 mixtape Bynoe (Of Tha Riot Squad) – Pain & Muzik 3 (Hosted By DJ Semi) which included a prison phone interview with him. Ever since there have been some discussions about this, and even 50 Cent & Tony Yayo referenced it. I for one would not be surprised if Superb was indeed helping Ghost out a lot during this period. Also for the simple fact that in later years it became more obvious that Ghost was being helped out by Trife, and later again by Sean Wiggs. Heck, it might be stretch, but even Rae had a solo song on Ironman. Who is to say that Rae did not throw some verses and such at Ghost during the Ironman process. Because later interviews due make it look like recording that one was a hard. It could also be that even Cappa helped him out at this point. All begs the question if we are going to hear the real Dennis Coles, or will it be a Ghostface Killah again. In light of all this, the mask makes a lot more sense.

In the end it has been 25 years since Supreme Clientele was originally released. In the absence of a sequel, they decided to release a Blue & Cream edition, bloggers dedicate an annual post to the influence of the album, there is a documentary in the works on the making of a Nutmeg by his barber, Black Moesis Art, and the album has been analyzed to death and then some. When it was released it was seen as Ghostface saving the Wu brand after solo albums underdelivered, especially compared to the first round. Nowadays the flag is just a legacy act, and one could argue that there is nothing to be saved this time around. But Supreme Clientele was also a very personal album about those years prior. With a timespan of 25 years, it’s going to be anybody’s guess what we will end up with next week. One thing I do know is that people stopped holding their breath for this album some time ago.

  • 1
    The Canadian version of Supreme Clientele is infamous for having a different sequencing and some huge differences. First being the inclusion of the track In The Rain (Wise), second is the Ghost Deini using the Bastards beat, third is having his Impossible verse on there.
  • 2
    I have to make a quick note here that Lord Superb is not without his problems. He was in jail for a while, convicted twice of sexual abuse charges involving a minor. Originally he was part of the American Cream Team with Raekwon, but showed up on Ghostface his sophomore too, as well as on Bulletproof Wallets. He died in 2014 at the age of 41.
  • 3
    This all started with the 2004 mixtape Bynoe (Of Tha Riot Squad) – Pain & Muzik 3 (Hosted By DJ Semi) which included a prison phone interview with him.
by Jet Set
Albums, Wu-Tang

AMO: A Missed Opportunity?

December is a cold month in the northern part of the northern hemisphere. It is the time of the year where you put up decorations for holidays, but also gear up to brace for the freezing cold outside. Hoodied up with Timberlands and a North Face this is not the times for breezy songs.

With this interlude about the cold I liked to talk about Killarmy a bit. Because the other day I was thinking about their first three albums. We got the debut album Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars from 1997. Which was followed up the next year with Dirty Weaponry. After that it took a few years for a new album to appear, which eventually came on September 11th, 2001 in the form of Fear, Love & War1.

For now I just wanted to talk a bit about that title, Fear, Love & War. Because the other day I was placing the titles in order, and the first two seem to fit with the concept of the group. But the title of the third album just seems to be the odd one out. This could be due to the album starting as a 9th Prince solo2, but that is just a guess since I do not know how it was decided upon. 

The first two titles have a clear reference to weapons. In this case we could see the reference to weapons as a metaphor to the music. In the third one this is not so visible, and just broadly alludes to war. Would it not have been more interesting if they kept this in line with a title like Insurgency Weapons and Tactics, Sonic Jihad3, or Weapons of Mass Disruption. Or maybe even looking for something in reference to proxy wars, or even drones. Just think this was a missed opportunity for a nice sounding trilogy. 

That all being said, and it was just a thought, the album still stands to be enjoyed. At least I do. But I am aware not everybody thinks that way about it. One thing I can say is that it misses some of the movie & tv samples that were spliced into the first two records. Those really gave a sense of reflection and reporting. Like the on screen text during a film.

Case in point would be the track Red Dawn from the Dirty Weaponry that ends on a quote about warriors. Which brings me to the video I forgot about originally, but is perfect to share here. Red Red Dawn Dawn is a music video for Red Dawn set to scenes from the film Red Dawn. With this combination it juxtaposes the war themed rhymes from Killarmy with the insurgency of the Wolverines from the film. Making for a cold but on point viewing.

  1. Next to the album being released on September 11th 2001, this album was released on Loud Records. Whereas the previous ones where released through the Wu-Tang Records/Priority Records collaboration. By 2001 Loud Records was in a bad state, after just moving to Sony. According to reports the money was drying up. So little promo was given to the releases that were there. By 2002 the label was shut down unceremoniously. ↩︎
  2. 9th Prince elaborated on this in an Instagram post on his account. It was RZA who convinced him to make it a Killarmy album. Sadly I can not find the post at this moment of writing. ↩︎
  3. Completely aware that this is actually the title of an album by Paris that was released two years later in 2003. ↩︎
Albums, Ghostface Killah, Wu-Tang

When Will Ghost Finish Supreme Clientele 2?

Back in September 2021 Ghostface Killah claimed that Supreme Clientele 2 was on the horizon, and would arrive February 2022. Kanye West, Mike Dean & Producer Plug Uni would be executive producing, and with that there was a little bit of hope for the sequel to the lauded sophomore LP by Ghost.

SUPREME CLIENTELE 2 IS EXECUTIVE PRODUCED BY: KANYE WEST, MIKE DEAN & PRODUCERPLUGUNI.COM, RELEASE DATE: FEB 2022 – DINI

r/hiphopheads/

This was preceded by an Instagram post in October 2020 where Ghost confirmed working on it with a caption saying “WU-BLOCK.. SUPREME 2 IN THE MAKING!!!! #wutangforever #ghostfacemusic #supremeclientele #wublock #ghostfacekillah“. Again people were hyped. But so far, we have gotten nothing.

The original Supreme Clientele holds a special place in a lot of peoples hearts, and a sequel to the album would be something special like a sequel to Only Built For Cuban Linx…, which we got back in 2009. And for which Raekwon also announced a third part. That being said, this is not the first time we heard about the Supreme Clientele 2.

The announcements actually go back to 2010 when it was first mentioned, and January 2011, when Ghost posted a video on Youtube in which he said it was coming. Which state it was, was still unknown at the time. It wasn’t untill February 2013 when he did an interview with Montreality and talked about the album:

Blue & Cream. Hopefully, hopefully this summer, hopefully this summer. Like, maybe like August or something like that. I’m going to try for August, September or maybe July, you know what I mean. But I think August might sound more reasonable if i can do it. I shouldn’t set it, because sometimes when I say a date, it don’t ever fuck around and whatchama. But I gotta put it out because I’ve been sitting on it for like, going on three years.

Montreality

In the same interview Ghost also mentioned his DOOMSTARKS project and 12 Reasons To Die. When fall came, there was no DOOMSTARKS project. 2013 only saw the release of the Adrian Younge collaboration 12 Reasons To Die. And with the recent passing of DOOM, their collaboration project may never be finalized.

It wasn’t untill deep in 2014, when Ghostface spoke to DX Daily and mentioned that Supreme Clientele 2: Blue & Cream was 85% done. He still wanted to get some people on there, and samples had to be cleared. A weird claim when the album was supposed to be ready a year ago. But creative processes could always change course. So who is to say what happened and what the state was. In hindsight, that 15% seems to be further from completion than ever.

By now it is safe to say that we have been waiting for more years than Supreme Clientele was old when it was first announced. On multiple occasions it seemed almost done, just some samples clear. But we have to take into account that Tony has been clear on the fact he does not work with deadlines any more, ever since the problems that arose out of that with Ironman. So yeah, by this point a lot of people have given up on ever seeing this album. And I’m afraid that any mention of this album without anything to back it up, will just water down the hype more.

That is not to say the Ghost has been sitting still. Since 2011 he has had a steady stream of music. From Wu Massacre to Wu Block to 12 Reasons To Die, Sour Soul, 36 Seasons, The Ghost Files, Ghostface Killahs, Czrface meets Ghostface. Ranging in quality from great to filler. And he has had some more than questionable business endeavours in the form of his recent Christmas EP and now a album in two versions on the Stem Player.

Especially the stem player has people talking. Since this was first used for the release of Donda, and Mike Dean & Ye were supposed to help up finish the album with Ghost, people are asking if this would be the much anticipated sequel. Something that would me sense for this expensive project. But so far it just seems like this is a normal collection of tracks for this project without any further vision as far as I know.

At this point, only time will tell when we will see it if ever. But hopefully it will be earlier than we hear Once Upon A Time In Shaolin or The Cure. Because at this point I got my money on hearing that million dollar album sooner than we’d be hearing Supreme Clientele 2: Blue & Cream.

by Jet Set
Albums, Wu-Tang

Bugsy Pulls Off Wu-Elements Album

This is something of a first. Bugsy Da God got an album that is exclusively produced by Bronze Nazareth, 4th Disciple & True Master. A thing that fans have been asking for for year, albums exclusively produced by the Wu-Elements. Even though it is 2022, soundwise this most definitely delivers. Bugsy Da God & Dom Pachino delivered with that. Magnificent is some classic True Master, and Wrath Of God is some classic 4th. Banging.
Not going to lie, the sound is solid. And I’d say that if they continue this vision, a niche could be carved out for some solid Wu Killabeez releases this way. It is nothing game changing, but it is a familiar and solid sound. Often that is just what the fans are looking for. Especially those who got older and are out of tune with the sounds of the day.

by Jet Set
Albums, Wu-Tang

Another Priest Album: Mr. Universe

It seems that every moon cycle Killah Priest manages to drop another album. This time around he got one with Jordan River Banks again, after the 2020 The Third Eye In Technicolor. The album continues the current style Priest has managed since Rocket To Nebula, also back in 2020. So it might not be everyone’s cup of tea.

And if you are wondering what Priest has been up to, you can visit his Bandcamp to find Rocket To Nebula, The Third Eye In Technicolor, The Last Ride with the HRMN, Ragnarok, The Goddess and The Priest with Bliss, and Savage Sanctuary with The Holocaust/Warcloud.

What is missing from this list of the last two years is Lord Sun Heavy Mental 1.1, Summer End Cafe, Divine Intervention with True Master, The Three Fantastic Supermen Epic, and Horrah Scope.

As you can see, Priest has been very consistent in his output of music.

by Jet Set
Albums, Wu-Tang

RZA Returns With Digital Potions

Looks like RZA is going to give us a 3rd EP in two years with Digital Potions. He talked about this EP previously with the release of Pugilism back in April 2021. This is the end transformed into the Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater EP with DJ Scratch. Yes I am just as confused as you are. (That last one was also called RZA vs bobby digital at one point.) Even more so since there has been no update on his website or in any outlets. Just on the websites of the various records stores who are stating it as a Record Store Day release.

It seems to feature the following 7 songs:

  1. Fashion
  2. Better Than Yours
  3. Flagrant Flavors
  4. Garden State
  5. Rain on Em
  6. Attack of the Lioness
  7. Don’t Cry on My Shoulder



Visit the following the links to order your copy.
Rough Trade
Good Taste Records
Elmhurst Records


by Jet Set
Albums, Wu-Tang, Wu-Tang Clan

Collection of OUTIS Snippets [VIDEO/AUDIO]

Someone took it upon him- or herself to bless the masses with this collection of snippets from the infamous album. As you can hear, the audio is not the best of quality. This may in fact hurt more to the ears and legacy of the album itself, than do it good. Who wants to hear 64kpbs audio in 2017? It is almost like this album was sponsored by RealPlayer.

Anyway, enjoy these snippets. This may well be the only thing you may ever hear from the album of the people you supported through all these years.

by Jet Set
Albums, Ghostface Killah, Wu-Tang, Wu-Tang Clan

New Clan Album Coming Titled Wu-Tang: The Saga Continues

October the 13th 2017 will bless us with another Wu-tang Clan album. The title of the album is Wu-Tang: The Saga Continues. (Not to be confused with Puffy’s 2001 release.) The album is headed by DJ Allah Mathematics with RZA on the executive duties.

For years, Math has had the idea of putting together a body of music using modern and legendary equipment such as ASR10 with vocal performances by Wu-Tang Clan members and other prominent MCs. With The Saga Continues he’s created a masterpiece. We at 36 Chambers ALC are honored to work with Mathematics and Wu-Tang Clan to put out a great piece of art.

The RZA

 
Wu-Tang Clan to return with new album, Wu-Tang: The Saga Continues
Plus, a fall US tour behind the October release.
consequenceofsound.net

 

by Jet Set