Awesome ‘90s Rap Soundtracks: “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai ” Edition Posted by Max Weinstein on 02/27/14 | Filed under Opinion, Rap Nerdery, Wu Tang Clan, 90s Soundtracks

Peace to the RefinedHype Nation. If you know like we know, you remember a time when rap soundtracks were more than just exhibits of Jay-Z’s wonderfully developed palette - they were packed with exclusives, buzzing singles and incredible collaborations. The compilations were actually sought out by listeners because they contained never before heard tracks from the hottest artists of the time. 

There will be no new Wu-Tang album. Rae was on The Breakfast Club today and let it be known that not only is he not getting paid enough to appear, but there might not be enough money worth doing it at all. So if you haven’t forgotten about it already, drop any hope now.

The incredible thing about Wu-Tang is that in a group with nine members, their affiliates were almost endless. Countless solo albums, compilations, and spin-offs make the Wu-Tang vaults rich for exploration, and ‘Ghost Dog: Way Of The Samurai’ falls under that category.

In 1999, RZA scored his first ever film, Jim Jarmusch’s ‘Ghost Dog’ starring Forest Whitaker as a lonely hitman working for the Mafia but training himself under samurai codes. RZA appears in the film for about three seconds, but ‘Ghost Dog’ was his cinema debut beyond the screen – the entire film was scored with original music produced made by the man himself.

At the time, he was going through a PCP-induced evolution. Bobby Digital was a result of a hallucination, and a year prior he dropped his alter ego’s debut album, ‘Bobby Digital In Stereo,’ which featured a progression in the more modern production sound that appeared on ‘Wu-Tang Forever.’ Legend goes that RZA was stopped by a young musician while looking for equipment at a store, and the guy told him that he was ruining music with all his samples. From there, RZA began to study music theory and made it his priority to drop samples and focus exclusively on original music, which led to sci-fi-sounding, keyboard-led beats that many fans didn’t appreciate.

‘Ghost Dog’ came out of that new aesthetic direction. The soundtrack opens with Sunz of Man and 12 O’Clock (ODB’s cousin) on “Strange Eyes” alongside R&B talent Blue Raspberry, who also shows up on the following track, “4 Sho Sho.” “Strange Eyes” is the better of the two, with a curling guitar riff and a barn thump to it, but Blue Raspberry lets her voice shine on both.  RZA entertains with that chorus on “4 Sho Sho.”

Kool G Rap shows up for what might be the illest track on “Cakes,” utilizing nothing more than a vocal sample, funky drums and a three-note bassline. RZA talks about girls licking his “doodie crack,” so I’m not sure what else you need to be convinced this song is incredible.  It almost feels like RZA said “fuck it, I can still pull shit like this out of my ass.” Pull away, sir.

Suga Bang Bang is the greatest name in the history of names, but unfortunately he’s not a rapper. He’s sort of a….reggae crooner. Not quite a singer, not totally a reggae artist.  A smoked out Al Green sample will take you a long ass way, though. Tekitha is up next (we still need that unreleased ‘Wisdom Body’ LP) with “Walking Through The Darkness,” which would be reworked two years later for Ghostface’s ‘Bulletproof Wallets’ album. Compared to that song, this is a little lackluster, but still showcases how strong Tekitha’s voice was. The in-house Wu-Tang vocalists were better than some major label divas today.

Lord Superb of ‘Supreme Clientele’ fame shows up next with Masta Killa on “The Man,” and it’s a welcome appearance by the less-than-prolific Wu affiliate, but his verse here doesn’t lend much credence to the claim of writing Ghost’s lyrics on SC. Masta Killa drops a cool verse while creative samples of The Mad Lads and Edwin Starr help buoy this cut. Royal Fam and La The Darkman, maker of the greatest Wu-Tang affiliate album ever, advise against littering on “Walk The Dogs,” with a jolting RZA beat and a masterful verse from La. “Stay With Me” is somewhat unexciting, although it once more highlights the Wu-Tang’s taste in female vocalists with Melodie. Jeru the Damaja kills “East New York Stamp” by bending lives like prisms before Afu-Ra manages to avoid the martial arts in his rhymes.

The soundtrack ends with two standouts, First, the Wu unite for “Fast Shadow” to include verses from Method Man, ODB, RZA, and U-God on a beat that sounds like it could appear on ‘Ironman’ if they’d been on more uppers. RZA closes the album with a solo song, “Samurai Showdown,” which might be the best track on the whole thing. RZA’s drunken monkey style has always made him an underrated spitter in the group, and he crafts the perfect mixture of bassline, drums, strings and what sounds like a train whistle-turned-synth.

Stitched together by Forest Whitaker reading passages from the Hagakure, ‘Ghost Dog’ is an anomaly of RZA’s career, caught in a transition between Wu-Tang stardom and a solo career. It showcases that imbalance, but also underlines how RZA can pull together disparate elements and pull of a cohesive soundtrack with gems dropped throughout.

(By Max Weinstein, @dubmaxx)