Ghostface Killah’s “12 Reasons To Die” Is The Album of the Year (So Far) Posted by Nathan S. on 04/17/13 | Filed under Top Stories, Videos, Ghostface Killah, Album Reviews

I'm sure 90% 99% of the population will ignore Ghostface Killah's "Twelve Reasons to Die" album, and that's fine. You don't make a conceptual album based on an original comic book and recorded with vintage sound equipment if you're looking to go gold. This is exactly the kind of album tailor-made for rap nerds; as fate would have it RefinedHype Nation's rap nerd population is thriving.

The long story short is that "Twelve Reasons" is the best album of the year (insert obvious "so far" caveat here). If you had any hesitations about copping it, allow me to lay those hesitations to rest. Below is the album's latest video, featuring a RZA cameo, along with a portion of my full album review for the mothership.

Goddamn I love me some Ghostface. Enjoy...



To say that "12 Reasons To Die" isn’t for everyone would be an understatement along the lines of “Snoop Dogg sure likes to smoke marijuana”. Ghostface Killah is the most profoundly strange rapper to ever see mainstream success. It’s hard to think of another artist who’s sold as many albums as Ghost, who’s got as much untarnished street cred as Ghost, who would jump at the chance to do a deeply vintage concept album that comes paired with a comic book.

But perhaps the truly remarkable thing about "12 Reasons" is that it’s not much of a stretch for Ironman. His comic book roots obviously run deep, he’s always loved telling a good story, and the beats RZA (who also executive produced "12 Reasons") supplied him were often in the same sonic ballpark as Younge’s. It’s not hard to imagine a track like "The Unexpected Call" appearing on "Fishscale", or a darkly pacing cut like "The Sure Shot" finding a home on "Supreme Clientele". Still, at a time when many of his rap peers are even more desperately changing their sound to stay relevant, Ghostface Killah is cementing his relevancy by diving even deeper into what always made him such a unique artist. While not completely unprecedented, it’s hard to imagine another album like "12 Reasons to Die" emerging any time soon, at least not with this high of a profile. So let’s take this opportunity to truly appreciate what hip-hop is capable of, and appreciate the living rap legend that is Ghostface Killah.

Read the full album review here...