Rating:
Genre:
Rap
Release Date: 08/19/2008
Even fans who didn't care for the laid-back, murky feel of
GrandMasters --
GZA's 2005 effort with
DJ Muggs -- had to give the album respect, well aware that the
Wu-Tang member was adjusting his style for the DJ and just grooving it slower with the same high-quality rhymes. The bar remains just as high on the man's follow-up but anyone alienated by
GrandMasters' attitude will be pleased that the uptempo and sometimes oddball rhymes are back in full force here and sit on a set of melancholy soul productions that have that classic
Wu atmosphere. On the opening
"Pencil," GZA's
Wu brother
Masta Killa drops a jaw-dropping
Ivan Koloff reference,
RZA holds his own, and crew producer
Mathematics provides the hypnotics, but it's
GZA who owns the track by linking livestock, damaged livers, and cell phone chirps into a classically
Clan bravado story. The way the rapper goes from the letter A to the letter Z during the chorus of
"Alphabets" is so well crafted it's stunning, while
"0 Finance" drops an auto reference about every fourth word and brings new life to car-loving hip-hop after years of rim-worshipping disappointments. A wonderfully worn copy of
Gary Numan's
"Films" gives the great
"Life Is a Movie" its beat, and the production on
"Paper Plate" is
RZA in prime noir mode, making this diss track wasted on
50 Cent more interesting than it should be. Crooked funk production from
Black Milk sets
"7 Pounds" on fire as
GZA compares the good vs. the bad side of hip-hop as "Pearls next to pebbles/Spoons against shovels" and the live version of
"Elastic Audio" tacked onto the album's end isn't the usual throwaway bonus track but a mostly a cappella, entirely compelling closer. Even if they're slow to arrive,
GZA's full-lengths rarely disappoint.
Pro Tools is no different, but with so many divergent projects and experiments from the
Clan filling the five previous years, this throwback also proves the crew's original formula still works splendidly.
~David Jeffries, All Music Guide
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