Raekwon-Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang

This album delivers the goods. Very nice Wu-esque beats without RZA. The songs are mostly short, but they pack a punch. Very nice guest spots by Meth, Ghost, a re-energized Busta Rhymes, and Black Thought. There are a few mainstream type of tracks, but they are of the good variety. Ferry Boat Killaz and Snake Pond are just raw. Obviously Butter Knives is dope. Masters Of Our Fate is epic.

I agree 125% Terry. Masters Of Our Fate is clearly the best track and I only have 1 skip track so far, Rock And Roll. The beat on Ferry Boat Killaz is insane. They should have extended the track and put a Ghost verse on there.

So 17 tracks and it's under 50 minutes????

Yeah, there are a lot of 2 and 3 minute tracks. a few are longer but not many.

Snake Pond>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I just wish the song was longer than 2 minutes an 29 seconds!

The worst song on the album so far is also the longest song on the album. Ain't that some shit. Rock N Roll sucks.

Just gave this a spin... I'd say it's a strong 3.5 to 4 for me... exactly what I expected from a Raekwon CD nowadays. Wu has almost become predictable to me, which isn't a bad thing I guess, but not a great thing either.

I gave it a spin last weekend, I think that it's dope, some material really reminds me of old Wu-Tang material. I was partly disappointed by tracks like Butter Knives, Chop Chop Ninja and Crane Style, but it was the first listen.

I don't understand the hate for Chop Chop Ninja, that chick that was singing on the track has a dope voice and set the perfect tone for the song. It's among my favs on the album.

And Mistadave, you don't like Butter Knives??? Wow, that's easily one of the best on the album. It was the first single and got me hyped to cop this joint.

Rock N Roll is the only skip track IMO. If not for that, I'd be inclined to call it a classic. It's about 4.5-4.75 stars. Probably my favorite album released in the last 3 years.

I wouldn't even consider Rock N Roll skip worthy personally.

T. Myers wrote:

I wouldn't even consider Rock N Roll skip worthy personally.

The chorus and Jim Jones' wack lyrics kill the song for me.

That definitely brings it down, but the rest of the track is dope. I can stomach the chorus and Jim Jones in order to hear the rest.

I just hate the fact that it was the longest fucking song on the album...lol

Yeah Rae and these short ass songs gets on my last at times. But than again since he has no true song structure to his songs and lack of subject matter its probably for the best.

mistadave wrote:

I gave it a spin last weekend, I think that it's dope, some material really reminds me of old Wu-Tang material. I was partly disappointed by tracks like Butter Knives, Chop Chop Ninja and Crane Style, but it was the first listen.

I dig Butter Knives and Crane Style but the hook to Chop Chop Ninja was just awful. It didn't fit to these ears. The beat sucked too. IMO of course.

The tracks where Rae is just telling war stories are excellent. Otherwise, he just doesn't do it for me, lyrically. He doesn't have enough personality to deliver the bragging, "I've got more money/mic skills than you" type lyrics. I think Method, Ghost, Black Thought, & Busta all destroyed him on their respective tracks.

I'm not understanding the Jim Jones and Wu collaborations and between Handcuffin Them Hoes and Rock And Roll they both get a Thumbs down from me personally. Estelle is a great artist KJ. I have her CD and it's pretty good. However, her 1 minute intro into the song is unnecessary and IMO brings the song down. I wouldn't skip it like I do Rock And Roll but the unnecessary singing prevents Chop Chop Ninja from being in any of my Top song lists for this album.

KJ Styles wrote:

I don't understand the hate for Chop Chop Ninja, that chick that was singing on the track has a dope voice and set the perfect tone for the song. It's among my favs on the album.

And Mistadave, you don't like Butter Knives??? Wow, that's easily one of the best on the album. It was the first single and got me hyped to cop this joint.

Rock N Roll is the only skip track IMO. If not for that, I'd be inclined to call it a classic. It's about 4.5-4.75 stars. Probably my favorite album released in the last 3 years.

My bad. I didn't mean Butter Knives, I've had digit the wrong song by mistake. I meant Dart School. Butter Knives is one of the cuts with ol' Wu-Tang flava in it, one of the dopest.

This is goin' on heavy rotation, kids. The first half of the cd is straight up classic, a banger after another, Rae at his maximum. Butter Knives really reminds me of old Wu Tang era, it could be mistaken as a leftover from 36 Chambers. I really liked the Black Thought joint, he dropped a dope verse there. Ghost kills every track that he spits on. Wack Joints: Rock'N Roll, Dart School (putrid beat...). 4.25 stars.

This is going on limited rotation kids, I listen to maybe 3 or 4 tracks from the album, nobody really impresses on the mic this time around, good album overall, but definitely lacking compared to Rae's last album, and hopefully this won't end up in my top ten for the year. 3.5 stars.

Half wrote:

This is going on limited rotation kids, I listen to maybe 3 or 4 tracks from the album, nobody really impresses on the mic this time around, good album overall, but definitely lacking compared to Rae's last album, and hopefully this won't end up in my top ten for the year. 3.5 stars.

I agree the album lost steam pretty fast for me. Good album, prolly a few notches above Wu-Masacre but lacking in thickness

Rae destroys Ghost and Meth on every track they are on together, like easily too


and why do people complain about short songs but give other artists like Doom and Madlib a pass for making short songs lol...short songs >>>>

i like my albums quick and to the point for the most part

Slang Editorial wrote:

Rae destroys Ghost and Meth on every track they are on together, like easily too


and why do people complain about short songs but give other artists like Doom and Madlib a pass for making short songs lol...short songs >>>>

i like my albums quick and to the point for the most part

They don't get a pass...they typically make memorable short tracks. A lot of the ones on this album flew right by.

hmm to me the Madvillain tracks fly right by...both in good ways...

Slang Editorial wrote:

hmm to me the Madvillain tracks fly right by...both in good ways...

"Fly right by" to me means I barely notice them.