No Said Date - review

Back in the days, when it seemed like the internet had just come out, I would go onto a website called 'The Krib' and check out the latest rumours of Wu-Tang releases, for a while they said 'Wu-Tang Forever' was going to be called 'The Eight Diagrams' or 'Valentines Day Massacre'. They had a few rumours of a Masta Killa album every few months too, although it was always 'Untitled' if I remember correctly. A lot of us Wu-fans forgot about this record, it was so delayed it almost became a kind of private joke (with me it went something like, "come on man, you're makin' me wait longer than masta killa" although I'm sure others came up with more imaginative ones). Some other Wu-members even 'lapped him' by releasing their second (and mostly not-as-great) LP's. However, the climate has definitely changed for the Wu and for hip-hop since those days around 96-97, when I wondered when the Wu's most silent member would come out with a solo.

Rza's brilliant (if not completely flawless) 'Birth of a Prince' signalled his intent to bring the Wu back to repectability in hip-hop, it's a shame then that in my opinion, Ghostfaces latest 'Pretty Toney LP' seemed to show us an MC slipping away into this slightly unconvincing 'soul-man' persona and more importantly, losing a lot of the seriousness and social-poetry that made him as loved as he is. Not that the beats weren't tight, not that he doesn't have enough soul to pull something like that off, but I'd tell Ghost if he's trying to follow in Marvins footsteps, he'd do well to remember that Marvin made his name more for singing about social issues, and not just about love (which is a common misconception). As far as Meths latest offering, I didn't even peep it after hearing from my even more Wu-obsessed cousin that it wasn't quite up to par ( to put it nicely). Quite frankly I lost faith in the mans hunger as an MC quite a while ago anyway, anytime you've got a rapper who stars in his own sit-com on FOX, and regularly appears in tacky mainstream films aimed at middle-class white American audiences, I think the 'rugged, raw MC from the streets' persona is always giong to be difficult to pull out of the bag with any kind of serious credibility. So, for the time being anyway, I'm trying to let my blind love for the Wu and all their members subside, and take away as many preconceptions as possible before listening to a new record, to just take each Wu-solo as I hear it. I refuse to be an extremist fan insisting that every Wu-Tang release is pure gold, and that anyone who says otherwise is 'hating', and I equally refuse to be the other kind of extremist, the critic who insists that the best days of the Wu-Tang are long gone, and that all of these current releases are meaningless trash sadly trying to recapture those 'glory days'. I'm a Muslim, and Muslims follow a saying, "beware of extremism" in all its forms, strive to always take "the middle way", true- those sayings refer to much more important issues than music, but for a release over 10 years in the waiting, I have to say 'No Said Date' is still pretty-damn important to me.

Masta Killa has been the fans reliable friend in the background for almost 12 years now, and I don't think anyone would want anything else but success for this man, he's the typical hard working sort of person you just can't hate on. He's Kurt Thomas for the New York Knicks, Ron Harper for the Chicago Bulls- back in the day. He's never been explicit or open enough to let you know him that well like Ghostface or Rza for example, but he's always been there, the grimey street-slang and the haunting flow, almost like a ghost lurking over the beat, we never know quite what to expect, but at the same time, he never shocks us.

Well for a start, after hearing the title track, 'No Said Date', I was shocked. I don't think many had heard him flowing so fast before, but after getting over that initial shock, the amazing thing was that his style still hadn't changed. Yeah, he was rapping fast, but within that context, he was still just as laid-back in lazily forcing those words out, somehow, in time with the beat. The Rza beat, which uses the same sample as Outkast's 'Skew it on the bar-b', is pure genius, he takes the sample to more grand places with a strong, warm bassline accompanying the Masta's verses, whilst also keeping it funky as ever with the banging base drums. Other gems include (although I'm glad to say this is one of those focused hip-hop albums that doesn't have m/any weak tracks) the hype 'Grab the Mic', the grimey 93 hip-hop/D'angelo style soul of 'Love Spell' and the TrueMaster produced (anything this man produced is worth checking) 'Queen', which like 'Love Spell' is dedicated to a woman, however on 'Queen' we get more of an intellectual/poetic approach from Masta Killa as opposed to 'Love Spell' which is more of a storytelling, less interesting tale of the flesh.

Rza of course, dominates this record in the way only he can, the three songs he produces, the previously mentioned 'No Said Date', as well as 'Old Man' and 'School', all scream out to be noticed with their multi-layered production. Also, the Abbot himself raps on both of the tracks, and there's nothing like hearing Masta Killa, Rza and the most entertaining ODB all take over a track as they do on 'Old Man', however it's the amazingly direct 'School' that may just take the honours as the albums outstanding track. Just as he spoke about in a recent interview, Masta Killa spits a straightforward verse about growing up in high school and how hip-hop is an integral part of that experience, the beat is dark, slow, and deep. Then, "BUDOOP!" Rza in full digital swagger smashes through, lifting the tempo into a party joint with the energetic lo-fi samples that rock the track like nothing else (except maybe the first track on 'Birth of a Prince'). His lyrics delivered with that passionate machine gun flow, his loosely pronounced words always threatening to spin off out of control before he regains his composure and spits more fire about the elitist, ignorant, trashy and plain wrong education that pollutes so many intelligent young minds in school.

Overall, as I've said it's hard to find a weakness with this album, yes it does seem like a collection of tracks through the years, so it doesn't have as much focus, but the placing of each track is pretty faultless, so even if this is a mix-tape of sorts, it's a dope mix-tape, and there's nothing wrong with that. Killah Priest and Method man both seem to be displaying the very best of their styles on the relentless 'Secret Rivals', both reminding us of their glory days and what made us love them so much after their debuts (Heavy Mental & Tical respectively). Also the albums closer entitled simply 'Masta Killa' is one of the most joyous, simple, yet amazing Wu-Tang knowledge bangers to come from the streets in a while, the sample fully re-enforces the link between the Wu-Tang sound and the far east, firstly with the beautiful chinese sample, and next with the Bruce Lee vocal sample. Killa's warm potent words will fill any Wu-fan with wonder and a feeling contentedness as the album finishes with Mr. Lee's perfectly open and poetic words, "Be water my friend...".

So, in the end, we don't get much more insight into Masta Killa as a guy, he still hasn't shown us that much more of his personality, (except perhaps his ironic/self-depracating side, evidenced mainly by the sharpest and most delightful album title I've ever heard) he's probably still the most mysterious member, but the difference now is, with respect, we know that there probably wasn't that much to hide. He is what he is, a significantly better MC than when he first came out, but also, a straightforward, direct and subtly poetic, humble rapper. Someone you can respect on the mic, someone 'keeping it real'- funny how that phrase isn't very fashionable anymore at a time in hip-hop where it should be. So, the end of an era is here. 'No Said Date' has dropped, and all the insane possibilities I had in my mind as to what this album might have sounded like have been silenced. And they were silenced by an album of pure hip-hop. 'Wu-Tang Style!'

audio clips courtesy of Sandbox automatic

Y.Misdaq aka Yoshi, 8 Jun 2004