I love this album, from the day it was released to the present day I can listen to Fishscale through without getting bored of it. I bought the album the day it came out, kind of as an impulse buy at Future Shop as they had it on display at the end of the hip-hop/rap aisle. I only had enough money to buy one of the two albums in hand, I don't even remember what album the other was, but it didn't matter, I made the right choice and bought the Ghostface disk.
Ghost worked hard this decade, putting out seven solo albums and collaborations with Trife, not to mention his work with the Wu-Tang Clan. Out of all this, Fishscale ranks highest for Ghostface releases - even higher than Supreme Clientele. On this album Ghost comes through like he often does: load and fast paced for a portion of the tracks, the rest a bit slower paced, but none the less maintain the standard Ghostface flow, lyrical style and humor. Ghost is known for his wacky lyrics. He opens his part in "9 Milli Bros" screaming "Y'all be nice to the crack heads!" In "Shakey Dog," the drug deal gone wrong story of Shakey, Ghost calls a female holding a gun a "big tittie bitch" then seconds later "I'm on the ground like holy shit!" displaying Ghost's loose humor. The majority of the album's content deals with cocaine, hence the name Fishscale. There some different tracks, like "Momma," which talks about Ghost supporting and respecting a woman that went through all horrible walks of life under uncontrollable circumstances, or the albums first single "Back Like That" featuring Ne-Yo, which talks about Ghost's ex-girlfriend cheating on him with a man that he strongly dislikes. "Three Bricks" is Ghost and Raekwon's addition to Notorious B.I.G.'s "Niggas Bleed," which includes the first part of Biggie's track on an intense piano beat produced by Cool & Dre. Like most Ghostface releases, the album features Wu members and a few other artists like Ne-Yo, Megan Rochell and Sean Wigs, but mostly Raekwon and Trife, who is not a part of Wu. The album has a nice balance of production by Pete Rock, MF Doom, J Dilla, Just Blaze and more, but still the album remains true to the traditional Ghostface Killah style of music that critics praised, and yet not that many people bought. Do yourself a favor and buy this album, it is one of the few recent classic releases. As I wrap this up, I'd like to say as I watch MTV Teen Cribs, kids now a days are fucking spoiled.
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