Ghostface Killah Album: “Bulletproof Wallets (Explicit)”

This album is pretty tight! Ghostface Killah reunites with his partner in crime,Raekwon to bring Wu fans: Bulletproof Wallets. Ghost brings in tight production with the help from RZA, the Alchemist, Mathematics, and others. Stand out songs include "Flowers", "The Forest", "Theodore", and "Maxine". Ghostface displays his talent with his off the wall lyrics, stunning beats, and his in-depth stories. Ghostface also brings radio flavor with his current hit,"Never Be The Same Again"; and he gives fans a sequel to his previous hit ("Cherchez Le Ghost") with another club banger, "Ghost Showers".

Weaknesses:

Ghost returned to quick to drop this album I think (just 20 months off, which is unheard of for Wu releases) and the quality shows. Although it is still a solid album (4 stars) it's just a little behind his other 3 solo ones. Once again the track listing is all f**ked up (like on "Supreme Clientele") and you have to go to his website for the real one. Production is decent but could have been better and is handled mostly by RZA, Mathematics & ALChemist - with Six July, Undadawgs, and Chris Ligio each doing 1 song. Guests are all over the album as well (I am glad to see Rae on 4 or 5 songs) but you don't get as much of Ghost's goofy off-the-wall lyrics as we all love and want. He samples a few old beats like only he can. It does have 1 classic, 1 near classic, a few good ones and a few I can't decide if their good or ok. Still a good album to check out for his fans.

#2 - 9 (f/ raekwon -- god story line)

#3 - 8 (f/ raekwon, method man, lord superb)

#4 - 9.5 (great song about an ex -- f/ carl thomas & raekwon)

#6 - 8 (f/ trife da god & twiz)

#7 - 7 (f/ ??)

#8 - 7.5 (f/ killa sin)

#9 - 10 (CLASSIC -- uses old characters from cartoons & fairy tales to tell a story -- f/ raekwon)

#10 - 9 (f/ trife da god & lord superb)

#11 - 8 (upbeat song f/ Tekitha)

#12 (skit)

#13 - 7.5 or 8 (f/ raekwon)

#14 - 8.5 (24 bar freestyle)

#15 - 8.5 (slower song f/ Ruff Endz)

#16 - 7.5 or 8 (f/ trife da god & solomon childs)

Dennis Coles -- b. around 1972 -- Stapleton, Staten Island, NY

Check all my reviews

Ghost has emerged as my favorite member of Wu Tang. However, it saddens me to report my disappointment with this latest project. I'm all for experimenting, but what's up with all this R&B (...)? That Carl Thomas song is wack and the best new product isn't even on the album. There's a hot song floating around with Ghost flowin over a Barry White track that's missing, and the album version of "Flowers" is weak compared to what I guess is a remix. Overall, the production is poor and although Ghost is always witty with his rhymes, I expected more. With little contributions from other Wu Tang members and Rae's subpar performance, this album will not be in rotation very long? Back to Ironman & Supreme Clientele!!

I got some songs off of this CD before it came out, and I was impressed with what I heard. I bought the CD when it came out and was a little dissapointed. I already knew that three of the doper songs were not gonna be on the CD because samples didn't clear. This CD is more like 3.5 tho. The Forest and some other songs are pretty tight. I don't like the commerciality of Never Be The Same Again [...], and is nowhere near Ghost's original slow jam from "Ironman" All That I Got Is You. Instead this sounds like some [...] R&B song that gets played on the radio all the time. R&B on a Wu Tang album? What are they thinking. This album has a similar sound, original to itself like Supreme Clientele. It has that new Wu flavor which are slower beats that sound weird, not the grimy stuff most fans have come to love. Bottom line is, this CD would have been tighter if The Sun and The Watch and Good Times would have been on it. The Sun would have made this CD a solid 4 alone. Stupid commercial songs and stupid sample clearences ruined this CD. At least Cappadonna wasn't on the album. Of course, with each passing day Raekwon sounds more and more like a piece of no-rhyming trash. [...] RZA should find his roots and get the Wu back on track. Ghostface is good, but I'm not sure he can save the Wu by himself.

Since Ghostface came out, you could rely on him to put out a tight album. This album was panned by a lot of people so it ended up being his most overlooked work. Never Be The Same Again feat Carl Thomas and Raekwon is a story of how some girl did Ghostface wrong. The Forest is a hilarious story of using cartoon characters as a premise. Ghost Showers and The Hilton feat Raekwon is that classic Ghostface sound. Ruff Endz show up on Love Session which samples Case's Faded Pictures. Complaints: I never liked Strawberry feat Killah Sin and the Jealousy skit sounded like something that was put on the album to take up space. Plus the album is a little too short(47 minutes???). Other than that there is nothing stopping from recommending this album to Ghostface fans. Lyrically everything is still intact and the production is good as always. Chalk this one as another slept-on album. Standouts: FLOWERS, NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN, THEODORE, GHOST SHOWERS, THE FOREST, THE JUX and THE HILTON.