Album Review: Raekwon - The Emperor's New Clothes

Raekwon

The Emperor's New Clothes

*** out of *****

Mass Appeal Records and Nas announced their 'Legend Has It' series, which features seven new albums from seven different hip-hop icons. Raekwon is one of those legends and his contribution to this series is The Emperor's New Clothes. 

The Wu-Tang Clan's Celebrity Chef's 8th solo album is a confident mix of old school sounds with a few modern hip hop flourishes mixed in as long time friends and new chums show up to help out. The record is produced by a number of different artists (Snipe Beatz, Roads-Art, Frank G., Nottz) and all of the beats tend to be Wu-Tang adjacent, tipping the old Kangol towards RZA's patented style.

The throwback sounding effort gets right to it with "Bear Hill" as Raekwon delivers a good flow around hand drum accented beats, sounding strong to start. Looping beats and the Buffalo crew of Westside Gunn, Conway the Machine, and Benny the Butcher arrive for "Wild Corsicans" and longtime friends Inspectah Deck and Carlton Fisk help out on "Pomogranite" which uses ominous beats and piano feeling closest to the old school Wu sound. 

Of course Raekwon's partner in crime is on the scene as Ghostface Killah drops some lines on a few tunes, with album closer "Mac & Cheese" being the best of the duo's offering while "600 School" (featuring Ghostface Killah and Method Man) finds Swizz Beatz putting on a dramatic musical backing that swells winningly. 

All of the efforts are solid but none are must hear, or truly rise above. Raekwon is content to rhyme around soul grooves on both the James Brown sampling with Nas rhyming "The Omerta" and "1 Life" (featuring Stacy Barthe) which delivers a nice duet. Two of the strongest efforts are the horn laced, with twinkling beats and hard singing from Rae, on "Open Doors" (featuring Tommy Nova) and "Da Heavies" which deploys big crashing beats, piano, and scratches from Pav Bundy,  

Overall Raekwon's entry into the 'Legend Has It' series is exactly what this collection was designed for. It is smooth, allows the listener to remember past heights without succumbing to modern trending fads. The Emperor's New Clothes is a solid if unspectacular album that proves the artist still has some art to contribute at a high level. 

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