Ghostface Killah

If there’s a new hip-hop album filled with tales of cocaine, sex and violence that still manages to sound truly fresh, one can assume Ghostface’s name is on it. In the hands of this bathrobed MC, such stories are anything but the chest-beating ghetto dreams of other rappers—they’re what regular folk are up to, no more or less significant than what’s to eat that night or the latest trip to the barbershop (where a police raid might be less an issue than the barber making Ghost “look like UTFO / One ’em dudes from back in the day”). On most rap records, the skits stick out badly and interrupt the flow; on Fishscale, both skits and tracks add color and definition.

That Ghostface is the most distinct voice in hip-hop is evidenced by Fishscale’s formidable list of guests. The MC is joined often by his Wu-Tang comrade Raekwon (and on one track by the entire Clan, living and dead)—while new soul star Ne-Yo, Trife and the rest of Theodore Unit (Ghost’s other crew) make appearances—but there’s never any question whose record this is. In the same way, the lineup of name producers—no Wu-bangers, but MF Doom, Pete Rock and the late J Dilla—supply what could be called the Ghostface formula: the right soul sample intricately wrapped around a detailed 4/4 beat, a consistently vibrant canvas for the rapper’s tensile flow. Weird, dark and inventive, Fishscale is the sound of an experienced artist in full stride.—Mike Wolf