Review: Raekwon Ft. Ghostface Killah - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt. 2 (2009, Ice H2O/EMI)
With his powerful production on "House of Flying Daggers," J Dilla sets the symphonic stage for Linx 2's remainder: a series of flavorful, Yancey-inspired bangers sequenced in short, rapid progression รก la Jay Dee beat tape for maximum impact. At first listen the long-awaited sequel seems tremendously overwhelming, even difficult to attentively complete in a single sitting; the sheer energy and personality each track grants the opus makes it so dense you willingly get lost in the morphing soundscapes and Raekwon's potent drug tales, going through the whole LP before realizing what hit you. Cuban Linx 2 plays quite differently than its predecessor - Rae's largely eliminated the constant skits, tastefully sprinkled non-Clan guests over the instrumentals and only included a couple RZA beats. Unexpectedly, the plentiful engineers are a great boon; sound veterans Marley Marl, Dr. Dre and Jay Dee, among others, bring carefully selected sonic bombs to the project. For all its dexterity and variety, Raekwon's sophomore drop remains impressively focused on his claim to fame and proves the best crack album since his title-holding debut - they don't call him The Chef for nothing. On the Dilla-sampling Broken Safety, surprising guest Jadakiss spits "Fuck saving hip-hop, we bringing the streets back." If anything, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt. 2 should remind everyone hip-hop is just fine.
As for 2010's Gold Edition, check out "Rockstars" and leave the guest-spotting remixes on iTunes.
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