Notes & Personnel Info |  | Personnel: Mister Maygreen, Billie Cottrell, Miss Info, Tracy Morgan, Tristan Wilds, Trife da God (vocals); Larry Cottrell (guitar); Carolyn Isaacs "Momdukes" (keyboards); Eric Isaacs "E Dub", Big D (drums). | | Audio Mixers: Jason Goldstein; Lucas McClelan; Hi-Tek. | | Recording information: Manhattan Beach Studios, New York, NY; Reddline Studios, Staten Island, NY; TekLab Studios, Cincinnati, OH. | | Photographers: Tai Linzie; F. Scott Schafer. | | Shortly after SUPREME CLIENTELE dropped in 2000, Freddie Foxxx boldly proclaimed that "Ghost saved the Wu." As the Clan lumbered into the new millennium, some members' solo work moved mainstream, others fizzled, and the group's appeal as a whole began to fade. Ghostface, on the other hand, led by example, dropping one consistently hot street-level album after another. On MORE FISH, the follow-up (coming a mere nine months after) to his acclaimed 2006 release FISHSCALE, Ghost continues to do his thing, spitting furious flames and flashing grittily surreal hood imagery. Due to the title, the expectation is that MORE FISH might just be a collection of throwaways from the FISHSCALE studio sessions. A more apt way to think of MORE FISH is as a companion album or the second half of a single work. Production-wise, the record sports the same underground sound, featuring a mix of beats from indie-rap heroes like Madlib, MF Doom, Jim Bond, Kool-Aid & Peanut, and Hi-Tek, as well as Ghostface's own production on the hyped-up early 1990s throwback "Ghost is Back." Aside from his Theodore Unit protegees (including his own 17-year-old son, Sun God), Redman, Sheek Louch, Cappadonna, Killa Sin, and Kanye West all put in tight guest appearances. MORE FISH is another tour de force, and exactly what hip-hop heads have come to expect from Wally Kingpin. Ghost is indeed back; fix your mirrors. | | Loosely speaking, More Fish is to Fishscale what Theodore Unit's 718 was to The Pretty Toney Album, albeit with more focus on Ghostface. While the title of this disc seems synonymous with Have Some Leftovers, it's not at all stale, if not nearly as spectacular as its precursor. Again, Ghostface showcases Trife da God, Cappadonna, Shawn Wigs, and Solomon Childs, while Sun God (Ghostface's son), Killa Sin, Sheek Louch, Redman, and a few others also assist. Ghost goes it alone on four tracks, and three others are left strictly in the hands of his prot?g?s. With the exception of weak link Wigs, each one of them continues to improve. Unsurprisingly, Ghostface's performances are never outstripped by those of the other MCs, and no track -- with the exception of the tacked-on "Back Like That" remix -- makes any kind of commercial concession. Since Fishscale wasn't even close to going gold at the time of the disc's release, it's obvious that More Fish was issued to get the instant sales of Ghost's devout fanbase. "Guns 'n' Razors," "Outta Town Sh*t," and "Block Rock" generate the trademark breakneck high adventure, with Ghost on full, furious blast. Apropos of nothing, one of "Block Rock"'s tangents is an amped-up dismissal of Lil Jon: "If Little Jon could ice his cup, I'd chop that sh*t, it'd ice my nuts." After that, the intensity drops for several tracks, regained temporarily by "Alex (Stolen Script)," where Ghost makes the life of a fledgling movie mogul sound as dramatic and nearly as twisted as the crack trade. In the "too much information" department: when, in "Street Opera," Ghost recalls exploits shared with his son, "We ran trains for hours up in the Days Inn" probably has nothing to do with a dictionary's definition of "train" (unless, of course, your source is www.urbandictionary.com). ~ Andy Kellman |
Producer: K. Flack; Goldstein; Hi-Tek; Lewis Parker; Anthony Acid; Xtreme |
Engineer: Mike Tocci; Hi-Tek |
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