Bulletproof Wallets [Parental Advisory]

Rating

Album: Bulletproof Wallets
#	Song Title	Time
1)	Sun, The - (featuring Raekwon/RZA/Slick Rick)
2)	Never Be the Same Again - (featuring Carl Thomas/Raekwon)
3)	Forest, The
4)	Theodore - (featuring Trife/Twiz)
5)	Interlude 1
6)	Flowers - (featuring Raekwon/Method Man/Superb)
7)	Ghost Showers
8)	Maxine
9)	Walking Through the Darkness - (featuring Takitha)
10)	Interlude 2
11)	Teddy - (skit)
12)	Jealousy
13)	Jucks, The - (featuring Trife/Superb)
14)	Hilton, The - (featuring Raekwon)
15)	Love Session - (featuring Ruff Endz)
16)	Strawberry - (featuring Killa Sin)

Album: Bulletproof Wallets
#	Song Title	Time
1)	Sun, The - (featuring Raekwon/RZA/Slick Rick)
2)	Never Be the Same Again - (featuring Carl Thomas/Raekwon)
3)	Forest, The
4)	Theodore - (featuring Trife/Twiz)
5)	Interlude 1
6)	Flowers - (featuring Raekwon/Method Man/Superb)
7)	Ghost Showers
8)	Maxine
9)	Walking Through the Darkness - (featuring Takitha)
10)	Interlude 2
11)	Teddy - (skit)
12)	Jealousy
13)	Jucks, The - (featuring Trife/Superb)
14)	Hilton, The - (featuring Raekwon)
15)	Love Session - (featuring Ruff Endz)
16)	Strawberry - (featuring Killa Sin)

Performer Notes

Personnel includes: Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Slick Rick, Carl Thomas, RZA, Superb, Method Man, Trife, Twiz, Takitha.
Producers include: GFK, RZA, Underdawgz, Carlos Brody, Chris Liggio.
This solo offering from one of the more enigmatic members of the Wu-Tang Clan is one of the more unconventional creations to emerge from the world of Wu. The complex urban narrative of "Maxine" combines a colorful sense of detail worthy of Willie Dixon's "Wang Dang Doodle" with the individualistic quirkiness of P-Funk and the sonic invention that's come to be expected of Ghostface and his Wu-Tang cohorts. The lush R&B trappings of "Theodore" borrow a page from the P.M. Dawn book, as smooth vocal harmonies mesh agreeably with emotive rapping. The angular intersection of pop, R&B, and hip-hop on the melodic "Ghost Showers" is suggestive of latter-day Prince. Throughout BULLETPROOF WALLETS, the most impressive thing is the way Ghostface manages to make each track immediately accessible and infectious regardless of the degree of sonic invention.

Professional Reviews

Rolling Stone (12/13/01, pp.147-8) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...Riveting...soaked in nostalgia and blood from the get-go..."

Spin (1/02, p.109) - 8 out of 10 - "...Lover of word sounds, griot, neighborhood conscience, clotheshorse, and musician with deep grain, Ghost rewards the attention he demands..."

Q (1/02, p.100) - 3 out of 5 stars - "...tongue twistingly thrilling...

Q (1/02, p.100) - 3 out of 5 stars - "...tongue twistingly thrilling..."

Mixmag (1/01, p.61) - 3 out of 5 - "...Platinum rhymes...The Ghost flow is as urgent as ever..."

Vibe (12/01, pp.187-8) - 4.5 discs out of 5 - "...It's as if every verse were his last...and it's that urgency that makes him so compelling....Ghost's flow is molten, a liquid of vowels and consonants, not just words....He's an MC superhero..."