Rolling Stone<\/em><\/a> that he was disappointed by the rap landscape, lamenting, \u201ca lot of stuff be regular darts.\u201d He added, \u201cI don\u2019t hear niggas doing storytelling no more.\u201d His thoughts went viral, even becoming the catalyst for an additional conversation with Stephen A. Smith. While bemoaning a \u201clack of substance,\u201d he declared, \u201cWe\u2019re the type of niggas that can rhyme about an eyeball falling out your face, and having the police pick it up and put it in a plastic bag.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\tHe said \u201cwe,\u201d but it feels like only Ghost would concoct that scenario \u2014 off the cuff, at that. Ghost has long been a rap surrealist, imbuing one of hip-hop\u2019s most no-nonsense scenes, gritty New York rap, with a streak of vibrance and borderline whimsy. Only someone still in touch with their inner child could rap about a pimpin\u2019 version of Spongebob Squarepants like he did on \u201cUnderwater,\u201d from his 2006 album Fishscale<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\tSupreme Clientele 2<\/em> rides the energy of his impassioned call for more creativity. He\u2019s attempting to lead by example on a project with song concepts, skits, and lyrical highs reflecting someone that still loves making rap music. To be clear, Supreme Clientele 2<\/em>, isn\u2019t the masterpiece that the original 2000 album is. But there are plenty of credible rap fans who will argue you down that no<\/em> other album is as good as Ghost\u2019s id opus. This project, like his Wu-Brethren Raekwon\u2019s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2<\/em>, proposes that it doesn\u2019t make sense to rate a sequel in terms of whether it\u2019s as good as its decades-old precursor as much as how successfully the original concept was done justice.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\tA million rappers have rhymed about being raided by the feds like he did on \u201cIron Man.\u201d But few would follow that up with this visual: \u201cI threw my raps in th\u0435 fireplace, then right out of the smoke rose a dead man\/He had big chains, sick frame, sick flames\/Even had a white glove with him, thought he was Rick James.\u201d At his best, Ghost straps listeners in on an 80 mile per hour rollercoaster featuring locked in co-stars like M.O.P. (\u201cSample 420\u201d) and Nas (\u201cLove Me Anymore\u201d), and cinematic details like putting kids in a bathroom and distracting them with cheetos before a gunfight, as he does on the crime caper \u201cGeorgy Porgy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n
\n\tOn \u201c4th Disciple,\u201d he evokes his classic verse on Wu-Tang Forever<\/em>\u2019s \u201cImpossible\u201d while depicting him trying to revive his friend Taj. On \u201cThe Trial,\u201d he comes together with Raekwon, GZA, Method Man, and Reek The Villain, who all play different roles in a fictional trial. It\u2019s a standout track of the Wu\u2019s later years that speaks to the sonic ingenuity that Ghost has said was lacking in current hip-hop. \u201cMetaphysics\u201d feels the closest to the original Supreme Clientele<\/em>\u2019s spirit, where he\u2019s rhyming free associatively over a sparse breakbeat with horn hits then opens the second verse dishing, \u201cI could put my mama face on the pancake box.\u201d Like some of Ghost\u2019s most memorable moments, it\u2019s unclear what he\u2019s getting at, but the phrase is so vivid and comedic that it just works.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\tHe\u2019s similarly colorful on \u201cBreakbeat,\u201d where he spits rapid-fire over a pair of Eighties-style drum loops, rhyming, \u201cDodgin\u2019 bullets while I\u2019m guardin\u2019 the base like Steve Garvey.\u201d The attrition on his vocal cords is apparent throughout the album, including on this track, and it affects how cleanly his once flawless flow unfurls. But he\u2019s still tearing through bars on the self-produced song. He follows that up with the more conversational \u201cBeat Box,\u201d where he\u2019s flirtatiously rhyming back and forth with Aisha Hall over a Dougie Fresh-inspired composition. After those two overt Eighties tributes comes his lead single \u201cRap Kingpin,\u201d where he and Scram Jones link Rakim\u2019s \u201cCheck Out My Melody\u201d with remnants of Supreme Clientele<\/em> standout \u201cMighty Healthy.\u201d Kudos to whoever imagined those two melodies blending as seamlessly as they do here. The song is another example of hip-hop\u2019s capacity for cross-generation conversations \u2014 could we get a Rakim remix?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n\n\n
\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n
\n\tThat said, the 22-track album has moments that it could\u2019ve done without. \u201cSoul Thang\u201d runs long without him in the second half of the song. \u201cCandyland\u201d also doesn\u2019t feel necessary, with his bar \u201cBill Cosby, K.O. roofies, this for the groupies\u201d being a disturbing clunker. And while his \u201cPause\u201d skit is a funny and self-deprecating take on fragile masculinity, his Dave Chappelle-featured \u201dSale of The Century\u201d skit is marred by a contestant on the track\u2019s fictional game show who regressively boasts about waking up and slapping his wife in the morning. Sure, Ghost has his creative license to put that in a skit without anyone attributing it directly to him, but the skit was funny without joking about spousal abuse.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tOverall, in line with Slick Rick\u2019s and Raekwon\u2019s recent albums, which were also a part of Mass Appeal\u2019s Legend Has It <\/em>series, Ghost gives it all he has in 2025 over golden era-evoking breakbeats and a mesh of soul and funk samples from his youth. No, it\u2019s not a one-of-one monument of impeccable poetics like the original, but what is? It\u2019s invigorating to hear and see the effort Ghost put into Supreme Clientele 2<\/em>, one of the most imaginative, outrageous listens of the year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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