Ghostface Killah – Ghostdini: Wizard of Poetry (2009) [Def Jam] // Grade: A

With this album coming out hot on the heels of OBC42, you’d be a fool to still be huddled in the “Hip Hop is Dead” Trojan horse. Newsflash nerds, you’ve been crammed into your makeshift equine sweat lodge long enough, come out and enjoy the fruits of the g-ds. Really, if this record doesn’t give you reason to elevate your possibly diminished faith in Hip Hop, I don’t know what you’re (not) smoking.

Ghostdini: Wizard of Poetry is not a groundbreaker, it’s just a good hip hop album, with great breadth. If this record were some kind of American Gladiator show, Ghostface would not only have come out Blue Ribbon style, he would have shot that fool Laser in the balls with the tennis ball gun. The opener “Not Your Average Girl” is a drum driven track, it sounds like nothing but rap music. It’s stripped down to the parts that make you move, make you feel like you’ve got a list of very important things to do, and anyone that stands in your way will be crushed.

From a very strong opening, the record holds it down straight through. It’s not hard to imagine that he’s rapping as many different characters from one book full of stories about men and women. He avoids one of rap music’s biggest dilemmas: he doesn’t get contrived over the course of the record. He manages to lead us on a guided tour through sex and relationships that is unique, and interesting. He lets us into his head, he lets us into his bedroom, and he lets us into his experience.

Did I mention that the beats are well-curated? There is a great mix of styles from stripped down SP based compositions, to Dre stlye keyboard sonatas, to full on Dirty South concertos (Justice League Justice League). It’s a throwback, it’s an embrace of the present, and it lets us know that the future of hip hop is safe. It’s where it’s always been, looping between 1970-something and right now. The most dedicated of hip hop stoics rest soundly, trusting that dudes like Ghost live that loop daily, sharing it with us on a record like Ghostdini every once in a while.

- Zachg