GZA/Genius - Beneath the Surface

It's been a while since I last covered the career of mr. Gary Grice, and so I thought I would finally catch up on reviewing the man's third studio album, and second after the formation of Wu-Tang Clan. Now, as we know, the late '90s were a difficult time for fans of the Wu. Gone were the days when we could expect albums filled with only RZA production and tons of features from core members - in this period, you could expect perhaps three RZA tunes at most, and a plethora of usually underwhelming guest verses from Wu affiliates who were inevitably nowhere near as skilled as their counterparts. Contrary to the solo run of 1994-1996, pretty much every Wu project from '98 and '99 was heavily disliked by the hip-hop heads, from the lukewarm reception to Method Man's Tical 2000: Judgement Day and Inspectah Deck's Uncontrolled Substance to the downright hatred toward Raekwon's Immobilarity (an album I don't actually mind, but oh well). And in the midst of this tragic fall from greatness, the Genius GZA put out his second Wu LP out through M.C.A. Records, and considering that I found his Liquid Swords to be the best project of the Wu's classic run, I went into this one with reasonably high expectations.

These expectations were perhaps set a little too high though, as the tracklist didn't look entirely right. Yes, we had features from Method Man, Ol' Dirty Bastard and two from Masta Killa, but on the other hand we only had one RZA production on the entire thing - the rest was left up to Mathematics and Arabian Knight to handle, not necessarily a bad thing considering the two were quite possibly better than RZA at this time anyway. The feature list was a little daunting, though - solo tracks seemed to be in the minority, and the guest appearances from Killah Priest, Hell Raizah and a ton of other mediocre Wu affiliates were in their plenties on here. And on top of that, the project had four skits throughout not including the intro and outro, skits that appeared to be sequenced about as well as the adverts on Channel 4's films. Pretty much everything about this, including the cover art that wasn't bad, but at the same time has some serious colour scheme issues (it looks like an Ikea advert), screamed that it was about to be the polar opposite to the wonderful Liquid Swords. But was this to be the case, and more importantly, was this a good album at all? Let's find out. 

1. Intro (prod. GZA)

The music that comes in during the second half (used to better effect later) of this intro is pretty great, but otherwise this is terribly self-important. Yes, the guy made Liquid Swords, but shouldn't we be able to move on from that by now?

2. Amplified Sample (prod. Mathematics)

Over an airy and loud Mathematics instrumental, GZA gets to rippin' the mic up with some excellent punchlines and use of various random phrases that are so unique to the Genius (see "apparent brightness of exploding stars", or "too late to activate hyperspacial thrust"). This man was really on some other shit. Of course, the effect is slightly decreased by the fact that he seems unbothered to write a second verse for this track, and just repeats the first a second time. I mean, I know writing rhymes can be a tough task, but on the first track? Really?

3. Beneath the Surface (feat. Killah Priest & Res) (prod. Inspectah Deck)

"On a man-made lake, there's a sheet of thin ice where unskilled skaters couldn't figure-8 twice". That's the line that GZA chooses to begin this song with, and it's bloody excellent. That type of random, metaphorical wordplay is exactly why I love GZA, and it's already evident on this album that he hasn't lost his lyrical ability at all. And, while Inspectah Deck's violin-led beat doesn't match up to the production work on Liquid Swords, it's still pretty beautiful, and sounds especially great once the Res chorus comes into play. Killah Priest doesn't fare quite as well as the Genius, but he still performs pretty amicably on here, making this track into the classic it is. This song is wonderful.

4. Skit #1 (prod. GZA)

Here lies the main problem with this album - the skits. This shit has no correlation with the rest of the project, and simply serves to agitate the listener and make them wish the next song would start already. But hey! If you didn't find this skit annoying enough, just look at what GZA has lined up next for you!

5. Skit #2 (prod. GZA)

Oh, for fuck's sake.

6. Crash Your Crew (feat. Ol' Dirty Bastard) (prod. John The Baptist)

Oh, GZA finally decided to give us a song, you say? Why, how kind of him! This was one of the singles released for this project if I'm not mistaken, and it's pretty damn good, even if GZA does throw a shot at journalists somewhere within his long-ass verse. ODB's manic chorus and the triumphant instrumental are the perfect contrast to GZA's more monotone flow, and the structure of this song is also pretty interesting. Nice stuff.

7. Breaker, Breaker (prod. Arabian Knight)

Now, this right here? This has got to be one of the most underrated club bangers in the history of hip-hop music. Arabian Knight's production work on here is simply fantastic, with his pulsating strings and powerful drum beat providing the perfect backdrop for a lead single. Meanwhile, GZA provides a catchy hook and, despite this being a single, some of his most technically intricate bars of the entire evening. I mean, just look at these lyrics: 

"I move bravely, travellin' on a horse
On the battlefield, surrounded by the lost
Of those who plotted with the brains of animals
My high molecular structure be untangible
The name ring a bell, killable two syllable

The Wu is comin' through, the outcome is critical"

Now, if that ain't dope, then I don't know what to tell you.

8. High Price, Small Reward (feat. Masta Killa) (prod. Mathematics)

Stupid song title aside, I found this fairly short track to be pretty great. The intense production provides a nice contrast to the past few tracks, and the team up of GZA and Masta Killa is also easily one of the most logical in the Clan. Hearing the self-proclaimed "Genius" exclaim "What?! Stupid!!" at the end of his verse was highly amusing too. This is an enjoyable cut.

9. Hip Hop Fury (feat. RZA, Hell Raizah, Royal Fam (Timbo King) & Dreddy Kruger) (prod. Arabian Knight)

It seems that GZA saved the most annoying and cheapest sounding instrumental of the evening for this Wu-affiliate posse cut, and when I say "annoying and cheap", I mean it. How the hell did Mathematics produce this and Ghostface's "Mighty Healthy" within the span of one year? That's like Quavo turning into an Andre 3000 rival. Anyway, I don't hate this, but the lyrical ability of most of these guys appears significantly lacking in comparison to GZA, making me wish this had been left for one of those Wu-Tang Killa Beez compilations they did around this time. 

10. Skit #3 (prod. GZA)

Refer to my comments on track 5, only add even more emphasis to it.

11. 1112 (feat. Masta Killa, Killah Priest & Njeri) (prod. RZA)

Seeing as this is the only RZA produced cut of the evening (yeah, he didn't even cover the track he was featured on), most listeners probably had pretty high expectations for it. This instrumental certainly reminds me of Bobby Digital In Stereo, but having GZA, Masta Killa and the actually quite good Njeri Earth rapping over it definitely helps the medicine go down better than if it was Robert himself. This also runs circle after circle around the previous posse cut. Good stuff.

12. Skit #4 (prod. GZA)

Another skit?? Why, GZA, why??? Still, at least this one has correlation with the following track, so I can't fault it on that. Maybe this would be more tolerable if I didn't have to hear another bloody skit two tracks earlier.

13. Victim (feat. Njeri & Joan Davis) (prod. Arabian Knight)

GZA decides to offer up something more in the vein of "Cold World" here, and thankfully the singer he acquires for the hook actually does a pretty great job on it (if there's one thing holding Liquid Swords back from perfection, it's Life's bloody hook on "Cold World"). This track deals with the mindless gang violence that tends to occur in the hood, and GZA's issues with gun control in America (of which there isn't any). The instrumental on this one is bleak and haunting, and both GZA and Njeri do well at addressing this subject. GZA's ending to his verse felt a bit out of place though - "I aimed and blast one shot, and left my name: the GZA". See what I mean? Still, otherwise this is great.

14. Publicity (prod. Mathematics)

Considered as a follow up to Liquid Swords' "Labels", "Publicity" is a one verse wonder where GZA puts as many magazine publisher names into his raps as is possible. The Mathematics instrumental on this one is absolutely brilliant, and GZA's lyrical swords are on full display right here. This is easily one of the best tracks on the album.

15. Feel Like An Enemy (feat. Hell Raizah, Killah Priest, Trigga & Prodical Sun) (prod. Mathematics)

It seems that Gary has popped out of the studio to host the local van driving competition, and so (miserably) the featured guests are left to handle this one all by themselves. While this instrumental is pretty bangin', none of the MCs (including Trigga, of popular sitcom Only Fools & Horses) manage to grab my attention, which, considering what we've heard from them already on here, isn't all that surprising. Still, this definitely could have been worse. 

16. Stringplay (Like This, Like That) (feat. Method Man) (prod. Arabian Knight)

This track was held to a bar almost impossible to reach when this album first came out - being the Meth feature, this was automatically perceived as a follow up to "Shadowboxin'", and when it inevitably failed to reach those lofty expectations, people were not happy, and considered this one of the worst songs on the whole album. However, I actually really enjoy this one. The instrumental is chilled out, bouncy and fun, meanwhile Meth and GZA both destroy this one lyrically, with Meth's "We play for keeps!" gimmick coming across as actually funny rather than ridiculously annoying. Yeah, this is actually pretty damn good.

17. Mic Trippin (prod. Mathematics)

Over an airy and triumphant Mathematics instrumental that actually really fits the vibe of the album cover, GZA drops some bars and knowledge typical of the man by this point. A pretty poignant and smooth way of closing out your album.

18. Outro (feat. LA the Darkman & Royal Fam (Timbo King)) (prod. Arabian Knight)

Oh, but wait! What self respecting rapper would end their album on a song, when you can instead leave with a self-important outro, souring the experience significantly for any listener? Okay, that was harsh - here, the two featured guests do a solid job of rapping over the pretty dark and pulsating beat that we heard in the second half of the intro. I've still got this problem with most outros, though.

If I had been alive back in 1999, and had eagerly anticipated this as a follow-up to Liquid Swords, then yes, I probably would have been a teensy bit disappointed. Does that mean that this album is bad? Hell muthafuckin' no! Beneath the Surface is a fantastic sophomore (well, not actually, but let's forget Words From the Genius for now) release, with a huge offering of great tracks with no truly bad songs in there. Sure, a couple of the instrumentals sound a bit tacky, there's an over abundance of Wu-affiliates, and the skits were really, really not needed, but that's about as far as it goes concerning criticism. GZA's lyrical game remains as potent as it was in the mid '90s when Wu were dominating the planet, and his beat selection is almost consistently fantastic, with both Arabian Knight and Mathematics (among a couple others) making it their mission to give Gary some fantastic backing for his astonishing metaphors and wordplay. GZA thankfully doesn't fall down the "R&B hook" route on this album (that would be saved for the next one), only bringing one singer in, and for a poignant sung chorus that actually fits the vibe of the song it's on. And, thank God, GZA's attempt at a club banger on this record went down a treat, as "Breaker, Breaker" to this day stands as one of my absolute favourite songs by the man. And, despite the 18 tracks we see on the back cover, this thing is less than 50 minutes - take that how you will, I suppose. Anyway, this thing is absolutely worth a listen, and in my opinion it's the second best Wu sophomore release, after Supreme Clientele obviously. There is a lot of value to be found here, and if you can handle skits, then you'll enjoy this a lot. It's a dope album.

Best Tracks: Beneath the Surface, Crash Your Crew, Breaker Breaker, 1112, Victim, Publicity, Stringplay (Like This, Like That)

Worst Tracks: Hip Hop Fury, the goddamned skits

If you would like a bit more GZA to read about, click here, and if you don't really care what Wu member you read about, you just want Wu, then I'll direct ya here (solo stuff) and here (group stuff).