The thing that sets
Ghostface Killah apart from the rest of his
Wu-Tang contemporaries is the amazing versatility he's shown over the years. He's not touting deodorant or making movies, and he most definitely isn't performing surrealist hijinks like
Ol' Dirty. What
Ghostface has quietly done over the past decade is establish himself as the most mature, suave member of
the Wu-Tang Clan.
Shaolin's Finest captures the finest moments from his MC solo releases, and the results are nothing short of impressive. Granted, he tackles all of the topics familiar to most rap connoisseurs, but the production of
RZA and other
Wu-Tang producers makes
Ghostface still retain a distinctive quality that separates him from his group. The centerpiece of the album is easily the achingly beautiful yet horrifyingly real "All That I Got Is You." It's such a shocking portrait of inner-city poverty, written so amazingly clearly and vividly, that it could melt the hearts of the hardest people. An extremely thorough compilation and an impressive survey of the most underrated lyricist in the
Wu-Tang roster. ~ Rob Theakston