GZA/Genius - Liquid Swords

After 12 years is GZA's second album still the best Wu solo album? Rolling the 8-ball all signs point to yes.

GZA has probably been the most consistent (sure Ghostface Killah as well and probably RZA) Wu-Tang solo artist, as well as being one of the most lyrically talented.
Looking at the cover (designed by DC comic artist Klaus Jansen) you can expect a lot of martial arts movie samples and chess/intellectual double meanings.

Twelve years later it still sounds haunting thanks to RZA's menacing beats.
The intro is probably one of the best and creepiest I have ever heard, using a sample being read by a pre-school boy from the movie Shogun Assassin (Lone Wolf and Cub series)

When I was little, my father was famous. He was the greatest samurai in the empire and he was the shogun's decapitator. He cut of the heads of 131 lords. It was a bad time for the empire. The shogun just stayed inside his castle and he never came out. People said his brain was infected by devils. My father would come home. He would forget about the killings. He wasn't scared of the shogun, but the shogun was scared of him. Maybe that was the problem. Then one night, the shogun sent his ninja spies to our house. They were supposed to kill my father, but they didn't. That was the night everything changed...

The rest of the album continues with martial arts samples, raw beats and full of GZA wordplay. The wordplay is most evident on the track 'Labels' where he strings together various record labels into an intricate rhyme.

Overall, the beats, erie samples and clever lyrics make this an age old classic who is even remotely interested in the Wu-Tang clan.

Track Listing

1. Liquid Swords

2. Duel Of The Iron Mic

3. Living In The World Today

4. Gold

5. Cold World

6. Labels

7. 4th Chamber

8. Shadowboxin'

9. Hell's Wind Staff/Killa Hills 10304

10. Investigative Reports

11. Swordsman

12. I Gotcha Back

13. B.I.B.L.E.
Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth