Send "Ghostface Killah " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Avclub |
 Ghostface Killah’s mind is a strange, beautiful place. He’s one of rap’s most unpredictable lyricists and most beloved shouting enthusiasts, and he’s just as enigmatic and spontaneous when it comes to putting out albums. More Fish, Wu-Massacre, and last year’s bewildering R&B album Ghostdini: The Wizard Of Poetry seemed to come out of nowhere, as does Ghost’s latest sneak attack, Apollo Kids. The disc’s tightness, cohesion, and quality are even more surprising: Ghostface hasn’t sounded this hungry or focused since Fishscale. “Purified Thoughts” establishes the disc’s sturdy template, with gritty street narratives, soul samples from the ’60s and ’70s for choruses, and titles and guest lyricists (GZA and Killah Priest) hearkening back to early Wu-Tang Clan. At its best, Ghostface’s music is about raw, visceral emotion and unfiltered rage; he doesn’t sound truly engaged unless he appears to be on the verge of a stress-fueled heart attack, as he does throughout Apollo Kids. The guest roster is predictably dominated by Wu-Tang Clan members and affiliates, but Black Thought makes the strongest impression with an explosive blast of Philly-style hood sociology and street-corner history on the stellar back-in-the-day joint “In Tha Park.” Even without that tribute to the early days of hip-hop, Apollo Kids would still boast an ingratiatingly retro feel, as Ghostface returns to the soulful formula that served him so well on The Pretty Toney Album and Fishscale. Ghost never went anywhere, yet Kids feels like a comeback all the same....full text |
| Latimesblogs |
| Whether accidental or intentional comedy, the iTunes tags that accompany Ghostface Killah’s ninth album classify “Apollo Kids” as country music. Of course, Dennis Coles isn’t pulling a Nelly and enlisting Tim McGraw to croon the hook on “Handcuffing Them Ho’s,” but in its rigorous devotion to genre standards, it resembles a triumph from a veteran Nashville musician. With impeccably selected guest spots (The Game, Joell Ortiz, Busta Rhymes, Black Thought, and his Wu-Tang brethren), the Staten Island stick-up kid hews closely to the bloody-nostril boom-bap the Wu-Tang Clan pioneered a decade ago. Lyrically, Ghostface eschews the surreal bent of his second-career zenith “Fishscale” for straightforward boasts about fast cars, fast women and faster blades. Though “Apollo Kids” is light on the sweat-dripping narratives Ghostface staked his reputation on, “Drama” finds Ghostface in “Masterpiece Theatre” mode, sketching crime scenes of guns and grams surrounded by “big jars of haze, Cheech & Chong bongs, Tropicana strawberries and diced bananas.” Album finale “Troublemakers” finds Ironman pairing with Method Man, Raekwon and Redman to play “backgammon in the cabin.” Like the album itself, its intentions are minimal—adamantine beats, colorful raps, and little filler....full text |
| Allmusic |
| Just what the hardcore ordered, Ghostface Killah’s 2010 effort is a return to the grimey soul and stream-of-consciousness street flow of the man’s best work, but without those final touches that made Supreme Clientele or Fishscale masterpieces. Odd artwork and a title that’s stolen from a Supreme Clientele track are the first clues that something is a little off here, and when a Pete Rock production previously used on the 2007 mixtape cut “Chunky” appears here under the title “How You Like Me Baby,” one begins to wonder if Apollo Kids is really a clearing house for homeless cuts, making way for Ghostface’s promised Supreme Clientele 2. Still, that Pete Rock cut is one wicked monster fans should revisit, as the rapper attracts the ladies with examples of his talent and sense of responsibility (“Cats like the way I write/Dressed like a superstar/Take care of family/So I don’t have stupid cars”) along with his craftiness (“Back in my reefer days/Sellin’ you parsley”). The trilogy of “Superstar” (“Blowin’ smoke at the Hookah Bar!”), “Black Tequila” (a spaghetti western sample and then Ghost yelling “Where’s my horse”), and “Drama” (“Had that ass swayin’ like TD Jakes/If you don’t believe it, ask your momma”) is killer, although the Wu-Tang snob might have trouble with the numerous guests artists on these tracks and elsewhere on the album, especially with so many coming from outside the Wu-niverse. Put everything on shuffle and the album has the same impact, and with no skits or interludes to link this short effort, Apollo Kids feels just the slightest bit unfinished. Approach it track by track and accept all the guest artists, and this is a no crossover, no compromise, straight-up victory....full text |
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