Send "Raekwon " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
Victory splits its time between fellow New York vets (Mobb Deep, Busta Rhymes, C.L. Smooth) and relative newbies (Fred Da Godson, Chicago's L.E.P. Bogus Boys), and holds to a fairly tight-knit stable of guest rappers and producers (Sauce Money, Scram Jones) eager to cook up a slinkier take on post-RZA muck at the Chef's behest. Flossy, almost Rossian widescreeners "Just a Toast" and "Luxury Rap", the sinewy, stretched-out soul of "Silk" and the Just Blaze-nodding "MTV Cribs" bring a little light to the proceedings, but the sound here mostly hangs out in the dank realm Rae's been favoring forever. Victory's greatest flaw is its wildly varying fidelity; listening, you'll have to get up every few minutes to work the volume knob, and even then, you may not be able to make out everything that's going on in, say, the hissy "The Brewery". Still, on a tape that could use a few more outliers, skits, practical jokes, something, this little bit of audience participation works wonders for engagement; you'd probably never hear Ceazar-n-Reason's lackluster "Brewery" verses if you didn't have to crank the song so loud to hear Raekwon at all. Couple that with the incongruous appearance of young Altrina Renee's post-Aaliyah/"E-Mail My Heart" lunger "Facetime", and you've got less mixtape, more data-dump: an anything-goes, congruity-be-damned assortment of whatever was lying around at the time....full text |
| Consequenceofsound |
| Raekwon has been a busy (Wu-Tang Killa) bee over the past three years. The man was right there every step of the way for the 2010 Kanye uprising; he put out the impeccable sequel to the gangsta rap staple Only Built For Cuban Linx; appeared on Wu-Massacre, the joint album between himself, Ghostface Killah, and Method Man; and put out a solid effort in this year’s Shaolin v. Wu-Tang. On top of this immense output (both in quality and quantity), he’s been touring with and without his Wu clansmen. So, given his success over the past few years, one would think that a mixtape from The Chef is going to be next level. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Not even slightly. Unexpected Victory lacks any focus or direction whatsoever. And that’s to be expected (no pun intended): Surely we can’t begrudge a mixtape for lacking direction– that’s what mixtapes are for. Historically speaking, for established artists, a mixtape is a place to experiment with some verses the MC has been working with, some beats they don’t think are exactly up to snuff with album material, and a bevy of featured up-and-coming artists that the MC has deemed worthy of some airtime. A mixtape is a place to experiment with ideas you have for a forthcoming studio album. So essentially, Raekwon hit all the main points of the historical definition of a mixtape. But mixtapes have taken a new shape in the past few years. The mixtape means something much different in the age of information. It’s become the main platform for up-and-coming artists to showcase what they’ve got in the chamber. And in all reality, a vast majority of these mixtapes really could or should have been full-length LPs (LiveLoveA$AP, Cold Day In Hell, Return of 4eva, etc.), but that’s just not the way it’s unfolded. For established artists, it’s a way to play around with ideas. These days, for an artist with as much prestige as Raekwon, using the word “mixtape” essentially means that the listener should expect a whole lot less than they would have received from a studio effort, although usually with a few guaranteed gems in there somewhere. Rick Ross, Lil’ Wayne, and (no joke) 50 Cent have been consistent with this formula over the past half decade. Some of their best rhymes lie hidden deep in the massive, messy tracklists of their mixtapes. Even T.I.’s latest offering, Fuck Da City Up, was as solid as can be. I wish I could say the same for Raekwon in this instance....full text |
| Hiphopdx |
| On Raekwon’s latest offering, "UnExpected Victory," “A Pinebox Story” is the lone true solo joint. 9th Wonder works up a wondrously alluring concoction of soul samples and spotless snares because that’s what 9th Wonder does. The Chef appropriately soils it immediately with a grimy, IMAX-ready crime tale seemingly without exposition; seemingly too gritty for such a pristine soundscape because that’s what The Chef does. “Swollen eyes / His face was pulverized,” raps Raekwon. / Tryna be a hustler / 2 ounces / He wanna mobilize / Dumb dummy.” You can almost smell the beat down through the Bose speakers. It’s that detailed. It’s that quintessential on all fronts. And on this project, it’s the joint that fist-pumps loudest as if to exclaim, “Yes, Yes, this is a Raekwon release!” In essence, "UnExpected Victory" is a cross-generational collaboration project. The remaining 15 crew love-smothered tracks (excluding “Intro’s” opening instrumental) is ultimately the unexpected victory. Where Rae, CL Smooth, and Sauce Money take hustling to the next level on the Scram Jones-produced “Silk” - a place where warlords are determined by their quest for peace and bookkeepers are within arm’s reach - “Chupa Cabra” (featuring Capone-N-Noreaga) revels in rollicking international drug trafficking. Where Rae and Mobb Deep drop mafioso braggadocio on “Chinese Marines,” Rae and Busta Rhymes play lyrical tour guides on the appropriately entitled “MTV Cribs” (produced by Vin Da Chin). “Shoes forbidden in the crib / Especially on my Alaskan polar bear rugs,” Bus raps in a raucous Robin Leach flow....full text |
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