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| tracklisting |
| 1. The Lex Diamond Intro |
| 2. Pit Bull Fights |
| 3. Hitman Salary Skit |
| 4. King Of Kings feat. Havoc |
| 5. Missing Watch feat. Ghostface |
| 6. All Over Again |
| 7. Clientele Kidd feat. Fat Joe, Ghostface |
| 8. Smith Bros. |
| 9. Restaurant Skit |
| 10. Robbery feat. Ice Water Inc. |
| 11. Fuck You Skit |
| 12. Pa-Blow Excablow |
| 13. Musketeers Of Pig Alley feat. Masta Killa, Inspecta Deck |
| 14. Ice Cream Pt. 2 feat. Method Man, Cappadonna |
| 15. The Hood feat. Tiffany Villarreal |
| 16. Wild Chimpanzees Skit |
| 17. Planet Of The Apes feat. Capone, Sheek Louch |
| 18. Wyld In Da Club feat. Ultra, Ice Water Inc. |
| 19. Once Upon A Time feat. Tekitah |
| 20. Lex Diamond Story Outro |
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| Simply due to the indisputable quality of "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx", Raekwon always has a head start. But that gap between him and the competition, has the audience expect another win. However, just like he was saying in "MTV Cribs", when he showed the gym, he's
been slacking. So the competition took over, Rae's running got slower, and his "Immobilarity" was missing a lot of the things that made Rae's debut album so incredible. Thus he lost that one, to people's disappointment. |
| So what to do? Raekwon decided to get back to the state of mind of "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx" for his third album "The Lex Diamond Story". What on paper sounds good, because who wouldn't mind some more of that material. But in reality, life has changed since back
then. The world is a different place right now, and there's nothing as old as yesterday's news. Or yesterday's concepts. With that said, much of this Mafia rhetoric really is played. Everyone's a pimp now. |
| What is the biggest obstacle this album faces. Especially as Raekwon exaggerates the skits like "Wild Chimpanzees Skit" or "Restaurant Skit", where for two minutes we listen to something we'd rather see in a "The Sopranos" episode. At the
same time however, the mostly unknown producers come through with some good, current and very little bland production. Be it Mercury doing something rather fashionable on "All Over Again". "Smith Bros." produced by guys of the same name, is one of the big 70s soul pieces,
there's the minimalist "Pa-blow Escablow" by Zephlon and "Planet Of The Apes" comes hard and dramatic, with Capone and Sheek Louch spitting serious street verses. |
| At the same time, "Musketeers Of Pig Alley" comes somewhat pseudo-retro, and will take some time for you to really get into it. What's further unfortunate, cause Masta Killa and Inspecta Deck are on this track. "Ice Cream Pt. 2" is an insult in the
face of the original, as the weak DJ Khalil beat is just riding a commercial glistening something into disastrous territory. As the title suggest, "Wyld In Da Club" is a blatant attempt to achieve that, with a fishy and artificial aftertaste though. Even though Ultra and Ice Water seem
to have enjoyed their time recording these lyrics. |
| But one thing is quite a good sign for the future of rap. Because on "Missing Watch", Rae' and Ghostface rip over a Mizza beat. But he pretty much ripped off "The Unassisted" by Rasco. What however tells us that major artists start to like to spit over an
underground aesthetic beat. And hey, that's nothing you'll ever hear us complain about. Although this thorough biting should still be a no-no in rap. Nevertheless, the two come through with hard verses, on some "blow him, watch a nigga folding / the bartender got a shot gun in his hand, let off
/ the wheel chair nigga got up and ran". |
| As for the lyrics, we get a lot of drug tales, what in many ways is always an outlook into the options for a Black man. Like when Stumik rhymes on "Robbery": "my niggas told me face it soldier / if rap don't work it's back to the baking soda". But "Pa-Blow
Escablow" is strictly kept on Mafia topic, while a "The Hood" speaks of the pure admiration for the neighborhood, the loved ones and "I love my hood, I love my niggas / there yo, the older we get, we understand you might tear". This was produced by EZ-Elpee, who is
one of the few producers that we're familiar with. And the beat is good too. Tiffany Villarreal also shows how a sung hook should be done, with the anti-good then appearing on "Once Upon A Time" where Tekitah gets to even do a verse. |
| Well, of course this has to be measured with a "Only Built…" ruler. Well, on the one hand. On the other hand, and just taking it for what it is, there's plenty of good on here. Sure the old topics just get, well, old. But Raekwon certainly does a lot of right on here,
just because he sounds hungry, and puts the needed gusto into his verses. And the beats he selected for the album are a well enjoyed move away from the commercial weakness that is cluttering the airwaves nowadays. So in all fairness, "The Lex Diamond Story" surely is no "Only Built…",
but it's light years better than "Immobilarity" and actually for big stretches rather good. |
| review: tadah |
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