Raekwon - The Lex Diamond Story
MusicMash Rating: not rated yet
Pitchfork Media Rating: 6.8
After 1999's lackluster Immobilarity, Raekwon's third and latest full-length has a lot of making up
to do. However, the lack of name producers (one of the record's contributors disparagingly calls himself
Crummie Beats) and the absence of RZA from the album credits seemingly dooms The Lex Diamond Story
to mediocrity from the start. Good news, though: Raekwon thankfully swerves around the R&B flavored
synth-hop of his last outing here and, surprisingly, stumbles onto his own proverbial Stillmatic,
a rather self-conscious and haphazardly successful attempt at recreating the sprawling criminology-laden
glory of his landmark 1995 debut, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx.
The album fittingly opens with a lackluster intro that tears a page from the RZA handbook to laughable
effect: As a rainstorm pours in the background, we're treated to the poorly recited "legend" of Lex
Diamond (Raek's ill-advised some-time alias here). Fortunately, the rolling, percussive barrage of
"Pit Bull Fights" quickly kicks in, and Rae shocks the world with a classically inspired verse. The
nostalgic album highlight "All Over Again" fares even better: Over a Kanye West-derived production of
chipmunk-soul vocals, choppy percussion, and gushing strings from newcomer Mercury, Raekwon reminisces
of his early days with The Wu: "The Clan were one of the greatest/ We did platinum back in '93/ We was
living who y'all trying to be/ RZA had a vision/ Instead of cooking coke in the kitchen/ He told the god
hit the booth and start spittin'."
Furthermore, on "Missing Watch", Raekwon and Ghostface recreate the classic chemistry they shared on much
of Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. Even conceptually the track is brilliant; what could be more suited
for a unselfconsciously ostentatious guy like Ghostface, the kind of guy who actually walks around wearing
a gigantic gold-plated hawk on his arm, than a song about losing your watch that "costs about a mansion"
while out in a club? Over a wailing electric guitars, Rae and Ghost frantically jar, "DJ turn the fucking
music off/ We got announcers we want ya/ To listen clear/ We just lost about a mansion in here/ If we don't
get it back it's gonna be a problem/ Ain't nobody leaving alive until we find it!"
Unfortunately, those are just about the only highlights within this glut of pseudo-commercial, RZA-lite
sonics. "Ice Cream Pt. 2" features forgettable cameos from Method Man and Cappadonna, and an instrumental
so unnecessarily syrupy that I was worried any minute Mariah Carey might break out on the track's hook;
it's so awful, I even had to remind myself I enjoyed the original. "Robbery" is a shameful posse cut,
where Ice Water Inc. (Raekwon's new crew) spits inspired rhymes like, "'Cause like the...
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