GHOSTFACE KILLAH
More Fish
Def Jam

Potential holiday-season throwaway has surprises

No reason to expect much of this hastily assembled holiday product, which began with outtakes from the Wu-man's other 2006 album, Fishscale--except that the current century has proven Ghostface the most irrepressible rapper of his generation, with the obvious exception of his label president. This lacks Fishscale's intensity and focus, and Ghost's Theodore Unit helpers will never be Clansmen, although the possessed-everyman grit of the beleaguered soldier on "Grew Up Hard" suggests that Trife Da God has learned something from Forest Whitaker. Of fifteen tracks, however, only the crassly sexist "Greedy Bitches" is devoid of charm. MF Doom leads an underground-leaning production corps; Ghost's unhinged storytelling dovetails early with his mock mythopoeia on "Gunz N Razors" and late with his smooth flow on "Alex," where he casually exports his crime-time boasting to Hollywood: "I'm gonna get ten mill and blow it on the independent market." You also have to love the way he leaves Shaolin behind in the crap game gone wrong of "Outta Town Shit": "Today in downtown Minnesota/A tragic shootout occurred at 5:34 a.m."

Rolling Stone, Dec. 28, 2006