{"id":20242,"date":"2025-07-24T10:01:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T10:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/20242\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T10:01:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T10:01:08","slug":"raekwon-the-emperors-new-clothes-album-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/20242\/","title":{"rendered":"Raekwon: The Emperor\u2019s New Clothes Album Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you\u2019re one of rap\u2019s foremost figures, architect of generational lodestars<\/a> and cult classics<\/a> alike, two paths present themselves. You can tack left, chase lightning, seek greater and bolder heights through formal innovation. Or you can revisit past glories, play to your strengths, give the people what they paid for. Save for a few turn-of-the-century hiccups, Raekwon<\/a> has prioritized customer satisfaction. He has one of hip-hop\u2019s (only) great sequels<\/a> to his name, his vivid reinterpretations of well-trod lore continuing on 2011\u2019s Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang<\/a> and 2017\u2019s steely, overachieving The Wild<\/a>. Where Wu<\/a>\u2019s latter-day reunion efforts suffer from thematic and musical disjointedness, the result of too many five-star chefs in the kitchen, Rae\u2019s solo catalog is roomy and flamboyant; a succession of major-label deals guaranteed ready audiences even in lieu of chart-topping hits.<\/p>\n

The Emperor\u2019s New Clothes\u2014the second entry in Mass Appeal\u2019s Legend Has It series<\/a>, a Blue Note-style project commissioning new efforts from rap\u2019s decorated elders\u2014aims to split the difference. It\u2019s the album you\u2019d release in 2006 to prove you\u2019ve still got it, adaptation before rebirth, fingers crossed that Hot 97 slots you into the drivetime playlist. It\u2019s one of those Wu albums that doesn\u2019t feel like a Wu album, brimming with horns and Akai drums. The songs are defined less by sounds or ideas than by their sanded-down edges: plodding beats from Nottz<\/a> and J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, histrionic Marsha Ambrosius hooks, putative passings of the torch.<\/p>\n

Fishscale<\/a> and More Fish<\/a> are the best versions of this record, and they came out when George Pataki was governor; the datedness of Emperor\u2019s New Clothes is compounded by its listlessness. \u201cWild Corsicans\u201d is the main attraction, Rae running the anchor leg on a track with disciples Benny<\/a>, Conway<\/a>, and Westside Gunn<\/a>. It practically goes without saying that Rae could do Griselda<\/a> better than Griselda, but he\u2019s not stepping on toes, and the lackadaisical chipmunk soul does them few favors. On \u201cThe Guy That Plans It,\u201d Rae outlines a chase scene; producer RoadsArt, best known for his work with outer-ring Wu affiliate Hell Razah<\/a>, weaves in dialogue and street noise. It would\u2019ve been the best song on the record, but Rae\u2019s narrative screeches to a halt after a minute, the protagonist shot dead in his tracks.<\/p>\n

The Ghostface<\/a> duet \u201cMac & Lobster,\u201d at least, is fun in a getting-the-band-back-together way. Where Ghost\u2019s voice has been ravaged by incessant touring\u2014those sample-clearance suits<\/a> aren\u2019t going to pay for themselves\u2014Rae sounds virtually unchanged since \u201995. \u201cDebra Night Wine,\u201d on the other hand, is disastrous, an atonal struggle-love ballad suffused with minor-key unease. The song\u2019s nearly half over by the time Rae wanders into the frame, name-checking a melange of cross-streets and jewelry pieces before wandering back out. He can call in favors\u2014Meth<\/a> and Deck<\/a> clock in obligingly\u2014but the cut-rate arrangements lend the air of a work-for-hire, and RZA<\/a> isn\u2019t walking through that door. Rae ought to be lavished or else humbled; he needs more resources, or none at all.<\/p>\n

Structural deficiencies aside, Mass Appeal might\u2019ve workshopped the pitch a bit further. For all the fanfare around Legend Has It, Raekwon\u2019s eighth album isn\u2019t the same draw as a Slick Rick comeback<\/a> in 2025. Wu loyalists have already shelled out for a stitched-together reunion effort<\/a> and farewell tour<\/a> this year; The Emperor\u2019s New Clothes never makes a case for itself. (There was some palace intrigue when Ghost tried to release The Big Doe Rehab<\/a> on the same day as 8 Diagrams<\/a>, but this is a saturated market.) Rae\u2019s previous outing, The Wild, was expansive and expensive, an insistent declaration that Rae wasn\u2019t quite ready for the nostalgia circuit. He can book a nightclub tour and run the purple tape whenever he likes\u2014surely there are a few untapped chambers left to explore.<\/p>\n

All products featured on Pitchfork are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.<\/p>\n

\"Raekwon:<\/a><\/p>\n

Raekwon: The Emperor\u2019s New Clothes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When you\u2019re one of rap\u2019s foremost figures, architect of generational lodestars and cult classics alike, two paths present…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20243,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[342,49,48,75,341,343],"class_list":["post-20242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-albums","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-web"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}