Ghostface Killah’s third release in two years, The Big Doe Rehab, proves that he’s quite the prolific rapper, but does little to silence the cries of inconsistency that have plagued him since his breakthrough Supreme Clientele. With its lack of innovation and absence of any true standout tracks, The Big Doe Rehab doesn’t live up to its colossal expectations as the follow-up to 2006’s excellent Fishscale.
The album opens with a hilarious skit featuring Latin music and Ghostface commandeering a woman from her husband despite his protests. It and the reprise at the end are the only skits, consistent with the recent—and welcome—move toward skit-free hip-hop albums. Part of what has traditionally made Ghostface an intriguing rapper, though, is his general lack of interest in following popular trends. But by enlisting P. Diddy’s production cronies the Hitmen, who were responsible for much of Jay-Z’s American Gangster, that’s exactly what he’s done here.
Employing smooth, polished samples that lack the hazy, scratchy, mock-vinyl sound of Ghostface’s best, the Hitmen’s beats are too simple and unadventurous to adequately accompany Ghostface’s vivid yet often inane rhymes. But even his usual unpredictability is sometimes lacking here, especially on the abysmal “We Celebrate.” Dropping lines about partying “like his squad won the Super Bowl” and “like it’s New Years Eve, y’all,” Ghost uncharacteristically ventures into cliché. It almost seems like he raps worse to play down to his weak production.
Unfortunately, even when Ghostface is in top form, the slick production is so ill-suited to his style that songs like “Supa GFK” and “I’ll Die For You” don’t impress. Thankfully, once in a while everything clicks—“Yolanda’s House,” “Walk Around” and “Shakey Dog Featuring Lolita” all measure up to the stuff on Fishscale—but those moments are too few for a rapper who has shown that he can be electric from song to song. And even the few impressive tracks aren’t in the same league as Ghostface’s best-ever songs like “One,” “The Champ” and “Camay.”
Here’s to hoping Ghostface goes back to producers better suited to his style (MF Doom and RZA’s disciples, for the most part) and rebounds with his next effort.
