999,989: Ghostface Killah – Shakey Dog

Line for line, rap is pretty easy. Think of something insulting you can say about a hypothetical inferior rapper, divide it into two lines, then make the lines rhyme. Rinse, rap, repeat for three minutes, and you’re done. Even the wackest MC can spew out battle couplets all day, which is why there are so many mediocre rappers out there. Above average rappers, on the other hand, either find a new, distinct voice with which to insult the hypothetical inferior rapper, or they find a way to tell a story, a real story. A story that rhymes and still sound good. Ghostface, who always seemed to be the hungriest Wu Tang member, excels at this, whether he’s railing against an unfaithful former girlfriend (see Wildflower from the classic Ironman album), or here telling the tense story of a coke fueled heist gone terribly, terribly wrong. Ghostface’s delivery is on point as usual, but it’s the details that put this track over the top. The Cuban "maricons" the guys try to rob are “on the couch watching Sanford & Son, passing their rum, fried plantains and rice, big round onions on the T Bone steak...” But of course there’s no steak for hungry Ghostface. His “stomach’s growling ‘yo, I want some.’” Which makes sense. If he could afford t-bone steaks, he wouldn’t be trying to steal cocaine from heavily armed Cubans. Ghostface’s trademark edgy staccato flow punches holes in the blaxploitation soundtrack strings as he tells the story (which rhymes, by the way).

Shakey Dog - Ghostface Killah