So I’m finally out of my post-Bonnaroo funk, where literally the only thing that could make me feel was Bruce Springsteen and excerpts from St. Vincent’s Actor, and I find out that Ghostface Killah, without question one of the greatest rappers walking the planet today, has a new album coming out towards the end of September. It’s called Wizard of Poetry, which, I guess, explains the Wu-Tang-meets-Wizard-of-Oz album cover:
And then, once I’m done clicking around the internet, I find that the first single, “Baby,” has already leaked. Color me excited, right? I click the YouTube link…and then am smacked in the face by 100 tons of overwrought Auto-Tune. I don’t know if anybody has put a finger on my musical tastes yet, what with the zero music-related posts this year, but I hate Auto-Tune. Not only does it smack of laziness, but it seems like a tool that’s hell bent in obscuring the fact that whoever wrote the song didn’t do a very good job of it. Point in fact: This song is an absolute trainwreck; hardly worth being appended to an album as bonus material, let alone as a lead single.
I get that this is Ghostface’s attempt at R&B, and his hazy, half-baked come-ons are effective, as they usually are. I guess I don’t mind the sample, but it smacks of mid-1990’s commercial stuff. It doesn’t dig at you and it doesn’t go anywhere. A sweet nothing. It and Ghostface just don’t go together. The chorus is where things really fall apart, Auto-Tune working overtime to obscure that DeVaughn isn’t saying anything. I imagine that a woman, when faced with a line like “What a joy we’ve made/from the love we made. Yeah. Yeah.” wouldn’t know whether to smile politely and move the conversation along or roll her eyes full stop. There was more romance when Ghostface rhymed that he wasn’t looking for love in “We Celebrate.” At least then he was being honest.
