Fishscale was touted as Ghostface's return to form, the best since Supreme Clientele, a fact Ghost seemed to anticipate with the build up to The Champ 'you ain't been this hungry since Supreme Clientele'. In fact Ghost hadn't gone far wrong since 2000, also the year of the Wu's comeback, Gravel Pit etc.
Bulletproof Wallets had been hampered by sample clearance issues, and left a trail of unincluded gems.The Pretty Tony Album was great; Ghost, as always could be heard guesting on other acts material, often as the highlight of a R&B single or a Masta Killa, MF Doom LP spot.
Despite this Fishscale promised a return of classic hard boiled crime narratives with the renowned detail, complex slang and metaphors that take many listens to decipher, and even more intangible Raekwon tag team bouts. Fishscale gave us all this, and also productions from Pete Rock, MF Doom, J Dilla and Just Blaze that make the album diverse with experimental, soulful and anthemic points intertwined. What the album lacks is any RZA productions, Ghost's relationship with RZA seemed at a low point in 2006, with negative comments over the production of 8 Diagrams, the Wu album at that time.
Ghost also presents himself as the Alan Sugar of rap on this one, and very little of the untrammeled emotion and grown man weaknesses developed previously show on this, however Ghost still raps with an intensity that can put a lump in your throat at the most unlikely moments, with what may seem nonsensical raps Ghost can turn a phrase, or drop a line beyond the grasp of other rappers.
Fishscale is slang for uncut cocaine, and Ghost begins with the tale of a botched heist. The opening of an album this rugged and raw has to be big, and Ghost doesn't disappoint, immediately dropping us into a scenario you can imagine like a Tarrantino script; 'whip smellin' like fish from 125th, throwin' ketchup on my thighs, hitting baseball spliffs, back seat with my leg all stiff, 'push the fuckin seat up', tartar sauce on my S Dot kicks'. The detail of the 77 year old lady is also priceless.
Raekwon makes his first appearance on second track Kilos. Years before Breaking Bad this track breaks down the cocaine trade as 'professors at war over raw, killing partners for a million dollars'. The Champ is a Just Blaze anthem interspersed with Rocky 3 samples (Clubber Lang), and is full on, high octane fighting talk. 9 Milli Bros is a full Wu-Tang collabo, over MF Doom's Fenugreek fragrance, and an obvious highlight. Ghost and Cappadonna win this one though, Ghost with his 'Y'all be nice to the crackheads' opening, and Cappa AKA The Cab Driver (who at this stage 10 years post Ironman, was actually driving cabs!), who will 'drop you off in the middle of fire, dirty island, drag bodies to the murderland', oh, it's alright Capp, I'll walk to Shaolin.
Beauty Jackson follows with a J Dilla beat from Donuts, the subject matter is funny and very MF Doom like, perhaps showing that Ghost had been listening closely to Dooms narratives. This is like the Viktor Vaughn track Let Me Watch where he horribly misjudges a relationship with a woman, who he falls for, and who could be good for his flawed character. Admissions of weakness are a rarity in hip-hop, but can be glimpsed through these tracks if listened closely. In Beauty Jackson, Ghost similarly meets a woman he likes, then just as things seem to be going well, Ghost drops a gun from his pocket... Ghost watch your biscuit.
Crack Spot follows, with it's reminiscence of a scene featuring Raekwon and Ol' Dirty, a guy collapses and hits his head badly at Ghost's house after taking some very potent cocaine, then the door knocks, the Wu have been caning it for days and paranoid visions of who could be at the door bother Ghost, 'cause I spazzed out, rolled up in the stash house and barked on Justin'. The man at the door is Crime, who has come to sell knock off electrical goods, hilarity ensues.
R.A.G.U. (an acronym for Rae and Ghost united, and the title of a album that never came) is a Pete Rock soulful banger, with Rae and Ghost at their conversational best, just two verses about a difficult to manage young gangster, the only reason Rae didn't smoke him, is he was Ghost's family, Ghost's response - fuck him.
Whip You With A Strap is another J Dilla Donut, that is widely assumed to be a straightforward, kids aren't punished enough these days lecture, however with Ghost recounting several severe beatings he received as a youngster, describing welts leaking from his legs at school, over such crimes at wetting himself, and a plaintive vocal, I feel that the feelings behind this song are more complex than Ghost is letting on.
Back Like That was the big hit with Ne-Yo. I never felt that it fitted well on Fishscale, although wouldn't want to deny Ghost the big hit. Also, the jealous tirades and hypocritical sentiment in this song, culturally I just overlook, skip.
Be Easy was a more fitting single choice another Pet Rock bounce, and a chorus!
Clipse of DOOM is perhaps the album highlight, using Trife from Ghostface's pet project Theodore Unit, they take bragging into realms of hyper-real bone-crunching fantasy. 'Blow a hockey puck hole in the back of your spine, she put two cut up mirrors in the place of your eyes, so when the cops look they see themselves, they all gonna die' and 'it's a tale of pimps and thugs, crips and bloods, get your face bashed in on the concrete rug'.
Jellyfish is the third of four Doom productions. Dogs of War is a Sly sampling posse cut with wah wah licks, featuring Sun God (Ghost's son). Big Girl follows, with Ghost rapping over an unaltered 70's soul tune, a style started on Holla from Pretty Tony, this time it's You're a Big Girl Now from the Stylistics, Ghost mixes rampant misogyny and an uplifting message to all ghetto women as only he can.
Underwater is Doom's Orange Blossom, and one of the strangest tracks, seemingly a deep sea fantasy including bizarre lyrics like, 'I saw Spongebob in the Bentley Coupe, bangin the Isleys', it ends with a pro Islam message, as if Ghost dreamt up an underwater Wizard of Oz fable, where Allah ruled the emerald castle.
Momma may seem initially unpromising as the list of momma songs in hip hop and reggae grows long and syrupy, Ghost however chokes you, as he opens the track in that tone of voice with, 'it's not ya mommas fault, it's ya father's fault, it's ya fathers fault your mother is an alcoholic', and you're away, gutted with Ghost. File this one with Tearz, All That I Got Is You, Impossible and I Can't Go To Sleep. This is how the album should end, instead we get a retrofitted Biggie collab, skip.
Fishscale was so critically and commercially successful that Def Jam wanted a quick follow up, amazingly Ghost delivered with More Fish, which deserves to be heard as a companion piece to Fishscale, with some tracks at least as good and some better than the preceding release. Ghost uses this album to showcase his Theodore unit and gives them some tracks alone, which they seem to want to use by rapping about poker!
Worthy of mention on More Fish is the opening Ghost is Back, starting in a celebratory mood after Fishscale at a NYE party, a triumphant fast paced Ghost boast riding Rakim's On The Ledge beat.
Gunz N Razors rides a Doom beat with murderous rhymes on a posse cut. Blood Red is a psychedelic Madlib production with Ghost at his most deranged 'Cuz if Lil' Jon can ice his cup, I top that shit and ice my nuts'.
Greedy Bitches is a risible sexist comedy, memorable for me due to his ATP appearance of that year with full Theodore Unit in tow, when he had a stage full of female indie types dancing to, 'greedy bitches, the hoes ate the orioles'. In fact it was a delight to have Ghost's team at ATP, they spent the weekend among the crowd, hustling CD-R's and having a good time, I brought five, when I got home only one worked, I was robbed by Ghostface Killah.
Alex (Stolen Script) is a real hidden classic, in the boneyard of a follow up album, Ghost feels free to experiment with this track concerning getting a film script stolen by a different type of criminal, this is told over one of Doom's thumping stuttering productions, and is the kind of thing that still gets hip hop fans in a sweat about possible full length collaborations six years later.
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