Bulletproof Wallets

Sound DNA

• Hip-Hop
• East Coast

• soulful
• swaggering
• urban

About

One thing to consider when listening to <i>Bulletproof Wallets</i> is that it came out about a month before what would be Wu-Tang Clan’s last album for six years (2001’s <i>Iron Flag</i>). The allegiance was fraying, the tensions rising, and the image of the group giving way to something that looked more like a heavily negotiated trade agreement than a creative brotherhood, complete with nitpicky grievances and the sense that the parties involved didn’t support so much as tolerate each other. <i>Ironman</i> was a landmark and <i>Supreme Clientele</i> even more radical, but <i>Bulletproof Wallets</i> was lower-key. Three years after Ol’ Dirty Bastard had gotten onstage at the Grammys and offered his expert opinion that Puffy was good but Wu-Tang was the best, you could hear Ghostface adapting to the cultural shift toward the hip-hop/R&B hybrids that in the next few years would become the norm, if they weren’t the norm already (“Never Be the Same Again,” “Flowers”). He still told crime stories (the Raekwon-featuring “The Hilton”), but he also played around more earnestly with singing (“Ghost Showers”), slow jams (“Love Session”), and the kind of rap-for-rap’s-sake that would’ve put a smile on the face of grown folks raised on Slick Rick or Run-DMC (“The Forest”)—all modes he explored further on 2004’s <i>The Pretty Toney Album</i>. In a way, it was fitting: With Wu transitioning out of the cultural spotlight, the low-stakes idiosyncrasy of <i>Bulletproof Wallets</i> pointed a way forward, putting Ghost in the company of singular, fan-favorite rappers like MF Doom and Kool Keith. “Excuse me if I’m horny/No doubt, I might knock the beat up,” he raps on “Ghost Showers.” Now in his thirties, he knows how to beg your pardon.

via Apple Music

Tracklist

Credits