Bulletproof Wallets

AMG Review of Bulletproof Wallets

John Bush
All Music Guide

Sprucing up the scratchy soul samples of his sophomore Supreme Clientele into a relatively pristine mainstream gloss, Ghostface Killah also, unfortunately, removed much of the flair from the most distinctive sound in the Wu-Tang camp. And fans looking for the genuine pain and emotion of his standout, "Hollow Bones" (from Wu-Tang's The W), won't be rewarded, either. Bulletproof Wallets is basically a party album, at least compared to the usual Wu-Tang gloom and doom, featuring smooth, omantic R&B tracks like the single "Never Be the Same Again" (with Carl Thomas & Raekwon) and "Love Session." One of the few highlights is the opener, "Maxine," an inner-city nightmare given heavy menace by Ghostface's tight rapping and an excellent one-note-horns production. From there, Bulletproof Wallets heads south, with a few oddball interludes (usually /p>

ursery rhymes substituting weed references) and smooth or stale productions from Wu associates RZA (five songs total), Alchemist, Allah Mathematics, and Ghostface himself. (Listeners should also beware of the back-cover track listing, which is completely wrong.)