This album sounds like more of a celebration than a true Wu-Tang release.  By shedding weight (i.e. the other members of Wu that aren’t prolific rappers anymore) and basking in their recent successes (tracks from OBFCL2 and the insanely brilliant “Yolanda’s House” from Ghost’s The Big Doe Rehab), the three have made a lo-fi return to their old-school styles.  this sounds more like a throwback than a step forward, but that’s not necessarily a criticism. In fact, the franchise has needed a full reprisal for some time.  It’s clear, too, that that cannot come from RZA’s beats alone.

All three drop nasty verses, silly lines and overall non-mechanical flows.  They enjoy working together more than drifting apart, to be certain (yes, I know they recorded shit separately).  This aura shines through the most: the energy and swagger is different than a normal recording session.  Meth, Ghost and Rae have a fun and stirring chemistry that was missing on 8 Diagrams or solo albums.  It’s all of them for all of us, and I’m excited to hear it more.  Expect a full review within a week to ten days.  The album drops today.

10 Listens Approval Rating: 100%

Fittingly, I’m doing this review weeks after one of the best albums of 2009 dropped. Why is that fitting? Because it should have come out two years ago. It should have been the one of the best albums of 2007. And 2008. It should have been Rae’s introduction to Dre’s “Aftermath” label and the latest reason Detox didn’t drop. It should have been Fishscale before Fishscale. But it wasn’t any of those things, and I am happy it wasn’t. Under these auspicious circumstances, OBFCL2 started out on an impatient, “has-to-be-great” level; if this album failed, Raekwon as a solo artist would truly be a one-album rapper and better left to the devices of the days of “Can It Be Tat It Was All So Simple” and “Ice Cream.”  The first listen was the most crucial and the first listen was pretty spectacular. I noticed right away that the album was geared for the old-school Wu fan.  I am that fan and I loved it.

Having said this, there are flaws. Listening a few times, I noticed that the order of the tracks is skewed and weird. “Cold Outside” is a momentum killer despite it being stellar. Papa Wu’s diatribe at the beginning is long-winded and needless, despite being a continuation of the first Linx. It seems, actually, that the only tracks that seem right in their place are the final track (and my favorite) “Kiss The Ring” and the first real song “House of Flying Daggers.” In fact, in the case of the latter, Inspectah Deck announces his return to the rap world from being completely irrelevant for awhile. Reminders of “Triumph” resonate throughout the track– Inspectah Deck leading off, Method Man in classic form, Rae smoothly spitting an underrated flow that destroys while lulling you to into a laid-back mind frame.

Other faults: RZA’s horrific sound and flow on his own track “Black Mozart,” the lack of Blu Eaglez (a leaked track in 2007 that should have been the best song on this album). And that’s it. The rest of the album does exactly what you want it to. “Pyrex Vision” is a perfect little gem from Marley Marl, following Pete Rock’s brilliantly produced “Sonny’s Death.” “Gihad” has Ghost getting so raw that I can’t decide whether to praise him or throw up from details about his, uh, just listen to it. “Ason Jones” is the only, to date, tribute to ODB that isn’t especially cheesy or, for lack of better words, fake. I’m not saying Wu-Tang doesn’t miss the dude, but “Ason Jones” smashes anything else. Raekwon was meant to give the eulogy– he is the wisest member of Wu and the reason half of their songs stay together as well as they do. And, to be sure, this is the eulogy Dirt deserved. Not anything from 8 Diagrams or any of the samples of him talking in the middle of semi-crying production work. It’s Dilla in the background of ODB’s eulogy, making a doubly-amazing event and Raekwon stands back and lets Dirt ride out the track.

If anything, that sums up the album: the fact that J Dilla, Erick Sermon, Dr. Dre, RZA, Pete Rock and Allah Mathematics all dropped amazing beats is one thing, but the fact that they switched their styles to fit Rae’s golden throat, his sly style, his mock-tough smoothness; it speaks volumes. Yet Rae steps back and allows the album to build and recede. “New Wu” is the identity of OBFCL2. Rae getting his people in order before a major job to RZA’s best beat in years is a sign of the times and him allowing Meth his best verses (other than on Ghost’s Yolanda’s House) in years is a hopeful sign, to be sure.

As RZA dropped his people in favor of outlandish projects and strange affinities for terrible guitars and female singers who couldn’t sing, Wu’s solo projects suffered for awhile. But the rebirth has seemingly reached its apex– Cuban Linx 2 being the paragon; the hilt– from the beginning of the resurgence with Ghost’s 2004-released Pretty Toney Album. There’s an urgency, a real anger that anyone would have ever doubted Raekwon, even after being dropped by Dre, even after 8 Diagrams being a failure in every way, even after “Immobilarity” and “Lex Diamond” being lackluster and boring, even after Ghost became the only viable member for two years, even after all the dust settled and there was no album to speak of until now, more than two years later. Above all of it, Raekwon sat and stared at the rap world and decided it was the old fans that had it right all along. Like a zen koan– if nothing does not exist, then it does not. But when it does, it is something.

The thing is, Only Built for Cuban Linx 2 is something else. And it was worth a whole lot of nothing.