GFK - Bulletproof Wallets [original version]
01 - The Sun (feat. Raekwon, Slick Rick & The RZA)
A great way to start the album with where Ghost, Rae and the great veteran Slick Rick trades meaningful and uplifting verses praising the sun and it's shine. This takes place over a beautiful musical backdrop courtesy of The RZA (who also closes the song with 2 bars). The intro of the track with the Good Morning shouts get your mind open for the experience that is (or originally was) Bulletproof Wallets. [5/5]
02 - Never Be The Same Again (feat. Raekwon & Carl Thomas)
This is one of Ghostface's smoothest joints to date and is a harmless R&B-flirt featuring crooning vocals from Bad Boy's Carl Thomas. When following The Sun (which also is a pretty laid-back song) it doesn't fuck up the flow of the album and is much more acceptable than it was on the retail, especially since Ghost drops great verses. He spit some lines you wouldn't expect to hear from a star-rapper these days, telling about his baby moms cheating on him and asking her why ("bigger dick I don't know, must have been the dough"). [3.5/5]
03 - The Forest (feat. Raekwon)
The Forest is vintage Ghost gone-wild shit, painting vivid pictures of cartoon characters placed in the hood. There are so many brilliant lines on here that, still to this day, makes me laugh every time I hear them like "what great big teeth you have?/ MOTHERFUCKER, you gotta look at all the beef you have" and "Pippi Longstocking had it poppin". This version also has the hilarious chorus by Ghost singing bout guns and wally's which makes Rae's sung intro fit better. [5/5]
04 - Theodore (feat. Trife & Twiz)
The first Theodore Unit song on wax has a really simplistic beat provided by Allah Mathematics that have alot of old school flavor to it. Suprisingly (at the time) both guest MC's manages to spit good verses with a couple of memorable lines, especially Trife comes correct with the flow as well. It's no suprise that it's Ghostface that steals the show though. [3.5/5]
05 - Interlude 1 (feat. Raekwon)
This little intermissiong is sort of a sequel to the "Shark Niggaz" skit on Cuban Linx although it's not nearly as rugged.
06 - Flowers (feat. Raekwon, Method Man & Superb)
The vibe on this original mix is really smooth and full of energy at the same time, the RZA-production is heavily driven by a disorted and somewhat broken-sounding bass. Method Man drops an amazing verse that totally steals the show, providing raw energy ("i'm what you get when the henny and the absolute mix; ULTIMATE ULTIMATE") for Ghost and Rae to build from. Superbs little 4-bars intermission ain't exactly what you would call dope although the lines are pretty funny. [4.5/5]
07 - Ghost Showers (feat. Madame Majestic)
The weakest spot on the album has a catchy bounce-type beat where Ghost flips the R&B-classic "Sunshowers". It comes of too cheesy and fails to deliver where it's prequel ("CherChez LaGhost") suceeded at, not to say that it's totally wack though - it works as a decent party joint. [3/5]
08 - Maxine (feat. Raekwon)
RZA delivers a different type of Wu-banga with this one, the energy are the same as we're used to, but the vibe he's striving for is more close to the blaxplotation flix of the '70s. Rae and Ghost picks up on that sound and delivers an extremely entertaining hood-saga of two crack-fiend mothers trying to screw a drug-boss.It's full of the usual slang-words we usually get from the two brothers but the story comes of cristal clear, it's like watching a great movie. Definitely a classic joint. [5/5]
The Watch (feat. Raekwon)
Another original theme where Ghost gets caught up in a heated discussion with his watch who keeps telling him that he fell off and lost his rep. It gets confusing that Ghost plays the watch in the first verse, but then it switches to Raekwon in the second - nevertheless this is some funny shit and the RZA-beat is beautiful (creating it with a classic Barry White sample). [5/5]
09 - Walking Through The Darkness (feat. Tekitha)
Walking Through The Darkness is a re-make of Tekitha's track from the Ghost Dog soundtrack, the beat and sung vocals are exactly the same. While the original was a dark story about betrayal and loneliness GFK makes it into a party-anthem which definitely fits RZA's production, the lyrics of Tekitha (that makes up the chorus, bridge and outro) seems totally out of place though which brings down the rating. [4/5]
10 - Interlude 2 [Ice]
This is more a short song than a skit and it's fucking incredible - the beat (produced by Rsonist from The Heatmakerz) is triumphant and champion-like and gets Ghost in his "Supreme Clientele" zone. The downside to it is the lenght of it, featuring only one verse (although an incredible one) and clocking in at just one minute. It would definitely make one of the greatest songs on the album if expanded with one or two additional verses. [4/5]
11 - Teddy Skit
Pretty funny shit with Superb talking shit and Ghost crooning "let's smoke some weeeeeeed, and let me fuck you toooooooo".
12 - Jealousy
Another interlude, this one produced by The RZA - i'm feeling it, this track could possibly make a good full song. It fits the vibe of the album.
13 - The Jucks (feat. Superb and Trife)
AlChemist drops another street-banger which has Ghost painting a visual story about a dice game gone wrong, this is another one of the joints that sounds like they slipped through the cracks of "Supreme Clientele". You can definitely hear that GFK is inspired by Superb's swagger on this song (at first I could barely tell if it was 'Perb or not who opened up the track) but they both do a great job with their verses, Trife is dope and the chorus is fucking addictive. [4.5/5]
14 - The Hilton (feat. Raekwon)
The Hilton is for me the last song where you can really hear that real chemistry between Ghost and Rae which made them one of hip-hop's finest duos of all time. Carlos Broady behind the boards lays the perfect beat for a crime-saga of "Cuban Linx" caliber where the tag-team tells the story spitting lines back-and-forth ["Heaven & Hell" style] - the first verse is especially heavy; "Rae ran hysterically, slipped on soap/ landed on his back with his gat - now that's dope". Enuff said. [5/5]
15 - Good Times (feat. Superb and Raekwon)
It's a shame that this cut got lost and replaced with the cheesy "Love Sessions" on the retail since it without a doubt contributes something to "Bulletproof Wallets" - it samples the theme song to the old Goodtimes TV-series and catches the perfect R&B-vibe while still keeping it hip-hop. It's mainly GFK and Superb who trades verses back-and-forth here and they do it really well, it's a funny and entertaining track - Raekwon gets on and spit a short 8-bar verses at the end but doesn't do much for the track all-in-all. [4/5]
16 - Strawberry (feat. Killah Sin)
Strawberry captures Ghostface at the top of his game - spitting beautifully designed lyrics over soulfull backdrops (this one courtesy of Allah Mathematics) and I would say that this is one of the illest cuts in his entire catalouge to this day. Killah Sin opens up with a verse on a bloodbath while Ghost, in detail, describes a sexual experience with a "high-school pussy". There lay the only problem that I possibly could have with this song, although the Killarmy member provides great flow and wordplay the two MC's speak on two totally different topics. No matter what, this is whitout a doubt a classic song. [5/5]
Overall the original Bulletproof Wallets is a really fine, well-thought-out and well executed album that damn near would have made Ghost's 3rd classic album in a row if it wasn't for the label-problems. I never cared much for the retail release since it was watered down and lost much of it's original theme. Although it is a R&B inspired party-joint, we're not talking 'bout the weak R&B you'll hear on the radio today - BPW tries to capture the vibe of early R&B/Soul classics from the '70's. I doubt I'll ever play the retail again after I found this (I included Street Chemistry which is 5/5 as a bonus on my burned CD) - for me it ranks as Ghost's 3rd best album. 4.5/5
