GZA/Genius - Legend Of The Liquid Sword

[SHEEPISH LORD OF CHAOS]

GZA/GENIUS-LEGEND OF THE LIQUID SWORD



RELEASEDecember 10, 2002
LABEL: MCA

#1.Intro
#2.Auto Bio
#3.Did Ya Say That
#4.Silent
#5.Knock,Knock
#6.Stay In Line
#7.Animal Planet
#8.Fam (Members Only)
#9.Legend Of The Liquid Sword
#10.Fame
#11.Highway Robbery
#12.Luminal
#13.Sparring Minds
#14.Rough Cut
#15.Uncut Material

LYRICALLY I THINK THE ALBUM IS ON POINT AND ALL THE TRACKS BANG HARD FOR SURE BUT I WISHED RZA AND THE REST OF THE CLAN WE'RE MORE ON THE LP AND RZA DID MORE TRACKS BUT THIS LP IS GREAT A MODERN DAY CLOSE CLASSIC 9/10

[Frank Drebin]

first time i listened to i i wasnt impressed by the editing of words. but after listening to it more i really fell in love with this album. 7.5/10

[wampus]

I'm the biggest gza's fan ever, but i wouldn't say it's a classic. it's a gret album but i don't like every production and songs as Rough cut, sparring minds, highway robbery...of course gza comes sharp but it's not enough to reach the LS level, but for sure there are many bangers like autobio, fame, animal planet, fam, luminal (possibly one of the best cd's song)

[Beautiful Beard]

Nothing will ever touch LS in my opinion.

Legends is pretty good though but not as cerebral or thought provoking as "Beaneath the surface"

at least an 8

[num2son]

I thought the album was dope when I got it...but as time when on the album didnt stick to much me.

4/5

[Ironman Starks]

im probably the only person who likes Stay In Line...but w/e i think the LP is tight def not as good as LS but better than LDS BOAP and The Movement as far as that time period goes

[rainbow]

this album is ill, one of my favourites. close to classic, take out a few tracks and get rid of the editing and it would be classic for certain. (8.5/10)

[Dante]

1. Intro (NA)
2. Auto Bio (4)
3. Did Ya Say That? (5)
4. Silent ft. Ghostface Killah and StreetLife (3)
5. Knock Knock (5)
6. Stay In Line (4.5)
7. Animal Planet (5)
8. Fam Members Only ft. RZA and Masta Killa (3)
9. Legend of The Liquid Swords (5)
10. Fame (5)
11. Highway Robbery (4)
12. Luminal (5)
13. Sparring Minds ft. Inspectah Deck (5)
14. Rough Cut (2)
15. Uncut Material (5)

Great album

[the insignificant]

#1.Intro
#2.Auto Bio... 4/5... great opener, feeds off the intro nicely...
#3.Did Ya Say That... 4/5... great beat, one of the best one the album...
#4.Silent... 4/5... slightly draggy because the beat is a bit repetitive... great verses...
#5.Knock,Knock... 4/5... not a huge fan of the hook, but great wordplay otherwise...
#6.Stay In Line... 3.5/5... the beat is a bit basic... is only altered with the chorus, makes it predictable...
#7.Animal Planet... 5/5... my favourite wu song in a long time...
#8.Fam (Members Only)... 4.5/5... great verses, great beat, nice touch with rza playing two alter egos on the same track...
#9.Legend Of The Liquid Sword... 3/5... just can't get past the chorus... a shame because gza has some good stuff to say here...
#10.Fame... 3.5/5... nice, simple older style beat with some nice wordplay by gza...
#11.Highway Robbery... 4.5/5... big fan of this song... just awesome...
#12.Luminal... 4/5... eerie, eerie song...
#13.Sparring Minds... 5/5... the rating says it all...
#14.Rough Cut... 3/5... can't get past the beat... awful... nice verse by armel though...
#15.Uncut Material... 4.5/5... great track, nice effort by gza on the beat too...

[THE W]

i hardly ever listen to this anymore. Gza killed it lyrically as usual but the beats are so fuckin flat it just kills the replay value.

[Ink Is My Drink]

8.5/10

i love this album!"!!!

one my fav albums

the lyrics are amazing

and i no alot of people hate on the production but i really like it!

so to me this one amazin album IMO

[braindamage702]

listen to that song luminal -god damn he is so descriptive and just on point lyrically.
some real good shit on here some real classics to me
8.5/10

[leaguer1]

GZA never disappoints. He maintains his 1.000 batting average with a solid double to right center field. After a few listens, he manages to steal 3rd while your still picking up new things.

With Legend of the Liquid Sword, GZA takes us to school as he demonstrates that he is not only a superior lyricist but also is the model of consistency. This album, like all of his others, is a very solid unified piece.

The albums flaw is the same thing that makes it so good - its too consistent. It doesn't have a joint or two that stand out. In the end, its what makes the album so good. Cut after cut, its just a good hip hop record in every way. It also has nice showing from the other clan members on it. This album also really grew on me with time. Virtually every song is dope. The only tracks I don't like are rza's track and the title track.

[the surgeon]

4.5 one of the GZA's best albums in my opinion better than beneath the surface

[ShaolinDarts]

When I first bought this album I was very pleased. As usual Gza is on point with the lyrics. The album starts of with material mostly based around hip hop and Gza's emceeing credentials. The album mid part of the album I would say is the most entertaining. There is a mix of everything in here from story telling to bread and butter emceeing to lyrical genius.

However as the cd got more and more spins I find myself less and less interested. The problem is that the cd just doesn't hold much charisma in it. Quite honestly it sounds like a a very poorly planned out cd. Like I said, there is a bit of everything in here and the clan appearances are very strong too. But, and for the lack of a better word, there is no 'flavour' to this cd. It sounds like a laboured effort and to me it sounds more like a mixtape than a cd.

For a moment I will go slightly off topic. I think that every emcee has his weakness. In the Wu Tang there are a couple of emcees that just don't have the charisma to pull of straight forward efforts like LOLS. If we take examples like Immobilarity and Uncontrolled Substance then we see that being a top grade emcee simply isn't enough. The album needs to be made more interesting. And like Immobilarity and Uncontrolled Substance, this albums failures revolve around the fact that a highly talented emcee needs some kind of cohesive element to bind his skills to the actual album (more commonly known as Rza but other methods are also possible).

My rating of the cd is 6/10.