This album was released on December 10th in the year of our lord 2002. GZA is pretty much my favorite member of the Wu-Tang Clan these days, so I’m actually looking forward to checking this project out. People don’t really bring this album up when talking about GZA’s discography, so I’m definitely not expecting this to be anywhere near as good as his second album. I’m sure I’ll enjoy some songs on it though. I’m expecting it to be slightly above average. The issue with a lot of Wu-Tang material at this point in time was their instrumentals, and I expect this album to be no different. To this day I think GZA still has top notch skills, so I don’t think the rapping will be an issue here. The features here look decent too. I’m excited to check this out, despite the hilariously dumb cover art.

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I apologize in advance if this review seems less detailed than the shit I usually write. It’s just that I really don’t have much to say about this album. It’s really not good. I wouldn’t say it’s a bad project, but there’s not a single song here that I’m ever gonna listen to again. I feel the same way about damn near every track. The rapping from GZA is really good for the most part, but the beats here are ass. That’s really all you need to know about this project. I could end the review right here. I’ll try to see if I can muster up some words for some of the songs here though. The opening track is called Intro, and it just features GZA’s child, Young Justice, talking about how his father used to travel around New York battling MCs. I think that’s pretty cool. It’s a fine intro I guess. I’m not gonna be listening to it again in the future, but I’m not gonna pretend to have an issue with it being here. Track 2 is called Auto Bio, and it has a really cheap-sounding instrumental from Waxx. It’s still one of the better instrumentals on the album though in my opinion. I really like GZA’s rapping on this track. The hook isn’t really anything special, but it’s solid. The verses are tight though. If the production was really good then I’d probably enjoy this song. However, as it is, this shit has zero replay value for me. I think it’s just okay. The following track, Did Ya Say That?, is a lot worse. However, I still wouldn’t call it a bad song. Again, I think the rapping is great. This song’s downfall is it’s bland production and wack hook. That’s pretty much all I’ve got to say about this track. Track 4 is called Silent, and it features Ghostface Killah & Streetlife. The same issue arises here. This song has good rapping, but a really weak instrumental from B!nk. I’d say it’s one of the better beats on the album, but that obviously isn’t saying much. Ghostface did his thing on the opening verse, and Streetlife even sounded pretty decent. It’s really the GZA verse that makes this song worth checking out though. I really like how aggressive he sounds here.

I set examples over amplified samples
That's scratched in the club, the thugs begin to trample
On those who fell victim
Body loss they souls, these beats when I picked 'em
Jones played the role, soldiers, brave & bold
RZA paved the road, GZA buries the scrolls
Then months later it was-
Then years later it was written on loose leaf
That old formula that was stolen by new thieves

The more I listen to this song, the more I’m offended by how simplistic and repetitive the production is. I’m gonna go easy on this track and say that it’s decent though. Track 5 is called Knock, Knock, and pretty much everything I said about track 3 applies to this one as well.

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The repetitive production from Waxx fucking sucks, and the hook is wack. I really like GZA’s rapping on this track though. I definitely think this is one of the weakest songs on the album up to this point, but the quality of the verses is preventing me from calling it wack. It’s just mediocre to me overall. Stay in Line is the first song on this album that I would say is actually bad. It features what is quite possibly the worst hook on the whole album from Santigold. Her singing sounds pretty horrible to me. The farty horns that come in during her performance sound really wack too. The beat is really simplistic, and I feel like it could’ve been good if it was a bit more fleshed out. It just doesn’t really go anywhere. The rapping from GZA is great as always.

Throw down your mic, son, your gauge is empty
Plus the wack shit in the game might tempt me
Quickly drop non-stop rec shot
What I took on the road on the lap and desktop
A mixture from up-tempo to slow grooves
8-Track figure that's mixed wit Pro Tool
I rhyme with sense the paragraph was intense
Area's dense with the flow from the sentence

I will admit that I don’t hate this song as much as I did on my first listen of the album. I still think it’s pretty bad though overall. It’s followed by Animal Planet, which is a pretty interesting track lyrically. It probably has the best instrumental on the whole album too. I actually think the beat here’s decent. The rapping about animals is really cool to me.

Welcome to the jungle where the cat loves to scratch, the rat squeals
And the polar bear feasts on the blubber of seals
The pack of wolves be scheming on a bunch of gazelles
Where the leopards grab the wildebeest down by its tail
You see, the chimps, they grow hemps they hustle and sling in trees
Elephants for security that move tons of leaves
The bluebirds arrest parrots that love to talk
Or eagles that stalk fresh-water trout under the wing of the hawk

I don’t know about y’all, but personally I love animals, so I found this one pretty entertaining. I even think the straightforward hook here works pretty well. If the instrumental was better I’d probably dig this song. It’s definitely a contender for my favorite track on the album. I’m not gonna be listening to it again in the future though. Track 8 is called Fam (Members Only), and it has features from RZA & Masta Killa, as well as production from Mathematics. For some reason some of the songs on this album are censored. I don’t know what the point of only censoring a handful of tracks on the album was. If I actually cared about this album I’d probably be a little upset by that. I don’t really care for the opening verse on this track from RZA. I also am not crazy about Masta Killa’s performance, although I do think it’s much better than anything he did on Iron Flag. The second RZA verse on this song is actually pretty nice.

Faithful as a Palestine rock against a tank
The force of my will still kill shooting blanks
Just from the sound alone your head's blown
Still scoring in the red zone, you best to head home
Or get thrown to the dead zone, son, we need to live
Interrupt the Grammy show and teach the kids

The closing verse from GZA is nice too of course. What really holds this track back is the production and hook. The beat is ass. The song’s mediocre to me overall. Same goes for the title track, Legend of the Liquid Sword. The beat here sucks, and I’m not crazy about the sung hook from Allen Anthony, although I don’t hate it as much as you would probably expect me to. The rapping from GZA on this song is admittedly pretty excellent.

My U-N-I-verse run like clockworks forever
Words pulled together, sudden change in the weather
The nature and the scale of events don't make sense
A storm with no warnin', you're drawn in by immense
Gravity that's gone mad, clouds of dust and debris
Moving at colossal speeds, they crush an emcee
Since this rap region is heavily packed with stars
Internal mirror in the telescope, noticed the czar
From far away, they blink as the lightnin' strolled
Great distance of space between precise globes
That travel in a circular of order like the tape in your cassette recorder
Filled with corporate slaughter

If the hook and beat were actually good then I’d really fuck with this song, but I sadly just don’t enjoy them at all. This shit is mediocre to me. Track 10 is called Fame, and it’s a little more enjoyable to me. It’s still not something that I’m gonna be returning to, but I think it’s decent. The production from Arabian Knight isn’t very good to me, but it’s not particularly bad either. What really makes this song interesting is the references to different celebrities.

They was told not to ride in Patty's hearse, and stay out of Charles' mansion
Took Abraham's Lincoln through the Todd bridge expansion
Willis reads a map that marks the spot showin'
On his left George burns a blunt William's holdin'
Tyra banked the money that Chaka conned the poor
Alicia keyed his car for givin' Melba more
For the red fox who bought off the block, but thought twice
As Debora cocks the gun 'cause she beat Kelly's price

The way he was flipping all those celebrities and historical figures’ names was really cool. It’s not good enough to make me look past the subpar instrumental, but it does lead to this being one of the most interesting songs on the album. I think it’s an okay track overall. The next three tracks are called Highway Robbery, Luminal, and Sparring Minds. They’re all mid. All of these beats are very lackluster. The sung hook from Governor Two’s on Highway Robbery sucks. Luminal actually grew on me a lot honestly. I think the beat from DJ Muggs sounds really wack, but it at least has energy, which results in a nice flow from GZA. I wanted to like Sparring Minds a lot more than I actually do because it features Inspectah Deck. I just was really bored listening to this track though. The rapping is good. The production sucks though. Again, I think all three of these songs are very mediocre. The penultimate track is called Rough Cut, and it features Armel & Two on da Road. This is the only song on the album with any production from RZA, and it honestly has the wackest beat on the whole project. This beat is fucking terrible. I don’t know what the hell they thought they were doing with this instrumental. It’s super simplistic, and very repetitive. Not in a cool way though. It’s ass. The song lacks any verses from GZA. He only contributed a hook to this song. I have no idea how this track made it onto the album when GZA is barely present here. The rapping from the features ranges from mediocre to pretty good. It’s never entertaining enough to distract me from how awful the instrumental is though. The song’s wack. The closing track, Uncut Material is thankfully not as bad. It’s a self-produced cut with no features. The beat’s not as bad as the preceding instrumental, but it’s still pretty weak. This song is honestly really boring though. GZA’s flow and vocal delivery are too conventional for me to enjoy this sonically. This is a really underwhelming way to close the album, but I don’t think it’s bad. It’s just mediocre to me.

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^{This shit is mid. The rapping is admirable, but musically this album is a snoozefest. There’s not a single good beat to be found on this album, and most of the hooks leave something to be desired as well. That’s really all that needs to be said. Almost every track suffered from the same issues. The beats here are ass. At this point in their collective discography, it’s really starting to feel like the Wu-Tang Clan just hopped on any beat they could find instead of carefully choosing instrumentals that actually sound decent. I’m not sure what the deal is with that. Anyway, let me know what you think of this album in the comments below. Maybe you actually dig some of these beats. I think they’re really bad. Thankfully the rapping is good enough to prevent this album from being wack.}

Favorite Song: Animal Planet
Least Favorite Song: Rough Cut

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