My Gut Reaction: Inspectah Deck - Manifesto (March 23, 2010)

After listening to The Resident Patient 2, the never-really-released Inspectah Deck album that consisted solely of shitty freestyles that he apparently posted on his MySpace page first, I completely lost faith in Jason Hunter.  When combined with the blunt force trauma that made up his second and third efforts (The Movement and the original The Resident Patient, respectively), Inspectah Deck has essentially squandered all of the goodwill he accumulated during his masterful verses on the Wu-Tang Clan albums, both crew and solo.  But being that I'm a Wu-Tang stan, and that's not something that you can cure overnight with pills, when Deck's fourth actual album, Manifesto, was announced, I planned on picking it up anyway, if only to put off listening to the Ghostface Killah R&B album that much longer.


It helps that I didn't mind his cameos on Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...Part II and the Wu-Debacle Massacre album, too.


Manifesto was originally supposed to be entitled The Rebellion, the name that Jason has reserved for whatever would end up being his final album.  However, seemingly re-energized, Deck switched up the name, thereby threatening hip hop fans with even more material in the future.  Manifesto finds the Rebel INS at a crossroads, trying to win back old fans while staying true to himself and his place in the genre.  No matter how you look at it, Jason Hunter is a rap veteran now, and he does actually deserve an opportunity to get his name back out into the world. 


So here we have Manifesto, which consists of some tracks that were originally earmarked for an earlier version of an album that was supposed to be called The Resident Patient 2, which only confuses matters even more.  So you can understand that I'm not hyper-excited about this shit. 


Maybe I'll be wrong?


1. TOMBSTONE INTRO
The list of artists who should never attempt speed-rapping includes nearly every single rapper in existence. Inspectah Deck is one of them. But hey, at least this rap album intro consists of a verse, right? Right? Yeah, I know, that doesn't really count for anything.


2. THE CHAMPION
It should be obvious to longtime readers that I, unlike most bloggers, don't automatically suck at the teat of The Alchemist: his production work is very hit and miss, falling into the latter category more often than not. “The Champion”, predictably, is a miss, as Deck finds himself stuck with one of the most boring Al Maman beats in history, but he decides to go for the gusto anyway. While the Rebel's lyrics sound downright dull as a result, at least he seemed to try.


3. BORN SURVIVOR (FEAT CORMEGA)
Features an uncredited cameo from Barack Obama. Most will say that MoSS simply sampled from one of the President's many speeches, but I like to think that Barack is a secret Inspectah Deck fan that really wanted to give Jason a fighting chance this time around. Without even waiting around for a few bars, Mega Montana launches into a missive that sounds awkward against the poppy instrumental, while Deck provides the other two verses with no real lyrical gems to speak of. I have a bad feeling about Manifesto.


4. THIS IS IT
There was obviously room for a weak-ass chorus on this song, but surprisingly, no such hook is provided. Was this Deck's true intention, or was Manifesto rushed to store shelves? And while we're on the topic, did Jason consciously name this song after the Michael Jackson posthumous documentary-slash-concert film? I may never know the answer to these questions, but I can say with all honesty that “This Is It” wasn't terrible. The lack of a hook was a definite plus, even if it resulted in a lot of dead air between verses.


5. LUV LETTER (FEAT FES TAYLOR & MS. WHITNEY)
Inspectah Deck has been trying to perfect the rap love song ever since his debut, Uncontrolled Substance (which, admittedly, had a couple of similar tracks that actually worked). Deck's swooping instrumental provides more atmosphere than any other song on Manifesto thus far can claim, and Deck doesn't sound too shabby with his praise of a woman who stuck by his side through all of the bullshit (I can only assume he's referring to his career highs and lows), even though he believes it would have made complete sense for her to jump ship. The tacked-on final verse from his weed carrier Fes Taylor wasn't necessary, but overall, this could have been a lot worse.


6. P.S.A.
Holy shit: this song is actually good. Deck uses the Shawn Carter blueprint (ha!), delivering two short and sweet verses over a relatively dope Lee Bannon beat. “P.S.A.” doesn't stick around long enough to grow annoying, and as a result, this shit is nice. Maybe everything really is coming up Milhouse.


7. T.R.U.E. (FEAT MESHEL)
Deck's recent discovery of acronyms has led to his use of two of them as back-to-back song titles. Ultimately, though, this plea for everyone to “stay true” doesn't get the job done, thanks to a Deck instrumental that gives Jason's lyrics an air of inauthenticity. Moving on...


8. WE GET DOWN
Theweak-ass hook dominates this track, which was a mistake, as otherwise Deck sounded decent enough. I feel that the hookless concept of “This Is It” may have been a better fit for this particular track. I'm just saying.


9. THE BIG GAME (FEAT RAEKWON & AC)
Wow, so underground stalwart and blogger favorite AC (whose love and appreciation for the Wu-Tang Clan led to his own “Rae Told Me”) actually landed a guest spot on a Wu-Tang album? From one of the original nine members? That's not a bad look at all. Too bad he's only used for an ineffective hook (which he sings): somebody truly screwed the pooch here. Raekwon's short verse barely registers (I believe he recorded it while still engaged in REM sleep), so this may as well have been a Deck solo. Had that been the case, he may have been better off, since he seems to enjoy running rampant over the Mental Instruments backdrop.


10. TOMBSTONE INTERLUDE
I have to appreciate that Deck is eschewing the typical rapper laziness by actually performing on both the intro and this interlude. He fares much better on here, even though that speed-rapping complaint I filed earlier still applies.


11. 9TH CHAMBER PART II
On this sequel to a far superior album track from Uncontrolled Substance, Deck refers to this project as The Resident Patient 3, which dilutes the swagger he's trying to swing around considerably. I've always felt that any Wu track with the word “chamber” in it should automatically be a posse cut (see: the Wu's “7th Chamber”, GZA's “4th Chamber”, Bronze Nazareth's “5th Chamber”, and “Graveyard Chamber” from the Gravediggaz, to name a few examples), but maybe everybody was too busy ignoring Inspectah Deck's calls to make an appearance. For what it's worth, this wasn't that bad, but the Nas vocal sample during the chorus was pushing it.


12. REALLY REAL (FEAT CARLTON FISK & FES TAYLOR)
Because Carlton Fisk first appeared on Method Man's Tical, I keep forgetting that he's actually one of Deck's flunkies, but because I liked Fisk on Tical, I find myself disappointed by his verse on here. Fes Taylor sounds like a cross between Jim Jones and Sheek Louch, which is just a bizarre combination, like peanut butter and meatloaf. To his credit, Inspectah Deck actually fares pretty well over his own beat, which was unfortunately attached to a generic rap song title. Come on, Jason, you can do better.


13. SERIOUS RAPPIN' (FEAT TERMANOLOGY & PLANET ASIA)
I have to give credit where credit is due: while Termanology and Planet Asia win the prize of being the least likely artists to ever appear on a Wu-Tang Clan member's solo album, Inspectah Deck seems to be the only guy in the collective that can actually sound like a natural fit with them. (I haven't forgotten about Planet Asia working with The RZA on “Intermission” by DJ Muggs, either; while I love that song, Deck sounds better equipped to handle his issues.) And he does not disappoint: when removed from his boring House Gang and disinterested members of the Clan, Deck can actually sound pretty good, probably because he wanted to make sure he would be taken seriously amongst two of the underground's most popular acts. The guitars on the beat give the track a weight that it never really earns, as nothing on here is remotely deep, but this effort is actually really good. Huh.


14. DO WHAT U GOTTA
To be fair, there weren't many ways that Deck could have successfully followed up “Serious Rappin'”, but at least he could have tried, instead of just throwing this shit at the listeners who don't actually exist at this point.


15. CRAZY
Everybody in the Wu needs to put the soulful vocal samples down and step away from them immediately: they've long since become a crutch (see: “Crazy”, or even “Our Dreams” from Wu-Massacre). Deck's monologue, describing how crazy life can be when circumstances turn against you, fails to resonate, as it seems that he heard the vocal sample first and then decided to craft an entire song around it, instead of, I don't know, writing lyrics that provide even a little bit of closure to his tale. What the hell?


16. GOTTA BANG (FEAT KURUPT & BILLY DANZE)
Given Deck's work alongside Kurupt on Pete Rock's “Tru Master”, this collaboration isn't that farfetched. Shorty 140 tries his hand at a West Coast-ish sound and doesn't do half bad: indeed, the only misstep here is Deck's own verse, as, apparently, performing on a song with artists who have been in the game roughly as long as he has seems to have inspired a sense of entitlement, and as such, Deck isn't even hungry. What a shame. Kurupt and M.O.P.'s Billy Danze at least put some effort into their contributions.


17. THE BAD APPLE
Eventually, rappers will run out of ways to call New York City a dangerous place to be. Oh wait, with this track, that just happened. Deck slows his delivery down to a crawl, trying to get a point across that nobody really needed to be convinced of. It would be kind of funny to insert Alicia Keys singing her chorus from Hova's “Empire State Of Mind” over this song, though. Maybe it's time for all New York-based rappers to move to Connecticut, just so they can have something new to fucking write about.


18. BROTHAZ RESPECT (FEAT CAPPADONNA & FES TAYLOR)
This is kind of mean but absolutely true: had Deck not lucked into the Wu, he may have still eventually gotten a record deal, but nobody would give a fuck about him. He should rightfully take some credit on here for the Wu breaking through in 1993, but there were eight other guys with him (who, admittedly, he does remember to acknowledge): couldn't he have invited any of those guys to appear on here instead of the boring Fes Taylor and a gypsy cab driver? Sigh.


19. 5 STAR G
Erase the awful hook and you would have a fairly entertaining track. Deck follows the lead of the MoSS beat and hugs it like he's driving too close to the curb. This song features the most playful-sounding Inspectah Deck in recent memory, so it's too bad that he succumbed to such a lame-ass gimmick as a topic.


20. THE NEVERENDING STORY (FEAT PLEASANT)
One of the funniest titles in Wu-Tang history also made me fear that Manifesto would, indeed, never actually end. For his part, Deck spits a serious monologue that could have been lifted straight from The Movement, but Agallah's instrumental is like an undercover officer in plain clothes filing his paperwork at the police station: unconvincing. And just like that, Manifesto was gone.


THE LAST WORD: This isn't saying much, but with Manifesto, Inspectah Deck successfully eradicates the memory of both The Resident Patient and its shitty “sequel”. The problem is that Jason seems to have forgotten what it takes to craft an entertaining album (um, the music has to be good) and what Wu stans actually want to hear (read: collaborations with other Wu-Tang Clan members, some Wu-Elements behind the boards). Thankfully, Deck has mostly stepped away from producing on Manifesto (save for a few tracks, of course – he couldn't run away like that without leaving a note) to focus on his words, but most of the beats present on here are still boring as shit. The multiple cameos from his apprentice Fes Taylor are also unnecessary. However, Manifesto displays a trait that his other recent projects lacked: he's actively trying this time around. So his failure is more due to outside factors and not his own hand. Deck just needs to scrap some money together and get some better, more appealing instrumentals: that way, he might just win back Wu stans. But for now, we should consider Inspectah Deck a work in progress. Manifesto isn't really all that good, but it could have been a lot worse, I guess.


-Max


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