The 12 Days of Wu-Mas #3: Sunz of Man Presents 60 Second Assassin - Remarkable Timing (June 22, 2010)

Way, way back in the early 1990’s, the rap crew Sunz of Man, the most popular iteration of which included the artists Killah Priest, Hell Razah, Prodigal Sunn, and the late-game addition 60 Second Assassin, became the first Wu-Tang Clan-affiliated crew to sign a deal with a record label. At the time, their rankings also included Shabazz the Disciple (who left the group but then returned), 7th Ambassador (who has since vanished from the rap game as far as I can tell), and producer Su-Preme, but when the time came for the Sunz to finally release their 1998 debut, The Last Shall Be First (after an aborted first attempt entitled Nothing New Under the Sun), the collective were trimmed down to the above-named quartet.

As is what tends to happen in the rap world, especially with groups affiliated with the Wu-Tang Clan, the various Sunz of Man members eventually longed for solo careers. The singer-slash-rapper 60 Second Assassin was the last of the four to manage this feat, releasing what is to date his lone solo effort, Remarkable Timing, under the Sunz of Man banner in 2010.

Which is weird, because I don’t remember clamoring for this to happen. Did you?

Remarkable Timing is Frederick “60 Second Assassin” Cuffie Jr.’s attempt to keep his name active in hip hop circles whilst proving that he had what it took to carve out his own lane. After seeing his groupmates all see various levels of success doing the same thing (Killah Priest being the most successful, at least with his solo debut Heavy Mental, and Hell Razah turning out to be awfully prolific even after suffering an aneurysm), not to mention his own cousin, the Wu's Ol' Dirty Bastard, doing the same, Cuffie wanted to enjoy some of the cache his group’s name brought forth. Aside from Sunz of Man songs, 60 Second Assassin had enjoyed fleeting success with his small number of cameos, most recognizably on Wu general Raekwon’s “Glaciers of Ice”, which isn’t really enough for me to believe that anyone could build a solo career off of, but clearly Matthew “M-80” Markoff, Wu affiliate and owner of Holy Toledo Productions, the company that released Remarkable Timing, felt differently. Whatever.

Remarkable Timing is primarily a combination of 60 Second performances over Motown Wu-Element Bronze Nazareth’s production (I hesitate to use the word “collaboration”, for reasons that will become apparent later in the review), along with many many many contributions from various guests, most of whom have done or currently do business with the Clan to this day. Cuffie wanted this to be a family affair, even bringing the rest of the Sunz of Man into the fold.  Nazareth doesn’t handle the entire project, but his style is the foundation for the type of sound to be expected from Remarkable Timing, an album that the two of you likely forgot even existed, because, again, I don’t remember clamoring for this to happen, did you?

1. WORDS FROM THE ASSASSIN

Typical rap album intro shit, albeit over a Bronze Nazareth instrumental. Weirdly, Frederick sounds fairly humbled by the idea of getting to do a solo record, which was kind of refreshing.

2. SWORD STYLE

The first actual song on Remarkable Timing uses the same kung-fu flick sound bite that opened the very first Wu-Tang Clan album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), so it’s obvious 60 Second Assassin was aiming for the stars here. Producer Shawneci Icecold’s instrumental sounds nothing like “Bring Da Ruckus”, although I still dug it: it’s a simple loop that never changes, but I found it to be engaging enough. Our host’s two verses are delivered in the man’s off-beat stream-of-consciousness flow, so the threats and boasts don’t always connect as they should, but he still sounded fine. Until the chorus, anyway: the hook is so fucking atrocious that Frederick should be tried for crimes against humanity. And then he adds in a layer of him saying, “tick, tock”, alternating between the left and right speaker, somehow making this hook even worse? And then our host gives his song outro, only to be interrupted by the asinine chorus as it plays in the background, so he tries, unsuccessfully, to talk over it? This wall of noise features far too many negatives for “Sword Style” to have ever had a chance. Which sucks, because without the hook and the outro, this would have been just fine.

3. M.O.A.N. (FEAT. SUNZ OF MAN)

60 Second Assassin gets the project’s centerpiece out of the way quickly with the Sunz of Man song “M.O.A.N.”, which even features Killah Priest well after he bailed on the whole enterprise but prior to the group's actual reunion, although given M-80’s participation behind the scenes on Remarkable Timing, it’s questionable as to whether or not Priest is even aware that his verse appears on “M.O.A.N.”, but you know, whatever. Producer Bronze “Bronzey” Nazareth works in an excerpt from a 60 Minutes interview, which should preclude an obvious new nickname for our host but somehow doesn’t, but the rest of his instrumental is a soulful loop that sounds alright, but not great. 60 Second actually sounds the worst of the four, mostly because of his tendency to pay very little attention to minor inconveniences such as “rhythm” and “the beat”, but Prodigal Sunn, who opens the track, sounded fine. Priest and Hell Heaven Razah (a stage name that makes very little sense, at least when compared to his prior moniker, which actually did), who occupy the second half of “M.O.A.N.” following some sampled bits cementing the Sunz of Man’s status among the Wu-Tang Clan, both deliver interesting, excellent performances, so if that happens to be your bag, have at it, you two. I just wish I liked the music more.

4. CLOCKZ N’ KINGZ (FEAT. TIMBO KING, 12 O’CLOCK, & CHI-KING)

The vast majority of Remarkable Timing is outsourced to guest rappers, which is just fine by me: one doesn’t need to hear a whole lot of 60 Second Assassin to know whether or hot he’d be able to carry a project by himself anyway. Besides, most of the guest list is comprised of Wu-Tang Clan affiliates, so Remarkable Timing is obviously aiming for fan service. Bronzey’s “Clockz N’ Kingz” instrumental is bluesy, yet hard-hitting, and while 60 Second’s verse struggles with it (doubly so for his hook, which apes Method Man’s “Ice Cream” flow for some reason), everyone else runs with it successfully enough. 12 O’Clock, Brooklyn Zu friend of the family Chi-King, and Royal Fam’s Timbo King (who receives the most screen time) all take full advantage of the opportunity to speak their shit directly to the universe, and they all sounded really good, so. Also, I’m fully embarrassed to admit that I just now got the significance of the song title after typing the guest credits next to it. Hey, I’m nothing if not honest.

5. REMARKABLE TIMING (FEAT. MASTA KILLA, POPA WU, & M-EIGHTY)

Snagging a cameo from the late Popa Wu (who, coincidentally, passed away the day before I wrote this sentence. R.I.P.), who bookends this title track with a formidable voice that, nevertheless, doesn’t actually provide much in the way of insight or knowledge (no, really, actually listen to what he says – it’s more of a, “60 Second Assassin is here to bring to you…”-type of performance), proves our host’s bonafides, but securing a Masta Killa cameo officially marks Remarkable Timing as legitimate Wu canon. So it’s a good thing that “Remarkable Timing” sounded pretty goddamn good. Elgin trumps all comers on here, as expected, but our host’s verse decently wraps around one of Bronzey’s more soulful instrumentals, and even M-80 (credited as “M-Eighty” here but “M-80” elsewhere on the back cover) comes off as alright behind the mic here. Popa Wu’s presence wasn’t obligatory, but it does add an air of gravitas to the proceedings, so I’m cool with it.

6. WAR ZONE (REMIX) (FEAT. THE RZA, LA THE DARKMAN, PRODIGAL SUNN, TIMBO KING, & DA DIVISION)

Your enjoyment of “War Zone (Remix)” comes down to two specific metrics:

(1) Your level of patience for how severely The RZA’s instrumental disrupts Bronze Nazareth’s otherwise-consistent sound on Remarkable Timing in every conceivable way; and

(2) How lenient you are when it comes to lazy rehashes.

“War Zone (Remix)” is a reworked version of a 2002 song called, you guessed it, “War Zone”, credited to “Da Division”, better known as Division or C.C.F. Division, whose three members (Freemurda, Shacronz, and Terra Tory) all appear on “War Zone (Remix)” in their same form, along with Prodigal Sunn, La the Darkman, Timbo King, and our host, all of whom also appeared on the original. RZA’s instrumental is also virtually identical to that which preceded it, which isn’t itself a bad thing, as I enjoyed it quite a bit: it gives Remarkable Timing a dash of retro Wu-Tang flavor. The only difference I could discern from the O.G. and this reworking is a mid-song break, where RZA himself calls in to the studio (at least that’s how the audio quality sounded to me) to promote our host, vanishing quickly afterward. So as a remix, this shit sucked, but as a song comprised of pure, uncut fan service, Wu stans will treat this as their The Rise of Skywalker. Eight Wu affiliates, including the head honcho himself, is a lot to fit onto a track that only runs for three minutes and fifteen seconds, so adjust your expectations accordingly, but everyone that gets a verse off (so, not Freemurda or Prince Rakeem) makes their time count.

7. CLOUD 9 (FEAT. HEAVEN RAZAH, SHABAZZ THE DISCIPLE, SON ONE, & KRISTINA GREEN)

In case you hadn’t noticed already, 60 Second Assassin is fully aware of his limitations behind the microphone, using Remarkable Timing instead as an opportunity to work with a bunch of his friends, which is a commendable bit of selflessness. That does make every single song on here (save for “Sword Style” so far) sound like a posse cut, although if you’re a hardcore Wu stan, and you wouldn’t be reading my thoughts on a Sunz of Man member’s solo effort if you weren’t, you may be fine with this development. “Cloud 9” is a little much, though. After guest vocalist Kristina Green’s intro, which is never once referenced in the song proper, we receive an introductory chorus from Hell Razah… and then another hook from our host himself. You’re sitting for a while before guest Son One finally spits a for-real verse. And then 60 Second chimes in again. What a weird setup. Anyway, Bronzey’s beat is alright, but I preferred the switch-up when Shabazz the Disciple (remember him?) starts to rap. Far too many participants on here for there to ever be a truly adequate payoff, though.

8. NO FACE

My first clue should have been when our host refers to himself as a “microphone assassinist”, but I’m bad at reading signals sometimes. Hey, I’m just a man. “No Face” isn’t a very good song, but at least 60 Second fucking goes for it: over a decent Bronzey loop coupled with a poor choice of vocal samples, the man delivers two verses that run alongside the beat rather than adhere to it, and he is all over the fucking place here. “No Face” is what happens when there are no featured guests to help temper 60 Second Assassin’s creative impulses. Said vocal samples gave me a Kanye West “Follow God” vibe, which, while that was the best song on Jesus Is King by quite a large margin (relatively speaking, of course, I think we all agree that that shit sucked), it didn’t suddenly cause me to enjoy this one.

9. PARADISE (FEAT. KILLAH PRIEST, TIMBO KING, & KRISTINA GREEN)

The verses from returning guests Timbo King and Killah Priest try their best to elevate “Paradise”, but while they both sounded just fine, everything else about this song was fucking terrible. Bronzey’s faux-soul instrumental mistakes “tempo” for “seriousness” and only ends up at “lost”, seemingly lasting far longer than it actually does. 60 Second limits his own contribution to a chorus, which is redundant, since vocalist Green pops back up to deliver her own hook, one that is as flat and lifeless as my aura after listening to this garbage. Timmy and the Priest (every Sunday night, only on Starz) should have held on to these verses to use elsewhere, but you never really know what’s going to pop, right?

10. LOVE BURNS (FEAT. PRODIGAL SUNN & PHILLIE)

Bronzey’s instrumental is awfully lazy for a producer his caliber: merely looping up a soul sample does not a beat make, especially if said soul sample runs at a much slower pace than that of any of your collaborators, making “Love Burns” sound sadistically clumsy. The guests manage to fare better than our host regardless: Prodigal Sunn, who also performs an unnecessary chorus, raps about a dissolving relationship, while Bronzey’s own Wisemen teammate Phillie talks about his daughter at length, both artists describing how giving yourself to love can both heal and hurt you, and aside from the musical issues, both come off fairly well. 60 Second Assassin does not, though: he kind-of starts off talking about how difficult long-distance relationships are to maintain, but drops the façade quickly to rap about a bunch of nothing, never even noticing the instrumental along the way. The hell?

11. THE THRONE (FEAT. PLANET ASIA)

“The Throne” features a verse from West Coast stalwart Planet Asia, but thanks again to the participation of M-80 behind the scenes, even the fact that the man actually says the words “60 Second Assassin” at the end of his contribution can't convince me that this wasn’t just another loose verse affixed to Remarkable Timing. He sounded pretty good over Bronzey’s boom bap-esque effort, though, while our host was all over the goddamn place yet again. Performing two verses and a nonsensical chorus, 60 Second’s delivery is almost surreally off-beat, so much so that it’s nearly impossible to follow his state of mind, let alone whatever the fuck he was even talking about on “The Throne”. And yet, I’ve heard much worse in my lifetime, so.

12. DEAD FLOWERS PT. 2 (FEAT. C-RAYZ WALZ & BRONZE NAZARETH)

A curious entry on Remarkable Timing, “Dead Flowers Pt. 2” is actually a direct sequel to a track on M-80's group Almighty’s Original S.I.N. that just so happens to have featured the exact same guest list as this song. Both the lyrics and the instrumental are different, though, hence “sequel” instead of “remix”, right? Bronzey provides another soulful loop that pales in comparison to the boom bap-esque work he put into the original track. He also steps into the booth to perform a verse alongside underground stalwart C-Rayz Walz, whose flow meshes the best with the musical backing. 60 Second Assassin is, as expected, hard to track on a song that is ostensibly about toxic relationships, and his chorus is also unnecessarily aggressive, but at least Walz and Nazareth pull off “Dead Flowers Pt. 2” nicely enough. Maybe I would have liked this one more had 60 been limited to just the hook.

13. FIZZA FUNKY

Remarkable Timing ends with a solo Assassin showcase that stretches the limits of plausibility that anyone could ever sit through the entire track purposely with the intent of enjoyment. Our host’s crooning isn’t really my issue, although at times I found myself wising Bronze Nazareth had given the instrumental to Busta Rhymes (Frederick’s cadence approaches Trevor’s quite a bit during the hook). I was less enamored with the verses, which 60 Second hoards, and you’re goddamn right that goofy song title is incorporated into the proceedings somehow. At the very least, the man seems to be enjoying himself, which is fine, but even the most hardcore Wu stans will find themselves tested with this song.

FINAL THOUGHTS: As a solo effort, Remarkable Timing is predictably terrible, since it provides almost zero insight on what makes 60 Second Assassin tick. Sure, he both sings and spits on here, and he does appear on every track, but his technique is an acquired taste that nobody really has the time to work for. A little bit of the man goes a very long way, is what I’m saying. And even when one can decipher just what it is he’s trying to say on here, Frederick comes across as your standard artist that doesn’t bring anything new to the table. So it’s a failure in that regard. As a Wu-Tang Clan-affiliated side project, however, it has some bright goddamn moments, since our host had the foresight to ensure Remarkable Timing mimicked a party-type atmosphere, with various friends and family dropping by to spit a verse here, a hook there, and as I mentioned above, it’s clear that 60 Second Assassin enjoyed the recording process, which certainly can’t be faulted. So even though we learn nothing about our host, he cedes the stage to his much more capable guests more often than not, and that’s where the audience derives most of the entertainment value.

For his part, Bronze Nazareth provides some decent musical backing throughout, although I can’t help but wonder just how much work he put into the beats, whether or not he chose simply to use up these castoffs in order to clear his hard drive. At least the guests mostly sound pretty good over these instrumentals. The two songs not produced by Bronzey also show some promise: while “Sword Style” kind of falters under the weight of 60 Second’s creative choices, the production certainly isn’t to blame, and while “War Zone (Remix)” pretty much reuses the same RZA beat as before, it’s a good beat to reuse, so.

Remarkable Timing is ultimately for only the most diehard Wu stans, those who would have been cognizant of the project’s existence in the first place. I’d find it suspicious if someone who had no prior working knowledge of the Sunz of Man picked this one up blindly. But for those of you who are Sunz of Man fanatics, and I know you exist somewhere, you’ll find something to enjoy on here. I certainly did. But it’ll help if you block out our host for a lot of it.

BUY OR BURN? A burn is more than sufficient, even for Wu-Tang fanatics that must have every single project the collective has ever had their fingerprints on. There just isn’t enough to recommend on here, but what is good is pretty fucking solid.

BEST TRACKS:  “Clockz N’ Kingz”; “War Zone (Remix)”; “Remarkable Timing”

-Max