Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai [Japanese Version] is prime RZA unlike the more widely available version of the soundtrack. The beats are stripped down and clean, each with a samurai twinge to them. The album stands alone very well not just as a DJ tool but for good hip-hop instrumentals. The quality of RZA’s beats and the overall flow of the album really make it inexcusable that this version of the soundtrack wasn’t more widely available. RZA’s widely praised work on Kill Bill, Vol. 1 may be the reason the album is finally being made accessible outside of Japan. It also makes you wonder if post-Kill Bill this would be the official soundtrack to Ghost Dog. All of the instrumentals have the crisp funkiness that fans of Wu-Tang will be familiar with. RZA has always had a cinematic feel to his music, but it’s only through the instrumentals that it can fully be appreciated. One of the few vocal tracks on the album, “Fast Shadow,” features Wu-Tang Clan doing a freestyle. The rhymes fit the beat and flow, but the mixing of the song takes away from what would be a standout track on the album. Some of the vocals are distorted, but you can still hear Method Man flow and pause perfectly to the beat. RZA made great music for Ghost Dog, but it is too bad that so few people got to hear it. – Matt Whalley
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