Fishscale

Ghostface Killah doesn't start his fifth great record in a row with a song — he starts it with a novel. And though there are many potential candidates, "Shakey Dog" is arguably his masterpiece — the kind of heist-gone-wrong tale that Elmore Leonard would write if Elmore Leonard knew how to rap. You can listen to it 300,000 times and still not be able to wrap your head around the skill, acuity and narrative joie de vivre with which Ghostface tells a story. To quote it at any less than its entirety is to do it injustice, but here's an attempt anyway — this is the part when Ghostface and his partner in crime are about to burst into an apartment to demand money that's rightfully theirs: "These fuckin' maricons on the couch, watchin' Sanford and Son/ Passin' their rum, fried plantains and rice, big round onions on a T-bone steak/ My stomach growling, 'Yo, I want some!'/ Hold on! Somebody's comin'! Get behind me, knock at the door/ Act like you stickin' me up, put the joint to my face/ Then push me in quickly when the bitch open up."

Starting your record with a perfect song is setting the… read more »