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Jul 24, 2025While only “Debra Night Wine,” a shaky interpolation of The Syncophonic Orchestra’s “Quasimodo’s Marriage” (sampled by Just Blaze for Beanie Sigel’s “What Your Life Like Pt. 2”), is an outright misstep on the album, and there are some impressive beats, few of them stick after the initial listening. .... Still, it’s a strong effort.
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Jul 24, 2025The songs are defined less by sounds or ideas than by their sanded-down edges: plodding beats from Nottz and J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, histrionic Marsha Ambrosius hooks, putative passings of the torch.
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Jul 24, 2025The entire musical palette lacks any intrigue or seductiveness. Everything feels like it’s cranked up too loud in the mix and pasted with a synthetic and unappealing gloss. However, Raekwon himself is on solid form.
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Jul 24, 2025The Emperor’s New Clothes is solid enough, and it’ll certainly look great next to your purple tape boxset. But as the title implies, it’s hard not to feel like everyone involved in the album’s making was too polite to admit that a seasoned statesman just wanted to stitch together old duds and hoped that they would still flatter.