It's been way too long since I got this excited about a rap album. L's style and content are definitely limited but he keeps the songs tight enough, the beats strong enough, and the features frequent and hot enough that it rarely doesn't feel fresh; and in terms of what he's limited to it's hard to imagine anyone doing it better. Untouchable flow, killer wordplay, a hell of a freestyle, two great narratives (so good that it doesn't even seem played out when he repeats one of them over a new beat, and I don't usually care for non bonus track remixes). And he really has a knack for engulfing you in his style and mindframe. Like I said almost all the features are noteworthy but Big Daddy Kane's especially is one of the highlights of his career ("and cats still wonder can they get as hot as he been / it probably depends, let me show ya how to begin...").
For a fairly long album it goes by quickly without too many weak spots, but it's in the unfortunate position of constantly verging on something much greater than it is. I'm not sure if it's a lack of ambition or a lack of follow-through that makes this feel kind of lackluster, but the resulting album isn't anything to complain about. I really wish he'd done more in the vein of Why ("why Halle have to let a white man pop her to win an Oscar? / and why Denzel have to be crooked before he took it?").
Starts off as a Citizen Kane-esque portrait of a megalomaniac, then transitions into kind of an end of the shogunate Game of Thrones, and ultimately I think comes to rest as an examination of the ways we adapt and fail to adapt to a changing society. I was so taken with Pale Flower I watched this the next day, and everything that impressed me about Shinoda there was at least as impressive here. As with a lot of samurai movies, especially set in this period, I think I'd have a much better grasp on the details of the plot if I was more familiar with the background events the film expects you to be familiar with, but the occasional disorientation did nothing to lessen my enjoyment. Kiyokawa is a fascinating protagonist, but Shinoda has a bigger story in mind than one man's journey. *SPOILERS* The only disappointment is that Kiyokawa isn't ultimately killed by a Western gun, rendering his skills irrelevant, but I'll try not to let my personal idea of appropriate catharsis interfere with my enjoyment.
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