Ghostface: The Pretty Toney Album

When your first three albums are damn near flawless you have a lot to live up to. Despite having quality content, Ghostface Killah’s third album, Bulletproof Wallets, lacked record sales and in turn saw GFK depart from Sony Records. Luckily for Ghostface, notice that this is what he goes by on the cover of the album and in all linear notes, Def Jam Records was there to scoop him up. Things seemed to be changing for the superior emcee. New label, new outlook and the Killah part of his name was dropped, probably to help the NY emcee appeal to a new audience. But what did this mean for the music?

The Pretty Toney Album has a few high points but it doesn’t compare to the first three albums, which is really a shame considering Def Jam seemed like a perfect match for Ghost. This album, like all his prior ones, starts off with a bang. “Biscuits” is a banger mainly due to the production. Ghostface and Trife Da God do their thing but without that perfectly crafted beat, the song would be just an ok track. “Metal Lungies” is the first real track that captivated me from this album. Sheek Louch and Styles P. from The LOX make cameos and hold their own against Ghost and Chicago’s own, NO I.D laid down a great beat. But unlike most of GFK’s albums, this one has a lot of downside and lull periods that could have been avoided. “Tush” f/ Missy Elliot, was his attempt at mainstream acceptability, but seemed like an experiment gone wrong. “Run” is the best track on the album, bar none. RZA gave Ghost, Jadakiss and Comp a vintage beat and all three tore it apart. Unfortunately this song comes towards the end of the album and even though it is a stellar track, it doesn’t save this wasted attempt at mainstream stardom.

The Pretty Toney Album is definitely the lowest point of Ghostface Killah’s musical career, in my opinion. It just seems like he was trying to do to much and it amounted to nothing. Def Jam wanted hits and Ghost strayed so far away from his comfort zone and this album lacked all the essential things we came to expect from Ghost. Everything from Missy Elliot and Musiq features to dropping “Killah” part of his moniker was a recipe for disaster. Though this album is pretty bad, it is still better than a lot of albums I’ve heard. But if you are a hardcore Wu Tang fan, this album isn’t for you.

Overall score: 3/5

Standout Tracks:

“Biscuits”

“Metal Lungies”

“Run”