Liquid Swords Vs. The Cold Vein?

Liquid Swords, there's something to be said for it's conciseness I think. GZA just outraps both Vast Aire & Vordul Mega over the course of an entire release, even though CanOx were sharing rapping duties. As endlessly impressed I am with how inventive they are describing the bleak New York City life they lead, rapping in cyphers, "pulling on sess, stabbing these birds" and all that jazz, there isn't much else to their world. The limits of the world described on The Cold Vein almost seems purposeful, there's consistent references to this feeling of being trapped, you get this sense of systemic oppression being imposed upon them which kind of fuels this existential search for "the meaning of life." It's a very compelling narrative that spans the entire album, with each verse in service of helping build it. Liquid Swords has a similar setting and general idea, but GZA has a more interesting way of delivering it in such a way that it feels real and 3-D, merely in telling these specific, in-depth accounts about particular people that you get on songs like "Gold," "Cold World," "Hell's Wind Staff/Killah Hills...," "I Gotcha Back." You get mentions of "battered wives, molested children" and "animals robbing armored trucks" from CanOx, but nobody that feels like an actual character aside from themselves. For the most part, I think Vast Aire and Vordul Mega make up for this with clever metaphors and slang to make the world they talk about feel immersive, but nonetheless, this is the kind of edge Liquid Swords has over The Cold Vein lyrically.

Production-wise, I think it's easy to simply retrospectively decide that The Cold Vein is "more creative" and groundbreaking, though that strongly disservices the work RZA did on Liquid Swords. That whole weird synthy, atmospheric, sometimes noisy, boom bap production style that The Cold Vein uses has a lot of its roots in Liquid Swords. Both albums are ahead of their times, in a way, and I'd side slightly with Liquid Swords in this regard because I like RZA's drums better than El-P's.

Wow....both are easily monumental records in the history of hip hop.

I'm not sure about other people, but this comparison is much harder than I thought. One of these albums happens to be in my top 10 while the other cracks my top 20 easily. Althought The Cold Vein is arguably the most creative rap album ever from the unique style of rapping to the outerspace like production, I'll give this to Liquid Swords. If you put the best tracks from Liquid Swords to The Cold Vein, I'd say Liquid Swords has higher highs. When it comes to production, I think I'll give it to El-P since I think he executed the space like theme perfectly. But overall, Liquid Swords although The Cold Vein is more creative

BQ1: I never made a list for this category but it would definitely crack my top 10...at least. Iron Galaxy could also be a candidate for one of the GOAT hip hop tracks.

BQ2: 2nd behind Ghost in both my favorites and greatest list when it comes to Wu rappers.

Liquid Swords

Both are some of the most important albums in RHH history. I enjoy both, but I will say I actually Cold Vein a little bit more, the beginning track really just set the tone for the whole album... Don't make fun of me but Vordul Mega's voice makes me really engaged, like I really want to listen to it... Liquid Swords for me got boring at times...

Good question some of the most important RHH albums...

BQ: Yeah it is.

BQ2: 2nd behind Ghostface

Sportsdude, pretty much outdogged me and I can't really say much. So I'll just cosign.

BQ: I've actually been meaning to make a list of great intros in albums but I haven't gotten around to it. I'd put Iron Galaxy in along with Liquid Swords, Vaudeville Villain, Southern Fried, and Lord Willin.

BQ2:

GZA

Inspectah Deck

Raekwon

Method Man

Ghostface Killah

Ol' Dirty Bastard

And idc about the rest.

Liquid Swords. There are only a few albums which can claim to have the purity of Liquid Swords. One of the rare albums where both producer and rapper simultaneously hit their peak. The greatest demonstration of the Wu Tang's ability to produce full-length, focused LPs as well as the controlled chaos of Enter the Wu-Tang.

BQ1: It's certainly iconic. in my mind it's coupled with 3030, having the advantage in substance but losing out slightly in production. I can't really think of a lot of competitors though, so I'll give it a tentative buy.

BQ2:

Method Man

Inspectah Deck

GZA

Ghostface Killah

Raekwon

Ol' Dirty Bastard

RZA

Masta Killa

Cappadonna

U God