The Intro to Fly International Luxurious Art is Raekwon at the airport en route to Abu Dhabi with cameras snapping, fans screaming, and no room for stamps in his passport. This is the vibe that made him famous, and that he seeks to establish once again: Mafioso Rap, drugs, sex, and money under an umbrella of power.
Not unlike Only Built For Cuban Linx 2, the rollout for F.I.L.A. was wrought with anticipation. Fans have eagerly awaited its release for more than a year, and the writing, recording and mastering processes were arduous. Lyrically, Rae sticks to his guns, save for a handful of minor deviations. He is one of the godfathers of the aforementioned Mafioso style, but he’s also developed a niche for complex, often uniquely metaphorical wordplay with patented New York slang. This time around though, the articulation is simpler and better suited for a wider audience. Guest features include Rick Ross and 2 Chainz, and the level of technicality slips slightly in the process.
Crisp instrumental production provides a palpable backdrop to F.I.L.A. “I Got Money” is a mellow island-style xylophone beat from producer S1 with smooth flows and rhymes from Rae and A$AP Rocky. S1 also appears on “Live To Die,” a high point on the album with Rae delving into story-telling mode. Although it has visceral moments, F.I.L.A. is far from a lyrical masterpiece, but Rae still has moments of greatness. The Snoop Dogg collaboration “1,2 1,2” sees both emcees on top of their respective games. And, over booming drums, Rae spits: “Guns eclectic, flips perfected / Boats flying in, every brake’s inspected / The clique’s connected, everybody wrist and neck lit.” It may seem predictable on paper, but sonically, Rae has mastered his craft without ever being repetitive or trite. Said ability also speaks to the talents of A$AP Rocky and Rick Ross (“Revory (Wrath)”), who admirably capture the vibe he seeks.
Yet while Rae plays to his strengths, his experimentation ultimately proves costly; the songs geared towards mainstream audiences stand out like a sore thumb. “Soundboy Kill It,” the second official single is a frayed attempt at Dancehall flavored Rap, with an auto-tune hook from Melanie Fiona. Similarly, the foray into R&B (“All About You”) is a head-scratcher and the rhymes are uninspired: “True, yeah, nothing but a G-thing / Whoa, yo, they be coming through, peep game / Boo, I know it’s over baby, keep playing / Oops, I’m out of energy, street king.” As such, Raekwon’s desires for new approaches are apparent and laudable, but unfortunately come up short. On “F.I.L.A. World,” 2 Chainz fails to impress, and the mood of the Scram Jones’ beat is undecided. French Montana holds his own with Rae and Busta Rhymes on “Wall To Wall,” but his verse is superfluous considering the shared history of the latter two (“Goldmine”; “About Me”).
F.I.L.A. had two years of hype for what amounts to an album with little true cohesion. At times the style itself feels like a copy of Rae’s hits instead of an organic creation, but The Chef does a good job of balancing the radio-friendly Rap with material his diehard fans crave. He certainly isn’t at fault for thinking outside the box, but considering the anticipation and buzz generated for any Raekwon product – especially F.I.L.A.— the finished product doesn’t quite match the overwhelming talent and legacy of the legendary emcee.
Love Rae, but he’s dreaming if he thinks this is what his fans want. A veteran reaching for mainstream success is painful to see….also hypocritical to denounce the Wu album, when this feels like so many steps back for him. Rae over grimy beats plz….Scram Jones & Rae all day!
THE GOAT
this shit is ass… i love rae but im disappointed
Even with him reaching for some mainstream attention with this album it’s still one of the most well put together new ones out… no way this deserves a bullshit rating lower than Thugger’s flop of an album
He shouldnt have had all these goofy ass features..looking at the tracklist made me not even wanna cop it and im a Rae fan
Most of your didn’t buy Wu vs. Shaolin album which was a grimy, so why you complaining now?
He was trying to go commercial with this. lol
Thanks, Captain Obvious.
That’s not Captain Obvious.
What can I say? It’s a decent album but for us who are a little older and listened to Rae from jump as the albums were being released, its hard to get into this album. Like Yoda said about unlearning what you have learned, we gotta literally let go of what we already know about Rae and go into this album with an open mind. It might grow on me but it won’t keep my attention for very long unfortunately.
I listened to it with an open mind. Ain’t no point in comparing it 93-97 Raekwon, that period is over with. It was a decent album from an aging rapper.
Not Rae’s best. It’s clear what he’s attempting to do but it just doesn’t come off authentic for him. Rae can still spit but this album is not worthy of all the hype it got. It’s no better than A Better Tomorrow.
This album didn’t get any hype. It’s a decent album, not great. Better than I thought it was going to be considering some of the features.
After all that whining about “Better Tomorrow” not being what Wu Tang fans deserved, he delivers A wanna be pop album. Wu Fans don’t want to see a 45 year old rapper they grew up on trying to appeal to teenagers either Rae.
exactly this is what made me mad about this album. Rae complained about rza using r&b hooks and stepping away from the raw gritty wu production on the wu album and then goes ahead and does the same thing on his
ABT is more grimey than F.I.L.A.
Not his absolute best but still a relatively dope album
Cmon ya’ll, that All About You track featuring Estelle is dope!!! Why the reviewer call it headscratching, I don’t get,he probably listened to this album once before writing a review. However I do rate it 3 star at best
This was such a disappointment. The Wu has fallen off hard. Again.
Solid
This is just plain sad….
I’m 22 that might be young to some of y’all but the thing is Hip-Hop is like water it’s fluid always moving so if it’s moved to this style and point for Raekwon don’t bitch tune your ears to it rappers aren’t going to drop classics every time but they certainly aren’t trying to impress those stuck in the past.
But the rhymes ain’t up to snuff
Not very good. This album is boring. Probably Raekwon’s worst album to date. I rank it about the same level as The Lex Diamond Story, maybe a little weaker. A Better Tomorrow >>> F.I.L.A.
Nothing is worse that ABT
F.I.L.A most certainly is. I’d rather listen to Ruckus in B Minor, Necklace and Ron O’Neal by themselves over F.I.L.A.
It was a good album. His worst album was Immobilarity, by far.
Two years of hype, get the fuck out of here. Raekwon has never been a mainstream rapper. There was zero hype about this album.
He’s a member of the Wu-Tang. They’ve got carzy loyal fans. If you actually think there would be no hype surrounding one of their elite members dropping an album then you got Hip-Hop fucked up bruh.
Much better then I expected.
Rae’s still got it…servin up another 4 star album
THIS IS RAEKWON’S WEAKEST ALBUM TO DATE. IT ISN’T HORRIBLE, BUT ITS TOO DUMBED DOWN. I GET WHAT RAE IS TRYING TO DO, AND ITS TO MAKE AN ACCESSIBLE ALBUM. THE PROBLEM IS, NOBODY WANTS THIS FROM RAE. I PREFER IMMOBILARITY & LEX DIAMOND OVER THIS TBH.
At this point in his career Raekwon should just accept that he’s not going to branch out and reach a whole bunch of new fans, with ths album he shoudl’ve just done what as come natural to him so many times in the past and did what his fans actually want to hear. Either that or actually try and make some creative music, not this below par underhwelming clichéd shit we’re used to hearing from your average rapper.
Much better than I expected. Not sure if I will be knocking this for long but for now I rocks with it.
This album got that The Lex Diamond Story feel to it.
Way Way wayyyy better than Shaolin Vs Wu-Tang
only 3.5 ?? that’s average … I personally think its atlest a 4 ???
good loookin Rae !!
It reminded me of lex too… but more solid all the way thru.
underrated
If Rae would get the same producers as Ghostface he could put out a lot better material. The beats on here are pretty weak and too radio sounding. None of it has that ‘underground’ feel to it
dope…1212 and the ASAP Rocky joint are standouts
dope
Not too sure why all the criticism. This album is much better than I expected. Jay and Nas can make music with new artists without getting criticized. Why all the hate for Rae? It’s not like dude put a bunch of slow trap beats with auto tunes featuring Young Thug and Drake. Goes to show that I can’t take the worda of these reviewers seriously as most were probably not above the age of 5 when Cuban Linx dropped.
Co-Signature
This album gets better with each listen. Very underrated
The Wu still relevant 20 years later…SUUUUUUUUU
I was pretty let down by this. I was sure all the Wu dudes were saving the heat for their own solo projects. So far this is the trend…..Not so much.
Dope project but too short. Still 5/5
Solid album, I’ll give it a 4/5 only because I wanted more Wu features on this type of vibe. I could easily see Cappadonna on the bulk of these songs as well.
Nautilus BANGS so fuckin hard yo, nice work Chef!
Solid album, 2 many guests tho. it doesn’t hold a candle to his last 2 projects tho.
I’m a fan, Wu!
Mr. Johnson, you’re trippin! Fila World 2 is bananas! That beat tho!
I think this is the worst of all Wu affiliated albums and Wu is my favorite group of all time. Complete trash… almost seems like Rae has turned his back on the crew. He should be kissing RZA’s ass after this debacle. 0 stars