Ghostface Killah

You'll have to forgive Ghostface if two of the tracks ("Josephine," a collaboration from Hi-Tek's album, and "Back Like That," a remix) from his latest album aren't quite new. After all, More Fish is his second full-length of 2006 -- and it isn't the critically acclaimed Fishscale's stinky seconds, either. Skip over tired ho-down "Greedy B*tches" and head straight for the dark, intense, gloom-and-doom dramas: "Guns N' Razors," "Outta Town Sh*t" and "Miguel Sanchez" (which features Ghost offspring Sun God).

No reason to expect much of this hastily assembled holiday product, which began with outtakes from the midlevel Wu-man's other 2006 album, Fishscale--except that the current century has proven Ghostface the most irrepressible rapper of his generation with the obvious exception of his label president. This lacks Fishscale's intensity and focus, and Ghost's Theodore Unit helpers will never be Clansmen, although the possessed everyman grit of "Grew Up Hard"'s beleaguered soldier G suggests that Trife Da God has learned something from Forest Whitaker. Out of 15 tracks, however, only the crassly sexist "Greedy Bitches" is devoid of charm. (Grade - *** 1/2)