Ferraris on cruise control

About halfway through Ghostface Killah's latest album, rap's most loved mad culinary professional takes a most earned moment to reflect on his place in the zeitgeist by throwing himself a party. Framed as it is by the ambient noises of red-carpet door policy enforcement ("You guys smell like weed, forget it" being a notable sample) and featuring Ghostface in the guise of an awards-show host spieling off a list of the current stars of contemporary black music, pausing for witty commercial breaks instead of choruses, "White Linen Affair (Toney Awards)" is marvelous fun — and a nifty metatextual trick as well.


The rest of my take on Ghostface Killah's The Big Doe Rehab can be found at Slant Magazine.