''Twelve Reasons to Die'' is the tenth studio album by
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip hop group formed in Staten Island, New York City, in 1992. Its original members include RZA, GZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, and Masta Killa. Close aff ...
member and rapper
Ghostface Killah
Dennis Coles (born May 9, 1970), better known by his stage name Ghostface Killah, is an American rapper and a member of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan. After the group achieved breakthrough success in the aftermath of ''Enter the Wu-Tang (36 C ...
. It is a
concept album based on a
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
of the same name. The album was produced and composed by
Adrian Younge
Adrian Younge (born May 7, 1978) is an American composer, arranger and music producer based in the Los Angeles area.
Background
Younge grew up in Fontana, California. His father is a lawyer and Younge himself earned a Juris Doctor degree fro ...
. It was also executive produced and narrated by
RZA. The album was released on April 16, 2013, by RZA's
Soul Temple Records
Soul Temple Records is an American record label founded in 2012 by hip hop recording artist RZA and Bob Perry after the release of the RZA directed '' The Man with the Iron Fists''. The label's first release was that album's soundtrack. The labe ...
label and
RED Distribution
RED Music, stylized RED MUSIC, formerly RED Distribution, LLC (Relativity Entertainment Distribution) was a Sony-owned sales and marketing division that merged under The Orchard in 2017. RED previously handled releases for more than sixty i ...
. It features
guest appearance
In show business, a guest appearance is the participation of an outsider performer (such as a musician or actor) in an event such as a music record or concert, show, etc., when the performer does not belong to the regular band, cast, or other ...
s from Wu-Tang members
Inspectah Deck
Jason Richard Hunter (born July 6, 1970), better known by his stage name Inspectah Deck, is an American rapper, producer, and actor. He is a member of the groups Wu-Tang Clan and Czarface.
He has acquired critical praise for his intricate ly ...
,
U-God
Lamont Jody Hawkins (born November 10, 1970), better known as U-God, is an American rapper and member of the hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. He has been with the group since its inception, and is known for his deep voice and rhythmic flow t ...
,
Masta Killa
Jamel Irief (born Elgin Turner; August 18, 1969), better known by his stage name Masta Killa, is an American rapper and member of the Wu-Tang Clan. Though one of the lesser-known members of the group (he was featured on only one track on their 19 ...
and
Cappadonna
Darryl Hill, better known by his stage name Cappadonna, is an American rapper. He is a member of the hip-hop collective the Wu-Tang Clan and is a member of the rap group Theodore Unit together with Ghostface Killah.
Career
Cappadonna (also know ...
along with
William Hart and
Killa Sin
Jeryl Grant (born April 2, 1976) better known by his stage name Killa Sin is considered the best-known member of Killarmy and is regarded as one of the most skilled Wu-Tang Clan affiliates.
Biography
''Killa Sin'' has appeared on gold and plat ...
.
A sequel, ''
Twelve Reasons to Die II'', was released on July 10, 2015.
Background
On September 13, 2012, Ghostface Killah announced that his new studio album would be titled ''Twelve Reasons to Die'', and would be produced entirely by Adrian Younge, and executive produced by
RZA. He also announced a release date of November 20, 2012 through RZA's Soul Temple Records. The album would be pushed back from its original November 20, 2012 release date so it would not compete with the soundtrack to RZA's film ''
The Man with the Iron Fists
''The Man with the Iron Fists'' is a 2012 American martial arts film directed by RZA and written by RZA and Eli Roth. The film stars RZA, Russell Crowe, Cung Le, Lucy Liu, Byron Mann, Rick Yune, Dave Bautista, and Jamie Chung. Set in 19th cen ...
''.
During an interview Adrian Younge revealed that ''Twelve Reasons To Die'' will serve as the score to a vintage Italian horror film, that takes place in 1968. He also cited RZA and Italian composer
Ennio Morricone as two of the inspirations behind his production on the album. Younge took two weeks to write the foundation of all the tracks.
The album's story is set in 1960s
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
of a character of Ghostface Killah, Tony Starks. He is an enforcer for the DeLuca crime family, who is murdered by his former employers after striking out on his own and falling in love with the kingpin's daughter. His remains are melted in vinyl and pressed into a dozen LPs that, when played, resurrect him as the Ghostface Killah, a force of revenge incarnate.
Release and promotion
The LP was released in various formats including a standard
CD, a deluxe double-CD with instrumentals and a mini comic book. The label released a digital deluxe version with instrumentals and a digital comic book, as well as multiple vinyl formats and a cassette. The album was also released with a comic book. For it the imprint teamed up with
Black Mask Studios
Black Mask Studios is a comic book and graphic novel publishing company formed by Matt Pizzolo, Steve Niles and Brett Gurewitz, designed as a new infrastructure to support comic book creators and a new pipeline for transgressive art.
Black Mask ...
to produce a six-issue series and a collected graphic novel with "striking visuals and an intriguing dual-narrative structure with contributions from a host of stellar comic book artists."
On March 5, 2013, Ghostface Killah and Adrian Younge announced that they would go on a 49 city tour from March 28 through May 22, 2013 with Younge's band, Venice Dawn along with Wu Tang Clan affiliate
Killah Priest. This also included a show on March 14 at Soul Temple's
SXSW showcase, which featured
Inspectah Deck
Jason Richard Hunter (born July 6, 1970), better known by his stage name Inspectah Deck, is an American rapper, producer, and actor. He is a member of the groups Wu-Tang Clan and Czarface.
He has acquired critical praise for his intricate ly ...
,
U-God
Lamont Jody Hawkins (born November 10, 1970), better known as U-God, is an American rapper and member of the hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. He has been with the group since its inception, and is known for his deep voice and rhythmic flow t ...
,
Large Professor and
Elzhi
Jason Powers (born May 12, 1978), better known by his stage name Elzhi (stylized as eLZhi), is an American rapper from Detroit, Michigan. He is a former member of Slum Village and now records as a solo artist. In his youth, he made numerous vis ...
.
Promoted songs
Prior to the album's release the songs "The Rise of the Ghostface Killah" and "The Sure Shot (Parts 1 and 2)" were released for free as promotion.
The first single released from the album would be "Murder Spree" which features Inspectah Deck, U-God,
Masta Killa
Jamel Irief (born Elgin Turner; August 18, 1969), better known by his stage name Masta Killa, is an American rapper and member of the Wu-Tang Clan. Though one of the lesser-known members of the group (he was featured on only one track on their 19 ...
and
Killa Sin
Jeryl Grant (born April 2, 1976) better known by his stage name Killa Sin is considered the best-known member of Killarmy and is regarded as one of the most skilled Wu-Tang Clan affiliates.
Biography
''Killa Sin'' has appeared on gold and plat ...
. It was made available for purchase on April 4, 2013 via Soul Temple's official website. The music video would also be released the same day. That same week the song "Blood on the Cobblestones" which also features Wu-Tang Clan members Inspectah Deck and U-God, was released as a promotional single via
iTunes. On April 8, 2013, Ghostface Killah performed the song "I Declare War" on ''
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'' along with
Masta Killa
Jamel Irief (born Elgin Turner; August 18, 1969), better known by his stage name Masta Killa, is an American rapper and member of the Wu-Tang Clan. Though one of the lesser-known members of the group (he was featured on only one track on their 19 ...
and
Killah Priest. On the release day of the album they released a music video for "Rise of the Ghostface Killah."
The Brown Tape
An official alternative version of ''Twelve Reasons to Die'' was released on April 22, 2013 on
Bandcamp
Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...
. It is nearly identical in track list (with the exclusion of the track "12 Reasons to Die"), but is produced by hip-hop producer
Apollo Brown
Erik Vincent Stephens (born June 20, 1980), better known professionally as Apollo Brown, is an American record producer from Detroit, Michigan, United States. He is a member of the hip hop group Ugly Heroes (alongside Red Pill and Verbal Kent) an ...
. On June 7, 2013 the album was made available in all other formats the original album was released on. In December 2017,
Mello Music Group
Mello Music Group (MMG) is an American independent record label based in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 2007, Mello Music has released hip hop compilations and albums by producers and rappers such as Oddisee, Apollo Brown, Mr. Lif, Ghostface Kill ...
announced a re-release of the album for January 26, 2018.
Commercial performance
''Twelve Reasons to Die'' debuted at #27 on the
''Billboard'' 200 selling 15,000 copies in its first week. In its second week the album sold 4,600 more copies. In its third week the album sold 3,000 more copies bringing its total to 23,000.
Critical response
''Twelve Reasons to Die'' was met with critical acclaim upon its release. At
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 78, based on 27 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
David Jeffries of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
gave the album four out of five stars, saying "While the album is best listened to in one go, these strong cuts could easily be parceled out for any career-spanning Ghostface mixtape
..It's short and limited, but it's well crafted and strong."
Edwin Ortiz of
HipHopDX
''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of hip hop music criticism and news. The website's current president and publisher is Sharath Cherian and the Head Of Content is Jerry L. Barrow. ''HipHopDX'' is the flagship publication of Cheri Media Group.
...
gave the album four out of five stars, writing "In the archives of Ghostface Killah’s catalog, ''Twelve Reasons To Die'' should place somewhere above his most recent releases. Unless an artist is approaching ''Illmatic'' territory, it’s difficult to glorify a project that clocks in under 40 minutes, with a third of the lyrical efforts dispensed to guests. Still, the album is a satisfying glimpse into the minds of Younge and Ghostface. Experimental is a tag few artists at his age would attempt, and yet Ghost does it with immeasurable confidence."
Ken Capobianco of ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'' gave the album a nine out of ten, saying, "The songs are short, so precision and concision are paramount, and the rhymes are sharp enough to slit veins. There's invention throughout, including “Center of Attraction’’ which reveals a metaphorical id/superego dialogue. While outstanding songs (“The Catastrophe’’) stand on their own, this is a song cycle that demands to be absorbed whole."
Consequence of Sound
''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook ...
's Chris Coplan gave the album three out of five stars, saying "GFK’s real life story, his lyrical prowess, and his years of wisdom and insight are better than the sum of this concept album. Keeping him tied to a half-hearted story of ghostly gangsters and empty revenge plots is like the actual Iron Man only using the MK I armor when the Bleeding Edge armor is in the next room. Had GFK’s focus been on par with his corresponding hero’s repulsor beam, this record would’ve been more than a solid collection that fails in trying to make high-art with a half-hearted storyline."
In a highly positive review,
Tiny Mix Tapes
''Tiny Mix Tapes'' (also ''TMT'' or ''tinymixtapes'') is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, ...
reviewer Joe Hemmerling gave the album four and a half out of five stars, writing "''Twelve Reasons to Die'' delivers spectacularly on its promise," and that it is one of the "bloodiest, most ambitious, and straight-up funnest hip-hop albums of 2013".
Hip-hop magazine ''
XXL'' gave the album an XL rating, praising the chemistry between Ghostface Killah and Adrian Younge, saying "''12 Reasons to Die'' is a pitch-perfect pairing of Adrian Younge’s soulful production and Ghostface’s invigorated rhymes."
Jayson Greene of
Pitchfork Media
''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog.
Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...
gave the album a 7.4 out of 10, saying, "Their chemistry is so apparent that it's a shame the final product isn't better. It reminds me of Freeway's The Stimulus Package, another seemingly can't-miss proposition from two phenomenal talents that fell just short. Like a lot of what Ghost has done in the past few years-- Apollo Kids, The Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City, and Wu-Massacre-- Twelve Reasons to Die basically feels like a victim of haste."
Phillip Mlynar of ''
Spin'' gave the album a seven out of ten, saying "This might all come across as critical nit-pickery on what's mostly a very good album, but the concept betrays the end listening experience, leaving the unshakable feeling that it could've been a six-track EP, not an over-padded full album. As one of Ghost's pals once put it, there's much virtue in being half-short and twice-strong."
[ Evan Rytlewski of '']The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' gave the album an A−, saying "Following his smart score for the 2009 blaxploitation homage ''Black Dynamite'' and this year’s joint effort with Delphonics singer William Hart, Adrian Younge Presents The Delphonics, ''Twelve Reasons'' is Younge’s first foray into rap, but he takes to the genre like an old pro. Without removing Ghostface from his sweet spot, he’s built a lavish new playground for the rapper to indulge his harried depictions of slit throats, severed tongues, and bullet-torn flesh. In an era where it increasingly seems like rap albums are being rendered obsolete by mixtapes, this tightly focused, wildly entertaining collaboration between two master craftsmen is a testament to how powerful the form can still be."
Accolades
Closing out the year, ''Twelve Reasons to Die'' was named to multiple "Albums of the Year" lists. It was named the tenth best hip hop album of 2013 by PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
. They commented saying, "Ghost has never been one to be understated and, depending on how you look at it, ''12 Reasons to Die'' has the dumbest or coolest plot ever. The Godfather, noir films, and a whole lot of b-movies get melted together into a story where Tony Starks is resurrected through the power of vinyl and becomes the invincible Ghostface Killah. Oh yes, it’s batshit insane and Ghost revels in it. The only person on here that seems to enjoy it more is producer Adrian Younge. His score to Ghost’s tale is deeply influenced by equal parts Ennio Morricone and Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Lee Mayfield (June 3, 1942 – December 26, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, and one of the most influential musicians behind soul and politically conscious African-American music. . Snares that sound like gunshots, over-the-top gospel singing, and grimy bass lines bring a certain menace to every word that Ghost spits. Twelve Reasons is gritty, unflinching, and above all a blast. It’s a fantastic addition to the Clan’s mythos and one of their finest releases. All it needs is a proper theatre release."
It was ranked at number 19 on '' XXL''s list of the best albums of 2013. They elaborated saying, "Tapping into Tony Starks, Ghostface Killah maintains vivid storytelling translated from comic-book form in ''Twelve Reasons to Die''. With the help from producer/composer Adrian Younge, Ghostface’s use of heavy-sampling and a signature delivery with tracks like “Enemies All Around Me” and “An Unexpected Call” created a gritty and gripping concept album." HipHopDX
''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of hip hop music criticism and news. The website's current president and publisher is Sharath Cherian and the Head Of Content is Jerry L. Barrow. ''HipHopDX'' is the flagship publication of Cheri Media Group.
...
deemed it one of the top 25 albums of 2013. They said, "If you’re in the habit of giving ''Yeezus
''Yeezus'' is the sixth studio album by American rapper and producer Kanye West. It was released on June 18, 2013, through Def Jam Recordings and Roc-A-Fella Records. West gathered a number of artists and close collaborators for the production, ...
'' an A-plus as an art-house Rap project, listen to how well-crafted and professionally executed this album is and reconsider your grading scale. Master craftsmen deliver masterful craftsmanship." ''The Source
''The Source'' is an American hip hop and entertainment website, and a magazine that publishes annually or . It is the world's longest-running rap periodical, being founded as a newsletter in 1988 by Jonathan Shecter. David Mays was the ma ...
'' placed it at number 24 on their list, saying "teaming up with Adrian Younge and having RZA executively produce the project, helped to give it that classic feel, but Ghostface’s lyricism is what takes it to the next level. There is something about his screaming delivery that makes everything sound so raw."
Track listing
* All songs produced by Adrian Younge, except "The Rise of the Ghostface Killah" co-produced by Bob Perry & Andrew Kelley
Personnel
Credits for ''Twelve Reasons to Die'' adapted from Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
.
*9th Prince – project coordinator
*Anthony Acid – engineer
*Cappadonna – featured artist
*Dennis Coles – executive producer
*Dave Cooley – mastering
*Bob Frank – executive producer
*Ghostface Killah – primary artist
*William Hart – featured artist
*Inspectah Deck – featured artist
*Andrew Kelley – producer
*Killa Sin – featured artist
*Masta Killa – featured artist
*Logan Melissa – model
*Mike Caruso – executive producer
*Arnold Mischkulnig – engineer
*Stan Oh – design consultant
*Bob Perry – producer
*Jeff Rameau – engineer
*RZA – executive producer
*Zak Shelby-Szyszko – project manager
*U-God – featured artist
*Venice Dawn – primary artist
*Adrian Younge – composer, engineer, mixing, primary artist, producer
Release history
References
{{Authority control
2013 albums
Ghostface Killah albums
Albums produced by RZA
Soul Temple Records albums
Concept albums
Rap operas