Ghostface Killah

It’s as if the man never tires. Yes, on the heels of More Fish, and Fishscale before that, Hidden Darts: Special Edition compiles rarities and remixes that span the career of the Wu-Tang’s greatest solo MC. A restrained, but old school, hip-hop remix of "Cherchez La Ghost” impresses, although it’s mistakenly listed as "Cheche la Ghost.” That attention to detail gives you a sense of the mix-tape quality of the recordings to follow. That said, Method Man — reliably weak since Tical — spits some solid verses on "Where You Walk” and "Drummer.” "Drummer” is typical Ghostface, a tortured soul sample bubbles over the stove as a hollow-sounding beat sits on another burner set to warm. All of it is made vintage by the scratchy sounds of a needle stuck in the grooves of a record. Of course, there are also some ho-hum cuts featuring "I heard it all before” rhymes from members of Theodore Unit, but Ghostface keeps it from falling apart. There is one song here, "Sun,” that attracts the most praise. If you thought it was weird to hear Ghostface rhyming about living underwater on Fishscale, then this ode to the brightest star in our solar system will be a treat. "Yo, the sun can never be pussy, he always come out/He’ll sit right there even if you pull your gun out/he can never run out/when the lights go out/It’s Japan’s turn now, the Earth has spun around.” Aside from spreading a fallacy — the sun will indeed run out — it makes this whole disc worthwhile.