Bulletproof Wallets

Background and Recording

The preceding Supreme Clientele, was hailed everywhere as a true return to form for the Wu-Tang Clan and their solo releases. It was not fully produced by The RZA, but, instead, RZA and GFK - who received beats from the likes of Allah Mathematics, Carlos Broady and JuJu to name a few - arranged, co-produced, and executive produced all songs on the project to give it a cohessive sound. The same formula was used for Bulletproof Wallets: RZA produced about five beats, but he and Ghost picked out and arranged beats by Allah Mathematics, Davel 'Bo' McKenzie, Alchemist, Carlos Broady, and Digga.

The recording sessions took place in Miami. Raekwon was featured heavily, and the album was even originally conceived as a sequel to Only Built 4 Cuban Linx.... Maybe due to the warm Miami surroundings, the music ended up a bit warmer and toned down than its original predecessor, so the title was changed to Bulletproof Wallets.

The album Ghostface handed in to Epic in the beginning of 2001 was the perfect follow-up to Ironman and Supreme Clientele. Unfortunately, Epic Records interfered quite heavily. The track sequencing was changed. Some of the album highlights - such as "The Sun" (which Coles recently revealed had to be deleted since RZA couldn't find the original record he had sampled) and the concept track, "The Watch" - were removed from the tracklist. Other tracks, like RZA's feel-good track, "Flowers", were replaced by altered versions. The result was that the cohessiveness and album flow was completely different from Ghostface's original conception.

Critical reception

Bulletproof Wallets received generally positive reviews from music critics. John Bush of AllMusic said, "Bulletproof Wallets is basically a party album, at least compared to the usual Wu-Tang gloom and doom, featuring smooth, romantic R&B tracks like the single "Never Be the Same Again" (with Carl Thomas & Raekwon) and "Love Session." Pat Blashill of Rolling Stone said, "Bulletproof Wallets is riveting because even on "The Juks," when he's rhyming about getting paid, he comes off like a tough but fatally vulnerable anti-hero, forever trapped in the headlights of oncoming disaster."

Mark Desrosiers of PopMatters said, "Bulletproof Wallets doesn’t have the peering-into-the-abyss street insanity of Ironman, sure, but it does come close. And damn, it sure does air you out nonetheless." James Poletti of Yahoo! Music said, "Whilst Ghostface remains in possession of one of the most diverse musical imaginations in the Clan, this is ultimately disappointing in its lack of innovation."

Track listing