The Wally Champ and the Chef rock Shaolin and duel for the Iron Mic.

I took my 20 favorite rappers and put them in head-to-head matchups to battle for their rank in Rap Kumite.

On some Shakespearean shit, two longtime members of the same clique, brothers from different mothers, partners in rhyme, Ghostface Killah and Raekwon—the “Wally Champ” and the “Chef”—squaring off. Allies in the Wu-Tang Clan turned enemies on the mat in Rap Kumite. This is the essence of MCing even among friends. What makes this matchup interesting is that (arguably) these two rappers’ best solo work heavily features the other rapper. How ill would Only Built 4 Cuban Linx be if Ghost sat it out? On the flip side, would Ironman be an undisputed classic if Rae hadn’t laced more than half that album with superb verses? Doubtful.

Ghost and Rae, Rae and Ghost, Tony and Manolo on wax, raps wildest cocaine cowboys and true Wu Gambinos. You would have figured these two dudes grew up in the same Staten Island projects, but they didn’t, and they didn’t quite hit it off like long lost friends either. Along the way, on the journey towards their dream, sticking to RZA’s brilliant rollout plan for total Wu domination, Ghostface Killah and Raekwon ended up forming one of the greatest MC duos ever. They pushed hip-hop slang into uncharted waters, invented words and phrases, incorporated heavy Five Percenter lingo into their rhymes, sailed through the shark infested waters of the game, and became Wu icons.

Rap Kumite 4 should be one hell of a fight.

Ghostface Killah

“There go the dreads yo, swindle two bags of that skunk. That get you crashed out had you laid out like bums. Peace Kianna, what’s up with your girlfriend Wanda. She drive a green Honda with legs like Jane Fonda.”

I think Ghostface Killah got the title of his first solo album wrong. Yeah, he was Ironman before Robert Downey, Jr. He had the “Tony Stark” alias and the snippets from the old cartoon on Supreme Clientele, but unlike Marvel’s Ironman, Ghostface Killah isn’t the brains of the operation. That’s the RZA. Ghost is Wu-Tang’s “enforcer”. In this role, Ironman is more like the Hulk, and he raps like his heart rate is pounding at 199 beats per minute. He’s terrifying on some of his tracks, a borderline maniac who was jacked and down for whatever. The Hulk. When RZA needs the track to hit another gear, when he needs one of those dudes to come busting through the wall, he puts the call out for Ghost. My dude gives Wu its edge.

Some of his rhymes can sound non-sensical when you first hear them, especially if your ear is untrained on the Five Percenter slang. Even if you can pick up on those lyrics, Ghost has acknowledged that when he wrote songs for Supreme Clientele, he just put words together that sounded fly but didn’t make any sense. He’s right about that, though. It does sound fly. What does it say about the way Ghost raps that he can fill an album with nonsense lyrics, and it’s considered to be one of his best and one of the best hip-hop albums of the 2000s?

Let’s give Ghostface his due; his best verses are narratives composed of those same slick rhymes deployed to paint a picture with extra vivid colors, on some “blue and cream shit”. [Ghost is creative with his words and adds flourish with his slang. “All That I Got Is You”, “MGM” and his outstanding verse from Wu-Tang’s “Impossible” are enough evidence that show and prove Ghostface Killah has superior narrative rapping skills, too.

Favorite Track

“260”

What I said earlier about Ghostface, how he brings an edge to the Wu-Tang, on this track kicks off his verse by kicking down the door on the drug spot and carrying out an ill-fated hit on a dealer. He’s the first dude in on the raid, and he’s the first to jump onto the track. It’s no coincidence RZA had him kick of the Wu’s debut. He has the energy and the lyrics.

“260” is another fine example of Ghost’s ability to tell a story in a verse—a botched drug hit that unfolds over a smooth Al Green sample. Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.

Raekwon

“But anyway, let’s toast, champagne thoughts with Ghost. I max the most shotguns through the nose. Fuck rap, hip-hop put me on top. ‘Lo wears and Tommy Hill fly shit with a knot.”

Ghost is the muscle of the Wu, but Rae is the style. He helped usher in the waspy corner boy look that Tommy Hilfiger famously lambasted and suburban teenage hip-hop fans loved. We were already wearing that shit. His impact on Wu style extended beyond material fashion, affecting hip-hop lexicon.

Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... rests comfortably in the pantheon of hip-hop albums that shifted the culture, and it managed to steal away some of that shine from West Coast gangsta rap. “The Purple Tape” spearheaded the Mafioso rap trend in mid-90s hip-hop. Respect that. Kool G Rap had been making this type of music since before Wu-Tang hit the scene, but Rae reinvigorated the East Coast obsession with Mafioso rap. Wu-Tang Clan’s popularity helped propel Rae’s solo work, first introducing it to the mainstream before other rappers brought it to the forefront of pop-culture, dudes like Biggie, Jay-Z, and Nas— The “Kings of New York”. Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... is both a timeless rap album and a time-capsule. Rae and Ghost trade bars like rhyme magicians in the precursor to Ironman.

For all the influence Raekwon has had on hip-hop culture, he rarely gets mentioned in “Top 5” lists, yet he is widely regarded as an all-time great MC. He can play different parts on a song; he can blow the doors off the track with a powerful opening verse, and he can put that shit to bed with a closing verse for the ages, like that exemplary rhyme he spit on “Triumph”. Head-to-head, MC-to-MC, Raekwon is hard to beat.

Favorite Track

“Criminology”

“House of Flying Daggers” slaps and is a better posse cut than “Wu Gambinos”. That’s not even a controversial statement. Shout out to J Dilla. Rest in peace. The video for “House of Flying Daggers is the perfect companion to the song, bringing a different layer of life to each rapper’s verse. It would’ve been better with GZA in the mix. That’s the type of track he destroys. “Incarcerated Scarfaces” is Raekwon in human flamethrower form. but there’s something I’ve always loved about how “Criminology” opens with the clip from Scarface where Tony and Sosa get into it, near the end. Then, the fucking beat drops on your head and it’s over.

You could make the argument that Ghost got Rae on this track, but I’m not having it. On top of that, I think Rae had the better verse on “260”.

There can only be ONE!

This is Rap Kumite 4, reserved for the 4th spot in my “Top 10”. Styles matter in fighting and in hip-hop, and Ghost and Rae matchup up stat-for-stat to a “T”. They often finish each other’s rhymes, and they absolutely feed off each other’s energy. This shit right here is Obi-Wan and Anakin on Mustafar, lava erupting around them, the fate of the galaxy swinging in the balance. I thought this fight would eventually go to Ghostface. I thought the tremendous power behind his delivery and the sincere resonance in his lyrics would overwhelm Raekwon, but I was wrong.

Raekwon

Congratulations! The prize is a special place in my heart.

He came through with the infinite power of a god and landed an uppercut to Ghost’s chin, and like Thor in The Avengers, he laid out the Hulk. On top of that, I think Rae gets the best of Ghost on a lot of his own tracks. Check the playlist and decide for yourself.

RAP KUMITE CHAMPS

10. Evidence
09. GZA
08. Pusha-T
07. DMX
06. Nipsey Hussle
05. Kendrick Lamar
04. Raekwon

Next in Rap Kumite 3, the Blunt Brothers have a family feud.

Previously in Rap Kumite 5...