Ironman is released

Why it matters

Ironman came out October 29, 1996, on Razor Sharp/Epic. It is Ghostface Killah's solo debut. RZA produced. Raekwon and Cappadonna are on it so heavily that Ironman is sometimes referred to as the third installment of the Cuban Linx universe, after Only Built 4 Cuban Linx the year before. What the album does is push the Wu solo aesthetic further into the soul-sample, mafioso-storytelling, slow-tempo direction Raekwon had established. "Daytona 500" (with Raekwon and Cappadonna). "All That I Got Is You" (with Mary J. Blige, an autobiographical track about Ghostface's mother and his Staten Island childhood that may be the most emotionally direct verse he ever wrote). "Iron Maiden." "260." Ghostface at this point was already developing the dense, stream-of-consciousness writing style that would peak on Supreme Clientele in 2000. Ironman is the bridge. You can hear him figuring out, in real time, that the rules of rap writing did not apply to him in the standard way and that he could write however he wanted to. He has been writing however he wanted to for thirty years since.