You know the drill; rapper makes it big, rapper puts his crew on, rapper’s crew sucks, rapper’s fans wonder why he put his shitty boys out. It has happened hundreds of times and will continue to happen. But every now and then, someone breaks the rules. Every now and then a rapper puts somebody on who is actually dope. This is one of these times. With the Wu operating pretty independently, Ghost has gone back to the 718 and introduced the world to the Theodore Unit. Standing second in command behind Ghostdini is Trife Da God, a gritty emcee following in the Wu lineage.

Some might be quick to think this “official mixCD” is using Ghost’s name just to get people in the door to check out Trife, but Ghost represents on 10 of the album’s 18 cuts. He gets one solo cut, a vintage offering in “Struggle” and a few slick collabos (“The Watch” with Rae, “Ghost and Giancanna” with G Rap and “Out Da Way” with Wigz). His only other Trife-less song is a posse cut featuring Slick Rick, RZA and Raekwon that was recorded for “Supreme Clientele”.

When hitting the wax together (“Cocaine Trafficking,” “Fire,” “Late Night Arrival), Ghost and Trife display a chemistry reminiscent of a young duo that once made an album called “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx.” Never do they sound better than on “Milk Me”), which is just all kinds of dope.

But its when Trife goes for dolo that you arguably find the album’s dopest cuts. For me, “War” is easily the icing on the cake here, with “Drugz” and “Put It On The Line” not far behind. If the album isn’t dope enough, it comes packaged with a DVD packed with life performance footage…just in time for the holiday season. Buy yourself a gift.