nah & nah
cuban linx and liquid swords both have the nicest beats outside of 36 chambers, which is the best hip hop album of all time primarly due to its hard hitting & dark as **** production with kung fu undertones. i can honestly see it going either way as to which is better production wise ls vs cl.
the production on 36 chambers is honestly a masterpiece. there's nothing else in hip hop that sounds remotely like it. and at the same time it did a pretty decent job of introducing the various members of the wu, though i would say cuban linx probably did a better job at introducing ghost & raekwon. but 36 chambers is just hard hitting and energetic from front to back without a single throwaway track.
cuban linx is an amazing concept album that doesn't beat you over the head with its concept like a lot of the try-hard concept albums in hip hop
it does a better job of portraying the drug lord fantasy than scarface imo
it also contains arguably the best nas verse of all time
also arguably the best inspectah deck verse of all time
plus, that beat is an amazing example of the kung-fu influence in rza's production... though of course liquid swordz has its fair share of that as well... personally i think this track as well as the two below (one of which is from ironman and the other from cuban linx) are probably the best examples of rza's iconic kung fu oriented sound
^^rainy dayz is such an amazing song, probably one of my favorite wu songs of all time. so seductive and dark at the same time.
arguably the best east coast misogynist anthem of all time (and also arguably the best wu single or at least one of the best/most accessible)
this beat really exemplifies the vibe of the whole album. dark, seductive, hypnotic, tension-building, soul-oriented, laced with kung-fu undertones. also, cuban linx really introduced ghostface as a standout wu member, and this track is a prime example of this. but also cappadonna goes hard as **** on this track
"call me if you wanna get dug like the pockets
i ****um like a giant break wombs out of they socket"
this track also coincidentally features ghostface and cappadonna shining at their finest
this is the funny thing about cuban linx. even though it was a raekwon album, and rae honestly did a fine job performing on the album, the highlights of the album aren't raekwon as a rapper but rather wu as a sound, a style, a group, a borderline ideology.
where as liquid swords also had a few notable feature tracks and some top notch wu production, it was mostly an album to showcase gza's abilities as am emcee. and gza is nice so it's a great album. but i will always prefer cuban linx for all the reasons listed above. it's a more complete presentation of wu-tang's potential as a group. the only album that tops it is 36 chambers, which is an actual wu group album.
the one weakness cuban linx has is it has a bit more filler than liquid swords or 36 chambers. it gets off to a slow start and peters off a bit at the end. but the quality content within is golden enough to make up for that for me.
and it really introduced ghostface and to a lesser extent raekwon as stand-out wu members
but i do love liquid swords