In Brief

* * Ghostface Killah, “Bulletproof Wallets,” Epic. It’s a Wu-Tang Clan rule of thumb: Any solo album spinoff that doesn’t bear the sonic thumbprint of the band’s producer RZA suffers from beat anemia. That’s certainly the case with Ghostface’s new album, which has only four RZA tracks. “Wallets” serviceably filches samples from classic ‘70s soul on some tracks and conjures a cliched, urban gothic-noir vibe on others. Guest shots from Wu compatriots such as Method Man and Raekwon inject a little shock treatment, but not enough to revive this pallid effort.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to four stars (excellent). The albums are already released unless otherwise noted.