The fact that Raekwon’s The Lex Diamond Story has more thrust than most hip-hop albums I’ve heard in recent months may actually be a bad portent for the genre, given that The Lex Diamond Story sounds exactly like an album Raekwon could have dropped the album in 1994. After unleashing the classic Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers, Wu-Tang Clan has never been able to top itself, and Raekwon’s rap style, though well-honed, sounds pass» -as though he’s still stuck at the edge of the bling era. Nonetheless, this album has some solid, rattle-your-trunk singles, like “Missing Watch” (with Ghostface) and “The Hood” (featuring Tiffany Villarreal).