Wu-Tang Clan’s Masta Killa, who had been tinkering with his first solo record since the ’90s, unabashedly embraced the sounds of Wu on his debut. In the early 2000s, New York City-based gangsta rap took RZA’s style to almost cartoonish, exaggerated heights. In a way, No Said Date is a response to that: taking those shiny commercialized elements down to a more grounded level. RZA served as executive producer and more than half of the songs were produced by him or those under the Wu-Tang family tree: Allah Mathematics and True Master.

And while some of the classic ’90s Wu debuts were often epics with these great cinematic themes, No Said Date is an intimate, often lowkey tribute to Masta Killa’s childhood growing up in Brooklyn in the ’70s and ’80s — with the majo...