TSS Presents Smoking Sessions With Raekwon

"Smoking Sessions With..."    By TSSCrew on October 21, 2008 at 12:51 pm

The way rappers blatantly swagger-jack each other and recycle beats like tin cans, its hard to believe that “biting” was once unacceptable in Hip-Hop. Whether duping another artist’s graffiti or swiping someone’s slang, it was never a good look to be labeled a “biter.”

It was during this creatively-fertile era that Raekwon The Chef, a respected street disciple and founding member of the storied Wu-Tang Clan, dropped Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… a trend-setting album regarded as one of the best in rap history. With phenomenal beats by the RZA and his trusty wingman Ghostface Killah in tow, Raekwon gave gangsta rap a new language and illustrated the fast life like no other emcee before him. Although Rae has dropped two other solo albums, countless mixtapes and appeared on a slew of records since then, fans have faithfully waited for Cuban Linx 2, the sequel to The Chef’s masterpiece. Other than Dr. Dre’s oft-delayed Detox, there may not be another album as coveted or highly-anticipated. In his exclusive interview with The Smoking Section, Raekwon insisted that Cuban Linx 2 will soon see the light of day.

Meanwhile, a straight-to-DVD documentary titled Wu: The Story of The Wu-Tang Clan will be released by BET and Paramount Home Entertainment on November 18th. The film is an authorized account of the pioneering collective’s rise to power, boasting never-seen-before archival footage and unearthed interviews. Loud Records/Legacy Recordings will drop the film’s soundtrack album, a compilation of the Wu’s most memorable group and solo joints, also on November 18th. In light of the nostalgia, The Chef recalled his past, but also touched on his present and near-future.

TSS: Talk a little about the Story of the Wu DVD. What can fans expect?

Raekwon: The DVD is a cinematic documentary of brothers’ trial and error through the music game. It just an opus of all the things that we’ve been through and you know… just the good times, the bad times and the ugly times. The tragedies as far as my brother Ol’ Dirty Bastard passing and how that affected some of the guys in the crew. This is being told from the standpoint of a fellow that actually lived in our neighborhood that did the documentary. He was somebody that was pretty much familiar with our whole career from day one and he created an opus of the Wu-Tang Clan, as far as everything we’ve been involved with through the years.

TSS: You’re a bonafide legend in the game with timeless albums. When you first began, did you ever think that you’d be where you are now?

Raekwon: Nah, I didn’t think it was going to be that big. You know, our thing from the door was basically just to be able to let the world know that there’s talent in Staten Island and we just wanted to represent. We were a bunch of kids at the time that were basically Hip-Hop fanatics. We had a situation similar to the Hit Squad back in the early 90’s, with Erick Sermon. He had his little crew; Redman and all these cats. We kind of felt that the way Erick and them built their situation was the same way that we had built our situation on Staten Island. So we just put our minds together. Brothers was still fresh off the block, some brothers were just coming home. It was a good situation at a time when we needed it, you know what I mean? We just basically pursued our dreams of being heard… we didn’t know we’d affect the world the way we did. All praises due, though. We’re here.

TSS: On 36 Chambers you had some classic verses, like “Can It Be So Simple” and “C.R.E.A.M.” As dope as you were on that first album, you took things to a whole new level on Cuban Linx. Your lyrical skill elevated greatly in between the two albums. What happened in that period that made your skill level rise so high?

Raekwon: First of all, Kha, I want to say I appreciate that. I’m honored for you to even tell me that. I was just a street cat, man… that’s all. I had a lot of trial and error growing up and all the things I was subjected to, so I basically just came in with what I know. Like I’ll tell anybody, I’m just a cloth of Big Daddy Kane, Rakim, Slick Rick, Biz… you know what I mean? Just that era; I’m just a marble cake of that. Growing up in Hip-Hop and still dealing with my own trials and tribulations, I applied everything that I knew from the influences that I had around me as well as being involved with the music. I just felt like, “Yo, Rae, you’re a writer. This is what you love to do.” You know, I’m very cinematic when it comes to my vision sometimes and I think it was just energy, man. It was just something that I really had the passion for and I just pursued it. I jumped on it like how a real dude is supposed to jump on it. If you love something, you go for it and that’s all I did. Just surround myself with the best energy and the things that I respected about Hip-Hop and the people I liked and I used that as a platform to get where I have to go right now.

I’m a real street cat, so anything I talk about is definitely going to be in relevance of my lifestyle and the things I was going through. As far as the Cuban Linx album is concerned, that was something that I always wanted to express to the world. Like, “Yo, we move like the Mafia,” na’mean? Not based on their principles, but based on the real principles of morals and how important family is. So I just constructed that into my movement and we came with the names. Me and RZA was working on a lot of stuff ahead of time, before Cuban Linx was actually even made. So I had a lot of shit in the cabinets already; I had stored food already. So I just came in with my heart, B. Just really took it serious and did my thing, you know? All praises.

TSS: Regarding conflicts you may or may not have had with certain rappers back in the day, Method Man was once quoted as saying, “Rae and Ghost don’t like nobody.” Was that true then and if so, is it also true now?

Raekwon: It’s definitely not true now. Like I said, one thing about me is when I’m playing for one ball club, I’m playing for one ball club… you know what I mean? You know, it’s just a competitive sport. It ain’t never to where I felt like I had any drama with anybody so… Meth tends to exaggerate sometimes. But I guess by the same token, when you’re with Wu-Tang, yeah, it’s all about Wu-Tang. I’m a team player. If I was on Roc-A-Fella, it’s all about Roc-A-Fella. It was just constructive criticism and that’s something we all grew up on. We all grew up on challenges and things of that nature. So, I never really had no drama with nobody like that. To me, a beef is a beef. But as far as in this rap game, yeah, I’m down to war with anything that ain’t with me. So yeah, I guess that makes sense a little bit, you know?

TSS: Speaking of waving the flag for Wu-Tang how is your relationship with the other members; particularly with the RZA after you two had words not long ago?

Raekwon: Me and RZA, basically we’re brothers. I know that it affected him, because it affected me. One thing about me is that I’m the type of brother where I’m so loyal to the family as far as whatever we go through, that at the end of the day I’m going to be there. But that situation… it kind of was getting ugly for a minute. But me and him, we stopped and we talked about it. He knew I voiced my opinion the right way; I wasn’t trying to be like disrespectful as far as not looking at him as a piece of shit. It wasn’t never like that. It just that I feel that brothers are being stubborn sometimes, even myself. So I just had to say what I had to say but we built about it and at the end of the day we laugh about it right now. Because we know, at the end of the day, family is thicker than anything. So we cool.

TSS: How often do you get stopped in the streets or in a club and get asked about Cuban Linx 2?

Raekwon: That’s like walking down the block and somebody asking you what time it is or how to get here. That’s regular, you know? Like I said, I laugh about it because I feel that out of all these artists in the game, I think I’m probably the one that everybody looks more to do more with. I guess that’s just from coming with a classic album, but… that’s a regular, B. It’s like I never had an album and people are waiting for something that they heard, but they didn’t hear it yet. So, I walk down the street and everybody is Cuban Linx-fanaticked out. So I’m saying, “Damn, they know I still got it in me.”

It just gets repetitive; sometimes I get upset because I want to be able to cater to the audience faster but politics is a muthafucka. And it puts me in a situation sometimes where I got to look at the future of my family before I can sit here and just try to put something out that ain’t going to stick on the wall. Anything I do, it has to be done in a structure where I feel like it’s a growth and development stage; the people I’m doing business with got to know my worth. People sometimes try to make you change your philosophy, you know what I mean? So for the most part, it’s an honor, man. It’s an honor to still be here and people be like, “Yo, where’s that album at? C’mon, man, you’re playing!” It gives me a sense of motivation and I just feel like a lot of artists don’t really have these kinds of walls to climb.

But I guess for me, being the kind of product that I made before, I guess it sits in its own box. I just take the good with it, and like I said, this is nothing for me. I’m one of them real cats. I’m not a ringtone rapper. I’m not somebody that’s just doing an album for a few cuts and to be on BET, or even to go platinum. You can’t outdo yourself when you already did your thing. All you can do is try to grow as a scholar. That’s all I’m doing, man. I’m just going to give brothers the business again with a classic and hopefully my real fans that’s really rocking with me, they’ll be able to relate. As far as the young generation coming to the table, hey… if you can’t feel me, then I understand that too. Everybody ain’t always going to feel everybody so that’s what it is. But you know me; I’m doing it for the ones that’s down with me. Hopefully the young youth, which is definitely on my agenda… I can’t never forget them. I’m always going to try and drop a jewel or even give them something that I feel they need. But for the most part, this record is a movie and I’m just getting on some Martin Scorsese, going-back-to-my-roots right quick, you know?

TSS: Indeed.

Raekwon: It’s not a problem because this is something I love to do. I think a lot of people just got me a little misconstrued because they always want to try and put me in one box. But I’m a conceptual emcee; I like to talk about plenty things and I don’t always want to talk about the drug game or something that’s related to negativity because I know that’s not my walk. But by the same token, I am a writer. I am a storyteller. And I am a person that actually seen everything that I go through. So I guess it ain’t really a bad thing to go back down that lane if that’s what people want. I got to do it for the fans too as well as do it for myself. So I take all of that into consideration and I try to balance it.

TSS: It’s interesting that you brought that up because that brings me to my next question. You say you spit what you lived. There’s a lot of artists nowadays, and I won’t mention any names, who are getting caught out there because of their backgrounds and their pasts. So how important is it for an artist to spit about what he really lived?

Raekwon: I think the importance of talking about what you live is, you have to be real with yourself. We know that we turned this business into a billion dollar industry and basically there’s people that really recognize other people’s talents and then you got people that really know how to copy your situation and run with it the same way, but don’t necessarily live it. I would tell a G that’s really about it, that they got to come from the heart. And real people knows when it comes from the heart, you know what I mean? You could sit here and look at TV and tell, “All right, this is a two-year old rapper or this is somebody that just basically got a shot.”

For a real emcee it’s like, you have to stay true to yourself all the time. And whether you was this kind of way of that kind of way… even with the Rick Ross situation, I’mma shoot on that. I respect Rick Ross — he’s is a good friend of mine. Everybody’s chopping him up about the C.O. thing. I feel like overall, I’m sure he grew up in Hip-Hop but… you really don’t have to front if that’s what you did. Because back then if I would’ve had a job, any kind of job… whether it’s a C.O., a mailroom or whatever, I’ma walk with dignity behind that because I was able to have something back then. Like I said for myself, all we did was grow up selling crack all day.

I just feel like at the end of the day, I think the world would’ve still respected him even more if he would’ve just been like, “Yeah, I was a fortunate cat at the time to have that job.” And then on top of it, he may have looked for a couple of people in there. So it ain’t that necessarily he was on some police shit, it’s just that he had a job back then. I think if he would’ve probably hit everybody in the head like that, they probably would’ve been like, “That’s real.” Because the way we came up, like I said, I was hanging out with [C.O.’s] back in the days… a couple of cats or whatever. They was hood cats but they were fortunate too. One cat may have been a C.O. but that ain’t change who he was; he was still criminal-minded (Laughs).

But what it’s all about to me… being real, man. Whether people accept it or reject it, you know what you been through and you know how you took that to the next level by just using your mind. I just say that’s the key thing; don’t change who you are, just change for the better. If you don’t know where you came from, you might not know where you’re going.

TSS: How has the rap game changed since you first entered?

Raekwon: Things have changed a lot. Things have changed for the good; things have changed for the worse. I got the passion for Hip-Hop, but at the same time it just seems like Hip-Hop is being sold off like politics now, na’mean? You got the Bush’s, you got the Dick Cheney’s; you got all that going on in this right now. For the most part I think people is not really using their creative side all the way. There’s a lot of replicas out there… a lot of people caught up in the politics side instead of being caught up in the art side as well. But I guess that what happens when you got successful youth coming up and just opening their minds to do so many different things. Now people don’t even look at the talent no more, they look at the outside of it. They look at the frame instead of looking at the picture. You’ve got a lot of artists that make good records, but don’t get the same kind of quality run that a ringtone rapper may get…and everybody’s not a ringtone rapper! So everybody kind of thinks Hip-Hop dropped off to this young generation, but I think it’s just that Hip-Hop is being looked at by the younger generation because it’s their time to come up.

Everybody’s getting older. Us being in our mid-30’s we look for a certain kind of rapport when we pick up something that’s supposed to be Hip-Hop. And I think that affects a lot of things. I can’t really knock who downloads your music but if they really love you, they’re going to go get your album too if it’s worth getting. But if I got to sit here and hear you say the same thing on nine different tracks and you’re not showing me no growth and you’re just standing in one spot, I can’t really go out there and get these kinds of records. I want to get something that I’m excited to get; it’s like going to get an outfit. If you keep seeing a bunch of regular Levis and you got five pairs of them, you don’t want them no more. I need something with a zipper or a mean pocket. We want to enjoy what we pay for.

TSS: I saw you and Ghostface at Jones Beach for Rock The Bells and I enjoyed it. Which Rock The Bells city was your favorite? Do you have a favorite moment on that tour?

Raekwon: To be honest, Kha… I can’t even really say which one was better, man. All of them was really rockin’, man. I’m sitting there flippin’ out ‘cause I’m saying, “Ya’all are really turning it up like this and we’re artists that’s been in the game for so long.” But how can you sit here and have 80,000 people you’re performing to every day and you’re not on TV or on the radio every day? So like I said, it’s a beautiful thing but I can’t even say one spot like, “Yo, it always goes down here.” I can be anywhere, man. I’m a traveling cat anyway. I travel the world. When you ain’t hearing nothing up with Rae, Rae may be in Austria or here or there. The people around the world is really still for the real Hip-Hop, man. So, I can’t say. We do six shows out of seven shows in a week and every show is goddamn 30, 40 or 50,000 deep at that time, we gonna look at all of them like every show is ill.

TSS: That’s whassup. Any parting shots for the The Smoking Section readers out there?

Raekwon: Definitely. I just want to tell all of the real fans that I’m coming. I know I put ya’all on hold for a minute, but always remember that you got brothers that work hard and brothers that work harder. I just happen to be one of them brothers who work harder. [Cuban Linx 2] is definitely in the mix. It’s a beautiful record, it’s a classic again. Whether you may feel like it’s a classic, it’s a classic to me ‘cause that’s how we made our music from the door. Get ready. It’s a lot of things I’m working on with this project, that’s really going to blow people’s minds. The album is coming out in early March, or the middle of March, so get ready for the excitement, man. The Purple Tape Part Two… it’s going down! You’re going to have the formula that y’all wanted plus some and like I said, it’s a classic. Trust me on that.

Wu: The Story of The Wu-Tang Clan DVD & soundtrack release on 11.18.08.

Posted in "Smoking Sessions With...", ARTIST INTERVIEWS, GENERAL — Tags: Ghostface Killah, Only Built For Cuban Linx 2, Raekwon, RZA, Smoking Sessions With, Wu-Tang Clan