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.