Raekwon new dx interview

[Elano]

You know I gotta set this thing off by asking you if the sequel is as good as the original?
Raekwon: Of course. That’s an understatement, fam. I’m from the real golden era of Hip Hop, where we take pride in our art. So I would never try to [come with that title for] this album and don’t give it the same energy that I gave the first. This is very important not only to the fans, but to myself… I feel real confident in this one as being a classic. Not so much [in] trying to outdo the first one, ‘cause you can’t outdo a classic. If it’s a classic, let it be a classic and continue [on] to make another classic. 

DX: Well I’m really diggin’ the joints I heard so far, “New Wu” , “Flashback Memories” with The Game , but I gotta be honest with you and say I wasn’t really feeling “Criminology 2” .It just didn’t hit me as hard as the original.
Raekwon: Alright, well you know everything ain’t gonna always satisfy everybody. As many people that did love it, I’m glad you was honest and say you didn’t. That’s your opinion. My thing was, it was something to just give you a memorable moment. But see that’s the shit I’m talking about right there. And don’t get me wrong, I respect your opinion, but it’s not so much about trying to outdo [the first album], fam. My thing [was] to sit there and take you back into that energy, that vibe, that aura of Hip Hop. It wasn’t to say, yo, which one is better? Because of course the first one is the first one we made. Now if I’da made this one first, then you probably woulda been like I love it! And that’s the type of shit that in a way it’s like I’m not cool with. I respect your opinion. I’m not trying to flip it on you. But that’s my thing, you can’t please everybody, fam. What we tried to do was basically give you a remembrance of something that came from a time where we was really street rhymin’… [And] a lot of people liked it. You probably might be the first person I heard that say they really didn’t like it. You gotta just let the music be the music, the energy, man. We make our music off the energy, fam. Believe that.     

DX: Well I will say that when you spit “rhymin’ is a color” [on the track], that shit was ill.
Raekwon: Rhymin’ is a color, to me. Probably a lot of niggas ain’t even know what I meant when I said that though… I think I’m at a level to where I know that I still got it. And I don’t wanna be judged based off of something I did and then somebody trying to compare it word for word, or something from something. Yo if it’s hot, it’s hot. C’mon. Shit, the lyrics sound like ’95 again, with that same energy. That street energy. That hood energy. That’s [where] we come from with it. That’s more important to me than trying to sit there and outdo the first one. I can’t outdo anything that I’ve done before. All I can do is complement it. And that was the purpose of doing that song was to complement [the original].   
Thanks for your opinion though, man. But I just wanna let [everybody] know that that’s where I think that a lot of people gotta really start opening [their minds and] stop comparing. You can have your favorite, but don’t stop a man’s success just ‘cause he trying to do something another way. It’s always time for growth and development. I wasn’t coming to kill this album [the same way as] the first one. You can’t, that was ’95. I was another age then. Now I’m older and wiser. So now I gotta try new things, because the old things is in the past.

DX: Well let’s expand a little bit and give the HipHopDX readers a preview of the whole album. First, if you don’t mind, tell the people about “House of Flying Daggers.”
Raekwon: I mean, I don’t really wanna get into all of that. I just want you to know that yo, I worked real hard on this album. And don’t think for a minute that I’m burnt off of what you said. I’m not gonna sit here and break down every track like that. All I’ma do is tell you that yo, as me being an emcee I made a classic again, fam. These beats that you gonna hear, you ain’t gonna hear ‘em on any niggas tracks or whatever, whatever. That “House of Flying Daggers” right there, that was a track produced by J Dilla, who [before he passed in 2006] basically came in and gave niggas something compatible to the Wu dynasty of music that we make. That’s definitely a hard track. It ain’t really too much I can say. All it is is beats and rhymes, b.         

DX: Did I read correct though that you used a beat [“Last Donut of the Night,” that also appeared on] Donuts
for the track?
Raekwon: Donuts, Donuts, I never even heard of that. 

DX: Dilla’s like last proper album.
Raekwon: Right, right, alright yeah, alright I heard something like that though. And I could sit here and quote 100 dudes that got tracks that slipped through other niggas hands, and came through this hand and came through that hand. Dilla’s a talented producer. God bless his soul. And I think that any track that you hear Wu-Tang touch, it’s gonna get complemented in the right format where it’s gonna stick. Now I don’t know which one is Donuts, because I’m just really gettin’ up on Dilla. I haven’t really heard too many east coast cats blazin’ his jumpoff. [When] I actually started hearing what the west side is doing and all the shit that they do, that’s when Dilla came to my life. And I believe that it could be a couple of [Dilla] tracks [I recorded to] that somebody might have heard [already]. But it’s about who rips ‘em right.

DX: And you got like half the Clan on that, right?
Raekwon: Yeah, half the Clan on it. And I love that track a lot, ‘cause that track remind me of something carved out for Wu-Tang brothers to kill. You couldn’t hear a normal emcee on that kind of track that Dilla made. For me that track was like a perfect slide-on shoe feel for them Wu cats.

DX: You got a few legendary beatmakers providing heat for OB4CLII, one of whom is Erick Sermon. I know you said you really don’t wanna get into too many details, but can you give – for the readers sake – a little hint on what the Green Eyed Bandit gave you?
Raekwon: Yeah, the "Green Eyed Bandit" he definitely came in and he put his element down. Me and him got a song called “Baggin’ Crack,” where it basically sounds like a razor is constantly hitting the plate, with a nice little simple plain beat on it that basically enhances my story vision. I really gave a nice intimate story of a street hustler getting his bag on. This album is just hoodies and jeans and Timbs. It’s not nothing really glorifying about [selling drugs], it’s just me going back to not really caring about the consumer and more or less caring about the art… I just took it back to the basement, man, to the lobby. Where it’s about street raps and strong lyric content.
   
DX: Now you said this is hoodies and Timbs music, but I understand you’re rockin’ with some southern royalty on the album. What does Rae and Bun B on a track together sound like?
Raekwon: You gonna hear it. [Laughs] That’s how I get down. I’m always gonna relate to niggas that I could relate to, and that could relate to me… I identify with all real niggas all over the world. Bun is a real nigga to me. And the stories that we talk about on the album, it’s a perfect fit. So don’t think you gonna hear me going into some south shit. Because I can kill some south shit if it’s hard enough, but Bun stepped in my chamber. And me and Bun is almost the same kinda nigga. We got the same kind of life stories. So it makes sense [for us to collaborate]. I know what you’re thinking, but don’t think like that. [Laughs]

DX: [Laughs] Nah, nah, some of your classic tracks – “Skew It On The Bar-B,” “Royal Flush”… You and OutKast need to do like a whole joint together.
Raekwon: Yeah. But I just know what you saying, ‘cause a lot of cats be feeling like dudes be running to they sound to make big records with. I didn’t run to nobody’s sound to make a big record. I feel like he a cuban link nigga within hisself, and he talk that talk. And at the same time I’ma big, big fan of Bun B. So you gonna see something special that we created… It’s called “Never Used To Matter.” It’s an intimate tale of all the shit that we look at in the game when you dealing with loyalty and you dealing with real niggas. Niggas that forget loyalty is everything.

DX: Is that track with Jadakiss on the album the “Gutterman Music” joint from the new mixtape with DJ Absolut ?
Raekwon: Nah, unless somebody stole it. I didn’t throw out nothing with me and [Jadakiss] on it [from OB4CLII] yet. Because I been keeping a clamp on the album. So anything you hear outside [of] “New Wu” is like me just basically freestyling and giving y’all new mixtape shit just to know I’m around.

DX: I’m loving that “Resolution” joint . Is that gonna be on the album, or was that just for the Staten Go Hard mixtape?
Raekwon: Yeah, that’s just for the Staten Go Hard mixtape. A lot of that shit is the shit that you just hearing me feed the streets because that’s what it’s all about. I’d rather let y’all know I have a lot of music that y’all didn’t hear to know that y’all always can hear something exclusive, and don’t keep hearing the same old shit from Rae.   

DX: That’s crazy, “Resolution” is a mixtape joint, damn. That sound like some album shit.
Raekwon: Anything on [Blood On Chef’s Apron or Staten Go Hard] is some mixtape shit. And I knew that when I was giving it up.

DX: Switching gears here, I understand that Busta Rhymes was a main cook in the kitchen for OB4CLII, correct?
Raekwon: Nah, Busta  just came through as a good friend, man. Busta’s a friend of mine first and foremost. He didn’t come through as no businessman [like], "Yo, we got a contract, or we got a deal." It’s just friends, man… When I needed an ear, or a piece of motivation, he was a shoulder there for me. I think he admires me so much that he had to tell me that in order for me to understand what I can do on my own. Because he telling me like, yo, it’s so much that I showed him. I kept his sword sharp or whatever. And [so] he was just being good friends. And anything that he was able to do to help me, he would do it at any given second. And he showed that, as far as the introducing me to the Dr. Dre, the going outside his way to get me involved with a Dilla’s world. Some of that stuff I was just totally new to. But, he was the man that basically walked me into them situations and said, “Yo, my peoples is your peoples.” And that’s what it’s about.

DX: Now you mentioned Dre, you know I gotta ask, it’s mandatory, are all the joints you did with Dre on the album?
Raekwon: Me and Dre, we had an oath that we made when we even started kickin’ it with one another. We both said yo, straight up and down, outside of us being label partners or whatever, if it don’t work out we not gonna let that sour our friendship and our respect for one another… And I agreed with that fully because whether I’m over there at Aftermath or whether I’m not, the object is to come in and do your thing on the record. And he came in and he did his thing, so that’s all I go off of, man. Where I come from, your word is like loyalty. And I think that’s what he did… We completed that side of it, which was the main purpose of getting this man on this album, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II. He did his thing, man. It coulda been one track, it coulda been two or three [tracks we did together put on the album]. It depends on what I feel is gonna work for the situation. And also work for my pocket. [Laughs]

DX: [Laughs] So you don’t know which joints that he did are like confirmed, like for sure are gonna be on the album?
Raekwon: I know now what I want, but at that time [we were working together] we was just floating. We was just throwing shit in the air. But now I know what I want, and what I can afford. I don’t want a nigga to ever think he gotta give me something for free, because he work hard for it. I’ma keep it real with you, we in [negotiations] for two [tracks to be placed on the album]. I got three [tracks done with Dre, and] we in for two - two that I’m in love with. I wanna be in love with something more or less than just getting on it and just saying, "Okay [it’s a keeper ‘cause it’s Dre]." ‘Cause the Dre tracks ain’t the only tracks that’s gonna amaze people. That’s just something to add on to make people be like, "Okay, yo, that’s hot, he got Dre – west coast giant. Okay, he blazed on an east coast giant album."

DX: Can we give the names of those two joints to the fans?
Raekwon: No, we can’t give them out. They gotta wait. [Laughs]

DX: Damn, damn, okay, that’s too exciting… I guess man, I don’t wanna stay stuck on the Dre shit but it’s like, first it was Rakim, and then it was Raekwon, and I just know the fans are confused as to why he can’t seem to commit to seeing these projects with legendary emcees all the way through. Can you give any like insight into that?
Raekwon: I think it’s the fact that he probably got a lot of things on his plate at the time [these projects were coming together]. When you dealing with certain dudes, you gotta understand that you know, everybody want the time that they can get from [the] man, and if they can’t get it it’s kinda like it ain’t fair. My thing was, if you’re not gonna be on top of this project the way I’ma be on top of it, then what good is trying to be a [business] partner to you? If anything I’d rather come in and just get a heatrock from you and keep it moving. I think that’s probably the problem [others had]. It ain’t nothing to shit on Dre about, but a lot of dudes have said that he’s been very difficult to catch because he got so much work. And when you think of a 300-400 million dollar nigga, you gotta respect that that’s how it be sometimes. It’s all good. Maybe the time [wasn’t] right for that. It may happen in the future.

DX: Now you said other track-masters have got heat equal to Dre on this album. I gotta believe one is RZA. How many tracks did he do for the album? Like, how involved was RZA at the end of the day?
Raekwon: RZA was definitely involved all the way to the T. But RZA got his own life, man. RZA got his own thing to do. I can’t put my arms and my hands in RZA’s life forever. He been obligated to me for 14 years. I been obligated to him. But now, it comes to a time where Rae’s a general right now. I’ma make sure that all the elements and the formula is correct. And he may oversee it, but he don’t have to do everything no more. That’s not my thing to lean on a man trying to do his own thing and make his sacrifices worth it for him and his family. I can’t take a nigga out his element. So I gotta put my thinking cap on. And that’s what I did. I went out there and made sure that I got more than one classic producer on the album. We went and got the classics. We went and got The Temptations and the Marvin Gaye’s, and all them kinda niggas right now. It’s like I ran over to Motown from back in the days and got Smokey [Robinson] and all of those muthafuckas. So if a fan don’t respect that, I don’t know what to tell you. RZA is RZA. He definitely put his two cent in and made his elements, and that’s what it’s about. But I can’t allow one man to lead my destiny no more.

DX: Can you give me like a state of the Clan ’09 update? Y’all seem as together as y’all ever been in that “New Wu” video… So is that RZA-less, Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang album that you spoke of officially dead? Are you past wanting to do that?
Raekwon: Nah, that’s still coming out. That’s still one to add to the catalog. I can be like that. One day I can feel like I’m Wu-Tang, and one day I can feel like I’m from the streets of Shaolin. So that’s what it is. We make movies, man. This is entertainment. I’m not trying to assassinate my brother, but I can feel like that. As long as I warn them, and he know what I’m up to, he would never look at me like I’m deceiving him because he know [what] I’m thinking. I can sit down and eat food with his family and be at peace, and we know, yo, all it is is entertainment. This is rap, man. This is about making good music and not carrying it personal. My shit ain’t personal towards him. His shit ain’t personal towards me. Men gonna have disputes. Men gonna argue. Some may even fight. But at the end of the day, the love don’t go nowhere.

DX: And Wu-Tang is forever.
Raekwon: All the time. You already know my G.   

[redspyda]

honestly i dont even wanna here sh*t from him till the album drops.. He has been talking and talking about how great the album is for the past three years.. I bet there wont be any Dre tracks on it

[Invincible]

honestly i dont even wanna here sh*t from him till the album drops.. He has been talking and talking about how great the album is for the past three years.. I bet there wont be any Dre tracks on it

I think there will be a maximum of 2 on there. And yer, he does need to hurry up and drop this album. Been waiting far too long and I don't want to wait till August.

[k-dogg]

Sometimes it's like, "is getting a couple of tracks from Dre that damn difficult"...I know Dre is a perfectionist and shit but damn, all that studio time he talks about and he can't finalize a couple of tracks for a dope MC like Rae?? Anyway, I hope it turns out to be a dope project for Rae with or without Dre.