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The blog of the Suncoast

Kind of a Big Deal: Raekwon

June 5th, 2009 by Cooper Levey-Baker in Arts, Editor's Desk, Music, News, Sarasota-Manatee

Ed. note: Regular readers know I love me some Raekwon, and I decided to write more about the legendary MC as part of the ongoing synergistic strategy conceptualizing going on between The Stimulist and Creative Loafing Sarasota. You can read the original post here.

AGE: 39
JOB: MC
WHY YOU CARE: Because the man who invented this cocaine-rap thing is finally gearing up to drop a second dose of criminology on Aug. 11.

Wu-Tang MC Raekwon let us all know pretty early on what to expect from him when he steps to the mic. On verse two of the opening track of the Clan’s 1993 debut, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), Rae goes all out: “I wait for one to act up / Now I got him backed up / Gun to his neck now — react, what? / And that’s one in the chamber / Wu-Tang banger / 36 styles of danger.” Amidst all the sheer weirdness coming from the Wu-Tang Clan at the time (ODB’s off-kilter ranting, the group’s Five-Percenter ideology, Method Man’s threat to “sew your asshole closed and keep feedin’ you and feedin’ you”) Raekwon’s verses stood out for their clarity of intent. Here was a man who knew crime, and wanted to tell you all about it, in exacting detail.

Rae’s passion for illustrating the grimy, bloody realities of life in the drug trade came to full fruition with the 1995 release of Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…, the third solo disc to emerge from the Wu-Tang camp. The LP is no concept album, but one theme pervades every single track: getting rich, getting high, getting even and, by the way, fuck the world. Tracks like “Criminology,” “Rainy Dayz” and “Wu-Gambinos” set a new standard for how rappers could describe their environments. Rae zoomed in to cover details like cooking up crack on the stovetop, grinding your days away on hazardous street corners and dealing with the the stress and paranoia that creep up on those neck-deep in the drug game. Linx proved wildly influential. (Perhaps to a fault: For a while, it seemed like no up-and-coming NY rapper could get by without mafioso pretensions.)

But as his rep grew, Rae the artist faltered, and the man dropped two poorly received follow-ups, Immobilarity and The Lex Diamond Story. Then, a couple years back, when no one expected much from Rae ever again, rumors started flying that he was crafting a sequel to Linx, and word was good: Those who had heard it, said it was actually worthy of Rae’s debut. But then came nothing, except for more announcements that the project had been shelved, that no label was stepping up to release it.

Till now.

On May 19, Rae announced that the LP — unimaginatively dubbed Only Built for Cuban Linx Part II — was finally getting a release date: Aug. 11. Hip-hop fans are going appropriately nuts over the announcement, and salivating over which tracks might make the cut. (The bomb-ass track “New Wu,” viewable below, seems a strong contender.) In the meantime, Rae is doing his part to build street hype about the release, and cut a 25-track mixtape titled Blood on Chef’s Apron that you can download for free right here. (Via Get Right Music.) Sure, a lot of the download sounds like an extended infomercial for Linx Part II, but there are plenty of diamond-in-the-rough moments to make the thing a joy to behold, and the entire thing leaves no doubt that Linx Part II actually has a legitimate shot at greatness. It’s good to have you back, Rae.