For that purpose, the album’s title Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… was, at it’s core, a message that the album was made for the most thorough, official, realest street cats.
Raekwon only built 4 cuban linx rar crack#
In order to effectively immerse the listener into this world, it was necessary to not only set the scene for those unfamiliar with the criminal underworld but to represent the game for the cats who either came up during the Crack Era or were actively hustling themselves. It would be a narrative centered around two individuals navigating the fast life of the drug world and its inner machinations, the dangers of it, and the overall lifestyle. It was here that the concept for the album was formulated. While the Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… was going to be Raekwon’s solo album, it was going to showcase Ghostface Killah while also including an ensemble cast: the Wu-Gambinos. They usually worked as a duo with multiple members of their creative circle in supporting roles in their films or as a base trio with a mix of other members filling in wherever was needed. The Raekwon/Ghostface dynamic reminded most people of American buddy cop or action films, but I always drew a parallel to Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung or Yuen Biao. This significantly raised fan expectations for their respective solo albums while letting the industry at large know that these two were breakout stars in their own rights. From this point on, their marketability and their commercial viability had a dual group and individual star-power dynamic. “Can It All Be So Simple” was the single and video that helped to slowly transform the Wu-Tang Clan in terms of their overall group dynamic and the public’s perception of Raekwon and Ghostface Killah. Now, without the mask, Ghostface Killah suddenly became even more of a hot commodity seemingly overnight for the same reasons. This was recognized early on by Def Jam A&R’s Tracey Waples and Drew Dixon (Def Jam snatched Meth up early). Method Man had labels rushing to sign him his talent and looks made him marketable. “Can It Be All So Simple” would become instrumental in establishing their identity as a unit while raising their individual stocks as widely celebrated Wu members. In addition , Ghostface Killah stopped wearing a mask, so now his face was visible. Following his involvement with the success of Wu’s previous single “C.R.E.A.M,” by Summer 1994, Raekwon was finally able to strike out as a star member of the Wu Tang Clan.
The single for “ Can It Be All So Simple” featuring Raekwon The Chef & Ghostface Killah was officially released in June, 1994 with an accompanying video. After Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Nobody slept on Rae and Ghost or Staten Island again. And being from Staten Island, where they drew inspiration from the Force MC’s (later the Force MD’s), they knew that the other New York City boroughs slept on them. They had extra motivation stemming from growing up in Hip Hop culture in the ‘80s. In terms of incentive to make a classic album, Raekwon and Ghostface often felt like underdogs even among their fellow Wu-Tang Clan members. Raekwon initially modeled his style after an amalgamation of Rakim and Slick Rick, but for his upcoming solo album he also drew on the influence of Kool G. Raekwon knew that he was going to have his co-defendant, Ghostface Killah, featured prominently on his album, and together with RZA they began to devise the concept for it and brainstorm on the project’s overall desired sonic aesthetic. At the time, RZA was locked into a creative zone, cranking out beats for the entire Wu-Tang Clan and their affiliates in the basement studio of his newly purchased duplex in Staten Island. Next came Rae’s album, then GZA’s sophomore album, Liquid Swords (Geffen). Method Man had just dropped his first album, Tical (Def Jam), and Ol’ Dirty Bastard was finishing up his debut, Return To The 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version (Elektra), under the watchful eye of Dante Ross. When Raekwon The Chef began work on his debut solo album for Loud/RCA, competition within the Rap world was insanely fierce.
While everyone in New York was looking to be the next artist to take up the mantle and stake their claim to the throne - and this was an impressive field of emcees vying to make the next consensus classic - Wu-Tang Clan member Shallah Raekwon was taking motivation and impetus to make great art from his own crew. due in large part to radio airplay of the infectious singles and album sales of Ready to Die. The next album in this continuum, Notorious B.I.G’s Ready To Die, would ultimately overshadow the critical acclaim of Illmatic. It started with Nas’s Illmatic, an album that would influence how subsequent Rap albums would be marketed, treated, and approached - not only by artists and the media that covered them, but the listening public as well. Within it, a new musical continuum began. We were in the midst of a Golden Era, but we had no idea at the time.
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