Raekwon: Striving for Perfection

While Wu-Tang’s enormous collective discography includes many great records released since 1997, it’s generally believed that those early albums possess a certain magic, perhaps generated by the group’s close proximity to each other at the time. Tension can be the catalyst for the Clan’s creative chemistry, and legend has it that during the sessions in RZA’s low-budget, claustrophobic basement studio in Staten Island, the emcees would fiercely battle each other for a chance to get on a beat. “It stayed competitive all the time man, in a good way,” Rae confirms. “Because if your shit was weak, they’d tell you. We protected the integrity of each other’s brand.” When he reflects on the early collective charisma of the Clan, he becomes visibly excited. “You had GZA with the witty, intelligent one-liners. Method Man with the flow – we felt like his flow was crazy, Meth could rhyme fast or slow. Ghost with the emotions attached to his music, he’s so emotional! With myself, I’m painting pictures of the scenes of the crimes, we all had a gift! U-God with that banging voice! Inspectah Deck comin’ with that intro to every record, he knows how to hit it, it’s like if he was a sniper,” he exclaims, holding up an imaginary rifle with his hands. “It’s like ‘hit it from fuckin’ 300 yards away’, Deck could hit it! Remember Deck is the one who set if off with Protect Ya Neck, and that changed the fucking game for us.

“And you know, RZA was a master man, at that time. He never really went outside. Like even when we was doing a lot of running around, RZA wasn’t outside like that. He stayed locked in his room, hair all out, looking like he just woke up. This guy was focused on his beats. He was younger, and he had the energy … But I guess he had something to prove at that time.”

Internal beef is nothing new for the Wu-Tang Clan – they’ve been falling out with each other publicly since the late 90s. But during the build up to the group’s 2014 album A Better Tomorrow, Raekwon and RZA had a dispute that echoed the controversy surrounding the group’s 2007 album 8 Diagrams, and this time their relationship appeared to be particularly sour. The album was originally intended to be released in 2013 to mark the Clan’s 20th anniversary. But despite a triumphant run of tour dates, the group struggled to muster up the same enthusiasm for the studio, and RZA blamed Raekwon’s alleged lack of cooperation and absence from the sessions for the album’s delay. In April 2014, Rae angrily expressed his dissatisfaction with RZA’s production and team management in an interview with Rolling Stone, effectively declaring himself on strike from the group. Shortly before RZA called a deadline for the record, a “truce” was called, and Raekwon recorded several verses for the album at the 11th hour.

But Raekwon had been right. A Better Tomorrow wasn’t a complete disaster – this is the Wu-Tang Clan after all, these individuals couldn’t make a dull record if they tried – but a lack of inspiration was audible, and too many of the album’s better verses were eclipsed by cheesy choruses performed by little-known singers. Since its release, Raekwon has distanced himself from A Better Tomorrow, and RZA likened the project to bearing a child “with one arm”.

No matter how bitter their feud might appear in the press, Raekwon insists that there’s a unity between himself and RZA that’s fundamentally unbreakable. “When we have beef with each other, it’s never physical beef or something that’s long-lasting,” he assures me. “Like he didn’t put his hands on me, he didn’t fuck my girl or no shit like that. It was just differences with the music.” So how exactly do they make amends after such harsh words have been exchanged? “When you think about where we come from, that’s something we would never forget. We know that we needed each other. So we always reminisce back to that, that helps sometimes with issues,” he explains. “So we could be mad at each other, but next time I see you, you’re getting a hug, ‘How you doing, how’s the family?’ Yeah, we went at it, and we’ll go back at it again if we have to. But nobody can take away the bond.”

But while the Clan may be able to bury the hatchet, whether or not they can ever revive the passion of their golden era is another question. “We all got family now. I got three babies. There’s guys in the group who’ve got five, six babies. So you can just imagine what they’ve got to deal with,” Rae says. “You lose certain desires after a while because now, you have another role to play. And we always knew that, not everybody’s going to be the same forever when it comes to being creative. Sometimes it becomes a conflict in the group. But, for me it’s like I’m still a kid. I love it. I love this job.”

It’s a PR-friendly statement, but Raekwon’s passion is convincing. He may have been central to the Wu-Tang Clan’s feuds numerous times in the past, but his stubbornness stems from his respect for the fans. And after all these years, it seems the chef never lost his appetite. “You know the last thing I’m ever going to do is give you something that ain’t from here,” he says, pounding his chest with a clenched fist. “It’s always from here bro.”