Raekwon Breaks Down His 25 Most Essential Songs
By Daniel Isenberg | Mar 9, 2011 | 2:01 pm | Permalink
Raekwon the Chef has cooked up some marvelous shit during his illustrious rap career. Since he went to "war with the melting pot" on Wu-Tang Clan's first single "Protect Ya Neck" in '92, Shallah put out a string of memorable solo albums (including the classic Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... series), made outstanding co-starring appearances on countless stellar Wu releases (most notably with his Co-D Ghostface Killah), and spit darts on tracks with everyone from the late Big Pun to teen twitter-throb Justin Bieber.
Yesterday he released yet another solo album, Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang, which sounds like some of his best work to date. So we felt it was the right time to go chop it up with the Chef to break down what we feel are the 25 most essential songs in his never ending catalog of crack. And you know Louis Rich Diamonds is always down to connect, politic, ditto. Put your shoes on.
As told to Daniel Isenberg (@stanipcus)
MurrayOTU March 10th, 2011 at 10:26 AM
Great read. Rae comes across really humble in this and I didn't expect to hear him overwhelmed at being in the studio with cats such as Slick Rick and Dre. Also good to hear the justification behind the Justin Bieber collab. Wu-Tang is for the children!
Cameron Good March 11th, 2011 at 12:23 AM
Niceee! Complex + Raekwon > *On #13 Firewater, I thought Showbiz produced that joint?*
Dick B. March 11th, 2011 at 03:41 PM
"Runaway Remix" an essential Raekwon song?
swizzboults March 12th, 2011 at 12:09 PM
I see why runaway is so relevent. I thinks its because it shows Rae is still relevent and is open to new talent and that he still loves to make music and really appreciates working with musicians who have popularity and are at the top of their game. Especially when you look at his other essential songs, most are pre 02, therefore shows his own growth and ability to be current and still bang out real good tunes.
Paul A Duke Jr March 13th, 2011 at 06:24 PM
"Darlingside from Northampton, MA is the winner of the Sennheiser Hear. I am. campaign! Check them out at Sennheiser's Austin Music Experience 3/18 at The Stage on Sixth Street!"
Paul A Duke Jr March 13th, 2011 at 06:25 PM
"Darlingside from Northampton, MA is the winner of the Sennheiser Hear. I am. campaign! Check them out at Sennheiser's Austin Music Experience 3/18 at The Stage on Sixth Street!"
100k March 16th, 2011 at 02:15 AM
Good article...didnt know Chef liked "Alphabet Soup" like that...joint is fire.
TED March 20th, 2011 at 07:08 PM
“I’m a big fan of Mobb and Nas. Queens rappers excite me more than Brooklyn rappers for some reason. I don’t know. I like Queens rappers. I like how they rhyme. I like the beats they be picking. And, at that time Havoc was young, but nice. So you know I’m always for the young thoroughbred. Anybody that’s just feeling to me like they on some young G shit. Yeah, I wanted to fuck with them." !PAUSE/NO HOMO!
White Sneakers November 4th, 2011 at 04:54 PM
Why was the Bieber joint on this list, but Guillotine (Swordz) wasn't?
anon. December 23rd, 2011 at 04:14 PM
that alphabet soup joint is straight from a madlib beat - crate diggin' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0LW8lKRp4Q