Raekwon Breaks Down His 25 Most Essential Songs
All the stories behind the Wu-Tang assassin's classic darts.
Image via Complex Original
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)
Wu-Tang Clan "Protect Ya Neck" (1992)
Produced by: RZA
Raekwon: “That one right there is definitely a classic song. It’s one of my favorites. That’s really my first time of hearing eight cats on one record, number one. That’s the introduction of our careers right there. That record definitely made the biggest statement for us. That record was put together crazy. When we got in the studio it’s like we were rhymin’ to another beat. That’s how RZA works. He may think of something right after he makes the beat and go back and re-tweak the beat though. I didn’t rhyme to that part of the beat when I was rhymin’. It was just a different bounce, but at the end of the day it was definitely just one of the illest songs ever made in my eyes.
“It wasn’t no order. When you hear us say we witty and unpredictable it’s for reasons like that. Only because, we understand RZA’s a beat maker, but at the same time RZA is a composer, so he was just playing with things and trying different things. So that was really scrambled together as a record. Like, probably the only one that was there with him helping him co-produce at the time was Dirty if I’m not mistaken, ‘cause Dirty had a lot to do with the production back then off the first album.
“Number one, being from Staten Island, the forgotten borough, this is what gets us excited. This is what makes us feel like we underestimated or underrated, so it was definitely about smashing anything and everything that come in our way, but we definitely wanted to be heard the right way.”
Wu-Tang Clan "C.R.E.A.M." (1993)
Produced by: RZA
Raekwon: “‘C.R.E.A.M.’ did a lot for my career personally. It gave me an opportunity to revisit the times where that cream meant that much to us. So, yeah, when I think of this record it just automatically puts me back into ‘87/’88 where we were standing in front of the building. It’s cold outside. We didn’t care. We’re out there, all black on trying to make dollars. Just trying to make some money and trying to eat. Survive.
”This song, I remember writing to the beat a long time ago before we actually came out. That beat is old. That was probably like a ‘89 beat. RZA had it that long because he had a bunch of breaks. He had all kind of things and he was making beats back then, but we was just picking and that beat happened to always sit around and I would be like, ‘I want that beat, so don’t give that beat to nobody.’ And he kept his word and let me have it.
“Meth came up with the hook but our dude named Raider Ruckus, this was like Meth’s homeboy back then, like they was real close, he came up with the phrase ‘cash rules everything around me.’ So when he showed Meth what it was and was like, ‘Cash rules everything around me,’ Meth was like, ‘Word, you right!’ And turned it into a movie, and I came in later that day and heard it and co-signed it.”
Wu-Tang Clan "Can It Be All So Simple" (1993)
Produced by: RZA
Raekwon: “Back then I was doing a lot of soul searching and writing about where I was at that time. That was definitely a hot beat. The sample with Gladys Knight in it, it just kinda was talking to me and I just started writing about the streets again. ‘It started off on the island...’
”This is what’s happening, and it became a song that was just describing us and describing where we wanted to go and where we wanted to be. When you’re young and used to not having nothing, you kinda tend to fantasize where you wanna be at. Basically I was telling the struggle side and Ghost was telling the dream side where he was saying, ‘Yo, I wanna have me a phat Yacht.’ It’s just young kids wanting to have something later on in life, but they’re right here for now.
”That was Hype Williams’ first major major major video. Guess who was in the camera room with him?! Guess who was in the editing room with him?! But I never took credit for it. I know the stuff that I like to see. Cats walking by pouring the beer, ‘Yeah, that look mean, that look like something that we need to put in there.’ The kids wheelie-ing and the slow motion effect. Hype was really paying attention to what cats had to say and how we wanted the video. And for me, all this is a dream come true. So, I’m excited. I’m putting my continuity with it. I’m feeling like I’m a star already before I even got on so you know I would definitely sit there with him for hours and get amped up like, ‘Nah, I don’t like how it look. Nah, we don’t look right. Hold up, show the cars like this. Fix the cars it gotta be like this...’ Hype wasn’t really prepared for all that, but he respected it.”
Method Man f/ Raekwon "Meth vs. Chef" (1994)
Produced by: RZA
Raekwon: “Me and Meth loved the beat. For the world to really know, me and Meth always go back and forth. We like to argue, fuss, and fight with one another, so everybody in the clan they kinda get a kick out of us two geekin’ and lunchin’ on each other every time. But, yeah, when we did that song we definitely was on some battling shit. And I knew Meth had the bounce.
When it comes to flowin’ we always looked at him as a flow-er. Niggas looked at me as a soldier. You know, a militant. Everybody had they specific chambers and at that time it was the flow-er versus the lyricist. The guy who’s gonna come at you with the war rhymes and the straight street shit.
“I feel he won still though because his flow was just so, ‘Who lit that shit it was I, the chinky eye...’ I was just going at him with the machine gun, ‘I’m goin’ all out kid no turn backs...’ So to this day we still laugh about it and it’s still a mystery to us who really won, but in my eyes I’ll give it to him.”
Raekwon f/ Ghostface Killah "Heaven and Hell" (1994)
Produced by: RZA
Raekwon: “‘Heaven and Hell’ definitely is one of my favorite beats. It was something totally slow, and made me reminisce about another story. ‘Heaven and Hell,’ that was a hook that me and Cappa made up way back in the day before we were even thinking about becoming stars and we used to have our little bars that we used to write, and that happened to be in one of our songs. And I just remembered the hook for this beat. And I called it ‘Heaven and Hell’ because we wanna be in heaven but we’re living in hell.
”Heaven is something once you make it, hell is what you go through. So, I was just telling a real nigga story ‘cause shit like that really take place on the block. And I just started rhyming to the beat and I realized that the beat wasn’t hard. So I was like, ‘I still like how it sound. It sound like champagne bottles, the bar, coolin’.’ It was just cinematic to me, and I just wanted to tell a mean story.
”We just started talking about some niggas that’s getting some guns and they on they bullshit, but they scheming to rob something. This is a dude who got stupid money, but he doesn’t realize it could happen, but you’re still living in hell even though you’re in your heaven. So, me and Ghost just decided to go back and forth on it. I think I probably had like 65% of the rhyme, and me and Ghost came in and finished it off together. And we felt like just rhyming together and bouncing it off each other on some ‘slow motion’ shit would be something to excite people.
“We did the video and I was pissy drunk. If you look at the video, when I was walking in, my hat was all fucking crazy. I’m in the limo just intoxicated like, ‘Wow, I’m really doin’ this shit.’ And we just set it up like we were the richest niggas in the town, like silk shirts. Try to really go away from the hardcore shit for a second, and just show the versatility.
”So I was always the dude that initiated like, ‘Let’s come in like this, let’s get the silk shirts.’ And you know everybody else will be lookin’ at me like, ‘You sure?’ And Ghost’ll be the one to be like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah lord. Yeah, we gon’ get the hats. We gon’ get the shoes.’ We felt like we was the black Frank Sinatra. Word.”
Raekwon "Incarcerated Scarfaces" (1995)
Produced by: RZA
Raekwon: “I wrote that song right there for all my niggas that was locked up. I happened to just be thinking about it. I think one of my mans had just went away for a long time. I wanted to have something on the album to represent the niggas that’s inside the belly of the beast. You got a lot of cats also that wear that scar on their face. So I definitely just wanted to shout out all the criminals on that record right there. All the ones that’s incarcerated, they scarfaces, too. Plus, whoever walking around with a buck fifty or three hundred on their face, this record’s for you. When you think ain’t nobody paying attention to you, Chef thought about you.
“I just was rhyming man. I came in RZA’s basement one night and he just had that shit poppin’, and I looked around the room and nobody was there. I was like, ‘I want this shit! This is me!’ I wrote my rhyme in maybe like fifteen minutes. The whole three verses. I was just flying. It was just coming to me ‘cause that’s how I get it in sometimes. If something really yokes me up like this, the beat just go, then I’m ready to get on it. I just aired that shit out in like fifteen minutes. Before you know it the song was popping, hook on it, everything. We like, ‘That’s Cuban Linx.’
“It pops in the club. That’s definitely a lot of people’s favorite record. Especially when I go to Connecticut. I call it the Connecticut anthem. It’s like I just put a whole [state] in my pocket when I did that. I feel like if I’m anywhere in the world, especially Connecticut, if I’m fucked up, somebody gonna hold me down just based on that record.”
Raekwon f/ Ghostface Killah "Criminology" (1995)
Produced by: RZA
Raekwon: “That’s another beat that RZA had in the basement that sounded real big and real strong. This was when we were in our Cuban Linx chamber and we were starting to build that album. That record right there was definitely one of the records where we were like, ‘Yo, we dare anybody to get in our way right now.’ Me and Ghost were just blood thirsty wolves right there. The beat was so strong, we already knew that that was definitely gonna be one on the album that niggas was gonna be like, ‘Yo, them boys from Staten Island ain’t playin’ on this microphone.’
“We wind up doing the video. You know me, orchestrating the video, ‘I need Benzes, jewels, and waterfalls behind shootin’ to the right.’ We actually went into the dessert and found a waterfall that shot to the right. I told Ghost, ‘I need you to be Vincent ‘Chin’ Gigante right now. Don’t have no muthafuckin’ gear on, all I need you in is a mean robe.’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, you right. I'ma just run with the robes.’ And, the next think you know, he’s the robe man.
”I’m tellin’ you, from that record it opened up the door. It started it. So now it’s, ‘Yeah, I need my jewels and a robe, I ain’t wearin’ no clothes no more.’ I was all the way into my mafia chamber, so I’m tellin’ him, ‘Yeah this is how I need you to be. You’re my underboss. Yeah, you come, you walk around. We gonna do it like this.’ It was just a hot video man.”
Raekwon f/ Ghostface Killah & Nas "Verbal Intercourse" (1995)
Produced by: RZA
Raekwon: “Another one of my favorites right there. That one right there though, the beat was sick. RZA was just dominating where he wanted to take this record, and I was just right there with him all the time co-signing the beats. At that time me and Nas were real close. He would come see me at my crib. I’d come see him up in Queens. And I always told him I want him on the album.
”So one day I brought him out to Staten Island. We went to RZA’s house and he went to the basement and he was listening to the beat and I’m like, ‘Yo, this is the one I’m thinking I need to have you on.’ And we would just sit there for an hour listening to the beat. Now mind you, I didn’t even write my rhyme yet. I just knew, this beat is going on the album.
“So Nas is automatically like, ‘Yeah this is it, but I don’t know what rhyme to fucking come with.’ I’m like, ‘Fuck it. What you got?’ He got a couple lines. I’m like, ‘Fuck it, go in the booth.’ So now, I’m in the back on some A&R shit. Ghost walked in. We all just chillin’. Next thing you know, Nas is up in there trying all different kinds of rhymes. He’s my guest, so I’m definitely paying attention to what he’s doing ‘cause at the end of the day I’m gonna make sure that he does what he need to do.
”He was trying shit and I was like, ‘Nah that ain’t it right there.’ And then once he said that, ‘Through the lights, cameras, and action,’ I looked at niggas in the room. Everybody looked at me. I’m like, ‘That’s it!’ I stopped him and said, ‘Yo, that’s the verse. Do that one.’ And ever since when he did that one, it was one of the best verses in hip-hop today.
“When that came out, Nas was just really starting to be heard more. He was starting to get his buzz up now as far as being a Queensbridge representative. People were seeing that this nigga’s nice, but we helped put that credibility on it even more when that record came out. So it was definitely one that people was like, ‘Yo, I love this shit because this little nigga over in Queens is nice. Then he’s fucking wit y’all and then the record is mean.’ So, it just kinda like helped everybody’s position grow in the game at that time.”
Raekwon f/ Ghostface Killah, Method Man, & Cappadonna "Ice Cream" (1995)
Produced by: RZA
Raekwon: “I hated ‘Ice Cream’. That’s crazy, right? It’s funny ‘cause, I loved the beat. The only thing I didn’t like about the record, I felt like it was too soft for Cuban Linx. When I tell you everybody fought with me, even Ghost was like, ‘Nah G, this is it.’ And I was like, ‘Nah, it’s too soft. We need everything hard! Gutter!’
”It wasn’t like I wasn’t on my chick thing, I wasn’t just focusing on that at the moment. I just wanted a hard album. A solid album. I loved the record. I was never mad at it being on Cuban Linx. It was just when it came down to doing videos, really ampin’ it up, I was like, ‘Nah, I ain’t really feelin’ it.’ And then you know, the shit just end up poppin’ off on the radio and they was playing it.
“I like the concept. To me, when Meth came with the hook and we figured it out and said, ‘We gonna talk about ice cream, we gotta talk about all flavors.’ It was just a great concept and basically I loved the record based on that, but it was definitely one of the ones that I could really say I looked past.”
Mobb Deep f/ Nas & Raekwon "Eye For An Eye" (1995)
Produced by: Havoc
Raekwon: “It was payback time. It was payback for the friendship and the love that Queensbridge and Shaolin had together. They’re building up their Queensbridge medals and shining ‘em up, and they called me in to get on that record. All I did was come in the studio and hang out with them. We was gettin’ bent and all that. But that beat, everybody’s head just kept knockin’.
”So that beat was just freshly made once we all got into the studio together. I remember P was up in there first settin’ it off, and Havoc came behind him. And me and Nas was over there in the corner writing. Like, one thing about me, I think I was more excited just chillin’ with niggas than writing. Like, I was always the type of nigga like, ‘Aight, you go. Gimme like ten minutes.’ So a lot of my rhymes are wrote quick. Like, that’s what cats always say about me like, ‘Yo Chef you write so fuckin’ fast.’ I’m like, ‘‘Cause I get open quick.’ If I get open off of something then it makes me write like that.
“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.
”Him and P, they already had their potions and me and Nas were just in the back like, ‘This is it.’ The next thing you know we just went in and did what we did. Honestly, I wasn’t even writing that hard, I wrote something just to participate and it wound up being a classic.”
Jodeci f/ Raekwon and Ghostface Killah "Freak N You (Remix)" (1995)
Produced by: Mr. Dalvin
Raekwon: “That right there was when we really started to look at making a transition for our careers, and when we made that record what was going through my mind was that maybe I could still be hardcore and still do these kinds of records too. But RZA wouldn't let me go there.
”When we made that record and it started taking off, I kinda just wanted to start making music like that. I wanted to try to open up that R&B world because like I said I'm the Chef. I'm versatile. You can't just put me in one box.
“Jodeci gave us a call. I remember me and Ghost up in the studio with them niggas ‘cause we was the only ones that went to go get at ‘em that day ‘cause they called specifically for us. And, them niggas was pissy, pissy, pissy, pissy drunk. We was in New York City, somewhere up in the city. I remember we was all just up in the studio having fun. Them niggas was singing their verses. Next thing you know, we was just pacing as it go on and while they was up in there doing their thing, I'm over there trying to write my first line like, ‘What the fuck am I gonna say to set off this rhyme?!’ It wasn't easy for me, so I think it may have took me like an hour and a half to just come up with the first line.
“I caught a lot of female love on that. So that's why I was trying to get my little female shine on. Now I wanna be a sex symbol like Meth. Meth is a sex symbol, and that record was allowing me to be a sex symbol to a degree. So I'm like, ‘Yeah, I need to start making more records like this!’ [Laughs.]
”RZA was like, ‘Man, listen here, you gonna stay right over here. Stay in your chamber.’ I was really one of the dudes back then that was just so amped up to do whatever I can. I believed in myself like that. Confidence got the Chef where he at today.”
Fat Joe f/ Raekwon, Big Pun, & Armageddon "Firewater" (1996)
Produced by: Born Lords
Raekwon: “Pun was definitely a good friend of mine and that record “Firewater” was Pun’s first record on-air. The first look. And it's so crazy that, I don't know, brothers sometimes look at me as a fortune teller or a genie or a psychic, but I remember Joe coming up to me, ‘cause you know Joe invited me up to the studio to get on a record with him. So you know me I'm a New York kid, I'm going everywhere, Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, and Staten.
”Wind up in the Bronx with Joe that night and Joe is like, ‘Yo, I wanna introduce you to somebody.’ And then he introduced me to Pun. He was like, ‘Yo, this my mans from the street.’ So I'm like, ‘Aight man, whassup man how you doing?’ He's like, ‘Yo, yo, I'm a big fan of you. Love your style man.’ Like, his personality just really made me like him more. Joe came to me personally and asked me, ‘Yo, I want you to hear my man real quick.’
”This was before the record so I'm like, ‘Yeah, aight cool.’ Next thing you know the nigga just started goin’ in and I'm just looking at this nigga, looked at Joe, looked at Joe again like... [Laughs.] Next thing you know Joe asked me like, ‘Yo, you think this nigga got it?’ I looked at him and said, ‘What?! Where you find him from?’ He said, ‘Nah, this my man from the hood.’ So I'm like, ‘Yo, you gonna put him on right?’ So automatically he was like, ‘You think he got it?’ I was like, ‘Do he got it!?’ I was like, ‘Fuck with him.’ He was like, ‘Yo, I wanna put him on this record.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, let's fuck with him.’ And that's when ‘Firewater’ was born.”
Ghostface Killah f/ Raekwon and Cappadonna "Camay" (1996)
Produced by: RZA
Raekwon: “We started to respect that at a lot of our shows we would see females going crazy for us. We was pulling a lot a ladies back then. Tryin’ to be the ladies man. You know if you got the money, you got the power, you got the bitches. You know how that go. So yeah we always wanted to have something for the women.
”So boom, Ghost came up with the title ‘Camay.’ We felt like, ‘Oh, nice title. Perfect.’ You know you think of cosmetics, ‘Camay.’ It's just a nice name. All I did was just follow the vibe of the beat and come up with some slick lines.
“All me and him and Cappa did was just sit down and write something dedicated to the women. This right here was strictly for the ladies of the world because we knew that we had started to get a female fan base. We wanted to definitely seal the girls up. It's almost like having a ‘Ice Cream’ again, but now it's an ‘Ice Cream’ for Ghost's album.”
Ghostface Killah f/ Raekwon and Cappadonna "Daytona 500" (1996)
Produced by: RZA
Raekwon: “I love that break beat, ‘Nautilus.’ RZA just touched it a little bit, sped it up. And that right there to me was the definition of a real MC tappin’ a beat, so I knew this was one I definitely had to make my business to come with authority on. And I don't even know my shit might've went over sixteen, like I was just doggin’ it.
“At that time, I guess we were hanging out with the Force MDs that day. These are cats that are R&B superstars that came from Staten Island. They were the only R&B group to really make an impact the way they did and they were really MCs too. But now they call themselves MDs, because now they in the melodies, so we kinda respected them for their legacy and what they did for Staten Island.
”Me and Ghost invited them to come do a track with us. So they were just chillin’ with us getting drunk, high, buggin’ out. They heard the beat, and were like, ‘Damn, y'all niggas want us on this shit?’ We were like, ‘Yeah, this one.’ So, it was an all-nighter. They were goin’ in there trying shit and we were like, ‘Again. Nah, yeah, nah, yeah.’
”Then next thing you know they came with that one, ‘All these MCs start realizing’ By that time they came with that, I think I had already written the first verse. So RZA had something to play for them like, ‘Yo, listen to this.’ Boom. And a lot of times back then I just had a lot of energy man. And that record right there, we were goin’ off.
“You know Ghost came in, and this was back then when Ghost used to get high, so we were geekin’, high. We're drunk, buggin’ out. He may have been smoking some dust before he came in, but he got it under control. You know, this is back in his wild crazy days. But, at the end of the day, he was like, ‘Nigga, that's my album, we gon’ go in on this.’”
Wu-Tang Clan "Duck Seazon" (1997)
Produced by: RZA
Raekwon: “It was real long to me. That was a record that RZA really wanted to be on the album. And you know me, I'm just running with it and having fun. It definitely wasn't one of my favorites though, but it was a hot record. I was just flowin’.
”RZA really needed my voice on it. When he comes at me and says shit like that, I know that's because he’s getting ready to tear it up. That's when he was just goin’ crazy on it.
”I guess I just had two rhymes though probably at that time. And RZA probably appreciated both of them. Because that's how I was writing too back then. Like, I may write one and then be like, ‘Hold up, lemme try it again.’ Come in with another one and then later on when I hear the record he got both verses on it.”
Outkast f/ Raekwon "Skew It On The Bar-B" (1998)
Produced by: Organized Noize
Raekwon: “That right there really opened up the door for the South to come in hard body if you ask me. Like, when we made that record I can literally say nobody was listening to the South up in New York. Up in the East Coast period. When we did that record and they was playing it on the radio, everybody loved the combination factor that was there. And me, why I done the record anyway from the door was because I get a lot of love from the South, too. Wu-Tang gets a lot of love in the South, so for me to be fans of these cats and they kinda got their own style, I kinda like appreciated them a lot.
“One day I was walking through the mall and I seen Big Boi. I think we both were going to buy some jerseys or somethin’. We were in Atlanta and we both bumped into each other at the jersey stand. So it's like, ‘Yo, whattup kid?’ ‘You live out here?’ ‘Nah, I'm just visiting. But, I got a little something out here.’ He's like, ‘Yo man we need to get up. Let's do some things.’ I'm like automatically, ‘No problem.’ I'm in your city. You inviting me to come do something with you, that's not a problem. The love is there.
“Then, once we got in the studio and I heard that beat and Andre 3000 went first I was like, ‘Yeah, my kinda shit!’ And next thing you know we just went in and we just aired that shit out. They already had the hook and all that so all I needed to do was just come in where they said, ‘Come in right here.’ And, that was another quickie. ‘Deliver this through your audio...’ You know what I mean, like, it was just flyin’ out and shit. And, once that record reached New York it opened up the door for the South.
“I don't even think when they made it, it was something that they was banking on like, ‘This is the way we gonna win New York.’ That wasn't the plan. It was a coincidence record, and it took off because they was doing pretty good where they was at anyway. So when that record came, all it did was it just showed a connection, and it really made me look real big.
”That shit blew me the fuck up in the South. When I tell you everywhere I go, clubs, everybody? Everybody in the South knew that record, and it wound up being a situation like Nas being on ‘Verbal Intercourse.’ Now Rae is on ‘Skew It On The Bar-B’ in the South. So, while they blew up, I blew up too. So everything looked like a real chess move, but it was still coming from the heart. It was nothing that was premeditated.”
Cocoa Brovaz f/ Raekwon "Black Trump" (1998)
Produced by: Self
Raekwon: “That's my Brooklyn boys right there. I'm a big fan of the Cocoa Brovaz, Black Moon, all of them. I love their style. We all came in around the same time, too. And for me, for some reason I guess I was just the people’s choice. They called me in, ‘Yo Chef, could we get that?’ ‘Of course, y'all Black Moon. Y'all Cocoa Brovaz, Smif N Wessun.’
”So, we went in and we did that track. They had the name, the title. They called it ‘Black Trump’ ‘cause I guess they felt like they were in their Scarface chamber and that was the part they liked, ‘Guess who’s the Black Trump.’ They turned it into a hook so they felt like, ‘Aight, if that's gon’ be the hook then let's get the don on it.’
”I just went in there and milked it. I loved where they were going with it, and I still feel like they were one of the best duo groups out there representing New York, and I was just excited to be a part of the movement. And, the record wound up coming out hot. We was flowin’ back and forth. It was a Brooklyn and Shaolin thing right then and there.”
Raekwon "Live From New York" (1999)
Produced by: The Infinite Arkatechz
Raekwon: “When I go on tour, a lot of people like to hear that record. It definitely was a hot beat. It was produced by actually a guy that was an intern up in the label at the time. He was a cat that was just running around, I think he worked in the mail room or whatever up in the label. I met him, he was like, ‘I got beats if you need beats!’ I was like, ‘Oh, you got beats nigga? Aight lemme hear your beats.’ He had a couple of things that I liked and I wound up using some of them for Immobilarity.
“And, you know, I just was in my New York chamber right there. ‘Live, live, live from New York.’ I think that night I might've been looking at Richard Pryor's “Live from Sunset Strip.” So he had me cracking up all night, just smokin’ blunts watching that and running back into the booth. So I'm like, instead of ‘Live from Sunset Strip,’ ‘Live from New York.’ And, next thing you know I just start buggin’ out on the hook, and the beat just was bouncin’.
”That's definitely one of my favorites. I was just working to try and get this album right and that was definitely one of the songs that stood out to us. We felt like it was representing our city, and we wound up doing a video to it later on where we were showing you the skyline of the Brooklyn Bridge. We had three 600 Benzes, so I'm just feelin’ myself and representing the city. I had the scarf on some Pierre Cardin shit.”
Slick Rick f/ Raekwon "Frozen" (1999)
Produced by: Thomas Rusiak and James “Bimmy” Antney
Raekwon: “That beat was crack right there. Word, I think Rick let me pick that beat, too. This is definitely one of my idols so you know I'm a little nervous. I'm like, ‘Damn, I'm about to do a joint with one of my favorites!’ So, I'm in the studio in the city reminiscing like I'm a little kid again.
”I think he played a couple of beats and he's like, ‘Yo, which one you think?’ I'm like, Yo, this nigga giving me the opportunity to pick the beat? So I'm like, ‘I like that one a little bit better.’ He had all kinds of beats. He had Tarzan-sounding kinda beats where he was just doing his voices.
”I'm really in there studying this cat like I wanna see how he does this shit. And it was kinda like to me paying homage to one of my idols real quick. And we just went in there and we decided to go back and forth, ‘cause I like shit like that.
“When you doing shit with artists that you fuck with, you tend to try to do something different. So we basically were just rhyming, and I was more or less being a fan in the mix of doing what he wanted me to do. To be able to sit there and watch Slick Rick work, it was more of just an experience for me.
“He was like, ‘Yo, just do eight real quick, and then I'm a come back and do eight, then you come back.’ I'm like, ‘Word, that's how you want it? Aight, let's do it like that.’ So I had to make sure there was a certain bar that I had to stop at and then he was gonna come in and do his thing.
”I was just groupie'd out right then and there. I'm not even gonna front. I'm like, ‘Yo, I'm with my nigga.’ So while I'm focused on the song I'm thinkin’ about, ‘Damn, I went to Union Square and heard ‘Mona Lisa.’’ What was going on then. It was a fun time.
”That record allowed me and Rick to become real good friends. Still to this day me and Rick still keep in touch. That's my dude. Just recently he had a birthday party and they called me and I came out and brought the cake to him. Good brother.”
Raekwon "Uncle" (2003)
Produced by: Zephlon
Raekwon: “That record was made just for fun. Just giving love to all my uncles. When you coming up a lot of those that's looking out for you be your uncles. Being a kid you always become to close to one of them. You know your mother's brothers or your mother’s nephew. You call him your uncle because he acts like he's your uncle.
”I don't even remember who made the beat, but I remember the rhyme, and I was just telling a great story about an uncle. How he used to come scoop me and hang out with me, but I never put it on an album [Ed.—’Uncle’ appears as the B-Side on ‘The Smith Bros’ 12”]. This is me just having fun on the mic.
”A lot of times when I go out and I wind up being in somebody’s studio, I might leave with like three to four tracks. So if I'm dealing with five or six studios, and I'm running in there, I'm dropping a lot of shit off and not even coming back to ‘em because we’re just having fun.
”That particular song, it always stuck in my head and I'm like, ‘Yo, you know what? I gotta let somebody hear this shit because I like this.’ Just the bounce of the beat was different. I think I just gave it to Kay Slay. This is back before he was the Drama King. This is Kay Slay when he was on some Street Sweeper mix tape thing up in Harlem. Kay Slay is one of the realest DJ slash mixtape cats slash producers that you will ever meet. Crazy cool dude.”
Raekwon “State of Grace” (2005)
Produced by: RZA
Raekwon: “Me and Ghost was living in Miami together for like a year working on some albums together. I think we were working on, if I'm not mistaken, Bulletproof Wallets. I was gonna be doing R.A.G.U. and we were gonna be chillin’ together getting both of them done, and we ended up doing Bulletproof Wallets faster because he had to get his shit done on time.
These beats used to be sitting down playing in our house because we had rented a villa in Miami for about five months. RZA was out there for like a couple of days hanging out with us. Break out, drop off some beats. But, me and Ghost would basically sit up in our villa and just write to beats all day. That was our mission. And that beat happened to be one of the beats that was in the files of everything that we were making. I just remembered the beat. Like, I'm saying to myself, ‘Whatever happened to that fuckin beat?’
“When RZA came out to Miami and made that beat he made about five beats. We wasn't blown away with all of them, but he definitely had a few, and that beat just got overlooked. So when I killed it and brung it back to him like, ‘Yo, this is what I need you to be doing. I had to find this in your old dirty treasure chest. We need this shit right here.’ He was like, ‘Oh you like that shit? Yo that's a loop. Boom, boom, boom, boom, sample.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I know that, but it's hard though. This is what I'm talking about, this is Cuban Linx II material right here.’ And he like, ‘Yo, you like it, take it. Do what you do.’ Next thing you know we put that shit back out on the market. Shit was hot right there. A lot of people loved it.
“It was a leak record and what I thought at that time, when I would've been ready to have Cuban Linx II done, it wasn't the time. It was taking me a lot more time, and I like that record but once we thrown it out there to the world and people started to play it, it was starting to become like, ‘It's hot, it's hot, but I don't think I wanna ride with it on the album like that.’
”I like the vibe of it, but once it started getting beasted in New York, I just felt like it was old after a while. So I let it be though. But, it was definitely the sound that we were trying to get to because when I picked it I knew this was the sound that would make everybody reminisce about Cuban Linx because it has that kind of feel to it.”
Raekwon "Surgical Gloves" (2009)
Produced by: The Alchemist
Raekwon: “That one is mean right there. I didn't even know how the fuck I was gonna rhyme on that shit at first. I was hangin’ with Alchemist one day and I was like, ‘Yo, I need you on the album.’ He was like, ‘Word, word?’ I was like, ‘You already know we been should a did this shit.’ So he like, ‘Yo, aight. I gotta a couple of beats I've been working on lately. You check ‘em out. You let me know which one.’
”A lot of times I gotta do my own A&R work. So he played a couple, then he played this shit. I'm sayin, ‘This shit is crazy.’ I'm like, ‘Where do you come in at?’ I'm lookin’ at him and Alchemist pass the weed like, ‘I don't know, just do you.’ So, I was like yeah, I'm a challenge this beat right here.
”It was definitely an awkward beat, and I think that the stuff that I like is the challenge as an artist. Because sometimes we get tired of hearing an artist with the same fucking bounce. I knew that this was me going out the box and me trying something different again. I love to try different shit so people can't be like, ‘Yo, I heard a song like that already from Rae.’ This one was jumping on the other side of the fence right here.
“When I rhyme, sometimes I rhyme kinda like according to how the beat sounds and I just start coming up with wordplay. So, I didn't really know in what direction I was gonna go. I just knew I was gonna set the rhyme up with ‘surgical gloves.’ I’m saying to myself, ‘Why the fuck you say ‘surgical gloves’?’ But it just sound hot. I'm just bar-in, everything out, like dart for dart. Line for line. Crazy rhyme though, and it definitely wound up being one of my favorites on the album.”
Raekwon f/ Lyfe Jennings "Catalina" (2009)
Produced by: Dr. Dre
Raekwon: “I think Dre had called the beat ‘Congo.’ He was playing a couple beats, and actually it was two beats I liked that he was playing. And, I could just see his vibe, ‘cause you know Dre gotta wall full of speakers. He takes his beat thing serious. This is me in his studio in L.A., sitting down with him and going through some things.
”When he played the ‘Congo’ beat I was like, ‘Damn, this shit is crazy.’ And, I'm just looking at him from the side and just seeing how he's loving it, but he's probably just saying to himself, ‘Damn, I wish someone could see what I see on this beat.’ Because it's totally different from his selection of beats. But it was big and the way it was sounding in the studio I was like, ‘Damn. Yeah, this one.’ I really wanted him to make something particularly carved out for me, but I guess sometimes producers may do about six or seven beats a week and throw out what they feel they like.
“I think I aired it out right there. Real quick, impressed him. Yeah, one of my fifteen-minute specials. But, the rhyme that's on there now isn't the rhyme that I said. Because one thing, when I get in the studio I may try three or four rhymes. So, I had other rhymes to this too. I was saying all kinds of other shit. ‘The Don Corleone...’ Just some other shit, but I wound up switching it later on.
”I was rhyming on it, he was feelin’ my flow like, ‘Yo, you got one of the coldest flows in the game. You can get on anything.’ I'm like, ‘Word, you like this shit?’ He's like, ‘I love that shit. Matter fact, you need the room? You can have the room for the whole month.’ I'm like, ‘Damn, I'm just comin’ to hang out with you for the day. And you telling me I could get a room.’ This Dr. Dre, hold up. This nigga gave me a room? I'm like, ‘Yeah I'll be back tomorrow then.’ So I just kept playing with the beat and that one stuck in my head.
“It was another track that stuck in my head too that was real serious that I was saying, ‘You know what, I'm a use this one a little later on.’ I made another record with Dre. Crazy. When I tell you crazy. I didn't use it because I already had two Dre tracks. It's something that I got in the vault. When I'm ready to release it, I'm a release it and the Doc is gonna give me give me his blessings to put it out.
“Between those three beats I definitely like ‘Catalina.’ I called it ‘Catalina’ because it just reminded me of being on a Yacht with a bunch of fucking Casablanca niggas having caviar sandwiches and fish. You know, the beat was just making me think of being on a night cruise or something and I was like, ‘Yo, if I'm on a yacht, then the name of this boat needs to be called ‘Catalina.’’”
Raekwon "Alphabet Soup" (2010)
Produced by: BT
Raekwon: “That's one of my favorites. That's one of those records that I don't really think got a lot of exposure, but I was using it for a mixtape thing. And I'm glad that you acknowledge the mixtape records, because sometimes I really be feeling like a lot of them songs had the opportunity to be great songs on the albums and all that, but that one was specifically made for the mixtapes.
“My man made that. It's produced by this young white kid named BT. This is also one of my protégés that helped me design Cuban Linx II. He was an engineer/producer/critic/‘Get the fuck out of the room ‘cause you’re pissin me off ‘cause you got so much to say,’ but at the same time became my best friend.
”He did ‘Penitentiary’ [on OBFCL2]. He would sit there and co-produce a couple of things with me, and we would go back and forth, but he wound up being a real good honest critic that I needed to have around me at that time.
“‘Alphabet Soup’ wound up being a beat that he made for me, and I picked it ‘cause I was like, ‘I like that beat.’ I didn't know which way to go with it. So one day I just came up with something like, ‘Maybe I'll do the alphabet. Let me get my Papoose on.’ Papoose did something like that before.
“That shit ain't easy neither. I just kinda wanted to create a nice little bounce to it and I just felt like it was working for the song. I didn't feel that it was a story beat. I didn't feel that it was a freestyle beat. I felt like you had to have a certain concept. Something. And I came up with the alphabet. And it's crazy because I still be listening to that shit. I listened to that shit yesterday.”
Justin Bieber f/ Kanye West and Raekwon "Runaway Love (Remix)" (2010)
Produced by: Kanye West
Raekwon: “That record right there was a record where I knew we wasn't gonna go out there looking like idiots together, us three. When I look at the accomplishments Justin Bieber has in his career, and I look at ‘Ye's career, and I look at mine, I'm saying to myself, ‘At the end of the day it's gonna be hot.’ I don't know what everybody's all nervous about, but I could expect it only because shorty has a different kind of music that he makes.
”So it was more or less like your nephew coming to your uncle for some love. Come hang out with your uncles today. That's how I kinda felt overall through it. But, yeah, once I knew that Kanye was gonna make his magic happen I was confident. I knew it was a strong remix. I heard him when he sung his other remix, and I thought he had a great voice for his age and his size.
“When we made it [Justin] wasn't there. Kanye was there. Me and Kanye was in the studio. Bieber was on the road I guess doing some things. We was rhyming to it and I was just having fun. Just gliding to it. I kept asking myself like, ‘Damn, should you go hard on it? Nah, you can't go hard we got the younger audience.’ So now I find myself curbing my sound structure to not make it rated R because you can't come rated R, but still fly shit. But that's what I came out with, and I wanted really to dumb it down, just not be so difficult with it. I just went in there and smashed two verses and ‘Ye went in there and did his thing afterwards and it was a wrap after that.
“It was more to support him and his generation of music and at the same time also get his generation to acknowledge me. I know that Kanye was definitely the admiral of the ship to be like ‘Yo, this is what I wanna do.’ And we just did it. We made it hot.”