S. Samuel
Wu-Tang Clan's Raekwon recently pondered his stance in the rap game and downplayed the notion he may be considered a hip-hop legend.
Although he sees his Wu crew, as a collective, being considered a hip-hop vanguard, Rae firmly believes he still has more development to embark upon as an artist.
“I don’t consider myself a legend because I feel I’m still in the mix of trying to become a greater artist,” Rae explained in an interview. “I always grew up knowing legends to be somebody that stopped and just did everything they wanted to do to reach a certain plateau. For me, I’ve always been a team player with the Clan and I actually haven’t had an opportunity to put in enough work to be considered a legend. As far as the group thing, yeah, I know the group is legendary but Rae still got, Rae ain’t gonna never gonna put himself higher than he needs to put himself. I just feel like I have more things to go. I’m only four albums in. I just got more to offer. I think a legend always, in my eyes, is supposed to have multi-talented albums out, multi-talented discs — I do think I have that success but I just need a little bit more though. Word.” (Ruby Hornet)
Last fall, Rae gave tips on how to remain relevant in today’s hip-hop industry.
“Analyze the last s**t that you did that was hot; pay attention to it,” Rae suggested in an interview. “Study it like how a boxer studies their fights. My thing is just stay believing in yourself, and be relevant. You can’t make you’re a** relevant when you aren’t out on the street, if you not really around to be found. It takes a lot; a lot of dedication, and a lot of time, and the right staff and the men around you. If a ni**a tell you something is weak, or ‘No, I don’t get that from that,’ then be willing to take that criticism in a great way. I think that’s what I did, I had a lot of people around me that were determined not to let me do what the f**k I felt, and it had to make sense to everybody. If I had one person that was against that, that bothered me. I was like why did you feel like that? ‘Yo I feel like that because of this or whatever.’ And then they had a great thing that I had to pay attention to.” (All Hip Hop)
After taking a hiatus from recording, Rae released his last solo project Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2 in 2009.
Wu-Tang Clan’s Raekwon has returned to store shelves with his long-delayed Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Part 2 landing at No. 4. The Chef’s new album has sold a total of 67,900 records after one week on store shelves. (SOHH Sales Wrap)
Rae’s solo run in hip-hop dates back to the mid-1990’s.
Although the group’s contract allowed its individual members to sign with whatever label they chose, Raekwon stayed with Loud when the first round of Wu-related solo projects began to appear. Following his 1994 debut single, “Heaven and H*ll,” his own solo debut, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, appeared in 1995; while it didn’t sell on the level of Method Man‘s Tical, singles like “Ice Cream” and “Criminology” earned him a reputation in the hip-hop underground. Raekwon’s Immobilarity was released in late 1999, this time on Epic. This time around, neither RZA nor Ghostface Killah contributed to the album at all and perhaps as a result, reviews were more mixed. Raekwon returned in 2003 with another solo album, The Lex Diamond Story. He also released a sequel to his solo debut, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Pt. 2, in 2009. (All Music)
Check out Raekwon’s interview below:
Raekwon: I Don’t Consider Myself a Legend from Ruby Hornet on Vimeo.
