Between initiating a veritable third Wu-Tang resurrection with ’09s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II to smashing critics’ ear drums with last week’s acclaimed Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang, Raekwon has been on an unbeatable roll as of late. Now, Complex caught up with Lex Diamonds to break down the 25 most essential cuts from the Chef’s kitchen.
Although the origins of Tical‘s “Meth vs. Chef” is fairly well know, it’s hard to argue that it isn’t one of the Clan’s best examples of lyrical swordsmanship. Rae explained that he and Meth have a history of clowning with each, and that he feels to this day that the Ticallion Stallion has him beat on this song.
“Me and Meth loved the beat,” he said. “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…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.”
The Chef also spoke on one of OBFCL2‘s stand-out tracks “Surgical Gloves,” produced by the Alchemist. He says that the beat was actually somewhat of a challenge for him given the tempo, but that it was rewarding to rap over it because t gave him a chance to try something different.
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“It was definitely an awkward beat [on ‘Surgical Gloves’], and I think that the stuff that I like is the challenge as an artist,” said. Rae. “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.”
Raekwon also gave some insight into how his partner-in-rhyme Ghostface Killah became known for rocking robes. Rae said that during the video shoot for “Criminology,” he told Pretty Tone to wear a robe like mobster Vincent “Chin” Gigante, thus issuing in a new style to the masses.
“Me and Ghost were just blood thirsty wolves right there,” he explained. “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.”
He added, “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.”
