Soon after Drake released “Wu-Tang Forever,” a selection off the Toronto rapper’s new album, Nothing was the Same, Inspectah Deck tweeted his support for the song. However, once he heard the actual recording, Deck changed his opinion, saying that the song should not be titled “Wu-Tang Forever.” Deck recently spoke with HipHopDX about the song and the much-discussed “Wu-Tang Forever” remix, said to feature Wu-Tang Clan members.
“The understanding that I had from the song was that we was supposed to get on it, not knowing if it was the remix or the original song,” Inspectah Deck said in an exclusive interview with HipHopDX. “I believe it was the remix. We was supposed to get on it. Given to me, from RZA, he wanted all eight of us on it. So while we were in Amsterdam, we even booked studio time to go in and get on that song and that was the understanding that I was left with.”
This is something U-God discussed in an interview with VIBErecently.
“They wanted us to remix it and get on there [so] you gon’ probably hear another one with us on it,” U-God said. “Meth did his verse, we all did our verses. I wrote my rhyme in probably 15, 20 minutes. We were moving so fast we only had about four hours of studio time. If I had some time to really sit down and get juicy with it, I probably could’ve got juicier with it. But I still do a nice one, I still do a real banger.”
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Inspectah Deck Says He Is Not Slated To Appear On Drake’s “Wu-Tang Forever” Remix
However, Inspectah Deck noted that not all members are set to be on this remix.
“I never made it on the song,” Deck said exclusively to HipHopDX. “Actually, I went back to the hotel. Late night, I left. From my understanding, Meth got on the song, U-God, I think Masta Killah, Capp, not sure. But, I know that there were verses from the Clan on the song.”
When Drake’s “Wu-Tang Forever” leaked, it did not contain any Wu-Tang Clan members on the song. Some celebrated the song title, while others criticized it because it did not resemble a tribute to the Shaolin group. Many of these critics contacted Inspectah Deck before he had a chance to listen to the leak.
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“Before I heard the song, I looked at my Twitter and I seen my Twitter blowing up,” Deck said. “Everybody talking about ‘Drake this, Drake that.’ So I’m like, ‘Well, what happened? Why are so many people coming at Drake? Ain’t that a tribute? Ain’t that love? Ain’t that respect?’ And I got a crazy backlash after that on some, ‘Nah, man, it ain’t no tribute. It ain’t this, it ain’t that. Maybe it’s a publicity stunt, he’s trying to use y’all.’ That ain’t what I was thinking, ’cause I ain’t hear the song.
“When I finally got to hear the song, I was more or less like, ‘Wow, I thought it was a tribute song like, it would be in respect of all eight members,'” Deck said. “And when I heard it, it was about a girl. I understood the context of where he was going with the song as far as ‘It’s Yourz.’ He’s saying that, like, everybody’s telling him, ‘It’s yours.’ Like, he owns it, whether he talking about the Rap game or the female. I understand in the context he’s saying it. I felt it didn’t have no bearing on the Wu-Tang Clan or Wu-Tang Forever for that matter. Besides the [fact that] I heard him say, ‘Young brother on his Wu Tang.’ That in itself gives respect to the Clan. I’m not taking that from the brother. Whatever his intentions was, I’m not saying that I’m feeling that he had some deliberate snake intentions. I’m saying that I disagree with the title of that song being ‘Wu-Tang Forever’ when it has no bearing on Wu-Tang Clan despite the fact that the ‘It’s Yourz’ sample floatin’ in the background. We sampled ‘It’s Yourz.’ That’s a sample. That’s there for the taking. It’s not like, ‘Oh, he used y’all sample.’ We both used T La Rock.”
Inspectah Deck Says It’s Silly To Say Wu-Tang Earned Relevance Due To Drake
Despite criticizing the title of the song, Deck says his comments have not been fully understood.
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“Everybody took it out of context,” Deck said. “I got a bunch of Drake fans attacking my Twitter page talking about, ‘If it wasn’t for Drake, we wouldn’t be relevant right now,’ and all of that. That’s silliness, you know what I’m saying. Where I come from I come from the grain of this. I come from when brothers got punched in they mouth over a chain, if you wasn’t rolling deep enough. These brothers is safe nowadays. They doing a whole lot of things that, when we came up in the game, it wasn’t allowed. You couldn’t even sound like or look like nobody else. That’s the way I came up. So when I look at it like a tribute, I heard Snoop Dogg when he did the ‘La Di Da Di,’ for Slick Rick. He actually did the whole song over. That’s respect. As an emcee, you don’t even quote another man’s rhyme. Or Nas when he did the [‘U.B.R.’] ‘Unauthorized Biography of Rakim,’ he dedicated that whole song to the god, which is, kind of what I expected. ‘Okay, the song is going to be about us like that.’ Maybe we inspired him to do what he do. But, it didn’t even sound like that to me. So when I heard the song I said, ‘Yo, I agree with yall. It’s not a Wu-Tang tribute and it shouldn’t wear that title.
“But I didn’t even grade the song,” Deck continued. “Listening to the song though, it sounds like him. It sound like what Drake did, that’s what Drake do. I’m not hating on the song. The song is what it is. He makes that kind of music. If you follow Drake and you a Drake fan, then you thinking, ‘Nigga, this is everyday for him.’ Whereas me, I’m looking at it like…that’s like me saying I’m going to do tribute song to KRS One but my rhyme is about being in jail and I name it something else that ain’t got nothing to do with it. You know, I can name it, ‘Sound Of Da Police’ or whatever the case. Just because I quoted the title doesn’t necessarily connect KRS One to that. That’s where I am with it. I’m like, ‘Yo, the brother does what he does, man.’ I’m not hating on Drake. If I saw Drake, I’d show him respect. I’d walk up, shake his hand. As a man doing his thing right now, it’s his time. It’s the young cat’s time. I understand. But for me, I feel like I’m going to always be a part of Hip Hop. As long as they mention Hip Hop, you gotta mention Wu-Tang Clan, and when you mention Wu-Tang Clan, you gotta mention Inspectah Deck.
“It doesn’t matter how many solo albums that I’ve done,” Deck added. “I’ve only done two albums. I did Uncontrolled Substance, which [went] gold and I ain’t even had no support. I ain’t even have a whole lot of Clan members on there or nothin’. And I did The Movement, which sold 100,000 [copies] independently on my INS Production through Koch Records so I’m good. Anybody that know business, you know ten dollars a record, if you sell 50,000 records, you got a half mill already, depending on what your splits is and your taxes. So, I’m not sweating that man, I’m not sweating that I’m not on Hot 97 all day or I’m not Summer Jammin’ it up. My influence is big, my G. I walk in the streets of Croatia and niggas don’t touch me. I walk in the streets of Serbia and brothers salute. I’m one of them niggas. I’m worldwide. I’m official. It’s not just the hood no more. The hood been supporting me. The hood ain’t the hood like it was when I came up so there’s a bunch of young cats coming around. They don’t understand the thing. They didn’t grow up in the same struggle as I did. These niggas is growing up with iPods, [when they’re] 10 years old. But me, you had to get the fuck out the house, get up from under momma’s way and go out there and be a man. You wasn’t out there on the video games all day.”
Inspectah Deck Says He Respects Drake, But Stands By His Criticism Of “Wu-Tang Forever”
When asked if he felt disrespected by the song, Deck explained his response.
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“I don’t even know how to take it, my brother,” Deck said. “I just felt it don’t need to be ‘Wu-Tang Forever.’ It should be called ‘It’s Yourz,’ if that’s the case. That’s what the hook seems to be. That’s what the main basis of the rhyme seems to be. So you can call it ‘It’s Yourz’ and it would have the same impact. But to call it Wu Tang Forever’…unless the song is about the Clan like that, then it’s cool. I’m like, ‘Yo, if there’s a remix coming out, it got brothers on it and you just wanted to leak this one first and then come back with the Clan in that strategy, that’s not the understanding that brothers had in the beginning.”
Deck was also asked if other members have expressed their opinions on the track.
“Nobody seems to be in the place to make a judgment on it,” Deck said. “I got thrown in the fire for opening my mouth. Which I stand by my word, I’m not backing down from nothing I said. I respect the homie and what he do. We do something different over here and I felt the title should be something else and not ‘Wu-Tang Forever.’ And that’s the bottom line. I can do a song about C-N-N and rhyming about Mary J. Blige and call it ‘Big Poppa.’ Just ’cause I’m quoting a niggas shit don’t make it official.”
RELATED:Inspectah Deck Does Not Support Drake’s “Wu-Tang Forever”
