1995. Raekwon. Ghostface. The Chef. Tony Starks. When put together in the studio with the RZA, a pad and a pen, out manages to arise the fabled purple tape. Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... was one of the most successful and acclaimed products of the first roud of Wu-Tang solos, rivalled perhaps only by GZA's Liquid Swords. Why? Because it changed the game. Expensive champagne. Drug dealers. Gambino's. Key elements of Mafia rap, the theme thoroughly fleshed out by Rae and Ghost on Cuban Linx. The initial strive for perfection, the incarcerated scarfaces, the spot rushers, and culmination of all in heaven & hell. And of course, all of the verbal intercourse found inbetween. Linx takes you to the streets, and brings you right amidst the violence, the death, the pain, and the money. Once you're there, Raekwon makes sure his story is told, rapping and rapping his way to enlightenment, spilling the tale of New York street crime from his mouth. Behind him stands Ghostface, his partner in crime, making sure you know damn sure how much it hurts to crawl with a bullet in you. They don't have time for any playing around, they don't have time for weaklings, and they really don't have time for imitators. (*cough* Notorious B.I.G. *cough*) What they DO have time for is Cristal, (the most expensive champagne they could find in New York) and Nas, officially dubbing him as "Nas Escobar" for the first non-Wu-Tang affiliated feature in Wu-Tang history, a moniker he would later bring to his second album, 1996's It Was Written. His verse on 'Verbal Intercourse' is a rare gem of 1990's Nas that you don't come across anymore, and definitely holds it's own in the rough streets of New York. Of course it does. Illmatic is the streets of New York. But off that. The backdrop provided by RZA is another example of why the Wu-Tang ran the first half of the 90's. Brittle, chipping keys, haunting strings, minimal baselines to make sure the vocals stand out, tortured vocal samples, and the most barebones of drums fill in the canvas behind Raekwon and Ghost as their tales are spoken. This is as 90's Hip-Hop as it gets. It isn't very colourful sonically, isn't warm and rich. Over an entire 18 track album, this can be a little repetitive and long-winded, but that doesn't stop each individual track having it's own flavour; Raekwon was dubbed 'The Chef' for a reason. For the most part, you could pool all the beats from 36 Chambers, OB4CL... & Liquid Swords all together in one big pile, swap the beats around randomly for each track, and come out with the same result. The album would be very much the same, sonically. Each Wu-Tang Clan member was given a Wu-Gambino for the story of this album. Rae was known as Lex Diamond. Ghostface Killah became Tony Starks. GZA was Maximilian. Masta Killa was Noodles. Inspectah Deck was Rollie Fingers. U-God was Golden Arms. RZA was Bobby Steels. And so on. The Wu-Tang posse cut, the song "Wu-Gambinos" is an absolute Masta piece. (And that pun is a double pun - not only because the fact that Masta is the name of a Wu-Tang member, but Masta Killa has an incredible verse on that song. It's the fastest rapping I think I've ever found from the early to mid nineties.) The Wu-Tang really shine with their contributions to each others solo projects, and OB4CL is no exception. Ghost goes without saying. GZA steps forward with his Eastern influence on Guillotine (Swordz). Cappadonna, the then-unofficial 9th member of the Wu-Tang (now official, confirmed to be so by RZA since the Wu-Tang album 8 Diagrams) got his recognition on the single 'Ice Cream'. Method Man keeps his verses rugged. RZA brings the motherfuckin' ruckus. And all of these things that made 36 Chambers so acclaimed... do it again on Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... . |
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June 2016
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