Raekwon Interview Discussing Current Music

Posted on September 8, 2014 by spiritequality

Raekwon diplomatically discusses his opinions on current hip-hop.

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Ghostface and ODB’s Sons Have Bars

Posted on September 4, 2014 by spiritequality

Ghostface’s son (Sun God) and Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s son (Young Dirty Bastard) spit bars alongside Willie The Kid over a track from Wu-Affiliate Bronze Nazareth off this track from the Living Daylights collaborative album. As Ghostface said, “keep Wu-Tang money all up in the family.”

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Wu-Affiliate Bronze Nazareth Had A Great Overlooked Video: “The Guilt”

Posted on September 4, 2014 by spiritequality

Wu-Affiliate Bronze Nazareth produced an awesome project, in conjunction with Michigan emcee Willie The Kid, called “The Living Daylights” that was released earlier this year, but didn’t get half of the attention it deserved. The grainy film quality of the video for “The Guilt,” a track off that project, exemplifies the gritty street/social observation rap of Willie and nicely complements Bronze’s hypnotic track. It’s worth a look if you missed it and worth watching again if you saw it before.

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Rza Does The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge For Charity

Posted on August 24, 2014 by spiritequality

ALS is a tragic disease that affects many Americans, the most famous of whom was Lou Gehrig (which is why it is popularly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease). The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is a viral fundraising strategy that has encouraged ordinary citizens and celebrities to have ice dumped on them and to challenge their friends to endure the same, then challenge their friends to donate to ALS research. It’s a fun, relatively harmless way to raise money for research needed to cure this disease. Rza takes the Ice Bucket Challenge above, then challenges Redman to take it, who accepted. 

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Raekwon Blesses Gap Band Classic With A New Verse

Posted on August 15, 2014 by spiritequality

As part of his ongoing #TBT (Throwback Thursdays) series, Raekwon blessed the Gap Band classic “Yearning For Your Love” with a new verse. Newer R&B fans may be more familiar with the remake by Guy.

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Raekwon Cameos On LL Cool J’s “I’m Nice”

Posted on August 13, 2014 by spiritequality

Raekwon drops some nice bars as usual, but did LL Cool J just indirectly dis Beyonce with that “Y’all b—hes. Beyonce” line? And did no one tell LL that hashtag rap is over?

As an aside, Murda Mook delivers a nice verse. Maybe people will stop acting like battle rappers can’t compete with studio rappers in the near future. Two sides of the same coin.

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Ebony.com Posted An Awesome Review of my Wu Book!

Posted on August 8, 2014 by spiritequality

Ebony Wu book review

Ebony.com posted an awesome review of my Wu-Tang book, “Enter The Wu-Tang: How Nine Men Changed Hip-Hop Forever.” I’m hype! Salute to Ebony and the writer, Brooke Stephenson for the review!

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New Wu-Tang Single! “Ron O’Neal” (CDQ)

Posted on August 7, 2014 by spiritequality

The new single from the forthcoming Wu-Tang album, “A Better Tomorrow,” was released (in CDQ) by Rza on his Soundcloud page after they performed the cut on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” The track is called “Ron O’Neal,” who (for those who aren’t up on their 70s cult classic films) was the actor who played the lead in “Superfly.” That film seemingly influenced the storyline of Raekwon’s “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx,” as both works involve a protagonist who wants to get out of the drug business after making one last major score. Perhaps the metaphor here is, the Clan wants to make one last major score with what is purportedly their final album (an apt parallel, since dope has been a metaphor for good music since the 80s in hip-hop slang).

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Raekwon and Killah Priest Rock A New Cut Together (Video)

Posted on August 4, 2014 by spiritequality

Raekwon, longtime Wu-affiliate Killah Priest*, and Armageddon (of Terror Squad fame) guest star on the Aspects track (produced by The Snowgoons) featured in the video above. Aspects’ full-length album, “Grind Over Matter,” produced in its entirety by The Snowgoons, is available now.

* In my book on the Wu, I detail how Killah Priest almost became a member of Wu, but lost his slot, in a surprising anecdote that has to be read to be believed.

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Raekwon Reveals His Top Five Rappers Ever & His Current #1 Rapper

Posted on July 30, 2014 by spiritequality

In the interview above, Raekwon reveals his top five rappers of all time. Anyone familiar with the Wu’s love for late 80s hip-hop will be able to guess most of his picks, but you might not be able to guess who Raekwon thinks is the number one rapper out now. The interviewer explicitly asked Rae not to include Wu members as an answer to either question, so don’t get mad, Wu fans. In any case, enjoy the video!

Spoiler/correction on the Top Five list in the video above: The video (in its captions) describes Slick Rick as a Bronx rapper, even though he is more popularly associated with Brooklyn and lists Rakim and Chuck D as Queens rappers, even though both legendary emcees are more commonly associated with Long Island. 

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