Raekwon

Raekwon never matched the individual spotlight enjoyed by Wu-Tang Clan colleagues Method Man and Ol' Dirty Bastard, yet alongside Genius/GZA and his regular partner Ghostface Killah he produced some of the collective’s sharpest and most widely praised material beyond the group setting. Born Corey Woods and nicknamed the Chef for his habit of “cookin’ up some marvelous sh*t to get your mouth watering,” the rapper entered the Staten Island, New York-based Wu-Tang circle in the early ’90s and proved essential to the impact of its landmark 1993 debut, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). He supplied the opening verse on “C.R.E.A.M.,” the ensemble’s breakthrough single that earned gold certification. Running parallel to his ongoing work with the Clan, Raekwon’s solo path has yielded the 1995 landmark Only Built 4 Cuban Linx plus two further albums that reached the Billboard 200 Top Ten.

Although the group’s deal with the BMG-distributed Loud Records permitted members to record elsewhere, Raekwon remained on the imprint for his initial solo efforts. After issuing the 1994 single “Heaven and Hell,” he delivered Only Built 4 Cuban Linx in 1995. The RZA-helmed project failed to match the commercial numbers of Method Man’s Tical yet climbed to number four on the Billboard 200, achieved gold status, and was driven by the singles “Ice Cream” and “Glaciers of Ice.” Critics almost uniformly lauded its vivid, detail-laden narratives and its cinematic fixation on Mafia life, a theme underscored when Raekwon assumed the persona of gangster Lex Diamonds on several tracks. Equally striking was the immediate rapport between Raekwon and the prominently featured Ghostface Killah, whose extensive presence on the album marked a notable breakout for the latter.

Once Raekwon appeared throughout Ghostface’s 1996 debut Ironman, the full Wu-Tang Clan reconvened for the 1997 double-disc Wu-Tang Forever. That release preceded another wave of solo projects, among them Raekwon’s Immobilarity, issued on Loud in late 1999. The four-year gap since Cuban Linx, together with the lack of both RZA and Ghostface Killah, may explain the more divided response the record received, although it still entered the Top Ten and attained gold. Raekwon participated in the subsequent Clan albums The W and Iron Flag before issuing The Lex Diamond Story on Universal in 2003, a project he later stated had been hampered by insufficient funding and promotion. After multiple postponements stemming from sample clearances and distributor shifts, the EMI-backed Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…Pt. II finally surfaced in 2009, two years after the group’s fifth album, 8 Diagrams. In contrast to the original, the sequel drew beats from an array of prominent producers including J Dilla, Pete Rock, Dr. Dre, and the Alchemist rather than relying solely on RZA; it debuted at number four on the Billboard 200.

Throughout the next decade Raekwon expanded the catalog of his Ice H2O imprint via numerous mixtapes and sporadic full-length releases while maintaining his ties to Wu-Tang and its extended circle. In 2010 he teamed with Method Man and Ghostface Killah for the joint Def Jam set Wu Massacre. Busta Rhymes, Nas, and Rick Ross all guested on his 2011 album Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang. The EP Lost Jewelry arrived in 2012, followed in 2014 by the Clan’s reunion album A Better Tomorrow and its accompanying tour. The conceptual solo effort Fly International Luxurious Art appeared in 2015, and The Wild followed two years later. In 2020 Raekwon released the three-song EP The Appetition.