The Wu-Tang Clan is an unmatched collective that is respected in all facets of the music industry, but their personal journeys haven’t been easy. We’ve often heard behind-the-scenes information courtesy of documentaries or Hulu biopics, but Raekwon is giving his perspective in his book, From Staircase to Stage: The Story of Raekwon and the Wu-Tang Clan. The Rap legend also recently sat down with VladTV where he spoke about his complicated relationship with fellow Wu member RZA, adding that RZA could convince the Rap group to do just about anything because he was so convincing.
In his book, Raekwon also mentioned a conversation that he had with his collaborator about their system, stating that their way of doing things was out of wack. According to Raekwon, RZA told him that it wasn’t the system that was the problem, but the rappers, themselves.
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“I could never respect that,” said Raekwon. “Now you pointin’ fingers. Now you tryin’ to throw it back on us when in all reality, you are apart of us, so it’s all of us. Where you get this ‘you’ sh*t from? Like I said, I would say the same things to the boys, too, because I’m a vocal n*gga. When it come to me feelin’ some kinda way, I gotta say something ’cause I’m hearing the chatters in the house. So, when you hear the chatters in the house, it’s like, yo, what the f*ck are we doin’? Yo, let’s get to it. Let’s find out what’s going on.”
“A lot of times, it was always the love that we had and the respect there, that the business got way caught up in it,” he added. “And a lot of times it’s like, like I said, I feel like yo, damn, I don’t really wanna spaz on my n*ggas because I love these n*ggas, and at the same time, we built somethin’ so beautiful, that the world is attracted to it. So, let it go. Let it fly. It’s gonna fix itself.”
When reflecting on where they came from and seeing where they were, Raekwon said that many of the little things were dismissed as to not cause problems. “But sometimes, the little things mean a lot. One little thing can turn into another f*ckin’ little thing, and then, you have seventeen little things that become a big f*ckin’ problem, now.”
“That’s what was goin’ on with this family, with this assembled family. Assembled.” Watch Raekwon open up below.