AllHipHop: Tell me about The Lex Diamond Story. RZA produced Cuban Linx in its entirety, but The Lex Diamond Story uses a range of producers. How do you decide who twists the knobs on your records? What do you look for? Rae: I look for whoever’s got the music, whether it’s RZA or someone else. I give everybody a fair shot. The real talent is on the street as well as the dudes that helped me be who I am. You can miss the target or you can hit the target. RZA’s not on the album because he had sample clearance problems. I couldn’t use what he gave me and they (the publisher) was asking for too much. It’s more about Rae makin’ a good album and makin’ sure the music works for me and I think that’s what people gotta know. It’s about the rhymes and personal feelings. If the sh*t makes sense and the s### is talented, then let it play out. Sometimes you may pass up the gold because you lookin’ for the diamonds. There’s fake diamonds on the market, too! I’m a true Hip-Hop lyricist and it’s easy for me. I try to be conscious and I try to deal with everybody fairly. RZA helped me with my success and I helped him with his success, but he just didn’t make it on the album. AHH: You’ve been talkin’ about Ice Water for a minute. But what is Ice Water, Inc? Rae: Ice Water, Inc. is my company with Randy Spelling. We formed a venture which we call “The Fly Agent”. It’s like having an agency where one dude is 007 and he can get you so many different opportunities if you willing to deal. It allows me to get into the types of things that can market my record, as far as television, writing scripts – this company is a multimedia company that allows me to get different s### in rather than just writin’ music. I wanna be an actor, I wanna write a book, I wanna bring sitcoms to the table – we doin’ this to help Raekwon be a better individual. AllHipHop: How did you manage to hook up with Mr. 90210’s son, Randy Spelling? Rae: When you in Hollywood chillin’ a lot of people know you in the spot and people approach my family. We set up a meeting and we both talked about things we thought we could both bring to the table. We gonna give it a try. It’s something to say, “I’ve got a bridge”. AllHipHop: I always thought you and the Wu had the most relevant skits on your albums, whether to provide a segue between tracks or just pure comedy, why do you continue to use skits and pepper an album with sound-bytes from films? Rae: Those skits are made to entertain and give the music a break and go into something you can relate to. Even the interview skit [where he chastises an interviewer for redundant questions], that’s not how I feel about every interviewer – but there are some characters out there. It’s funny because it’s the s### we wanna say sometimes…it’s like lookin’ at somebody play you and you see yourself smack the sh*t out of them, but then you open your eyes and you didn’t smack them yet. They don’t realize they doin’ you wrong. Skits even the moment. I’m lettin’ you know the level of individual you dealin’ with and help you get a better picture of where I’m going. This is my way of giving the color of the picture. AllHipHop: How does it feel to be one of only a handful of MCs to get 5 mics in The Source? Rae: Overall, being a legend I feel I’ve put my work in. I feel that’s what people need to start paying attention to and I want people to keep the legends close and show the younger generation what we talkin’ about. The younger generation can forget easily and the next thing you do you have m#### f###### tryin’ to diss the legends – and we can’t have that. There’s a new set of kids that don’t know Raekwon. I was reigning supreme about six years ago, but I gotta rhyme for the old and new audience. I gotta adapt to a new audience and they gotta adapt to me. Nobody can dictate my music, but a good listener’s a good learner. We gotta break it down and let people see into my world. I gotta shove these vitamins down they throat because this is good food. AllHipHop: Can you dispel the rumors and doubters and the rest of the speculators, and say for certain what the future holds for the Wu? Are we gonna see a new album next year? Rae: We definitely gonna do an album because we know how much the fans look at that to come true, but we gotta make it when we’re comfortable and when we know everyone gonna give it the effort it needs. We sincere dudes and we gotta put it together right. The chemistry gotta be there. We took time out of our lives because we had time to do it – now we got label situations, but it’s definitely gonna happen in the new year. AllHipHop: Have you talked to Dirty since he was released from prison? Rae: I talked with him once on the phone, but he’s been movin’ around a lot, so it’s cool. AllHipHop: What did you think about the ROC signing him? Rae: I hope he does good. I wish him the best. AllHipHop: Ghost has been your partner in rhyme for quite some time. What holds you two together that doesn’t do the same for the rest of the Wu? Rae: I’m cool with all my brothers, but me and Ghost were more compatible. We just work good together. That’s why me and Ghost’s energy is good because we saw eye to eye. AllHipHop: Any plans […]

Even with the deep bass, high organs and west coast gangsta bravado of the early ‘90’s captivating a nation of heads looking to ride with Tha Row, a group of grimy MCs from Staten Island – or “Shaolin” as it was dubbed by the seminal crew – embarked on a mission to prove that rap music didn’t begin and end with hittin’ switches and making the rear view rattle. Asian influences, razor tight and versatile production coupled with a gritty and rugged raw style had listeners immersed in a living, breathing comic book with a twist of reality. The Wu-Tang Clan quickly resurrected the east coast and became the creative crew to keep an eye on. Arguably the group’s most versatile and descriptive rhyme spitting story-teller was Raekwon The Chef. Ten years and five mics later, The Chef is back with a recipe that blends a little of the old with a little of the new. The sums of the effort is The Lex Diamond Story. Read on to find out what the blunt and blunted Rae has to say about the state of Hip-Hop, Ol’ Dirty, the reality of another Wu album, and . . . Randy Spelling? Yep! AllHipHop.com: In ’94 you asked a rhetorical question about “Heaven and Hell.” More than 10 years into the game, are you still livin’ in the same Hell you described on Cuban Linx? Raekwon: Hell yeah, sh*t. Strugglin’ is Hell. It’s what you make it that’s Heaven. You gonna always go through that. It’s the good and the bad. AllHipHop: You’ve always balanced describing your big swingin’ d**k lifestyle with the grimiest tales of your struggle, described in rugged raw and vivid detail. What’s your gameplan when it comes to crafting an album with such broad themes? Rae: I stay vivid and I stay talkin’ about reality. You have to deal with the real world, and I’m gonna be that dude that’s always gonna be conscious of what I’m talkin’ about and basically give you me. This is what everybody chose when they chose me. At the end of the day, anything I do is gonna fall on that level. I make movies. I call these albums volumes because it ain’t just one or two songs I slap up there. I try to give you a vibe, a movement and that puts me in another category because I represent strong rap. I’m not mainstream. I’m from the gutter with it. AllHipHop: Not every head can ride to your lyrics and music – in today’s environment of overtly flossin’ lyrics with little substance, do you feel your words are going to fall on deaf ears or at least those with a short attention span? Rae: Sh*t, if real n##### know real music then they know Rae keepin’ it where it’s supposed to be. Right now Hip-Hop is sad because it’s so categorized to be so glamorous all the time and real Hip-Hop is real sh*t. I wanted to go back to that form of rhymin’ because I never left that form of rhymin’. Basically anything I do is to be more conscious of what I’m talkin’ about and give m#### fu**ers some knowledge. See, people don’t wanna hear the truth, they wanna party all the time and I understand that – but at the same time for every Heaven there’s a Hell and the Hell is dealin’ with all the fake sh*t. The Heaven is where we tryin’ to get to and give it the purity that it needs to be given. And me being an artist I’m tryin’ to deliver all worlds. I’m that type of MC. I can get grimy and talk about the ways of the world, but at the same time I can party too. And I don’t feel everything is balanced. People wanted this right here and I feel this is a great album. I don’t care what any magazine writes, they can e######### if they don’t believe it’s a good record. For me it’s a beautiful record and it’s me basically not movin’ from where I came from. It’s real raps. This is Raekwon. Food for thought, the kid, the Chef. The words symbolize me and I think I’m doin’ a pretty good job of that. I tend not to worry or see if they don’t accept it or reject it because there’s a lot of people that think like me, too. AHH: What’s your favorite record on the album? Rae: The Hood is one of my favorites. It’s basically me droppin’ jewels and talkin’ real grown. If people don’t respect the positivity in the music then how much does that person know music? I’ve been getting a lot of bad write-ups about “The Hood” and it’s just so sad to me that people won’t take time to listen to it and say “he’s comin’ with a message”. What? That makes me soft because I’m tryin’ to be smarter? Some people are feelin’ it, but some aren’t. I’m talkin’ about the place where I’m from and I describe the place as a person. Anybody that came from my struggle and dealin’ with the poverty and sellin’ crack and being in that atmosphere should know that it’s Raekwon the man and he’s just tryin’ to big it up. I’m just bein’ myself and people don’t get it that easy. AllHipHop: Describe how your style has evolved over the years, and not just since when we last heard you, but from the early days of the Wu as well. Rae: I definitely changed as an artist because I got better and I know how to put words in better perspective and I wrote over 100 rhymes. I never lost it and I don’t plan on losin’ it. It’s always gonna be on my brain and overall I’m skilled out. I am literally one of the best alive right now. Nobody can take me out lyrically and givin’ lyrics is like givin’ bread to orphans and I got loaves […]

MC Lyte: Award Tour Damainon Ewell The more that things change, the more things stay the same. Not so in the case of MC Lyte. Ten years after her only Grammy nomination, she has been nominated again for "Best Solo Performance By A Female MC For A Track Or Single, a new category the world-famous award program offers. She has time and again persevered without the luxuries of a major label and continually justifies her 17 years in the music industry. While her name continues to pass through many conversations throughout music and Hollywood circles, she maintains her sense of self. MC Lyte wants the public to be aware that her success did not come to be because of any bureaucracy or red tape. Before taking a trip to Africa, she sat with Allhiphop.com to give her recipe for longevity, and why she feels her Grammy nomination was not a fluke. Allhiphop.com: We received word that you were recently nominated for a Grammy award. MC Lyte: I know. Can you believe that? Allhiphop.com: Under what category were you nominated under? MC Lyte: "Best Solo Performance By A Female MC For A Track Or Single." Allhiphop.com: What song actually got nominated? MC Lyte: "Ride Wit’ Me." Allhiphop.com: How many Grammy awards were you previously nominated for? MC Lyte: This is my second nomination. Allhiphop.com: Share your thoughts on the whole situation and how you feel about getting nominated again. MC Lyte: It’s funny, because I called Da Brat, and I left her message congratulating her on her nomination. She hit me back and left me a message saying, "man, I don’t even know what I got nominated for." Because she said that, it made me think, "well s###, I know what I got nominated for." I got nominated for 17 years in the business of putting my heart and my time in. What’s happening now is they realize the importance of the female MC. The public does, but the record labels still don’t because there’s not enough of them. So, that’s how we got nominated, because there ain’t enough female MCs in the game that put singles out this year. The Grammys is about the prestige; it’s about your peers voting for you. Your peers understanding how hard you work, and they understand that MC Lyte ain’t giving up. Everything that I’ve put into the business so far is worthy of a nomination in a female category. Allhiphop.com: Who are some of the other acts you are up against in the nomination? MC Lyte: You mean who am I joined by? To me, any one of us that walk away with that is a feat well won by a female MC. We all inspire one another, so for one of us to get it helps us to recognize and understand how hard we all work. It’s Missy (Elliott), (Queen) Latifah, Da Brat, and Lil’ Kim. Allhiphop.com: The benchmark artists amongst the female MCs. MC Lyte: Exactly. And it’s hard, because in the past when they sent me those lists, you had 60 or 70 names of female rappers, and half of them you didn’t know their names. So, you wound up picking who was the most familiar. Allhiphop.com: When you saw those lists and you didn’t recognize most of the names, did it make you believe that the Grammys were playing a sort of favoritism game? MC Lyte: I don’t think it’s favoritism. I think it’s all of your peers. They see you working hard. That’s the only way I know the Grammys work. You would have to show me some cases where they did. Allhiphop.com: The reason I asked that is because I’ve heard different perspectives about the matter. Some say what you just said, and others would disagree with what you said. MC Lyte: I cannot comment on the matter unless you can show me where someone should have been nominated and wasn’t, or someone who shouldn’t have been nominated and was. I know there was a big discrepancy with the Alicia Keys-India.Arie thing. Allhiphop.com: That was actually one of the situations people have discussed with me. MC Lyte: Again, it’s your peers and not the fans that determine the Grammy Awards. It’s the musicians; it’s the record industry, period. Allhiphop.com: I guess if you want the fan recognition, you got to win a Billboard Award. MC Lyte: Or an American Music Award, or the Kid’s Choice Award. The Grammys, to me, ring true because I’m not with a major label. I don’t have anyone in there lobbying for me. I don’t have the budget to get my song played on the radio. So, for me to get a nomination just proves that it’s real when they cite you for working hard and giving credible work. "Ride Wit’ Me" is a hot ass song! I didn’t get in the video and show skin, so there wasn’t a reason, other than I’m MC Lyte, for them to play the video. BET used to run me down to play my stuff, but they gave me no love on the video side, and radio was almost as difficult. There was some key people, some key DJs, PDs and MDs in places that showed me love and recognized that the song was hot. It was different, and it wasn’t what everybody else was doing. Allhiphop.com: Talk about the deal you just struck with Pantene, the hair care company. MC Lyte: It’s a tour. I’m doing a Pantene tour. I leave out the end of February, and I do it with Nikki Giovanni and Donna Richardson. It’s a nationwide tour, and we go to these cities and talk to young girls. Allhiphop.com: Are you talking about modeling or any topics like that? MC Lyte: Actually, we are talking to them about everything they want to talk about. Everything that’s affecting them in their neighborhoods, trying to shape and mold the young women of tomorrow. They come down, they get pampered, they get entertained, there […]