Raekwon Explains Significance Of Wu-Tang Clan's Legacy

Additional reporting by: D Nellz (@bookdnellz)

(AllHipHop News) On September 4, Hulu began streaming the first three installments of its new scripted biographical series about the Wu-Tang Clan. The 10-part Wu-Tang: An American Saga tells the story of how the prominent Hip Hop collective formed back in the early 1990s.

David “Dave East” Brewster plays Method Man, Joey Bada$$ plays Inspectah Deck, Ashton Sanders plays RZA, TJ Atoms plays Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Siddiq Saunderson plays Ghostface Killah, and Johnell Xavier Young plays GZA. The cast also features Shameik Moore (Dope, The Get Down) as Raekwon The Chef. AllHipHop caught up with the real-life Rae to ask him about An American Saga.

“We’ve been in a grand groove of things for a minute. We always visioned this, it can happen one day, but we didn’t know when,” says Raekwon. “Now we got a chance to paint a picture, and now this is the crème de la crème that everybody always wanted to see: something on y’all’s history, where y’all come from, how y’all were thinking, what was going on. So a great movie was made to inspire y’all based on our lives.”

When Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) came out in 1993, there is no way the Wu-Tang Clan could have known the Staten Island-based group would become so impactful around the globe. Over 25 years later, the Wu logo is now synonymous with artistic excellence.

“We didn’t know we were going to be influential when we were doing it. It’s just about taking what you learned and applying it and being the best at it and surrounding yourself with an organization that believes you really get down. It was a simple plan,” says Raekwon, the creator of the classic album Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…

The Chef adds, “If I say, ‘Yo, I’m being taught by the best teachers, g########, I better be a graduate soon.’ And, when I say graduate, not to where I’m talking about college or anything like that, just being a student or graduate, somebody that’s listening, being a good learner. Because if you are a good listener, you’re going to be a good learner. So I think what we did, we just supplied what we felt that people could relate to.”

New episodes of Wu-Tang: An American Saga premiere every Wednesday on Hulu. The program was created by Alex Tse and The RZA and executive produced by Tse, The RZA, Method Man, Brian Grazer, Michael Rosenberg, and Francie Calfo.