Details
Track Listing
1. Striving For Perfection
2. Knuckleheadz - (featuring Ghostface Killah/Golden Arms)
3. Knowledge God
4. Criminology - (featuring Ghostface Killah)
5. Incarcerated Scarfaces
6. Rainy Dayz - (featuring Ghostface Killah/Blue Raspberry)
7. Guillotine (Swordz) - (featuring Ghostface Killah/Inspectah Deck)
8. Can It Be All So Simple [Remix] - (remix, featuring Ghostface Killah)
9. Shark Niggas (Biters)
10. Ice Water - (featuring Ghostface Killah/Cappachino)
11. Glaciers Of Ice - (featuring Ghostface Killah/Master Killa/Blue Raspberry/62nd Assassin Of Sunz Of Man)
12. Verbal Intercourse - (featuring Ghostface Killah/Nas)
13. Wisdom Body - (featuring Ghostface Killah)
14. Spot Rusherz
15. Ice Cream - (featuring Ghostface Killah/Method Man/Cappachino)
16. Wu-Gambinos - (featuring Ghostface Killah/Method Man/RZA/Master Killa)
17. Heaven And Hell - (featuring Ghostface Killah)
18. North Star (Jewels)
| Details | | Contributing artists: | 62nd Assassin Of Sunz Of Man, Blue Raspberry, Cappachino, Ghost Face Killer, Ghostface Killah, Golden Arms, Inspectah Deck, Master Killa, Method Man, Nas, RZA, The Genius | | Producer: | RZA | | Distributor: | BMG (distributor) | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes
Personnel includes: Raekwon, 62nd Assassin Of Sunz Of Man, Lucky Hands a/k/a Golden Arms, Cappachino, Noodles a/k/a Master Killa (rap vocals); Blue Raspberry (vocals).
The Wu-Tang saga continues. Raekwon "The Chef" is already an irreplacable part of rap music's largest breed, the Wu-Tang Clan, but his debut proves him also capable of standing on his own two feet. On ONLY BUILT 4 CUBAN LINX..., Raekwon's street-tough lyrics spotlight the roughness of his everyday life and, combined with short story interludes, shape the plot for this gangster movie of an album.
The topics on CUBAN LINX are all Chef-centered braggadocio, and the beats constantly reflect the hip-hop underground. Raekwon defines the politics of the rap game on "Incarcerated Scarfaces," and invites any non-believers to test his skills. Joining Raekwon on just about every cut, fellow Clan-man Ghost Face Killer gives a great solo effort on "Wisdom Body."
In fact, CUBAN LINX bares closer resemblance to an actual Wu-Tang Clan album than any solo record by a Wu-Tang member. The backing track for "Guillotine (Swordz)" was previously introduced on Method Man's solo album TICAL, and Raekwon and his crew expand on it for a quick flashback. "Can It Be All So Simple" also returns--this time in a remixed form. These two songs, along with "Ice Cream" and "Wu-Gambinos" (both of which feature Method Man), should feed the habits of hungry Wu-fiends. Raekwon's chamber briefly escapes the Clan's musical borders on "Verbal Intercourse," and though the track evokes other Wu-Tang material, Nas' lyrical presence adds a different dimension to the album's haunting reality.
As usual, The RZA dominates the production on each razor-sharp cut, and with appearences from just about every Clan MC, ONLY BUILT 4 CUBAN LINX... could easily be a Raekwon-sponsored Wu-Tang reunion.
Industry Reviews
Included in Rolling Stone's Essential Recordings of the 90's.
Rolling Stone (05/13/1999)
Ranked #83 in Spin Magazine's 90 Greatest Albums of the '90s.
Spin (09/01/1999)
Ranked #14 on Spin's list of the `20 Best Albums Of '95.'
Spin (12/01/1995)
Included on Neil Strauss' list of the Top 10 Albums of `95 - ...an intricately worded, copiously produced disk that unravels with the delirium of an action film...
New York Times (01/06/1996)
Ranked #15 in Village Voice's 1995 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll.
Village Voice (02/20/1996)
Ranked #29 in NME's `Top 50 Albums Of The Year' for 1995.
4.5 Mics - Superior - ...Raekwon...sprays out lyrics like gunfire....On CUBAN LINX, a barrage of sound effects, screams, samples and dialogue conjure up images of a gangsta movie....another success for Shaolin's finest...
The Source (09/01/1995)
9 (out of 10) - ...Much like the main character of Cain in MENACE II SOCIETY and Biggie in his READY TO DIE odyssey, Rae is threatening, funny, calculated, arrogant, charismatic, talented, so on and so on...
Rap Pages (10/01/1995)
...Raekwon rips through rhymes like no other lyricist exists--he looks at every other MC like dinner. Not quite a solo debut, Rae puts his man Ghost...down on practically every cut....since practically every MC who knows...something was itching to get...on this album, those who made the cut...are cream...
Vibe (09/01/1995)
8 - Very Good - ...the sonic equivalent of a John Woo movie; tales filled with gunshots...assassins with their own special codes of morals...and a beautiful woman mourning the loss of a lover caught up in the drama....Raekwon paints pictures so vivid you smell the gunpowder and wipe the blood on your shirt-tails...
Spin (11/01/1995)
Recommended - ...frequently excellent....the offshoots [of the Wu-Tang Clan] have been phenomenal....If ONLY didn't outstay its welcome by about 10 minutes, it'd be sharing a pedestal with [Method Man's] TICAL...
Melody Maker (08/26/1995)
8 (out of 10) - ...a serious depth charge of an LP....When you hear the rough street-edged voices, spouting gritty rhymes over heavy beats, you hear the word from the `ghetto' as if handed down from the mount...
NME (08/19/1995)
...rapper Raekwon at his lightning-quickest and producer RZA at his razor sharpest....Underneath the meaty rhymes are RZA's spooky, discordant keyboards and wailing female vocal samples... - Rating: A-
Entertainment Weekly (08/18/1995)
...Irreducibly New York, smeared and self-referential, like a neighborhood that feels familiar but isn't....An album of sense and sensibility...
The Wire (10/01/2001)
4 stars out of 5 - ...Thrillingly malevolent...and surprisingly melancholy...with RZA's dense sample collages as labyrinthine as the lyrics....[It] remains one of the milestones of '90s hip hop.
Q (08/01/2000)
...Raekwon rips through rhymes like no other lyricist exists--he looks at every other MC like dinner. Not quite a solo debut, Rae puts his man Ghost...down on practically every cut....since practically every MC who knows...something was itching to get...on this album, those who made the cut...are cream...
Vibe (09/01/1995)
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