Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…

Infobox Album |
Name = Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...
Type = studio
Artist = Raekwon


Released = August 1, 1995
Recorded = 1994–1995
Genre = East Coast hip hop, mafioso rap
Length = 73:34
Label = Loud/RCA/BMG Records
07863-66663
Producer = The RZA
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:u9axlfgehcqq link]
*Robert Christgau (A-) [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=1115&name=Raekwon link]
*"The New York Times" (favorable) [http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1111641 link]
*"NME" Rating|8|10 [http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1111641 link]
*"Q" Rating|4|5 [http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1111641 link]
*"Rap Pages" Rating|9|10 [http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1111641 link]
*RapReviews rating-10|10 [http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/BTTL_cubanlinx.html link]
*The Source rating|4.5|5 [http://pressrewind.wordpress.com/2007/06/20/classic-review-only-built-iv-cuban-linx-in-the-source-1995/ 1995]
*"Rolling Stone Album Guide" rating|5|5 [http://acclaimedmusic.net/Current/A951.htm]
*The Source Rating|5|5 [http://www.listsofbests.com/list/12875 2002]
*"VIBE" (favorable) [http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1111641 link]
This album = "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..."
(1995)
Next album = "Immobilarity"
(1999)

"Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..." is the debut album of East coast rapper and Wu-Tang Clan member Raekwon, released in 1995 on Loud Records. It is considered to be one of the best hip-hop albums of the 1990s and a pioneer of the mafioso hip-hop genre for its story and creabilty of the drug lord life.

A member of The Wu-Tang Clan, Raekwon released "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..."—originally to be titled "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Niggaz" — as his first solo album. It was a diverse, theatrical criminological epic that saw The RZA move away from the raw, stripped-down beats of the early albums and towards a richer, cinematic sound more reliant on strings and classic soul samples. Lavish living and the crime underworld are referenced throughout, with the mystique of the Wu-Tang Clan deepened by the adoption of crime boss aliases and the crew name Wu-Gambinos. This album is commonly referred to as "The Purple Tape" because the original cassette's plastic was entirely purple. Raekwon made this decision because he wanted to make sure people knew his album, in a way similar to how drug dealers may mark their goods.cite web|url=http://xxlmag.com/Features/2005/may/cuban-linx/|title=Features: May 2005: The Documentary|author=Arnold, Paul W., "et al"|publisher=XXL|date=May 2005|accessdate=2007-07-02] In 2008, the album was performed live as part of the All Tomorrow's Parties-curated Don't Look Back series, with special guest Ghostface Killah reprising his appearances from the album.

Lyricism

Among the album's most notable qualities are its unique production and songwriting. Raekwon, co-star Ghostface Killah and the rest of their Wu-Tang members created vivid images with their lyrics, giving the album a cinematic quality. While continuing Wu-Tang's use of the teachings of the Nation of Gods and Earths’ Supreme Alphabet and the Supreme Mathematics, the album's theme was a notable departure from previous Wu-releases—coupling the group’s traditional use of kung fu flicks with samples of "Scarface"—resulting in an album that was at once more grounded in the criminal world of the New York streets, while at the same time had the group adopting Mafioso-inspired aliases as the Wu-Gambinos. The effect of "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..." was so profound that, seemingly overnight, many rappers transformed from street-level hoodlums to Godfather-style crime bosses.

The album's many guest appearances are limited to core Clan members and in-house singers. There is, however, one notable guest, Queensbridge emcee Nas, on the song "Verbal Intercourse." Nas would be the first outside artist to appear on any of the Wu's albums, and he would be awarded a Hip-Hop Quotable from "The Source" for his memorable verse:

"Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..." also expressed Raekwon and Ghostface's dislike of Brooklyn emcee The Notorious B.I.G.. On the skit "Shark Niggas (Biters)," Ghostface points out Bad Boy Records' apparent jacking (copying) of Nas's striking cover art concept for "Illmatic", which featured a portrait of the emcee as a child on B.I.G.'s debut "Ready to Die", which featured a Black baby. Raekwon also refers to Biggie, also known as the Black Frank White, on "Ice Water," saying: "That's life to top it all off, beef wit White/Pullin’ bleach out tryin to throw it in my eyesight/Yo, what the fuck was on yo mind?" B.I.G. would later respond to Raekwon (among others) on "Kick in the Door," on Life After Death saying, "Fuck that, why try/Throw bleach in ya eye."

Critical recognition

Deviating from past Wu-Tang efforts and heralding a narrative-driven concept that redefined the gangsta hip-hop genre, Raekwon's solo album is widely considered to be one of the most influential albums of hip hop in the 1990s. In fact, it was one of sixteen hip-hop albums to be included in Pitchfork Media's Best Albums of the 1990s Redux list, and was listed as one of thirty-three hip hop/R&B albums in " has received notable critical acclaim. Hip-Hop Connection, the world's longest running hip-hop magazine, also voted the album as the best record of the last decade (1995–2005).

Influence

Filled with samples from crime thrillers and mob dramas (including the English-dubbed version of the Hong Kong action cinema, "The Killer, and Scarface") "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..." had an enormous influence on the burgeoning East Coast hardcore rap scene, cultivating the mafioso hip-hop phenomenon of the mid-1990s. Raekwon's hypervisual narratives, chronicling the crime underworld of drug trafficking and the luxurious pleasures of the high-end illegal business, led many to draw comparisons with Kool G. Rap, considered the progenitor of this style. Since then, the album is widely regarded as the quintessential hip-hop recording of the 1990s, spawning a myriad of imitators and influencing several prominent hip-hop artists such as Nas (who subsequently adopted the Wu-Gambino inspired alias "Escobar") and The Notorious B.I.G. (who made the transition from thug to kingpin between his first and second releases). It also influenced Jay-Z, who incorporated several mafioso themes into his debut "Reasonable Doubt", though he largely abandoned this theme on his future releases, he returned to the theme on his latest album "American Gangster". Furthermore, the album had a profound impact on contemporary hip hop culture, initiating slang terms such as "politic" and "butter-pecan Rican" into the Urban African-American slang.

Adam Heimlich of CDNOW describes the impact and artistry of "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...": cquote|For several years afterward you couldn't find a rap thug who wasn't politicking, slinging cut-up gangland narratives like a ghetto John Woo or Martin Scorsese, doling out guest appearances to his crew like loot from a job, and striving all the while to keep it as raw yet richly detailed as Rae did. Raekwon's storytelling evokes senses of rapid motion, kamikaze faith, loyalty, and focus in the midst of high-stakes tumult that, together, convey more about his mindstate than any straight autobiography could have. RZA wanted the music from the album to transport listeners into Rae's transcendent point of view, and he succeeded so spectacularly that thousands of rap fans—the ones who do not look to hip hop for an out-of-body experience—will never fully comprehend all the undying fuss about this album.

Wu-Gambinos

The Wu-Gambinos are the mafia-inspired aliases of the Wu-Tang Clan that debuted with Raekwon's 1995 debut, "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...". The name is a reference to the Gambino crime family, one of the Five Families that control New York City’s organized-crime underworld. While early Wu releases were infused with an original mythology that remade hip hop as a Chinese martial art and their native Staten Island as Shaolin, "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..." was the first to look at it in all its reality. However, the album, with its organized crime allusions and "Scarface"-like aspirations, would revolutionize East Coast hip hop and begin the genre's domination by so-called mafioso hip-hop, with many emcees transforming their image from street hoodlums to mafia dons seemingly overnight.

While these were largely nicknames, for a number of releases the various emcees would be credited by these names. Wu-Gambino names were used for Method Man and Raekwon's appearances on Mobb Deep's "Hell on Earth" (1996). Nas (although not a member of the Wu-Tang and the first outside emcee to appear on their albums, and as such is regarded a Wu-Gambino) would use the Nas Escobar moniker for a number of years. He would go on to further Mafioso rap with AZ on "Doe or Die" (released in August later that year) and in 1997 with .

They were also subject to change: by Raekwon and Ghostface's appearance on Jodeci's hit single "Freek'n You (Mr Dalvin's Freek Mix)" later that year, Rae was referring to himself as Lex (which he maintains to this day, releasing "The Lex Diamonds Story" in 2003). While Ol' Dirty Bastard did not appear on "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...", his Wu-Gambino name has been on various occasions referred to as Joe Bananas (after Joe Bonanno, the inspiration for Mario Puzo's Godfather), Ol' Dirt Schultz (Dutch Schultz), and Dirt McGirt. Alternately, The RZA modified Bobby Steels to craft his Bobby Digital persona (although it would seem that this would be equally inspired by the name of dancehall reggae producer Bobby “Digital” Dixon), under which he would release two albums in the late 1990s. Among the many affects "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..." made, the alter egos of the Wu-Tang Clan would inspire an already dissociative hip hop world to adopt new names and personas. A known fan of the Wu, Tupac Shakur began to refer to himself as Makaveli and gave his Outlawz crew new names, albeit with a militaristic, dictatorial theme.

The Wu-Gambinos are:::

Album chart positions

ingles chart positions

References