Only Built 4 Cuban Linx (Explicit Version) (1995) (Explicit Version )

Artist: Raekwon
This product is eligible for Free Shipping on orders over $10. Click for details. Eligible for FREE SHIPPING
*Some restrictions apply. Click here for details.
List Price:  See Details$8.98
You Save: (11%) $0.99
Our Price: $7.99
Shipping $1.90

Buy.com Total Price: $9.89
Qty   
In Stock: Usually Ships in 1 to 2 business days.
Format:  CD
Permalink
Marketplace Buying Choices
Supermart
Price: $7.35
+ $2.99 shipping
In Stock
Importcds
Price: $7.99
+ $2.99 shipping
In Stock
See all 8 New & Used from $5.45 + $2.99 shipping
What's this?
Product Summary
Label: Bmg/rca
UPC: 00078636666327
Release Date: 8/1/1995
Buy.com Sku: 60132184
Item#: MCRHSJ
Format:  CD

Song Listing

Disc 1
Song TitleSample
1. Striving For Perfection ~ Raekwon
2. Knuckleheadz - (featuring Ghostface Killah/Golden Arms) ~ Raekwon
3. Knowledge God ~ Raekwon
4. Criminology - (featuring Ghostface Killah) ~ Raekwon
5. Incarcerated Scarfaces ~ Raekwon
6. Rainy Dayz - (featuring Ghostface Killah/Blue Raspberry) ~ Raekwon
7. Guillotine (Swordz) - (featuring Ghostface Killah/Inspectah Deck/Genius) ~ Raekwon
8. Can It Be All So Simple - (remix, featuring Ghostface Killah) ~ Raekwon
9. Shark Niggas (Biters) ~ Raekwon
10. Ice Water - (featuring Ghostface Killah/Cappachino) ~ Raekwon
11. Glaciers Of Ice - (featuring Ghostface Killah/Master Killa/Blue Raspberry/62nd Assassin Of Sunz Of Man) ~ Raekwon
12. Verbal Intercourse - (featuring Ghostface Killah/Nas) ~ Raekwon
13. Wisdom Body - (featuring Ghostface Killah) ~ Raekwon
14. Spot Rusherz ~ Raekwon
15. Ice Cream - (featuring Ghostface Killah/Method Man/Cappachino) ~ Raekwon
16. Wu-Gambinos - (featuring Ghostface Killah/Method Man/RZA/Master Killa) ~ Raekwon
17. Heaven & Hell - (featuring Ghostface Killah) ~ Raekwon
18. North Star (Jewels) ~ Raekwon



 
Album Notes and Credits

Notes & Personnel Info
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).
Personnel: Raekwon (vocals); Masta Killa, Nas (vocals).
Audio Mixers: Fourth Disciple; RZA.
Photographer: Daniel Hastings.
Arranger: RZA.
A serious contender for the title of best Wu-Tang solo album (rivaled only by the Genius' Liquid Swords), Only Built 4 Cuban Linx is also perhaps the most influential, thanks to Raekwon's cinematic imagination. If the Genius is the Wu's best overall lyricist, Raekwon is arguably their best storyteller, and here he translates the epic themes and narratives of a Mafia movie into a startlingly accomplished hip-hop album. Raekwon wasn't the first to make the connection between gangsta rap and the Cosa Nostra (Kool G Rap pioneered that idea), but he was the one who popularized the trend. Cuban Linx's portraits of big-money drug deals and black underworld kingpins living in luxury had an enormous influence on the new New York hardcore scene, especially Mobb Deep and Nas, the latter of whom appears here on the much-revered duet "Verbal Intercourse." The fellow Clan members who show up as guests are recast under gangster aliases, and Ghostface Killah makes himself an indispensable foil, appearing on the vast majority of the tracks and enjoying his first truly extensive exposure on record. Behind them, RZA contributes some of the strongest production work of his career, indulging his taste for cinematic soundscapes in support of the album's tone; his tracks are appropriately dark or melancholy, shifting moods like different scenes in a film. Cuban Linx's first-person narratives are filled with paranoia, ambition, excess, and betrayal, fast rises and faster falls. There are plenty of highlights along the way -- the singles "Criminology" and "Ice Cream," the gentle "Rainy Dayz," the influential posse cut "Wu-Gambinos" -- and everything culminates in "Heaven & Hell" and its longing for redemption. Like the Genius' Liquid Swords, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx takes a few listens to reveal the full scope of its lyrical complexities, but it's immensely rewarding in the end, and it stands as a landmark in the new breed of gangsta rap. ~ Steve Huey
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.

Producer: RZA

Engineer: RZA

Musical Guests
Ghostface Killah
Nas
RZA
Method Man
The Genius
Inspectah Deck
Golden Arms
Blue Raspberry
Cappachino
62nd Assassin Of Sunz Of Man
Masta Killa

 
Artist Overview
Charter Wu-Tang Clan member Raekwon (aka Raekwon the Chef) immediately turned ears from his first raps on ENTER THE 36 CHAMBERS, particularly his turn on the 1994 hit "C.R.E.A.M." His solo debut the next year, the critically acclaimed ONLY BUILT 4 CUBAN LINX, easily held its own amidst a flood of individual releases from the hyped-to-the-hilt Staten Island collective. With his complex vocabulary wandering through dark recesses of both the mind and mystic urban landscapes, Raekwon swiftly became a cult favorite.

Artist Influences
Big Daddy Kane | Boogie Down Productions | EPMD | Eric B. & Rakim | Kool G. Rap | N.W.A. | Slick Rick | Special Ed | Stetsasonic

Artist Contemporaries
Cormega | Ghostface Killah | Gravediggaz | Heltah Skeltah (Rap) | Inspectah Deck | Masta Killa | Mobb Deep | Nas | Pharoahe Monch | Redman

Artist Followers
Brother Ali | Capone 'n' Noreaga | Freeway | Guilty Simpson | Sage Francis | Talib Kweli | The Clipse | Tony Yayo | Xzibit | Zion I (Zion 1)


 
Compilation Appearances
Ironman (Explicit Version)
Hell On Earth (Explicit Version)
My Xperience
Don Cartagena (Explicit Version)
Aquemini (Explicit Version)
Art Of Storytelling (Explicit Version)
Aquemini (Clean Version)
Supreme Clientele (Explicit Version)
Vol. 1-Wu-Chronicles (Explicit Version)
Whiteboys (Explicit Version)
Tunnel (Explicit Version)
Greatest Hits-Basic Training (Explicit Version)
Endangered Species (Explicit Version)
Love Hell Or Right (Explicit Version)
Scarface-Music Inspired By (Explicit Version)
Hip Hop Forever 2
Tical 0: The Prequel (Explicit Version)
Slickness
Legend Of The Wu Tang: Wu Tang Clan's (Explicit Version)
Decade
Blade Trinity (w/ Bonus DVD) (Explicit Version)
Blade Trinity (Explicit Version)
Blade Trinity(clean)
Pain Time & Glory (Explicit Version)
Thug Matrix (Explicit Version)
S P I T
Five Percent Album (Explicit Version)
Carving A New Standard
Soul Survivor Vol 1
The Big Bang (Explicit Version)
4:21: The Day After (Cln)
Davinci Code:the Vaticav2
Hi Teknology Vol 2(Explicit Version)
Coalition / O.s.t.
This Is East Coast Hip Hop(Explicit Version)
Icewater(Explicit Version)
Wu Box:cream Of The Clan
Hi Teknology 3:underground
Big Doe Rehab
Big Doe Rehab(Explicit Version)
Dirty South Hits:best In Crunk
Wallabee Champ
Strange Hip Hop
Return Of The Swarm 5
Wackness (Ost)
Wackness (Ost)(Explicit Version)
LAX
LAX (Clean)
N4l (Explicit Version)
Kar(Explicit Version)
LAX (Bonus Tracks)(Explicit Version)
Slang Prostitution(Explicit Version)
Hour Of Reprisal(Explicit Version)
G Files(Explicit Version)
Soundtracks From The Shaolin Temple(Explicit Version)
Born Into This(Explicit Version)
Last Kiss(Explicit Version)
Last Kiss
We Mean Business(Explicit Version)
Ghostdeini The Great(Explicit Version)
Blackout 2(Explicit Version)
Blackout 2
Flight 360:Takeoff(Explicit Version)
Flight 360:Takeoff
Sore
Tonite Show
Legacy:best Of Big Pun(Explicit Version)
Radio Do Canibal(Explicit Version)
Wu Tang Meet The Indie Culture Vol 2(Explicit Version)

 
Associated Artists and Works
Ironman ~ Ghostface Killah
Ironman ~ Killah, Ghostface
The Da Vinci Code Vatican Mixtape, Vol. 2 [PA] ~ Various Artists
Various Artists

 
Technical Info
Release Date : 08/01/1995
Original Release Date : 1995
Catalog ID : 66663
Label : Loud/RCA Records
Number of Discs : 1
Runtime : 71m : 51s
Studio/Live : Studio
Mono/Stereo : Stereo
SPAR Code : n/a
UPC : 00078636666327

 
Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (5/13/99, p.74)
- Included in Rolling Stone's "Essential Recordings of the 90's."

Spin (9/99, p.162)
- Ranked #83 in Spin Magazine's "90 Greatest Albums of the '90s."

Spin (12/95, p.63)
- Ranked #14 on Spin's list of the `20 Best Albums Of '95.'

Spin (11/95, p.125)
- 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..."

Entertainment Weekly (8/18/95, p.57)
- "...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-

Q (8/00, p.120)
- 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."

The Wire (10/01, p.46)
- "...Irreducibly New York, smeared and self-referential, like a neighborhood that feels familiar but isn't....An album of sense and sensibility..."

Vibe (9/95, p.180)
- "...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..."

The Source (9/95, p.97)
- 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..."

Melody Maker (8/26/95, p.37)
- 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..."

Rap Pages (10/95, p.31)
- 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..."

Village Voice (2/20/96)
- Ranked #15 in Village Voice's 1995 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll.

New York Times (Publisher)
(1/6/96, p.C16)
- 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..."

NME (Magazine)
(12/23-30/95, pp.22-23)
- Ranked #29 in NME's `Top 50 Albums Of The Year' for 1995.

NME (Magazine)
(8/19/95, p.51)
- 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..."

  
Product Image



Copyright 2009 Muze ®. For personal non-commercial use only. All rights reserved.
Suggestion Box
Every voice counts, so stand up and be heard! Your opinion is important to us. If you have spotted a typo, discovered an incorrect price, or encountered a technical issue on this page, we want to hear about it. Thanks again for your feedback, and happy shopping! Please note: we are unable to reply directly to suggestions.
For additional information, click here to visit our Help Center.
Quick Help My Account What are you looking for? Country