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REASONABLE DOUBT: a critical round-up of the week's hip hop headlines
RUSSELL MYRIE has spent the past seven days making sense of one of the longest-running album release sagas of recent years. Apart from Detox, which we've given him to do as his homework. Go to it Mr M...
Published: April 3, 2009
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RAEKWON: rumours his next album will be called Ridonkularity could not be confirmed at press time
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| Photo © Paul Hampartsoumian) |
Raekwon the Chef has secured a deal with EMI to release the ridonkulously long-awaited album that is Only Built for Cuban Linx 2. For new jacks this will be a chance to get a New York hip hop album which is steeped in history while simultaneously holding its own against the new ish; but for anyone who can remember the original Cuban Linx - and the excitement that preceded it when Glaciers of Ice and Criminology first dropped - this might just be the best news of the year so far, unless you won the lottery or something. Either way, the only albums more anticipated this year are those from the three-headed Shady/Aftermath monster. Speaking of which... the announcement that CL2 was going to be released through the house that Dre built was premature to say the least. The album was recorded, but was a deal ever signed? The saga has been continuing for around three years now.
Soon after Busta's The Big Bang dropped on Aftermath in mid '06, the big announcement was made that Dre and Rza were both going to be producing for Rae, and Busta was going to be executive producer. Of course that was too good to be true. When nothing happened for a while, Rza decided to use the Wu's 8 Diagrams as the springboard for the sequel to the album that made aliases almost a pre-requisite for many a bandwagon-jumping rapper. Check what he had to say to a HIPHOP.COM writer in November 2007 on the situation: "I said 'Yo Rae, you know, Aftermath is takin' forever...' I told him, 'Yo G, let's do a one-two punch. Aftermath takin' too long, we do the fuckin' Wu-Tang album first, then you come right back with the Cuban Linx'."
But as we all know, Raekwon then very publicly decided he didn't like the Wu album. Check what he had to say to the same HIPHOP.COM writer on the very next day after Rza's above statement. "Rza, what he did on Cuban Linx 2, I'm happy with, because me and him sat down collectively. When it came down to doin' this production on 8 Diagrams, we didn't sit down collectively: we sat down and allowed him to run the bus. And sometimes you may be drunk driving. And I have to tell you you're drivin' drunk, [because] if I don't you could kill us all. That's what I did on this record. It wasn't to try to scrutinise my brother and say he's wack. You never heard me say 'He's wack.' I just said, 'Yo, he's not listenin' to us.' When we made [8 Diagrams] I told him. I said, 'Rza, you have to look at all our feelings, man. Don't just think about you, yo! I know you a great producer, but at the same token this is a Wu-Tang Clan album'."
Anyone who has seen U-God and Method Man's argument on The Show will know that the Wu have never minced their words with each other, so no-one is trying to cause even the smallest amount of static. It's just that most hip hop heads have enquiring minds. As usual, it all comes down to the money. As far as we can make out, Rae never signed to Aftermath, reasoning that with a hit Clan album his price could go up. Then when he heard 8 Diagrams, and what his boys were saying about the record before it dropped, and remembered that what goes up can also come down, he began to worry whether he'd even get what he was offered first time round, hence his public feuding with The Abbott. Only he will know now whether the advance he got from EMI is worth whatever Aftermath had on the table, plus something to make up for a three-year career stall. Whatever has gone on behind the scenes, one thing all seem to agree on is that the album is incredible (and, btw, those that have heard it say Busta's Back On My B.S. is amazing too). But then again, after all this time, it has to be. And with no release date yet confirmed, we're going to hold off on casting our vote for the time being.
Another vetty vet who continues to do the damn thing is Snoop Dogg. It's great to see an artist who has become a worldwide superstar still trying to top themselves rather than just going through the motions. Since Drop It Like It's Hot he's been responsible for big tunes like Vato and the superfly Sensual Seduction while Snoop Dogg Millionaire, which sees him link up with British producers Chase & Status, is the latest musical innovation. However, despite the fact that the last two tunes show that the D-O-double-G isn't afraid to experiment, and notwithstanding his appearance on a Nat King Cole tribute album earlier this month, it still comes as a bit of a surprise to hear that he's signed on for a Johnny Cash remix LP. OK, so Matthew Knowles and, fittingly, Cash's son, John Carter Cash, are his co-executive producers, but it's still a little strange. Tha Doggfather features on a remix of The Man in Black's all-time country classic, I Walk the Line, while among the other contributors to the project are Alabama 3, who supplied the theme to The Sopranos and therefore inspired Nas's Stillmatic joint Got Ur Self a..., and Pete Rock. The Chocolate Boy Wonder's choice of track also has a hip hop element - in Folsom Prison Blues, Cash sings "I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die." Way back when, Ice-T told our editor that that line proved that country and hip hop had a lot in common: "That's a Geto Boys lyric!" he laughed. "Bushwick Bill would say that exact same thing!" Johnny Cash Remixed is out on Edel in June. Sounds interesting, but if I'm really honest, I'm looking forward to Snoop's Malice in Wonderland a lot more.
According to Baby, who after all is in charge of the shit, Weezy's new album Rebirth is now not gonna be a rock affair anymore. Some of it's gonna be rocky, but it ain't gonna be a full-fledged guitarfest. Obviously, there's been more behind the scenes wrangling than at the G20 summit. We're guessing it went a little something like this: Weezy planned to do a rock album. The suits at Universal didn't want him confusing his audience (the kids love that 808 shit), and he sold a milli in his first week and a couple more million since. They didn't want to mess with a formula that was moving '03 numbers in '09 - that don't make dollars. So they decided to keep the tracks that aren't too rocky - but still a little bit rocky - and get Weezy to add some other more bouncy hip hop shit in there. Let's see if I'm right when the album drops in June. In other Weezy news, a London show with Kid Cudi was recently announced. He's probably gonna pass through Europe - you know he ain't gonna miss out Amsterdam - but that's not been confirmed yet. This may not be so much of a big deal in the US 'cos Weezy must be on Stateside stages all the time, but it's big news in Europe, particularly in the UK where he's only played three shows ever, two of them in tiny venues in the middle of nowhere and one in London that ended in the kind of riot that brings other G20 comparisons to mind. That Kid Cudi is to appear with him is the icing on the cake.
Weezy's everywhere, yo. News has just broken that he's filed a lawsuit against QDIII, who is of course the son of the one and only Quincy Jones. Apparently, Jones' new documentary on the world's biggst rapper arrived at the Sundance Film Festival without Wayne's approval, something which seemed to be part of the contract. This would be fine if Weezy and his folk were happy with how Birdman Jr was portrayed, but they aren't. If this goes to court, expect the battle to be very long and drawn-out 'cos both parties have very deep pockets. But I reckon it won't go that far - could be deep as the mines of Minolta, but ain't gonna have nuthin' in 'em if they give it all to the lawyers.
If you missed last week's news, catch up HERE.
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