Fresh off a unique (and surprising) remix of Justin Bieber’s “Runaway Love” Wu-Tang legend Raekwon the Chef did an interesting interview with New York Magazine’s Vulture. Here are some choice cuts:
ON HIS HOT STREAK STIRRED BY THE RELEASE OF ONLY BUILT 4 CUBAN LINX 2:
Raekwon: It’s been prosperous, difficult, and definitely refreshing. I say “prosperous” because we’ve gained so many points in so many different ways in the industry, as well as with our fans, and they give you the motivation. I know that the key to really being relevant in the game is just being prosperous. Difficult, meaning it’s a new industry, so you definitely have to see how things work inside the business now, and it took me a minute to really understand how things is working. It’s a whole new system, it’s a whole new generation of kids, a whole new industry that I really had to really adjust to. Being the CEO now of my own company, things wasn’t really easy as I thought it would be, but it kind of gave me both sides to look at, as far as being an artist and being a chief vocalist. It was a lot of blood, sweat and tears situations, and it’s all about balance, and I think I had to really learn that.
On the reception to his “Runaway Love” remix with Justin Bieber & Kanye West:
Raekwon: I’ve been getting a great response. It’s been a couple of mixed feelings on the net. It’s all good. It makes me laugh to know how people feel about certain things, but for the most part, everybody appreciated it. You almost feel like somebody wants to down you, but then when they hear it, it’s like you can’t really speak bad about it. Me, as somebody that’s an O.G. in the game, an old school legend, however you wanna call it, he gave me an opportunity to reach the young youth. And he’s a newb right now, so if he needs my assistance, of course I’m a be there to show my support.
Everybody stayed in they element. Rae didn’t go away from his element. I gave it to it according to what I felt. I think [Bieber’s] a talented young cat, and I wanted to be a part of that, so really anything else after that is just history being made again. He wasn’t around while we was doing our thing, but at the same token, he acknowledges us, we acknowledge him. We got his back. That’s how I wanted to come at the situation, and I think a lot of people was looking at it like “the collaboration sounds crazy,” but you can’t front on me and Kanye. You can’t front on Justin. We all got great careers, and we’ve been successful through our trials already, you know.
ON JUSTIN BIEBER’S KNOWLEDGE OF HIM:
Raekwon: I was surprised, more or less, that he was down for the get-down, which is, wanting to make that happen. But everybody calls me “Chef” in the game, and I’m sure that he’s a hip-hopper. He’s up on Wu-Tang. I’m sure that the cats he be around, they let him know what’s real and who’s who, so I wasn’t really shocked on that note, I was more shocked that he would have wanted to do something. That part made me feel good.
ON HIS WORK WITH KANYE WEST:
Raekwon: We’re discussing things, and we definitely agreed to put in some more work together soon, so you’re gonna see something happen real soon. Real, real soon. At the end of the day, we’ve always been in the game as peers and friends. I’ve known Kanye for a while. We never got that opportunity to work together, but now things is happening. Yeah, get ready for it. You’re gonna hear some things.
For the the full interview, click here.
STANDARD DOSE 