SOME STUFFS: Kel puts together “The Sermon Mixtape”

Kil has put together a new mix tape in honor of the green eyed bandit known as Erick Sermon, and he’s calling this The Sermon Mixtape. Plain and simple, right? Maybe, but Sermon’s music is anything but simple and now you can hear his ways in this new musical puzzle, featuring a wide range of artists he has collaborated with over the years.

VIDEO: M-Dot featuring Method Man, Dominique Larue & Katy Gunn’s “Shine”

Ego And The Enemy is said to be a 2-part CD release for M-Dot’s debut album and what does that mean? Unknown at this time but from it is a video of a song he did with Dominique Larue, Katy Gunn, and Clifford Smith, the latter better known as Method Man of the Wu-Tang Clan.

DUST IT OFF: Raekwon’s “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…” 20 years later

Before I begin to talk about an album that celebrates its 20th anniversary today, we have to go back a year before August 1, 1995.

In July 1994, The RZA showed he was much more than just being Prince Rakeem when he presented himself as The Rzarecta as a member of the Gravediggaz with Prince Paul, Frukwan, and Too Poetic. They released their debut album called 6 Feet Deep (countries outside of the U.S. called it Niggamortis) and some thought it was interesting The RZA was able to get himself on two albums, sounding distinctively different within both groups. The album was released early in some parts of the U.S., I found my copy at Tower Records in Portland, Oregon on 82nd, apparently a week or two before the rest of the country. We didn’t quite know what was to come but then the news surfaced.

As fans were beginning to absorb Gravediggaz’s album, LOUD/RCA Records released the soundtrack to Fresh, which featured solo songs from The Genius, Raekwon, and a remix of “Can It Be All So Simple”. The idea that The Genius had his own song seemed amazing, but then to hear Raekwon & Ghostface with their own track too? What was going on? On top of that, Raekwon and Ghost doubled up with a new version of what was one of the biggest hits of 1994, which got its share of airplay and mixtape circulation. I remember thinking “if The Genius has this song, his first new song since his failed debut, is there going to be more?” Also, how about Raekwon, will be be coming out with something?

When word came out that Method Man was signed to Def Jam to release his debut album, that’s when the first plans for the group were made known. In 1995, there would be three solo albums from the group, and each of them would be signed to their own label. Wu-Tang Clan were signed to LOUD/RCA. In rock circles, when a group splintered into making their own solo albums, they generally stayed within the same label: David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash all stayed on Atlantic (for the time being) while Neil Young was already signed to Reprise. When Kiss dropped their solo albums on the same day in 1978, it was on Casablanca Records. Three different labels? No one in hip-hop had ever done that successfully but the Wu-Tang were make it out that every album would be a banger, every release would be a hit. X-Clan had Isis (Linque) and Professor X release albums on 4th & B’Way, while Digital Underground had Raw Fusion on HollywoodBASIC, Gold Money on Tommy Boy, and 2Pac on Interscope. Back then, 2Pac was just that guy who rapped in “Same Song” but by 1993, he already had a massive hit with “I Get Around”. 2Pac was not just that dancer from Digital Underground, he was 2Pac.

Did the Wu-Tang really know all of their solo albums would become a success? With the success of Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), it proved to them that fans would be willing to buy their music separately from the group, for if they were willing to buy one, maybe they were willing to get another, if not all. We would find out in 1995.

In March 1995, Elektra Records released Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s Return To The 36 Chambers, which came out with the incredible “Brooklyn Zoo” a month before. “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” seemed to have more appeal with the single version and later in the year, “Rawhide” was released as a single. As we moved closer to the summer, word had it that Raekwon’s solo album would be out soon, and he stayed home and was signed to LOUD/RCA as a solo artist. On June 27th, the label released “Criminology”/”Glaciers Of Ice” as a single, with the latter getting a video with massive airplay on BET. The song seemed quite complex and noisy, showing a style of production from The RZA that was more active than anything he had done in the past. It wasn’t as noisy as the words of The Bomb Squad but it was full and lush, if that’s a good way to describe it.

Soon after, a video for “Criminology” was released, showing Raekwon, Ghostface, The RZA, and U-God up by a waterfall and in kung fu gear, showing them incognito in a way they had never been seen before. For me, “Criminology” was the preferred song, incredibly funky and full of those string samples that were becoming very RZA at the time (a sound that Mobb Deep were also using with the orchestral samples). Around this time, LOUD/RCA released promotional commercials for Raekwon’s album showing segments of his videos and a man who did a voice-over that said “a chain is as strong as its weakest link”. The world would have to prepare for what was to come, whether they liked it or not.

The actual title for the album is Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Niggaz but it was shortened to Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…, with the “…” to let people know something else was supposed to follow. At the time, I found myself wanting more CD’s than cassettes but for this album, I first heard it on cassette, the purple tape. What made this album distinctive was while Ghostface was already making himself (and his face) known in music videos, he was still hidden on the cover of this record, and he was “guest starring” so in many ways, it was a Raekwon and Ghostface album. However, upon first listens, it seemed like with various members heard throughout, it came off more like a group album than just a solo album and it was. Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… was originally planned as the follow-up to Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) but during the recording sessions, when it was realized it would be more feasible to exploit the solo route, it became Raekwon’s debut.

One thing about the album should be known from the start. While it remains one of the best hip-hop albums of 1995, if not the entire decade of the 1990’s, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… is not a concept album, far from it. There are loose streams of continuity here and there but it holds up primarily because it is a solid collection of incredible songs, and even those that are “weak links” still hold up. If there’s continuity throughout, one of the solid links is the production style and samples. You listen to Ol’ Dirty’s Return To The 36 Chambers and it sounds like a basement album. You listen to Method Man’s album and it sounds like a different type of basement album, one that allows itself to open the bedroom window for a breath of fresh air. Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… sounds like an album of not only fresh air, but an imagination into another world, if not a dream state of what one could obtain and achieve. The idea of someone boiling up drugs on the oven to become a neighborhood chef could be considered but for me, that string of continuity came from the dialogue between songs and not the songs themselves.

If there’s a moment in the album where I felt things were about to pick up and stay there (or go higher), it would be when “Criminology” comes on. Or if that’s the point where the album moved into second gear, then I heard it, they were ready to go faster.

“Incarcerated Scarfaces” was a great song too, and it was released as a double A-sided single along with “Ice Cream” so if “Ice Cream” seemd too much (or perhaps too vulgar in tone) to some, they could tone down with the vibe of this one.

I was blown away by the vibe of “Rainy Dayz” and I am sure that a big part of it had to do with the vocals of Blue Raspberry. With her singing on Method Man’s debut, it seemed fitting that she would bless the tracks on Raekwon’s albums as well. Could she have been on Ol’ Dirty’s album? Sure, but I think ODB would’ve preferred his mom on the album. (He originally said he hoped to produce a single for his mom but that never materialized.) The funky, slightly sloppy drum samples, the strings in the background, and Ghostface talking about the cheese line while one of his lines seems removed from the song.

The album moves up with “Guillotine (Swordz)”, which sounded like something straight off of Method Man’s debut album due to the use of the same string sample. What I loved about this song is the movie sample, taken from Shaolin Vs. Lama, and the fact that the team of Raekwon, Ghostface, Inspectah Deck, and The Genius was perfect. Throughout the album, there would be certain groups of Wu members where I wish they would’ve made their own albums. That was fairly common throughout 1993-1997 so if we heard “Meth Vs. Chef”, we all wanted a full album of Meth and Raekwon battles. I wanted “Guillotine (Swordz)” forever.

The remix of “Can It Be All So Simple” originally released on the Fresh soundtrack found its way onto the album, but what made the album go to the next level was “Shark Niggas (Biters)”, which felt like the Sunz Of Man appearance that didn’t happen, or a song that could’ve found its way onto a Sunz Of Man album in between “Soldies Of Darkness” and “No Love Without Hate”. “Ice Water” was moving but while “Glaciers of Ice” was not as good to me as “Criminology” was as a single, it definitely fits in perfectly within the album.

Same for “Verbal Intercourse”. While a lot of fans often talk about Nas’ spot on the album was the best part of Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…, I was never huge on Nas’ royalty status but I always liked what he did, for he was the only outsider on the album.

Also, the best part of the song was not Nas’ verse but The Emotions’ sample of “If You Think It (You May As Well Do It)”. It seems like an awkward sample at first, because the vocal in the song is heard during the verses but that interruption in the song would become one of Ghostface’s production trademarks, where he would just rap over something else because he knew you were there to listen to him, not the damn sample. The RZA would often explore the Stax/Volt catalog throughout his career and what I liked too was that while the pop world would generally know The Emotions as a one hit wonder (“Best Of My Love”), he and others knew the group as having two solid albums before they made it bigger. It is those two albums that have become the source of a number of samples in hip-hop over the years. This song was just part of the contination of Emotions appreciation.

If the other songs earlier on the album didn’t prove it, “Wisdom Body” definitely made it clear that Ghostface was more than ready to not only release his own album but to have his own career. Not bad for someone who covered himself up in videos for “Method Man and “Da Mystery Of Chessboxin'”, to be on that “now you see me, now you don’t” before evolving into something you could always recognize. The song would become an underground down tempo groove that made you want to turn up, nod your head and just go “damn”.

“Spot Rusherz” was another great song because it’s one of the few spots where the group offered a way to hear the group’s St. Ides’ radio spot/commercial. I know I was someone who wished that St. Ides track was two to three minutes longer, but what makes “Spot Rusherz” works was how everything just sounds off, from the warped piano/keyboard sample to drums that are unsure of where it needs to place itself. If anything, the group showed they could be self-promotional, not only delivering verses that also worked as resume tapes but hey, we want you to drink a malt liquor, go grab a 40 ounce if you can and have a good night.

One of the best songs on the album found itself way on the 4th quarter, the almighty “Ice Cream”. When I first heard it, I loved it immediately for I used to think that addictive and repetitive piano sample was beautiful. I couldn’t figure it out and nor did most of the people who heard the song. Not only was that sample Wu-Tang’s equivalent of “Mass Appeal” but it too became the holy grail of samples, leading many into countless dead ends. 17 after its release, someone revealed the source as being a light jazz instrumental, slowed down and I discovered that what I was hearing was not a piano but an acoustic guitar. We may have hated Earl Klugh’s music but we all know someone’s parents or uncle and auntie who had one of his records.

It easily became one of The RZA’s finest moments, especially with his use of Blue Raspberry’s vocals also being chopped. For me, I also feel her vocals were one of the saddest, most sorrowful moments in the Wu-Tang’s entire discography. While the group was celebrating the wonders of women in a flavorful manner, Blue Raspberry was showing that not everything in life is whipped cream with a cherry on top or a banana split. There’s melancholy in her vocals and it was a way of saying, in some way, “things in life aren’t always what they seem or what you want them to be.”

The album formally ends with “Wu-Gambinos”, which was not only the beginning of the next phase of the Wu-Tang, but it also helped spark a wave in hip-hop where it seemed everyone wanted to validate themselves by being a gambino, everyone wanted to have two or three pseudonyms. The song also brought in Ghostface, The RZA, Method Man, and the one and only Noodles, a/k/a Masta Killa. One thing I considered while listening to this song was something Method Man said in Ol’ Dirty’s “Rawhide”. His first line was “Coming soon to a theater near you, it be the Wu”, and I was hoping that there would be a Wu-Tang Clan movie that summer, if not the end of the year. This album sounded like it could be the theme song to an incredible film, regardless if it was a concern film or them portraying themselves in gambino form. Not only that, but The RZA’s verse was arguably the best thing he had ever done, far better than what he dropped as a Gravedigga and people would instantly hope that he too would drop his own solo album soon. That would come in time.

While I feel “Wu-Gambinos” ends the album in a nice way. the actual album has one or two more songs, depending what format you purchased. I never felt “Heaven & Hell” was a good way to end an album but for many who bought the cassette, it was the conclusion to Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…. On top of that, Blue Raspberry’s sung “RZA and Raekwon and Ghost” came off a bit self-promotional and corny, even though what she sings is one of the best moments on the album too. If you purchased the CD, you got to hear a song that could be considered a fitting conclusion called “North Star (Jewels)”, featuring Poppa (Popa) Wu talking to the group with a bit of wisdom, to let them know about what they (and the listeners) experienced and what to prepare for in their next adventure, as well as life.

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Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… did sell 130,000 during its first week according to Wikipedia and was eventually certified gold (500,000). While Wikipedia states Soundscan claims the album eventually sold over a million, he did not receive a platinum award for it (Method Man’s Tical did receive a platinum award from Def Jam.) Raekwon’s album holds up solidly and remains an album that every hip-hop artist would have to refer to and use an example of how to create a solid album from start to finish. It remains not only one of the best hip-hop albums of 1995, but one of the best Wu-Tang solo albums. It remains the Wu-Tang solo album that could’ve (and arguably should’ve) been Wu-Tang Clan’s second group album. Because of that, it is one of the best hip-hop albums of the entire decade. You know what hip-hop was like before Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… but you couldn’t hide from its influence after August 1, 1995.

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FREE MP3 DL: M-DOT featuring Method Man, Dominique Larue & Katy Gunn’s “Shine”

M-DOT is one person you have to deal with and three people decided to take on the challenge. Katy Gunn, Dominique Larue, and someone who is not a gentleman, the Method Man, are all a part of “Shine”, which they do equally well in a powerful way. Soulplusmind produced this 4 1/2 minute soon-to-be gem, give it a listen and you’ll want to take this home, which you can while supplies last.

DUST IT OFF: Method Man’s “Tical”…20 years later

When Method Man released his first solo album 20 years ago today, no one could comprehend what the group were about to do. Method Man’s Tical was a statement from the man who had his own song within the Wu-Tang Clan, so it seemed natural for him to drop a solo album. It was an album not released as a way to say he’s no longer in the Wu-Tang anymore, he was still part of the collective. However, the group had established earlier in the year that each member of the group will release their own solo albums. Groups like the X-Clan and Digital Underground came close to accomplishing this, and it was great to be able to buy music from Raw Fusion, Isis, Gold Money, or Queen Mother Rage, but this was planned on being bigger.

For me, it reminded me of what Kiss did in 1978, when I walked into DJ’s Sound City in Ala Moana Shopping Center and saw an album each from Gene, Paul, Ace, and Peter staring at me, and me staring in awe. It reminded me of David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, and Neil Young. The Beatles had become very successful as solo artists. Now, it was being considered for a hip-hop group, but would it work? We would see.

If the idea of everyone in the Wu-Tang Clan releasing a solo album didn’t sound insane, hearing that they’d each have their own contract on different labels seemed insane, if not a logistical nightmare. The Wu-Tang Clan were signed to LOUD Records, distributed through RCA Records. Method Man was signed to Def Jam, one of the biggest and most influential hip-hop labels. A few months before, The RZA presented himself as a member of Gravediggaz, which featured Prince Paul, Fruitkwan of Stetsasonic, and Too Poetic. It was essentially the Tommy Boy Records All-Stars, or with the exception of Prince Paul, Tommy Boy Non-Stars. The idea of three rappers and a producer/DJ doing an album with horror-themed songs seemed a bit bizarre, but anyone who knew and loved hip-hop backed then knew that the best music was all about witty lyricism, and this one measured up. We now knew that if The RZA could present himself as a member of two groups, then Method Man’s solo album would be awesome.

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Time has not treated this album nicely in the sense that when it comes to all of Wu-Tang’s solo albums, or at least one of the first batch of solo albums they released, it doesn’t get treated as well as Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…, The Genius’ Liquid Sword (which was actually his second album, but the first post-Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)), Ghostface Killah’s Ironman or even Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s Return To The 36 Chambers. In my opinion, it is one of the best solo albums the Wu ever released, and I consider it an important album because not only was it the first, but because the music sounds incredible. If the Wu-Tang Clan were known for their “Miracle On Dirty 4 Beats”, this one as dirty and dingy as a basement that hasn’t seen Pine Sol in ages.

Like Enter The Wu-Tang, Tical was not a conceptual album nor did it have a continuous theme, it just sounded like a bunch of random songs sequenced in a way that made each song stand out. We got to know some of Meth’s own steez from Wu’s album and now fans were going to enter his world, to discover what made him tick. The title track let us know what tical was about because he smoked it. A lot.

“Biscuits” showed his sense of humor with this song, or at least I felt with talking about putting down people who came off as fake. What I loved about the song was his he interpolated “Just An Echo In the Valley”, which I heard in an episode of The Little Rascals as a kid but I also knew it as being part of a Hawaiian song by the Ho’opi’i Brothers called “Ei Nei”. I thought “wait, he just sang a Hawaiian song?”

It then moves into Meth’s first solo hit, the awesome “Bring The Pain”, where we are allowed to go into his astroplane. It comes off briefly as a glossary entry of what Method Man is about before he tells us that he’s totally crossed out like Kris Kross.

Six months before it was released as the album’s third single, “All I Need” was already a personal favorite as it was arranged in a way that sounded differently. That was partially because there was a prepared chorus for it, although “Bring The Pain” also had a chorus of sorts too. On the album version, “All I Need” didn’t have a Motown song steering it nor did it have Mary J. Blige singing the chorus, but it still showed back then that Method Man was still live and direct from the 160, keeping things and himself and check before they decided to branch out.

“What The Blood Clot” begins with a sample The RZA used in the Gravediggaz “Diary Of A Madman”, and for me I thought perhaps that he would be using a bit of musical continuity from this point forward. He did not, but Meth spoke on how less impressive people would not matter to him because he’s about “36 chambers of headbanger, bitch.” At this point, it was obvious that this was very much about Method Man’s world, which was different when Raekwon released his album on July 31, 1995, which was said to have planned as Wu-Tang’s second album before it became a Raekwon and Ghostface effort.

While The RZA was heard in the song before, we formally hear Raekwon in the duet “battle”, “Meth vs. Chef”, and I know I wasn’t the only one who had hoped there would be future battles on later albums. At least Ol’ Dirty and The Genius did the song title to themselves in “Damage”, I was ready for Rebel INS vs. Masta Killa or something. Even though this was not a conceptual or album with a running theme, there was a unified vibe with this album, and that’s probably due to the energy created by The RZA’s productions and the lyrics that Meth wrote for his verses. As he said in the song before, “we can all get high if we unify”, so perhaps something was in mind when he wrote that.

With help from producer 4th Disciple, The RZA helped to organize the low-end “Sub-Crazy”, which sounded a bit off-kilter, or at least like a song Meth had vocalized in the studio when he and everyone else was super high. Method still retains mentioning more pop culture references, and what I also love about this song was that there are no hard drum samples. It still has a sense of a rhythm but the lack of solid drums makes it stick out beautifully. It was now time to flip the album over to Side 2.

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“Release Yo Delf” became Tical‘s second single and begins with Blue Raspberry’s strong vocals and a drum sample in your face, with horns that sounded like something pulled from a Rocky soundtrack but ended up being a thrift store gem, Herb Alpert’s “The Treasure Of San Miguel”, proving that DJ Mark The 45 King was not the only one who could master horn samples. As far as my favorite line in this, it remains “shit’s gettin’ deep in here, I mean thick/n****s lookin’ all in my face like they want dick“. I also loved the censored/radio edit of this song, for the word “dick” was replaced with a nice thud.

Carlton Fisk was the first non-Wu-Tang Clan member to make his presence known on a Wu-fam project (outside of Miss Raspberry) so his presence on “P.L.O. Style” was not only valued but a proud moment, still showing what it was like to be “within the fam” but to see how Meth could work with others outside of the Clan proper. What I loved about this song is not only the slowed sample, but how the end of one of those samples stutters for a few more bars to make it sound like someone is popping a car horn. Also: the use of chimes that are common on read-along books in order to turn the page while listening, that was a perfect touch.

I loved “I Get My Thang in Action” because it starts with a kung fu dialogue sample but also because the song was influenced by an old Schoolhouse Rock song “Verb”. In this case, the song sounded funky and should have been released a single, perhaps one that could’ve worked better on fans than “Bring The Pain”.

The killer bees return to make their presence known in “Mr. Sandman”, a track featuring The RZA doodling almost in Rzarector mode and Raspberry caressing the tune with her harmonies. The man that makes this song his is Inspectah Deck with a verse that could’ve easily become its own song, although Meth’s Lovin’ Spoonful interpolation of “Summer In The City” is quite nice too. Second Wu-fam contribution comes from Streetlife.

The intro to “Stimulation” pretty much sounds like it’s preparing to land back home, with a drum sample that sounds reminiscent of “Method Man”. What truly takes this song home is the string sample. Due to how it was mixed, it sounds like something from the 1930’s or 40’s but it ended up being “Snowbound” by Sarah Vaughan, arranged and conducted by Don Costa, who may be known more today as being the father of singer Nikka Costa. What also works about the last third of “Stimulation” is that it sounds like everyone in the studio was extremely high and ready to wrap this project up, even though this may have been the first song recorded for it.

The man closes with what was originally released as a Wu-Tang Clan track as a B-side to “Da Mystery Of Chessboxin'”. It now becomes a Method Man song but still remains its “remix” status. He gets down with his southpaw, tells everyone that he took 1, added 7 more and then he 8 up. What makes this one work is that the piano sample heard in the original “Method Man” song sounds filtered in an effect that makes it come off like it was coming through underwater. Horn samples are chopped and almost made indecipherable, as if The RZA wanted to make sure to keep things gritty and everyone in check. It still sounds “under construction”, almost as raw as the first Wu-Tang Clan before he became too digital and started cleaning up his production techniques.

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Tical works perfectly because the album is under 45 minutes. Not too short, not too long, no interludes, no B.S. While there are a small handful of appearances throughout the album, you get a sense that this is as Method Man project because Meth is the dominant voice, no one is barging in verses or ruining song with background yelling. This was not for the 85 who didn’t have a clue, it was very much for those who understood the music, the recipes, and the elements the Wu-Tang Clan wanted to spread around the world, merely by opening the chambers and showing what were once secrets. Looking back, maybe she should not have opened up the doors so wide. At this stage in their master plan, the Wu-Tang Clan were still together and thinking not only to show individual dominance but also brothers of hip-hop who were thinking of a master plan in order to be paid in full. At least in the process, they didn’t lose their sense of making music for the betterment of hip-hop. Four months later, Ol’ Dirty Bastard would release his solo album, the first of three solo joints from the group, and it made a lot of fans happy, excited, and anxious at the same time. No one, not including Meth, could have predicted how their lives were changing but twenty years ago, it was officially the start of their dreams becoming reality, but also the start of their grand empire slowly falling apart. For the time being, Wu-ness was good, with the album going to the top of the Billboard R&B Album chart and going as high as #4 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart.

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AUDIO: Mack Wilds featuring Method Man’s “Wild Things”

Upon first look at the credit for the song, I thought cool, Method Man has dropped a verse or two in this song. Then I played and then it became a thing of disbelief. The music sounds like it is trying to show hints of the Wu-Tang Clan but done to give it an R&B feel. I bow down to the greatness of Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), which will celebrate its 20th anniversary in less than two months, but don’t try to sweeten the Wu. Let it remain the Miracle on Dirty 4-Beats that it has always been. However, Mack Wilds then drops a verse of his own and saves it from sounding like a Chris Brown-ish mess. The song is from Wilds’ forthcoming album New York: A Love Story.

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VIDEO: Heaven Sent featuring Method Man’s “Black Anthem”

When I read that people do not give credit where credit is due when it comes to Method Man, I get pissed off. How dare you fucking say that Method Man is not the shit when he was the man who told everyone that you don’t know him, nor do you know his style. He was giving people smacks off the top, and yet because of how the Wu-Tang Clan did their thing individually, some have said that his style has weakened. Don’t give me that bullshit, my friends. Heaven Sent knows the deal, which is why he asked Meth to guest with him in a new anthem called “Black Anthem”. Forget Robin Thicke, this is the real summer jam.

FREE MP3 DOWNLOAD: The RZA’s “Built For This (Mochipet’s The Pet With The Iron Paw Remix)”

The Mochipet man is hard at work doing what he does best, and here’s a hot one. He has done a remix for “Built For This” by The RZA (or in truth, it’s credited as being by Method Man, Freddie Gibbs & Street Life) so Wu-Tang Clan fans, get ready for this one. Take a listen to it below and if you like it, it’s yours for free, courtesy of Mochipet himself.

(NOTE: In order to download the song, you’ll have to click a bit and eventually “like” a Facebook page. If you don’t want to go through all of that, you can go directly to this page.)

VIDEO: Method Man, Freddie Gibbs & StreetLife’s “Build For This”

From the soundtrack to The Man With The Iron Fists, a new track by Method Mna, Freddie Gibbs, and StreetLife, all of whom tell us why they are “Built For This”, with salt or butter motherfucker. Video was directed by DanTheMan.

The soundtrack album will finally see the light of day next week Tuesday.

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SOME STUFFS: Soundtrack for “The Man With The Iron Fists” is on its way

With Method Man releasing a brand new track for the soundtrack to The RZA’s movie The Man With The Iron Fists, the music and film is not only attracting attention for fans of the Wu-Tang Clan, but also action films, kung fu flick fanatics, along with Quentin Tarantino enthusiasts, as he is the one presenting The RZA’s film to a much broader audience than it would be if he did it on his own. Now more news about the forthcoming soundtrack. The movie will be released in theaters on November 2nd, while the soundtrack, still being assembled and finalized, will hit stores about 10 days before the film on October 23rd. A close-to-final track listing for the album has been released. My guess would be that most of these (if not all) will be on there, but I would not be surprised if there’s a bonus track or two, maybe iTunes-only, maybe a “track 0” on the CD, it is unknown. What is known? These tracks. As you can see, it’s not only new material from The RZA and Wu-Fam, but also some of his hip-hop friends along with a few songs tracks he has sampled in the last 20 years:
1. The Black Keys / RZA “The Baddest Man Alive”
2. Ghostface Killah / M.O.P / Pharoahe Monch “Black Out”
3. Kanye West “White Dress”
4. The Revelations feat. Tre Williams “I Forgot To Be Your Lover”
5. Talib Kweli / RES “Get Your Way (Sex as a Weapon)”
6. Raekwon / Ghostface Killah / Kool G. Rap “Rivers of Blood”
7. Method Man / Freddie Gibbs / StreetLife “Built for This”
8. 24 Carat Black “Poverty’s Paradise”
9. Killa Sin “The Archer”
10. RZA / Flatbush Zombies “Just Blowin’ In The Wind”
12. Corrine Bailey Rae “Chains”
13. Pusha T / Raekwon “Tick Tock”
14. Frances Yip “Green is the Mountain”
15. The Wu-Tang Clan “Six Directions of Boxing”
16. Mabel John “Your Good Thing Is About To End”

It has been said that these older soul tracks are “re-constructions” of the originals. It doesn’t say if The RZA had access to the Stax Records’ multi-tracks or if he obtained them directly from the masters, but it means you may be hearing them cut up a bit (i.e. remixed) with the Rzarector style.

Stay tuned.