Wu-Tang Clan: Like Voltron

Raekwon is quite rightly “chillin’, relaxin’, and shit.” With the forthcoming Wu-Tang – Reunited in Full Force tour on his mind, ‘The Chef’ needs to conserve his energy before 'Fight Music' comes to the Academy on the first of the month. “That’s what we call the music with a lot of energy,” he snarls. “Bring da Ruckus, Protect Ya Neck, 4^th Chamber, Reunited – a lot of classics...  Wu brings plenty of Fight Music.”

Yes, the hardest working men in hip-hop are finally coming to Glasgow with full personnel (sans – of course – the late, great Ol’ Dirty Bastard). Any Wu connoisseur who watched promoter Chang Weisberg scrape and hustle to bring the Clan together for what would be their last performance with ODB in the 2006 concert documentary Rock the Bells will appreciate what it takes to put the Staten Island crew in the same room.

“In the old days you’d get like three or four guys showing up,” lamented Wu’s de facto leader, RZA, when we spoke to him in 2008. Referencing their first full tour since Ol’ Dirty’s death (including a triumphant Slam Tent appearance at T in the Park), there was an ambiguous air of finality in his voice. “I think, even if we never do it again, we did good already.” Fast-forward to 2010, and Raekwon sees a brighter future for the Wu-Tang; this tour is just the jump off.

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When we last spoke to RZA he regretted the time when fans never knew who they’d get at a Wu-Tang show. Are those days over?

When you’re dealing with a group such as our size – shit happens. There may be a family emergency, or something pertaining to somebody’s health. These are the things we can never run from. But I think, at the end of the day, our hearts are always there to represent each and every one of us. That’s the strong thing about having a group, because you’ve gotta move on if one of your brothers can’t make it. I hate to see the fans get disappointed when they don’t see everybody that they’re supposed to, but five minutes later, once the shows start rocking and the songs start coming on – we sing all our music.

Surely not, there are dozens of Wu-Tang affiliated albums now. Is it a battle to get your songs on the setlist?

Yeah [laughs]; when you think of each guy making 100 songs apiece and more in some cases, we’ve got a lot of tricks up our sleeve. It’s always been a competitive sport with each member in the group. We all made our own bones in the game, and the competition is what makes us stronger. But once we get out there on the road we’re definitely going to get into our thing.

It seems to be another productive time for you at the minute. Besides the tour, what else can we expect before the end of the year?

I’m working on a movie I wrote that’s called CREAM – Cash Rules Everything Around Me – and you’re going to be seeing the cheese in the next couple of weeks, based on what we’ve done. It’s a biopic film that is literally going to take you into the world I’m talking about on my records. That’s in the making right now.

You enjoyed solo success with Cuban Linx II last year, are ‘sequels’ to classic albums the future for Wu-Tang?

There was a lot of hard work put into that album, a lot of creativity – a strong list of hard-headed producers that really wanted me to win. We’ve got Shaolin vs Wu-Tang; that’s coming out of my catalogue, but it’s gonna be another Wu-Tang banger.  A lot of songs on there are going to let people know that we’re back in our typical Wu-Tang chamber. GZA's got Liquid Swords II coming, Method Man’s got an album coming – Crystal Meth. This year’s also the fifteenth anniversary of Cuban Linx, so we’re repackaging Cuban Linx II with some new cuts on it. There’s a lot of great music still to come from us.

Who else is involved in Shaolin vs Wu-Tang?

Black Thought [of The Roots] is a good friend of mine and he volunteered his services on Shaolin vs Wu-Tang. He killed his verse on there, like God Damn – I mean, there are guys in the game I’m a big fan of and he’s definitely one of them. He comes from a strong group as well. I tell you, I sent something over for Thought to guest on that was hot, and this motherfucker – he tore that shit down. Just be ready for it. There’s going to be a few Wu cats on there, I couldn’t really reach out to everybody because it becomes a little difficult sometimes.  I just wanted to have a piece of the family up there that would be able to bring something to the table. I want to keep you surprised a little bit about who you’ll hear on there, but we didn’t pull the whole Clan on this one.

The Wu-Tang Clan we saw on stage at T in the Park a few years ago was a galvanised unit – you looked like a proper gang again. What glued you back together?

Humility – just being ourselves. Not allowing ourselves to be too cocky about our superstar status. We’ve always been grounded; every guy in this crew is humble.  I think we’ve just got that old soul in us that’s never going to change – we come from a hard struggle. We’re never going to forget that, if you don’t focus, you could be right back to where you started. We stay grounded in reality because we know everything that’s good ain’t gold. Take me, I’m a simple dude; I listen to a lot of what everybody else thinks, but at the same time I still stay true to the art of making hip-hop. I grew up in hip-hop, so I feel like it’s in my bloodline to stay in tune to it. When I walk out the door of my house and people still salute me and say ‘Yo, Raekwon, you’re the greatest’, or whatever it may be – that gives me the energy to go out there and say ‘You know what, I’ve still got another day to make it happen again.’ And I’m gonna continue to do that.