Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the Wu-Tang Clan's rap opus Enter The Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers, and Grantland had an in-depth interview with RZA who said he's been trying to orchestrate the Wu's next project, but some members have not been cooperating or putting in the work. The famed Wu producer even named Ghostface Killah and Raekwon as the two who have been the least cooperative.
In the interview, RZA says that Method Man has been the most helpful, and has already laid down vocals for 8 or 9 tracks, "And one of the guys who showed up the most was Method Man. He showed the most tenacity, he was the most vocal, he showed up the most, and he got the most lyrics on the new album. He's already recorded eight or nine songs.
A few other members have been hustling to get the project completed including Cappadonna and U-God, but Ghost and Rae have been mostly absent, "You know, I give Cappadonna credit, he’s been really on it. U-God has been present. Masta Killa be representing. Inspectah Deck has been somewhat present. Ghost has been, you know, 20 percent present. And Raekwon hasn't shown up at all."
The Chef caught wind of what RZA was alleging and responded on Twitter, and he just laughed it off, and said he's got nothing but love for RZA. Hopefully this means we'll be hearing a full cohesive project from the original members of the Wu sometime soon.
[Via]
[UPDATE: RZA Talks More On The Wu-Tang Album Delay & How It's Linked To Raekwon]
RZA was the guest on Arsenio Hall last night, returning twenty years after Wu-Tang Clan first performed on The Arsenio Hall Show. In a recent interview with Grantland (as reported above), the RZA spoke on Raekwon's lack of effort to record their 20th anniversary Wu-Tang Clan album. Arsenio asked RZA about Rae's tweets at him, which the rapper sent out after reading RZA's Grantland interview.
RZA expands on what's going on with the delayed album, saying that a lot of the members have laid their verses down, but not the Chef. Nonetheless, the producer assures us there's still nothing but love between the two Wu-Tang emcees.
"I think when you do 20 years of music and your fans are still supporting you, before you close the chapter, it's good to do one more album," RZA explained. "So I've been reaching out to all the Wu-Tang brothers, and all of us came to the table so far, Method Man came and did a lot of verses, Inspectah Deck, myself, but Raekwon is the last one to come to put his verses on. In the article I was like, 'yo, Raekwon, my brother, we need you, come on up here, drop your verses, and let's make this one final album for the fans.' That's what the article's about. I still mean that, and if I could say this right now, today is the day Ol' Dirty Bastard passed way...But the thing is, he can't be here, I could be here, Raekwon could be here, Method Man could be here, so I just thought that we all should be here. I know Raekwon's gunna be there. He know I love him, we got nothing but brotherly love for each other. But you know, put some of the business to the side and let's go make this music, yo."