So if you was doing that back in the day and you had knowledge of self, you was a sharp n*gga to us, cause that was the sign of the times then. But nobody neve r said nothing about it. The sniffing at the start of the song just happened. That was a part of the take. When I did it, it wasn't like we knew that was gonna be ba part of the track.... I just did it on some (makes sniffing sound). You know , a n*gga don't gotta yell to hear the mic. A n*gga could do another sound to hear the mic. So that happened to come out. I felt when I was sitting down writing that drug pararphernalia rhyme, that I could've been a sn*gga on it like that at that time. We could have really been getting skied up, going to get this n*gga after that. So, it matched perfectly. But that wasn't like we was sniffin' coke in the studio or no shit.
04: Criminology
RZA: That was me trying to produce like a DJ, produce a breakbeat. Ghost actually asked me to make one of those beats. You listen to old DJ tapes. That's how I made that song, and he wanted hihs shit to sound like a breakbeat. He had a rhyme that he knew was going to change the game - that was the verse that got him recognized. Cypess Hill's DJ Muggs called up and was like "Yo, he killed that shit. He ripped that shit" Form that point on, he's the co-star. He wins Best Supporting Actor. Rae got nominated, maybe won or didn't - but Ghost definetly wins.
GHOSTFACE KILLAH: I wrote that verse in San Francisco. We used to carry the beat machine around a lot. We was out there a good two weeks, so RZA was making beats all day. I heard that beat and I loved that track. The year was '95. Hip hop was still hip hop, and we was going in. I don't know if I was drunk when I wrote that, but I know when I went in the booth, I had a battery in my back, fucking with the Ballantine Ale. I recorded a lot of my shit on Ballantine.
05: Incarcerated Scarfaces:
RAEKWON: The way RZA had it poppin' back thenn, we would come into his spot. It was like dudes would come in on their own time and create stuff. I remember I just came in, and the beat was just pumpin'. I wrote the hook - that was the first thing I did. I think one of my mans just got hit with some heavy time around that time. I had a lot of n*ggas up there, too. So it was like. Yo, this one gotta be for them n*ggas right here. This right here will be just fo them n*ggas in jail. It won't be for nobody else. I just wrote it out real quick. I did three verses on that, so Ghost didn't have to come in and really do anything to it.
RZA: I wasn't making that beat for Rae. I was finished with Rae. I like having 13 tracks. I don't like having 18. I was making it for GZA probably. He was next. But then Rae heard that beat, grabbed his pen and paper, and started writing. Two hours later, it was written.
06: Rainy Dayz
RAEKWON: When we wrote "Rainy Dayz", I think we was already out of the country. We was in Barbados, by the water. Some joints we had the beats to we went out of town with. And that one specifically, we wrote by the water. Had that good villa right off the ocean and shit. Three, four in the morning. wind is blowing, curtains is blowing, and we just really got a chance to put it down. I think I wrote mine out there. We just basically gave you some action on how n*ggas in the hood think. Like how a n*gga lady think - they don't act like they there to try to bring you back from doing what you gotta do, but they try to get you caught up. We was like, This is gonna be perfect for the struggling girl who can't understand her man and he a thorough n*gga. We wanted to put a girl from the movie in the skit, at the start of the song, when she said "I sing for him and he isisn't here". He ain't here, bitch , cause he makin' money! He trying to put some food on the table.
RZA: This is one of my favorites, if not my favorite track. It stayed on the grill for a long time. That's what we called it back then. I didn't take a song off until I was satisfied. I generally like to do 'em, mix 'em, put 'em away. This was too emotional and too real fo me, too close to my personal situation. This was the life we was living, just talking and rapping and hoping. Record royalties take too long to come. We had a platinum album, but we waiting on the check to come fast, like babies wanting they food.
BLUE RASPBERRY: I was on the microphone, singing thaht old song by Barbra Streisand and Donna Summe (No More Tears (Enough is Enough)), that sings "It's raining, it's pouring, my love life is boring me to tears." I was just singing that, and so then RZA started playing a track. So that's where "It's raining, he's changing" came from. That's the kind of mind state it put me in. .I got a little stumped in middle, so it's like, "No sunlight, more gunfights." When I said "No sunlight," RZA brought in the "More gunfights" which brought me intno a whole other realm of the song, where I could go ahead and complete it.
07: Guillotine (Swordz)
RAEKWON: To me, that was a "Symphony" track. Meth had a piece of that beat on his album that was used as a skit. Cause that's how RZA is. Sometimes he'd mix other shit in and give you a piece of something but not really act like it's gonna be assigned to that. He'll see if somebody like it and use it for filler or whatever. I had told RZA awhile ago after he did that. "Yo, I want that beat." We was the first to be talking that Cristal shit. I know that for a fact. I never even heard of Cristal before that. Back then we would go do dinners and shit with Loud Record President Steve Rifkind and them up at the label. And our mission would be like, when we sit at the table, we want the best fuckin' wine they go in the building .We might have asked for something else. We might have asked for some Mo or something and they didn't have it. So we was like "What the fuck is the next best thing, Steve?" And Steve's like "Give 'em the next best thing" They came out with Cristal. Me and Ghost liked thhe bottle, and the name on the bottle was Louie Roederer. I was like, I'm Lou Diamond, Louie Roederer. Me and Ghost is loving how fruity the bottle looked. It cost more than the muthafuckin' other , so we was like, Cristal, n*gga! That's our new shit!
RZA: For that beat right there, a very open beat, not too heavy on production. This is me trying to imitate the sound Isaac Hayes did on "Do You Thing". That da-na-na...na-na, I found a way to imitate that shit. When you plug the Yahama VL7 (keyboard) up to a MPC (sampler), because of the note cutoff of the MPC, it cause the notes to stutter, cause it don't link up perfect. I heard it and I could reproduce it, but only with those two machines. I had the prototype from Yahama cause I didn't want nobody else to get it.
GZA: I don't know why I onlyl got on one track. Maybe cause it was just a Rae and Ghost album - it was featuring Ghost, and I think he was probably pleased with me just getting on one. Just to fill in a slot.
08: Can It Be All So Simple (Remix)
RAEKWON: The remix came from when we used to do shows when Enter the Wu-Tang dropped. Me and Ghost used to come out to that part of the beat in the middle of the show. RZA did a little bit of magic to it and touched it and twirled it, and Ghost basically was talking about how he got shot back in the days when he was out of town. He started going into his story rhyme shit. Back then a lot of n*ggas we knew was in and out of different states and cities, andn you know shit could happen. So when he wrote, that I guess he was going back to the time when he got popped: "Emergency trauma Black teen headed for surgery." It was like he was just describing the moment.
09: Shark Niggas (Biters)
RAEKWON: It was one of them skits where we was looking at our competition. And when Ghost is saying whatever he was saying, we kinda knew who he was talking about, but it wasn't llike we trying to start a beef. It's just sometimes, when you get in the boothh and you start saying what you wanna say, it just happened. Back then we was feeling good. The liquor's mamking a n*gga feel stronger. We know we coming up with a good album. And we letting it be known, listen : Blah blah blah blah blah. And that's all we did.
RZA: This was the end of the first side. That's how we thought of it right then. We was letting n*ggas know, we know what we was doing, knew what we had in our hand. Don't sound like none of my crew. Eventually, n*ggas did bite. If they would of have it in that year, they would have gotten fucked up. We was enforcing, we was fucking n*ggas the fuck up. You grow up out of your meanness. Hip hop had only one rule: no biting. We knew that everybody was already jumping on it already. You had a few n*ggas trying to clone our shit, already had a few fake Meth's popping up. Fuck that, we gonna see you. At one point, a n*gga would kill you if you sounded like them.
GHOSTFACE KILLAH: I didn't want n*ggas to sound like me. Basically, we was just wilding, starting a lot of trouble. We was airing out at that time. I'm not here to fuck around and start throwing out names. But at that time, nigas knew what was going on and who n*ggas was talking about. You know how Wu came through. At that time, it was on for anybody. We came into the game, like Fuck everybody. Niggas can't touch this, whatever, whatever. That was our mind-frame back then. We ran all that shit - jails, streets, Brooklyn House, Rikers Island and Up North - Wu-Tang was what was up. So we was just them two n*ggas bugging out off of that shit. God bless the dead, I love BIG. He's a fucking icon. Even when I seen him out in Cali, I wanted to tell son, Yo, let's go ahead and make this record together because I matured through the years, and at the same time, I recognized good music. We shook hands on some peace shit, but that was all, cause they was on their way leaving out. A day or two later, n*ggas aired him out. I felt bad like damn, the n*ggas aired out one of my New York n*ggas.
04: Criminology
RZA: That was me trying to produce like a DJ, produce a breakbeat. Ghost actually asked me to make one of those beats. You listen to old DJ tapes. That's how I made that song, and he wanted hihs shit to sound like a breakbeat. He had a rhyme that he knew was going to change the game - that was the verse that got him recognized. Cypess Hill's DJ Muggs called up and was like "Yo, he killed that shit. He ripped that shit" Form that point on, he's the co-star. He wins Best Supporting Actor. Rae got nominated, maybe won or didn't - but Ghost definetly wins.
GHOSTFACE KILLAH: I wrote that verse in San Francisco. We used to carry the beat machine around a lot. We was out there a good two weeks, so RZA was making beats all day. I heard that beat and I loved that track. The year was '95. Hip hop was still hip hop, and we was going in. I don't know if I was drunk when I wrote that, but I know when I went in the booth, I had a battery in my back, fucking with the Ballantine Ale. I recorded a lot of my shit on Ballantine.
05: Incarcerated Scarfaces:
RAEKWON: The way RZA had it poppin' back thenn, we would come into his spot. It was like dudes would come in on their own time and create stuff. I remember I just came in, and the beat was just pumpin'. I wrote the hook - that was the first thing I did. I think one of my mans just got hit with some heavy time around that time. I had a lot of n*ggas up there, too. So it was like. Yo, this one gotta be for them n*ggas right here. This right here will be just fo them n*ggas in jail. It won't be for nobody else. I just wrote it out real quick. I did three verses on that, so Ghost didn't have to come in and really do anything to it.
RZA: I wasn't making that beat for Rae. I was finished with Rae. I like having 13 tracks. I don't like having 18. I was making it for GZA probably. He was next. But then Rae heard that beat, grabbed his pen and paper, and started writing. Two hours later, it was written.
06: Rainy Dayz
RAEKWON: When we wrote "Rainy Dayz", I think we was already out of the country. We was in Barbados, by the water. Some joints we had the beats to we went out of town with. And that one specifically, we wrote by the water. Had that good villa right off the ocean and shit. Three, four in the morning. wind is blowing, curtains is blowing, and we just really got a chance to put it down. I think I wrote mine out there. We just basically gave you some action on how n*ggas in the hood think. Like how a n*gga lady think - they don't act like they there to try to bring you back from doing what you gotta do, but they try to get you caught up. We was like, This is gonna be perfect for the struggling girl who can't understand her man and he a thorough n*gga. We wanted to put a girl from the movie in the skit, at the start of the song, when she said "I sing for him and he isisn't here". He ain't here, bitch , cause he makin' money! He trying to put some food on the table.
RZA: This is one of my favorites, if not my favorite track. It stayed on the grill for a long time. That's what we called it back then. I didn't take a song off until I was satisfied. I generally like to do 'em, mix 'em, put 'em away. This was too emotional and too real fo me, too close to my personal situation. This was the life we was living, just talking and rapping and hoping. Record royalties take too long to come. We had a platinum album, but we waiting on the check to come fast, like babies wanting they food.
BLUE RASPBERRY: I was on the microphone, singing thaht old song by Barbra Streisand and Donna Summe (No More Tears (Enough is Enough)), that sings "It's raining, it's pouring, my love life is boring me to tears." I was just singing that, and so then RZA started playing a track. So that's where "It's raining, he's changing" came from. That's the kind of mind state it put me in. .I got a little stumped in middle, so it's like, "No sunlight, more gunfights." When I said "No sunlight," RZA brought in the "More gunfights" which brought me intno a whole other realm of the song, where I could go ahead and complete it.
07: Guillotine (Swordz)
RAEKWON: To me, that was a "Symphony" track. Meth had a piece of that beat on his album that was used as a skit. Cause that's how RZA is. Sometimes he'd mix other shit in and give you a piece of something but not really act like it's gonna be assigned to that. He'll see if somebody like it and use it for filler or whatever. I had told RZA awhile ago after he did that. "Yo, I want that beat." We was the first to be talking that Cristal shit. I know that for a fact. I never even heard of Cristal before that. Back then we would go do dinners and shit with Loud Record President Steve Rifkind and them up at the label. And our mission would be like, when we sit at the table, we want the best fuckin' wine they go in the building .We might have asked for something else. We might have asked for some Mo or something and they didn't have it. So we was like "What the fuck is the next best thing, Steve?" And Steve's like "Give 'em the next best thing" They came out with Cristal. Me and Ghost liked thhe bottle, and the name on the bottle was Louie Roederer. I was like, I'm Lou Diamond, Louie Roederer. Me and Ghost is loving how fruity the bottle looked. It cost more than the muthafuckin' other , so we was like, Cristal, n*gga! That's our new shit!
RZA: For that beat right there, a very open beat, not too heavy on production. This is me trying to imitate the sound Isaac Hayes did on "Do You Thing". That da-na-na...na-na, I found a way to imitate that shit. When you plug the Yahama VL7 (keyboard) up to a MPC (sampler), because of the note cutoff of the MPC, it cause the notes to stutter, cause it don't link up perfect. I heard it and I could reproduce it, but only with those two machines. I had the prototype from Yahama cause I didn't want nobody else to get it.
GZA: I don't know why I onlyl got on one track. Maybe cause it was just a Rae and Ghost album - it was featuring Ghost, and I think he was probably pleased with me just getting on one. Just to fill in a slot.
08: Can It Be All So Simple (Remix)
RAEKWON: The remix came from when we used to do shows when Enter the Wu-Tang dropped. Me and Ghost used to come out to that part of the beat in the middle of the show. RZA did a little bit of magic to it and touched it and twirled it, and Ghost basically was talking about how he got shot back in the days when he was out of town. He started going into his story rhyme shit. Back then a lot of n*ggas we knew was in and out of different states and cities, andn you know shit could happen. So when he wrote, that I guess he was going back to the time when he got popped: "Emergency trauma Black teen headed for surgery." It was like he was just describing the moment.
09: Shark Niggas (Biters)
RAEKWON: It was one of them skits where we was looking at our competition. And when Ghost is saying whatever he was saying, we kinda knew who he was talking about, but it wasn't llike we trying to start a beef. It's just sometimes, when you get in the boothh and you start saying what you wanna say, it just happened. Back then we was feeling good. The liquor's mamking a n*gga feel stronger. We know we coming up with a good album. And we letting it be known, listen : Blah blah blah blah blah. And that's all we did.
RZA: This was the end of the first side. That's how we thought of it right then. We was letting n*ggas know, we know what we was doing, knew what we had in our hand. Don't sound like none of my crew. Eventually, n*ggas did bite. If they would of have it in that year, they would have gotten fucked up. We was enforcing, we was fucking n*ggas the fuck up. You grow up out of your meanness. Hip hop had only one rule: no biting. We knew that everybody was already jumping on it already. You had a few n*ggas trying to clone our shit, already had a few fake Meth's popping up. Fuck that, we gonna see you. At one point, a n*gga would kill you if you sounded like them.
GHOSTFACE KILLAH: I didn't want n*ggas to sound like me. Basically, we was just wilding, starting a lot of trouble. We was airing out at that time. I'm not here to fuck around and start throwing out names. But at that time, nigas knew what was going on and who n*ggas was talking about. You know how Wu came through. At that time, it was on for anybody. We came into the game, like Fuck everybody. Niggas can't touch this, whatever, whatever. That was our mind-frame back then. We ran all that shit - jails, streets, Brooklyn House, Rikers Island and Up North - Wu-Tang was what was up. So we was just them two n*ggas bugging out off of that shit. God bless the dead, I love BIG. He's a fucking icon. Even when I seen him out in Cali, I wanted to tell son, Yo, let's go ahead and make this record together because I matured through the years, and at the same time, I recognized good music. We shook hands on some peace shit, but that was all, cause they was on their way leaving out. A day or two later, n*ggas aired him out. I felt bad like damn, the n*ggas aired out one of my New York n*ggas.
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