“Only Built For Cuban Linx...” was a 1995 release and came as the debut solo effort from the Wu-Tang Clan member Raekwon as it found him, as others such as GZA, Method Man and Ol’ Dirty B*****d had done earlier, gone on to bring out something to show what he is like as an individual (although all of the other members lend a rap at some point). He is backed by RZA’s beats and came out with what is considered to be a classic, especially when you look at key Mafioso Rap pieces.
1. “Striving For Perfection” (Intro)
2. “Knuckleheadz”
The New Yorker kicks it all off well as he goes in hard with the dark beats from RZA hold it all into the hardcore, underground setting tha really has no place being heard by any others who aren’t going to embrace this anti-mainstream Hip Hop. Here you find that Rae is joined by Ghostface Killah (making of the biggest Mafioso duo within the Clan) and you also get U-God on the final verse for a little extra help (who in the storyline to the album is actually killed off).
**Five Stars**
3. “Knowledge God”
With this one although you do get some presence of Ghostface on the introduction, this is a solo piece form Raekwon as you see that he takes over the thing by himself and goes in as only he can with some raw flows which have him going in well as he rhymes through a few tales that you tend to associate with the Mafioso scene as he brings in lots of drug references and the hustles that he’s on to get up in the world.
**Five Stars**
4. “Criminology”
This was one of the single from the album and one that seems to stand out as a result as you see that it features some empowering beats that pull out even more energy in the music
than what you tend to see elsewhere. I felt that this worked so well as it enables the intensity of Ghostface’s verse to be of the right standard to really be felt by the listeners as they reference past Wu-Tang material along the way.
**Five Stars**
5. “Incarcerated Scarfaces”
Featuring relevant dialogue form films that is often found in RZA joints, you see that here you get you get a heavy joint from Raekwon as you see that he moves as far away from the mainstream Rap ways as possible by going in with a track that has him rolling out the dense flows tha are only slightly lightened when you hear the brief hook breaking up his raw, raging run through the track like no others possibly could.
**Five Stars**
6. “Rainy Dayz”
Sampling Michael Jackson’s version of “Ain’t Not Sunshine”, this lengthy one features Blue Raspberry singing on the chorus to the track to give it a soulful feel to it and from this you find that it rolls out with a fly riff that really defines the Mafioso eras peak through how well it represents what you get from it. The joint is one of the hardest, and this comes through with the innovative flows from Ghostface and Raekwon’s partnership on it.
**Five Stars**
7. “Guillotine”
Sampling work from Method man’s debut, this one features much more of a Wu-tang presence as in addition to the typical appearance from Ghostface Killah and RZA on the beats, this one also gets Inspectah Deck coming through (with what I would consider to be the biggest flows on this track) in addition to a verse from GZA too. It is a cold tune and seems to carry through the same feel as the tune prior to this one.
**Five Stars**
8. “Can It All Be So Simple” (Remix)
This one is a full-on Raekwon and Ghostface link-up as the two of them are seen to share the chorus and take it in turns to deliver their verses (Raekwon taking the final one) as they come with a remix to a joint from the Wu-tang Clan’s debut album when they first made their impression as a killer duo within the crew. It is a banger and the freakier beats that you get from it take it all to a new, higher level for one of the best tracks on the album.
**Five Stars**
9. “Shark N***as” (Lude)
10. “Ice Water”
After having Rae’ and Ghostface speaking on biters in the game you see that here the two of them go in as they get back more into the raps which deal with the drug trade and how all the other things which are incorporated into this scene. It is another cold tune and I felt that it was able to brig more out of the album through the way that you get an appearance from ODB and Cappadonna as a bit of a change to it.
**Five Stars**
11. “Glaciers Of Ice”
The massively high standard of the material is seen to carry its way through this one too as you see that you have Masta Killa coming in to join Rae’ and Ghostface as they come out with another ruthless joint that really takes you back through the way that they come out with the intense flows that give no room for people who can’t engage in with it from the get-go and so it keeps to what made the record strong up to this point.
**Five Stars**
12. “Verbal Intercourse”
Sampling The Emotions, this one gets a feature from the man of that time as Nasty Nas comes to rip through the first verse on the tune and goes hard just as well as he was seen to do on his debut album “Illmatic” the year before this one dropped. It goes hard and really you can’t help but feel that it stands out massively as a result of such a big collaboration being added within the album to boost it.
**Five Stars**
13. “Wisdom Body”
After seeing him appear on almost every track up to this point, you see that here you get Ghostface coming in alone here to show what he is personally capable of. As I heard the low pace of the album drop to an even slower one here I wasn’t quite happy with it, and I felt that I was right to feel this way as it means that its not as easy on the ear, but as it isn’t as long as the rest it seems to keep up the high standard found through the rest of the thing.
**Four Stars**
14. “Spot Rusherz”
After giving Ghost’ a time to shine, you see that here you get Raekwon able to do just that here and you see that with this one you have him taking from some of the lines on Nas’ “It Ain’t Hard To Tell” to push him through, and from that point he finds here he’s at and where he needs to take things in order to come out with that good stuff, which inevitably comes through to do nothing but impress as he tries out a few different delivery styles.
**Five Stars**
15. “Ice Cream”
Something I was waiting for some time, here you get a massive tune as you see that Method Man finally gets on the album, and although you only see him bringing the hook, its great to see him laying down a little something here as you get one of the biggest tracks on the album (one that stands out as a hardcore single that tore things up as it was released) and you see some new themes coming through.
**Five Stars**
16. “Wu-Gaminoes”
Here you get more from Meth’ coming through and you also get the one and only flow from RZA on the album as he brings a full verse to the table as they all their thing and show unity and how these solo albums are doing nothing but help out the artists in coming out with their best material. The fly opening rhymes from method Man are hard and they get it off to an incredibly strong start for the rest to follow from.
**Five Stars**
17. “Heaven & Hell”
This was the artist’s debut single and it really stns out as a track on the album that you really can’t ignore as its main grooves (which are taken from Syl Johnson’s “Could I be Falling In Love?” sound so engaging and are bound to be more familiar than a lot of the rest. You get tag team rhymes between Ghost and Rae’ and they do well to hold it together as they go into some dark themes and show how they are against the trends of the time.
**Five Stars**
18. “North Star”
The album ends with another heavy joint on the album as you see that here you get Raekwon essentially does things alone (as he is the only one with a full verse) and you see that you get presence from Popa Wu in the intro and outro as well as some ODB bringing through in the backing vocals to create an even more ominous tone over the thing to take it down even further than what it has seen elsewhere.
**Four Stars**
This album deserves classic status for its role in boosting the Mafioso Rap style and how you find great chemistry with (most notably) the trio of Raekwon, Ghostface Killah and RZA. There aren’t any weak points within it, but I believe that if you don’t like one track on it, you won’t be able to handle the rest.
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