Raekwon "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx" Double LP 1995 ORIGINAL PRINT Not a Re-issue

$

37

CLASSIC - Hard to Find in Vinyl -
Original Print - Not a Re-Issue!

Jacket is in great shape and except for one tiny pop sound the Vinyl is Near-Mint.

Don't Sleep on this great deal to own an Original 1995 Release of one of the best hip-hop albums of all times!

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ABOUT ALBUM:

Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...

Studio album by Raekwon
Released: August 1, 1995
Recorded: 1994–95
Genre: Hip hop, mafioso rap
Length: 69:30
Label: Loud, RCA
Producer: RZA (also exec.), Mitchell Diggs (exec.), Oli Grant (exec.)

Raekwon Chronology:

Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...
(1995)
Immobilarity
(1999)

Singles from Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…
"Heaven & Hell"
Released: October 24, 1994
"Criminology"
Released: June 26, 1995
"Ice Cream"
Released: September 25, 1995
"Rainy Dayz"
Released: 1996

Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... is the solo debut album of American rapper and Wu-Tang Clan member Raekwon, released on August 1, 1995, by Loud Records and RCA Records. The album was loosely composed to play like a film with Raekwon as the "star," fellow Wu-Tang member Ghostface Killah as the "guest-star," and producer RZA as the "director." It features appearances from every member of the Wu-Tang Clan and affiliates Cappadonna, and Blue Raspberry. It also features an acclaimed guest appearance from rapper Nas, which marked the first collaboration with a non-affiliated artist on a Wu-Tang related album.

Upon its release, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 chart, and number two on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, while selling 130,000 copies in its opening week. The album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on October 2, 1995, and according to Nielsen Soundscan, it has sold 1.1 million copies in the United States alone. Although it failed to acquire the same initial sales success as previous Wu-Tang solo albums, Cuban Linx achieved greater critical praise, with many complimenting its cinematic lyricism and production.

Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... has increased its acclamation among music critics and writers over the years, as many have lauded it as one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time. With its emphasis on American Mafia insinuations and organized crime, the album is widely regarded as a pioneer of the mafioso rap subgenre. It has been esteemed as being highly effective on hip hop music over the next decade, being heavily referenced and influential on acclaimed albums such as Reasonable Doubt (1996) and Life After Death (1997). Along with GZA's Liquid Swords, Cuban Linx... is widely classified as the best solo Wu-Tang material. In 2012, Rolling Stone magazine placed it at number 480 on their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.

Raekwon released Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... as his first solo album, and the third seen from the Wu after the release of their debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), with Method Man's Tical and Ol' Dirty Bastard's Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version released prior. The song "Can It Be All So Simple," from 36 Chambers, marked the first recorded exhibition of Raekwon and Ghostface Killah as a duo, as the two would further establish this alliance on Only Built 4 Cuban Linx.... Much of the content on the album deals with real life topics and situations that both Raekwon and Ghostface Killah commonly encountered and experienced while growing up in Staten Island, New York. In an interview with Wax Poetics, Raekwon explained "I grew up in the street, so I talked about the shit I knew and saw. We did the hustlin’ thing, we did the crime thing; we did all the things that made us feel like mobsters or Mafiosos in some way." In a different article, Ghostface Killah recollected "Back then I was punchin' a lot of rap niggas in their face, and niggas was getting beat up in the clubs. We were banned from everything. They wouldn't even let me in the Tunnel. Niggas was scared to death when I was out there wilding. I was fucking niggas up, robbing niggas, fucking a lot of bitches, just doing dumb shit."

In regard to his and Ghostface's partnership, Raekwon later commented "Ghost and me, especially at the time, had this identical-twin effect on each other. We would joke about the same things and laugh at the same shit. We were into the same clothes and shit. We were like the EPMD of the crew." Producer RZA also commented on the duo's congruency:

Rae and Ghost together, those two right there were notorious kids from two different projects. Cuban Linx was an opportunity for Rae and Ghost to give us the street side. When we did it, I said, "yo, it's gonna be a very dangerous album; it's gonna change the game. We gonna invite those demons, every negative stereotype, and deal with them." It's like the shit was lived; a lot of it was lived or experienced in one form or another. It's so natural, it don't feel like songs. It was a chance to show the world not only how New York lived, but also how Shaolin preserved New York. An older generation was leaving and getting older. We're from the crack generation - that real gritty, rough project shit. We was on corners at 15, 16, doing shit you couldn't imagine.
—RZA

Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... features a wide array of Wu-Tang members, as well as Wu-Tang affiliates Cappadonna, and Blue Raspberry. It also features a guest appearance from rapper Nas, making this the first collaboration with a non-affiliated artist on a Wu-Tang related album. Regarding this event, Nas later recalled "Rae would come out to Queensbridge, I would go to Staten Island. We'd just ride and hang out all night. We didn't call each other to work. We called each other to hang out. Somehow we wound up in the studio. RZA had a couple of beats. He played them for me. I got on both of them. The other one never came out. I was honored to be asked to be on the album. Raekwon was ahead of his time. I knew Rae was a classic artist and the album was going to be a music classic."

The album's title serves as "a warning of its musical potency to those not prepared for the uncut raw contained within." Ghostface Killah later specified "We already had the title. The chain we used to rock back in the days was Cuban links. So Rae came up with the theory, like a Cuban link is one of the roughest chains to break. Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Real niggas, strong niggas."

TRACK LISTING:

All tracks produced by RZA.

# Title Performer(s) Samples Time

1 "Striving for Perfection"
Raekwon, Ghostface Killah
Score from The Killer by Lowell Lo
1:43

2 "Knuckleheadz"
First verse: Raekwon
Second verse: Ghostface Killah
Third verse: U-God
"Get Up & Get Down" by The Dramatics
4:03

3 "Knowledge God"
Raekwon
4:24

4 "Criminology"
First verse: Ghostface Killah
Second verse: Raekwon
"I Keep Asking You Questions" by Black Ivory
"Why Marry" by The Sweet Inspirations
Dialogue from Scarface
3:47

5 "Incarcerated Scarfaces"
Raekwon
Dialogue and score from The Killer
"You're Getting Too Smart" by Detroit Emeralds
"Wang Dang Doodle" by Koko Taylor
4:42

6 "Rainy Dayz"
Chorus: Blue Raspberry
First verse: Ghostface Killah
Second verse: Raekwon
"Ain't No Sunshine" by Michael Jackson
"No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" by Barbra Streisand & Donna Summer
Dialogue and score from The Killer
6:02

7 "Guillotine (Swordz)"
First verse: Inspectah Deck
Second verse: Ghostface Killah
Third verse: Raekwon
Fourth verse: GZA
Dialogue from Shaolin Vs Lama
"Tical" by Method Man
4:22

8 "Can It Be All So Simple (Remix)"
Chorus: Raekwon, Ghostface Killah
First verse: Ghostface Killah
Second verse: Raekwon
"The Way We Were (Try to Remember)" by Gladys Knight & the Pips
5:38

9 "Shark Niggas (Biters)"
Raekwon, Ghostface Killah
1:38

10 "Ice Water"
First verse: Ghostface Killah
Second verse: Cappadonna
Third verse: Raekwon
"Where Do We Go From Here" by Delores Hall
"White Christmas" by Bing Crosby
3:38

11 "Glaciers of Ice"
Chorus: Raekwon, Ghostface Killah
Backing vocals: Blue Raspberry, 60 Second Assassin
First verse: Raekwon
Second verse: Masta Killa
Third verse: Ghostface Killah
"Bless Ya Life" by KGB (Klik Ga Bow)
"Please Uncle Sam (Send Back My Man)" by The Charmels
"Children, Don't Get Weary" by Booker T. & the MG's
"Guillotine (Swordz)" by Raekwon
5:20

12 "Verbal Intercourse"
Intro: Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Nas
First verse: Nas
Second verse: Raekwon
Third verse: Ghostface Killah
Outro: Raekwon, Ghostface Killah
"If You Think It (You May As Well Do It)" by The Emotions
3:31

13 "Wisdom Body"
Ghostface Killah
Dialogue from The Mack
2:38

14 "Spot Rusherz"
Intro: Raekwon, Ghostface Killah
Verses: Raekwon
"St. Ides Commercial" by Wu-Tang Clan
Dialogue from Carlito's Way
3:13

15 "Ice Cream"
Intro/chorus/outro: Method Man
First verse: Ghostface Killah
Second verse: Raekwon
Third verse: Cappadonna
"Ice Cream Man (rare demo)" by Method Man
"A Time For Love" by Earl Klugh
"Ice Cream Man" by Eddie Murphy
4:13

16 "Wu-Gambinos"
Intro: Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Method Man
First verse: Method Man
Second verse: Raekwon
Third verse: RZA
Fourth verse: Masta Killa
Fifth verse: Ghostface Killah
Dialogue from The Killer
5:39

17 "Heaven & Hell"
Raekwon, Ghostface Killah
Backing vocals: Blue Raspberry
"Could I Be Falling in Love?" by Syl Johnson
4:56

If on pictures you see any lines or streaks, it is strictly the lights, and in no way affects the playback of the record.

There are three small pen markings on Record 2 as will be seen in the pictures.