Raekwon
Appearances
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You know what I mean? It was a serious time back then, man. But, you know, that's how far to me. Music went back, you know, listening to Ladies Night. You know what I mean? I had people in my store that had a candy store right on the same floor, but it wasn't a candy store. They had a bunch of penny candy just to make kids feel cool, but really they were selling Coke in the back.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Coke and dope, though. So, you know, all this was going on in the community, man. Wow. It was a serious time. Scary times back then. Mm-hmm.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
But if it's not for those scary times, you don't get the kind of band that Wu-Tang was. That has to emerge from an authentic experience. Absolutely. It has to. Absolutely. And that's part of the appeal of it is that everybody kind of knew that. You know, it was part of the appeal.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
There's never been, like, a genre of music like that that's so connected to, like, the grind and poverty and crime and ghettos. Like, the whole genre of music, to be authentic, you had to come from that. You couldn't be, like, some rich kid from the suburbs that was talking about some shit you never actually experienced.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Nobody wants to hear it, which is kind of crazy. Right, that's true. I mean, you know, back then... Hip-hop was really an expression for the ghetto. Being that we was living in fucked up situations and nobody had shit, nobody had no fucking jobs like that, it was like, yo, we needed something to keep us cool, keep us in the vibe mode. Back then, gangs was still relevant.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
We never looked at ourselves as a gang. We might have looked at ourselves as a tribe, That, yo, when you from a neighborhood and you stick to your neighborhood, you know what I mean? And that's why even back then it was like a lot of times, you know, you would beef with people that wasn't from your neighborhood just because you wasn't from here. It's like, yo, what the fuck you doing over here?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You don't live over here. You know, then it creates this animosity thing. And I remember for us, you know, being... Being in an area where it was like you go up the block, up the block, stayed up the block, down the block, stayed down the block. So for me, I was in the middle. So, you know, I leaned more towards up the block, you know, but then we would go down the block just to start trouble.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And, you know, he came to block and he talked to some real dudes that was really had other shit planned in their life. You know, but hip hop was always like that backpack that we wore every day. But everybody had different plans. So he really literally came in and started to pick motherfuckers that he felt had potential. So it's like the mob. It's like, you know, Lucky Luciano, prime example.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And, you know, then they would come up the block and they would start trouble. And next thing you know, before you know it, we all fucking with each other. You know what I mean? So that was our way of getting to know each other is the... test each other's heart and whatever may happen was happening back then, though. But the music, believe it or not, the music was keeping the peace.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Now, just, you know, the music was keeping the peace because they would do block parties, right?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
they would do block parties and um you know everybody knew all these different djs was coming from different places and going and gonna um gonna play some music and so we knew every time they did that we knew something was gonna happen at the end of the night it was just mandatory it was just because people from all over different different um neighborhoods would come out
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And, um, everything would be nice. And next thing you know, you see a motherfucker riding down the street all crazy, you know, you know, trying to hit motherfuckers and swinging a golf club out the fucking, out the window and shit. And, you know, somebody's mother might have gotten knocked out.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
you know what i mean um you know um but the music is still playing you know so um yeah that's the type of shit that to me that made it fun but made it spooky but it still was fun because it was something to remember it was like well it's fun because you survived yeah oh yeah definitely survival yeah you know but we were young so we didn't we didn't care about we didn't care about
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
whether we live or die at that time. We didn't give a fuck. It was like, whatever's gonna happen is gonna happen. That's wild. But the music, the music is what kept things in order for us, you know, because we always felt like that was a vessel to being calm. You know, when you come from somewhere that's fucked up, Joe... And it's nothing there. You can't get a job because of your community.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Your zip code don't allow you to be like, yo, he's hired. No, it's too infested over there. So you kind of become relaxed with that mentality of saying, well, fuck it. I'm going to live off the land. I'm going to sell weed. I'm going to do whatever I think that is going to make me survive. So everything is just survival.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Music always kept us calm, and you always want to listen to what's next being played. I grew up on R&B music, like disco and all that fun shit, roller skating. You know, I knew motherfuckers in the neighborhood that was roller skating. You know, we would get off of Staten Island sometimes and go to these different parks and jams in the city. That was fun, too, though.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
That's it, the chef is in the building, ladies and gentlemen. What's up, what's up? Pleasure to meet you, man. You are a part of the most iconic band in all of hip-hop. There is no question. There's one Wu-Tang. There's only one Wu-Tang. Nothing else is even close. You guys are so different than every other band that ever existed. It was a giant group of you. Yeah, man. And everybody was a killer.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
That was fun times for us. So was it RZA that tried? Was it initially all nine guys? Like, how did it get formed?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Hmm. Well, number one, it was RZA, his cousin GZA, and his other cousin, Old Dirty Bastard, that they were super close. Now, Old Dirty Bastard and GZA, they were from Brooklyn.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
RZA some stat now you know we all we all Brooklyn babies to majority of us in the clan we all you know resided in new in Staten Island but majority of us grew up in Brooklyn but anyway it was those three that were closest shit so RZA Back then, RZA, he had Knowledge Yourself, which was being involved with the Nation of Islam, and also GZA and Old Dirty.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
They were a part of the Nation at that time. So they would go to a lot of rallies. This is a place where everybody go when they build. They talking about mathematics and all of this. But it was Jizz and Old Dirty who instilled the hip hop into RZA. So RZA was a DJ back then, but he knew how to rhyme too. And he knew how to rhyme because of his cousins.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You know, he knew that motherfuckers had potential, right? He knew dudes had potential in any way. He's from a different part. He's from a different part. He's from a different part. But yo, what we could do right here is we could make money. So put your fucking feelings down or whatever the case may be. and let's talk about some money.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
So they kind of had this gang called, not a gang, but they had this thing called the All In Together Now Crew. which was them three, and they would run around and they would battle, you know, different guys from different cities and move around. So, you know, some of us kind of knew what they were about. You know, a lot of us, you know, found out later who they were.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
But when GZA and O'Dirty came to Staten Island, they came and they hang out with their cousin. So, you know, we started to see them a little bit more and know that, you know, yo, I heard about your rhymes and stuff. And Dirty, he was just a crazy motherfucker back then. He was crazy. But yeah, they had their own little thing going on. And then next thing you know, GZA caught a record deal.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
He caught a record deal, which was rare back then. If you fucking caught a record deal, that mean that you had to have relationships. You had to know where to go. You had to have some type of connects. So that's what gravitated RZA into wanting to do it because he seen that his cousin was able to, you know, crack the code on making a record.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
So when that happened, it was almost like it magnetized RZA to be like, yo, I got to make a record now, too. You know, and the next thing you know, they had their movement going on. So us from the outside looking, it was like, oh, shit, yo, we know them. We know they super passionate about, you know, being in the game and doing whatever they're going to do, but... We wasn't thinking that far.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Wow. So RZA is essentially the mastermind to put all the pieces together and to bring all you killers into one, under one roof. Absolutely. Absolutely. Amazing how he saw that. Because again, that's not something that existed before.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
yeah it's like eric b and rakim you know there was you know there was a few epmd there's a few people you know your shit yeah you know your shit gangstar there's a few people that were together but it wasn't like you guys nah nah because it was kind of scary it was like god damn when you guys had a show i mean i heard stories that it was just like you guys would show up like 300 people
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah, that was some neighborhood shit. But yeah, like you said, that was so rare to see a group that come out like that. And it was really a mistake. It wasn't really designed to be that way. But when RZA had a record situation and they tried to make him be something that he wasn't. Always the case. You know what I mean? He was like, yo, fuck that.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I don't even care about the shit at this level no more. I want to create this now. and I'm bringing in all my guys, and he just put that number together. So believe it or not, I was one of the guys that he called first because we used to hang out. I tell people all the time, like, yo, I might have been RZA's first big fan, so I kind of seen something in him already. I seen something.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I'm like, yo, this guy really, you know, him and his cousins, and I'm like, yo, these motherfuckers really got talent. You know, not only the ability to rhyme, but they was clever. Like, I'm talking about clever rhymes.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You know, and they was mixing it with the knowledge and, you know, smart rhymes. Not these fucking regular humpty dumpty lines. Like, I'm talking about serious rhymes. Right. I'm like, damn, you know what I mean? Like, yo, so, you know. this is something that I felt like I would want to go chill with them just to be in the mix and be a fly on the wall.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And that right there, kind of like, yo, you start shaking hands across the table. Yo, I know you didn't really fuck with me like that, yo. I never had anything against you like that, though. But it was just something that he felt like at the end of the day, let me try this shit.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Wasn't even thinking about being no fucking rapper. I didn't give a fuck. I just love the music, but I'm watching these motherfuckers, yo. I'm like, something about these motherfuckers that I love. You know, and next thing you know, when RZA, you know, RZA... Went out there and he came back to the community. He was like, yo, I caught a record deal. So, you know, I was there.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I'm like, let me see this shit. Looking at this shit. See what the fuck is. Oh yeah, I'm looking down here. Like you said, the, what's the name? The fine print. Yeah, the fine print and shit. I'm like, yo, this motherfucker made a record. Holy shit, yo. Bow, Staten Island. That's what's up. We up. You know, but his situation ain't work out the way he wanted it to.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And that's when he came back and he started to be like, yo, chef. This is what I'm trying to do.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Well, the dangerous thing for young artists in every industry is when you have potential and you're young, you sign a fucking contract and you don't know what's going on. And then you get locked into these people. And then a lot of times you're getting fucked. Oh, it's a mandatory.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You're getting fucked, which is how they make their money. They make money by fucking young artists who don't know any better. And by the time someone gets to like a prince's level, he's like, oh, you owe me? I'm a fucking squiggly line. Suck my dick. He performs as a symbol. I mean, that's why he performed as a symbol. Because they owned him. It's crazy.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You take like the most talented people in the world and they get owned by people who provide no value. Especially today. Today it's even crazier, right? Because there is no record sales anymore. It's all gone.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
It's over. So for a young artist, it's so important that they stay independent as long as they can. Just like you're hanging off a bridge. Hang on. Yeah, that's what you can do. Hang on and keep grinding. Don't sell it. Don't sign. If you sign, you're going to be fighting that shit 10 years from now. You're going to be in court 10 years from now. Yeah, you're right.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Somebody's going to be getting not just 50%, but like some fucking – like Bill Burr was explaining this about his first comedy CD, that he got a 60-40 deal. He's like, oh, great, 60-40. But it's not really 60-40 because he has to pay for all the distribution, all the printing of the CDs. Everything came out of his money.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Let me ask you a question. Let me ask you a question. Put yourself in an artist situation, right? You have talent, right? You have talent. Here it is. I got everything you want.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Well, Riz is a genius, and it's amazing that he was able to coordinate that because that's often the case, right, with other killers.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You're going to have to make some sacrifices. For sure. Because you know that, yeah, you may feel like, yo, I got talent, but I don't have the resources. Right. So those resources come and tell you, yo, look, I'll give you a shot. I'm going to give you a shot, but either you take this shot... or you stay in the hood, what are you going to do? You're going to take the shot.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You're going to take the shot. And I agree with everybody who takes that shot. I'm just letting them know.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You're getting fucked. But see, it's the sacrifice that I'm trying to explain to you that every artist takes. They take that sacrifice because at the end of the day, you have to start from somewhere. Right. So even when labels are being them, In my mind, I'm saying, yo, I get a chance to have a job, Joe. Niggas ain't never had no fucking job in they life.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And now we get a chance to do something that you could maybe think that you could change the world with and love. It's like you're going to go for it. So for us back then, being kids, we didn't give a fuck. We didn't care about signing. Yo, I'll sign because... What the fuck I got to lose? I done been through everything. I done been over here. I done been kicked out of everywhere. Fuck it.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I just want to be heard. So a lot of times that be the protocol is just to be heard. To be heard. To be able to say, yo, something happened. I don't give a fuck. A lot of artists got robbed. A lot. A lot of artists, and especially our OGs that did it before us. You know what I mean? Sugar Hill Gangs, all these different guys.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
They all have been manipulated to do what they had to do, but it almost gave them power, too, because they became...
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
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The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
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The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
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The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
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The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Well, now you know. Switch today at visible.com slash rogan. Terms apply. See visible.com for network management details. Famous. They became big. They became legendary. There's an argument for that, but I think it should be more fair. Oh, listen, I'm with you. Of course you are. I'm with you on that. Of course you are.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
If you're a young kid and that's step one and now you're on the runway, okay, you got to take it. You got to take it. But it just should be more fair.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And I'm sure later on, things worked out. And, you know, now that you proved yourself.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
It's like I tell a motherfucker this. I'm like, yo, imagine you were a hustler, right? And you run into the Kinect. And the Kinect say, yo, you talking like you know how to move shit. I'ma give you 50 pounds of marijuana back then, you know what I mean? Now, you may feel like at the end of the day you can handle it, but a motherfucker tell you, Joe, I'm giving you these fucking 50 pounds.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I need my money back today, at this time. You can either take the 50 because you're so fucking confident or take one and say, yeah, I'd rather take my time. You know what I mean? I don't want to be in debt with you. What are you going to do? You got to take the 50. Oh, you. Oh, yeah.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
He wants to fucking get his head fucking chopped up. You got to take the 50. I don't know. You got to know people and you got to bring everybody in and you got to share the money. You got to know people. You got to share the money. You got to know people.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
If you ain't competent in knowing what the fuck you need to know, I advise you don't take them.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You shouldn't be having that conversation if you don't know anybody. But if you know some people and you're generous, that's the thing. You got to make it worth these people's while. You got to say, listen, we're all going to get something out of this.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And see, now look, that philosophy that you said is what we took on.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
We said, you know what? At the end of the day, we'll take this little bit of money, but we're going to go. We're going to be willing to sell ourselves to get to this level because we know what we believe in. See, it all starts from what you believe.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
If you don't have the belief in yourself to make it happen— You fucked.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
It's a rising tides lifts all boats thing too. Oh, absolutely. And with Wu-Tang Clan, that was for sure a big thing because anybody that was associated with Wu-Tang Clan was automatically respected. Automatically people wanted to listen. Automatically. Yeah, yeah. Automatically. So that just lifts everybody. But it's hard for people to see that.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Everybody thinks about themselves, especially when you're struggling. When you're struggling, then you're scared. And scared money doesn't make money. That's what it is. Everybody gets paranoid. And they think, no, that's when you've got to bond together. That's when you have to find real people and stick together.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You said the key word. You've got to sell that 50. You've got to sell that 50.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Talk to Carlos. Go down to the bodega. Let's make a deal, man. We got to make some deals. We got 10 hours.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I guess that's what RZA did is that he danced with the devil for the right reason. And, you know, we took some scars. We got hit.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
It was a different world back then, too, in terms of the industry. Because today, all you need is a social media account, Spotify, SoundCloud. You can blow up. You can blow up today. Back then, you needed the radio. You needed, you know, you could sell mixtapes. But it's hard. You had to be some undeniable talent. We always played the video of Biggie when he was 17 on the street.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Remember that video? Yeah, when he was in his neighborhood. That's undeniable talent. That's the kind of talent. If he stays alive, you can't stop that train. Absolutely. That train's running everything over. You know what I mean? There was guys like that back then. But, man, to get out there and get your name out there, you had to dance. You had to dance with that devil. You had to work. Mm-hmm.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And that business was so dirty back then. It still is, but real dirty back then in the record-selling days.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah, of course, of course. I mean, but that's what made us learn is that we had to go through those growing pains. We had to get jerked to learn how to say, yo, that was a lesson. So everything is a lesson at the end of the day. It's like if you're willing to sacrifice yourself and your time to learn something... I would always say go for it.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Definitely, go for it. It's so much better than not going for it.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah, because then you're going to be sitting in the same situation and you're going to realize at the end of the day, damn, I should have took that opportunity. Some people are scared of opportunities when they come. And it's like if a person offers you an opportunity, nine times out of ten it may not work for you the way you want it to work, but it may be an opportunity to help you.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You know, it's all about you trying to help yourself and get out there. It's like watching Scarface, and the nigga told him, he said, yo, give you five grand. And if you fuck this up, Chico, Scarface looked at him and said, man, the fuck is you talking about? We built for this shit, man. You know, when he lost his man in the mix, but... he was able to prove to himself that I could do it. Yeah.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
That's how I look at rap. It's like, yo, I don't give a fuck. Yeah, we'll take this little bit of money, but we're going to prove to y'all later on that we know what the fuck we doing.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And for young people listening to this, every chance you take where you fail, that's a lesson learned. That's a lesson, baby. And you just keep taking chances. That's right. Keep going. Pick yourself back up. Figure out where you fucked up and learn from that. Now you're better. That's right. Now you have more experience coming into this next thing. Just keep going. Just keep going, man.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Just keep going, especially as artists. It's just like so many artists, they don't hit until they do. That's right. And then when they do, it's like, oh, and then people want to go back in their past stuff.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Think about it. Think about all our favorite artists out there. You know, Eminem, you know? Eminem been trying to fucking get on, you know? Mm-hmm. You know... Rock him, Slick Rick. All these guys, they went through a lot to get on. You know what I mean? Biz Markie. Nobody wanted to fuck with Biz at first, but he finally figured the code out and was like, yo, this is what I'm going to do.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
He started rocking shows in different communities, and next thing you know, people start hearing about him. You're like, oh, shit, yo, this guy is dope. But it's that sacrifice, man. I tell people all the time, got to sacrifice.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah, it's time put in. Time put in, energy, effort, determination. And you got to have some talent. Yeah, you got to have some talent. Talent is just...
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
God just gives you something or doesn't you know some people just got it you know some people it's also like artistic families like Nas you know he grew up in this like intellectual artistic family and that's why his rhymes are so good yeah his pops man his pops is a musician yeah like Rewind yeah that's like one of the greatest songs of any genre anybody's ever written it's a genius song so crazy I was listening to that shit yesterday genius song the bullet goes back in the gun
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah. Genius song. The whole song backwards. You fuck with lyrics hard. Oh, I love Nas, especially for lyrics. His lyrics are incredible. They were so good. They were so good. Dope. And unusual, like that. Deciding, I'm going to be the first guy to make a rap backwards. And make it work perfectly. You know? I mean, it's just...
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Hey, did you ever listen to any of the shit where the Brand New Heavies got together with a bunch of rappers?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
The Brand New Heavies. I know the name, but I'm trying to think of the name.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
The Brand New Heavies are like a jazz band. They did a collaboration with Gangstar, Cool G Rap. Oh, yeah, yeah, of course. A bunch of guys. Some of my favorite shit of all time.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah, they was more musical, though. Yeah. They was more musical, yeah.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Have you ever heard Cool G Rap's Death Threat? Oh, my God. Jamie, play that. Play that. Find that. We've got to put on the headphones for this. This is in my, along with a bunch of Wu-Tang. This is in my Spotify playlist. This is Cool G rapping like, I want to say 92. Yeah, 92. Listen to this. Listen to this.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yes. The Brand New Heavies did one with Gangstar. They did a bunch of different artists.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah, I was on a road trip. I was doing a gig in Connecticut with a buddy of mine who's a comedian. Right. And he turned me on to this. Like, you got to listen to this shit. And I was like, oh my God. And then I had a CD and I lost it. And I couldn't find it forever. And then someone brought it up like a few years back, like six or seven years back. And I was like, it's got it.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You got to be able to find it. And that's the beautiful thing about today with like YouTube and, you know, some of these platforms, people upload shit that you totally forgot about. Like Tim Dogg. People forgot about, like, fuck Compton. Remember that?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
But Coogee rap, that to me was like, that defined like road gigs for me in the 1990s when we would drive. That was when cock blocking came out. Ha ha! Remember that? Remember that?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Oh, my God. That song is amazing. Yeah, man. Damn. So you really pay attention to this fucking hip-hop shit like that, man.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah, hip-hop was a big part of my childhood or my young adulthood. You know, when I was driving around a lot doing comedy gigs, like a lot of Ghetto Boys.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I was playing the other day in the green room. I was playing Fuck a War for these young kids. I was like, listen, this is a song from the 1980s about the Iraq War. This is about George Bush in the late 1980s. And it applies today. You remember Fuck A War? Fuck A War. Nah. Come on. Headphones are coming back on. Let's go. You fucking schooling me on shit. Like, what the fuck?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I talked to Willie D. Willie D told me he wrote this song in 40 minutes. Wow. Yeah, just angry. Wrote this song in 40 minutes. And this is Ghetto Boys in their prime.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Hello, can I speak with Bushwick Bill? You know that album. Bushwick Bill.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
He was in the N.W.A. chamber right there. That shit was good.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
That applies today. We were all talking about what's going on right now with Gaza and Palestine.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And see, this is why we love hip-hop so much is because it was educational, too.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
It was giving us jewels. It was talking about things that... were going on in the world, and that became the television for us. The music, the music, the music.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
It became the news, too. Like, you needed to know what was actually going on. Like, fuck a war tells you what's really going on. What's going on, yeah.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
So when I think about those Compton boys, those N.W.A. cats and all of that that was expressing themselves, it was like that's what we all were feeling. facing and living amongst. And, you know, like I said, I never heard that song before. So I could tell that was made around the time when N.W.A. was doing their thing.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And, you know, you're hearing about all these riots and shit going on and things happening. You know, us living all the way on the other side of the world, it's like, yo, we not, yo, what the fuck was that? Right. But you heard it in a song and you knew it was real. You respected it.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And to me, those perspectives in music were important for us because we were learning as we were getting older about society. You don't think about society when you're poor. And living in fucked up positions. You just think about survival. Right. You see what I'm saying? Survival is the only thing on your mind.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And you're dealing with things that's in front of you that at the end of the day you're like, damn, the fuck was that that just happened? Or what was this shit? But then when you heard it in rap and motherfuckers like Deez was talking about it and all that. Right. It's like now you was like, oh. Okay, I see what the fuck is going on. It's not just here. It's all over.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
It's in everywhere, every ghetto or whatever the case may be. That's what was happening. So I never heard that before, though. You just put me on some real shit. And that's one of my favorite groups right there, Ghetto Boys.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
The 1990s ghetto boy era. Oof, oof. Crazy. And that, like, I remember the day I found out about NWA. I was teaching taekwondo in Revere, Massachusetts. And I was at the gym riding on a stair climber. And I had just picked up this cassette. And I was like, NWA, I keep hearing about this. And Fuck the Police was the first song I listened to.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
So to have nine of you guys together like that as one group, you know, we always – I told you when I sent you a message, I said that we play Protect Your Neck. I know. Whenever we have a police escort, that's what's the most hilarious thing.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And I remember I was on the stair climb going, this is wild. You see what I'm saying? You see what I'm saying? This is wild. Yeah, yeah. You're hearing people talk about the police, like they're getting harassed by the police in a way you never heard before.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Exactly. Fuck the Police coming straight from the underground. I was like, wow. Coming straight from the fucking underground. It was a totally different kind of music. Music. It was like they were rapping and no one was listening. It was like they were rapping for themselves, right? Yeah. Like they didn't give a fuck who was listening.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
They were rapping like they were doing it for their friends, but they were doing it to the whole world. And the whole world was like, whoa. 100 miles and running. The whole world was like, whoa.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
This is crazy. So look, you had them. You had Public Enemy. Oh, yeah. All of them type of guys were giving us information that... was relatable in our community that they became a voice.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
KRS-One, the teacher, you know. Whoop, whoop. That's the sound of the police. All that shit right there to me was knowledgeable, knowledgeable rap, hip-hop. I ain't even going to call it fucking rap. It's hip-hop.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Informational. Especially KRS-One and Public Enemy. They were saying something. But it wasn't contrived. It wasn't like, you see people say shit today like, ah, you're just doing that for claps. They were saying shit to let people know about some information that you're not aware of and this is why you're getting fucked. Fucked.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Absolutely. Come on. Come on. Even when fucking Spike Lee may do the right thing.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Classic shit. Classic. But like you said, we was getting information and, you know, you got to remember, you know, at the end of the day... A lot of people that coming out of the hood and just being like, I know you, you come from the hood. Well, I was born in Newark.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I wouldn't exactly say I come from the hood because I went to high school in the suburbs. Yeah, but you, yeah, that's true. I lived in Newark.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
in Newark I was telling you I lived in Newark when I was 23 for about six or seven months and I told you my next door neighbor he was selling dope and the police raided his house while I was there they battering rammed his door and everything he had a nice Audi I looked at him like how this dude has a nice car selling dope he was selling dope and they got him but he was around it though so he was able to you know
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
We hire a police escort. So it's like fucking sirens and shit. Protect your neck. Oh, my God. It's like the perfect song to play when you're getting a police escort. Oh. I know. I know. Trust me. These young kids that I have at the club, like I was explaining Wu-Tang Clan to them the other night. I go, do you have to understand how wild this band was?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Well, that was also the time that I was the most into hip-hop, too. I mean, that was 1991, I guess, 1991. That was a wild era because that's when hip-hop was just exploding. Yeah, yeah, you're right. Exploding.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah, I would say definitely 91. You had Naughty by Nature. Oh, yeah. They had emerged on the scene, like you said, Rakim and Big Daddy Kane. Oh, yeah. Easy Ease and Ice Cube.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
To this day, I Go to Work is one of my favorite workout songs. Big Daddy King, I go to work. Oh, my God. I go to work. Oh, he was so smooth and so fast, too. Big Daddy Kane had a very particular style. It was energetic. You heard his style. Your blood started pumping. You started getting moving.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And see, those are the type of guys that paved the way for us to be so outspoken on the mic. When I sit here and when I think about the Klan, the woo on how we formed Voltron, each one of us had a superpower that related back to those guys. You know, all these guys that we talking about today, they was the light bulb in the house. You screw that shit on. This is what I see right now.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I see Slick Rick. I see Rakim. I see Cube. I see fucking, you know, all these guys that paid the way for us. So the Klan at that time, we were so, you know, inclined on knowing about all these guys. knowing majority of them, we kept a piece of them in us that helped us become who we are. Like I tell motherfuckers all the time, I say, yo, let me tell you something. When we came out,
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Naughty by Nature was the shit. They was fucking shit up on the East Coast side of things, you know? And at that time, you had them, you had EPMD, you had Queen Latifah, Roxanne Chanté, all of these, you know, artists back then were blowing up. LL, can't front on LL, LL.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah. LL was huge. Coogee Rap, one of my favorites. I know that's one of your favorites. You know, the Fat Boys, all these guys were just... That's right, Fat Boys. You know, these guys was giving us so much food for thought that we knew that if we didn't come on that level, we wasn't built to be in a game at that time.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Well, there was so much high quality. Yeah. High quality. That's the word. The level was very high. Absolutely. The lyrics were so good. Like, you would hear lyrics and just go, oh. Oh, shit. Yeah. Oh. That was the thing. That was the thing about hip hop. Listening to the lyrics, I love that. Oh, I love lyrics.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Lyrics is everything. That's right. You know, it's like, that was the style back then. It was like, the most clever guy, the most clever lyrics.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I go, when Old Dirty Bastard was in Rikers, they went to Rikers and performed in Rikers. You remember that? Yes. I remember that. I don't fucking remember that. I told everybody. I was like, do you know how crazy that is?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
It was so important, you know? There's so many guys that just had, everybody was battling for, so it was like more and more cleverness and more and more intricacies and more and more twists of what they were saying. And it was just a vibrant art form, man. Like how many people cheated on their significant other because of OPP? Right. How many? Exactly.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah. It was like a license to fuck. People were cheering. Exactly. I mean, hip-hop had so much influence on the culture, and it emerged out of nowhere. Out of nowhere. That's what's so crazy. Like, 10 years ago, it doesn't exist. Boom. I mean, even rock and roll. I mean, rock and roll, you had the 50s, it starts to emerge. Then the 60s really takes off.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And, you know, it had been around for a while. Right. Absolutely. To have something like hip-hop just explode. Yeah. A lot of other things look lame, you know, especially for young kids, because when you hear guys like you and, you know, Ghostface and, you know, Method Man and like you're dealing with real dudes who are talking about real shit and everybody else just look kind of lame.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You know, it's like, you know, it was like they didn't even swear. You know, it's like you guys were wild. It was fun and it was clever. And I think RZA did a genius thing by naming it Wu-Tang Clan because it connected it to like this kung fu mindset.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And I know that you big on kung fu shit because I'm coming through your shrine and shit. You got all kinds of fucking shogun warriors.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
But nah, but you know what's so crazy? I tell people it's like when RZA, when they was on their Wu-Tang shit, we wasn't on that. I grew up watching more like Scarface and Mafia movies. Once Upon a Time in America.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Oh, that's a great one. People forget about Once Upon a Time in America.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You're talking about, like, the biggest rap band in the fucking world, and they're performing in a penitentiary to one of the members who's one of the biggest fucking hip-hop stars in the world who's in jail, and then you guys go into the crowd. Mm.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
That's my fucking movie right there. That's my movie. So we were like... We were living in this... We were living around a lot of hustlers. A lot of drugs was being sold in my community at that time, right? So when Rizat came with the whole Wu-Tang philosophy, it was almost like, yeah, we love karate flicks. We were watching, you know about the karate flicks, 3 o'clock, 3 o'clock.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
We'd come over to school, them shits was on, Channel 5, all of that shit. But if you notice and you look at those karate movies, it was about a place that... you know, was filled with a lot of crime and aggressive people that were doing things that bothered other people and you either had to protect your people or you had to make a name for yourself.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Now when you think about Wu-Tang, I'ma just give you a quick lesson on what Wu-Tang was. Wu-Tang was a school that was in Shaolin. This particular school, these niggas was crazy. They was fucked up. They got kicked the fuck out of Shaolin. They got kicked out. Yo, y'all bugged out. Y'all wildin', y'all.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
But these guys were very good, but they just couldn't sit in Shaolin because they had a different way of looking at shit and doing shit. So when RZA came with the whole philosophy of it, it's this movie that's called Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang, right? Check it out whenever you get a chance.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
So whatever was going on in that movie, he made a reality of it because really at the end of the day, that's how we were living. back in Staten Island. So we wound up changing the name and calling it Shaolin because we were the forgotten barrel. When you think about Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, we don't really talk too much about fucking Staten Island. That bothered us.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
So we felt rebellious, like, yo, you come out here, you ain't from here? You better know somebody. You're not fucking coming into projects thinking you're going to fucking act like you're going over to your friends. I remember we used to see UFOs come through. We called them UFOs, unidentified flying objects. The fuck he doing here? Yo, follow him. Yo, where you came to see? You know what I mean?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Because we had so much to prove, but it was the same thing that was going on in the karate flicks. Like, yo, you go to a new neighbor. Who is this guy? Either he's coming to play you, he's coming to play you, or... Or you going to play him? This is all the shit that's going on in the karate movies. You know, the brotherhood. Yo, oh shit, my brother got hurt. What happened? Oh, hold up, let's go.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
We got to go get back to that. We got to go figure that out. All this shit that RZA was thinking about at that time was a reality check for us in Staten Island. So even when he came with the name, it was almost like, yo, wow, that shit is interesting. You know, Wu-Tang Clan, yo. And back then he was hanging in Ghost's community, which was Stapleton.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
God bless his soul, first and foremost. Oh, my God. Old Dirty Bastard was a classic. Yo, Joe is the funniest shit because when we came in and when we seen him, he was eating a cheeseburger laughing and shit. You know, he remind you, he never was, you know, dirty. I don't even think, I never seen him eat meat like that or whatever the case may be.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
So Stapleton was a place that was maybe like 10, 15 miles away from Park Hill, where I'm from. I'm from the hill. I'm from up there. They were selling drugs and getting crazy with it and Jamaicans and Westerners and 90s and 80s. You know, it was a melting pot. You know, it was a melting pot of different nationalities of motherfuckers. You had the Spanish motherfuckers over here selling dope.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Fucking mob, man. It's a crazy band, man. If you think about it, There's been a lot of hip-hop duos. There's been a lot of producers and MCs. There's been a lot of people that get together in small groups. But there's only one Wu-Tang. There's only one group of nine assassins.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You know what I mean? You had the white boys over here fucking doing what they doing. You know, all these things was going on. But in Stapleton, it was nothing but criminals and motherfuckers that want to fight and rob and steal and, you know, and... RZA was hanging out there a lot, you know, so they came up with this whole, you know, Wu-Tang mentality thing that they brought up the block to us.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
So when RZA came with it, it was like, oh, shit, we like that. That's kind of dope. You know, we see the vision of that, you know. But it was never for us to look at it at any given time like, yo, you trying to portray us as some fucking ninjas or some shit. You know, a lot of times people thought, yo, your niggas know karate and all this shit? I don't know fucking karate, motherfucker.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
We don't do that. But we grew up, our older brothers and sisters, they grew up on it. That was some early 70s shit right there.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
So, you know, back then you might have had a cousin that was a martial art. He knew the arts and shit. You know, you looked up to him like, yo, this motherfucker's ill right here. He know the arts and shit. He know how to fight. You know, your motherfucker would be in back of the building with two Doberman pinches and shit. You know what I mean?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Beating him with fucking laundromat hoses and shit and, you know, grabbing him and hanging him on shit and... Back then, that was dope to see your cousins and all of them do it. But RZA, when he came with this philosophy, it kind of fucked us all up. But we agreed with it right away. Because Wu-Tang, to them, was always something like an expression. So if you're drinking, this is Wu-Tang.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I'm drinking. You over here, this is some Wu-Tang shit or whatever. Because he was trying to say that we were just like them in the flicks. It's crazy.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Want to hear something crazy? Whenever I kill an elk, you know, I go bow hunting every year. Oh, shit. Whenever I kill an elk, when I text my friend Cam, I text Wu Kang. Like, whenever I kill something, I'll show you. Oh, my God. I'll show you that that's true.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I know, but I want to show you that that's true. I'm not making this up. Holy shit. It goes back years. It goes back years. This is like our tradition. Whenever I kill an elk, well, I'm going to find this. I'm going to find the last time I said Wu-Tang. I text him every day, so it's going to take a second to get back into some pictures.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
But whenever I get one, I say Wu-Tang, and then I send him a picture.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Crazy. Crazy. It's going to take a while because I do scroll, but this is important to show you. This is real. Come on, motherfucker.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
But we came in, he was eating a cheeseburger and shit, laughing. So we was dying laughing. And they kept, you know, the people up in here, they kept telling us, like, yo, y'all can't go into the crowd with everybody. You know, we not going to hold no responsibility if something happened. So, you know, be like, all right, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, he ain't going in there.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
No, I started hunting in 2012. I shot that deer, that deer, that head that's right there. That was the first animal I hunted. And then I was like, okay, that's what I'm doing. Wow. Bye. Bye. Bye. like their contoured pouch and ball caddy. It helps you look and feel amazing. And like all of their other clothing, it's made with their signature fabric that's breathable, stretchy, and comfortable.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
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The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
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The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
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The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
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The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
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The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
See details at 8sleep.com slash rogan. It was either for me, it was that or become a vegetarian. I watched too many of those PETA films. You know, those animal factory farming films and torture films. I was like, fuck this. Like, either I'm going to be a vegan or I'm going to learn how to hunt. And my friend Steve Rinella took me hunting. I shot that deer.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I'm like, all right, that's what I do now. And I've been doing it ever since. So I've been hunting for 12 years.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Well, it's like I'm not really good compared to real marksmen. That's like saying you're a black belt when you're not really a black belt. You gotta go through the courses. Yeah, like how good are you? I mean, I'm good for regular people. Yeah, if you didn't know, you'd think I'm really good.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah, but for people that are really good, no. I'm not nearly at their level. But, you know, there's, like, professional archers that are, like, super accurate out to 100 yards. They can shoot, like, a softball-sized group at 100 yards consistently.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I got a couple of homeboys who can shoot like that, though. It's a lot of discipline.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah, but they come from, they live on this side of town, too, though.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah, well, there's a lot of bow hunting in Texas. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. A lot of bow hunting in Texas, yeah. It's fun. Yeah, yeah. I like it. I got to get out there one day, man.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I told you. We were talking before the show. You want to learn. I could put you on some people that will 100% teach you how to do it. Because you're fairly close. That's an easy thing to do. We'll hook it up. Yeah, definitely. You would enjoy it. It's also a nice discipline to clear your mind. You set a target up in the backyard and just shoot the target. It just clears your mind.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Because you have to really concentrate on it. And while you're doing it, you don't think about nothing else.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
for a guy like you busy so much shit going on like it's good to have a thing like that to just it's like a sport to me it's like something to learn and kind of master that's important but it's one of those things like shooting a free throw like at that moment you can't think of anything else other than what you're doing if other shit gets in your head it's like you don't have any room for it you gotta push it all out and just think and that kind of stuff like cleans your mind it's like it flushes your mind out
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
That's what it's all about at the end of the day, man. Just kind of like get a peace of mind and vibe to something different, though.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah. I always say that for artists, too. You should find some other thing you like to do just to give you a little break mentally from whatever you're trying to do. Exactly. You could get too close to something and lose sight of the big picture if you're all wrapped up in it too tight. Because you're so stuck into one.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Sometimes you need something else that you also enjoy outside of it, and then you can look at what you're doing. Oh, okay, what am I doing different? Exactly. Maybe I should put a new wrinkle in this. Maybe I should take a new turn, you know? Mix it up.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
No internet. Probably like, yeah, none of that shit. None of that.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You know what's another cool thing about today is that it used to be thought at one point in time, I think it was like the early 2000s, that rap had... that hip-hop had a shelf life and that there wouldn't be classics. You know what I mean? Like the Rolling Stones were still touring. They were 58 years old back then. Like, this is crazy. The Rolling Stones are back on the road.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
But that was like a new thing. It was like old rock and roll guys out touring was a new thing. But with hip-hop artists, if you weren't in now, if you weren't new now, people weren't in to go and see you.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Right, yeah, well, when I see guys like LL and Kane and them perform and Slick Rick and Ice Cube, it kind of, it gives me more leverage and more strength to want to do it because I see some of my legends still doing it today. But, yeah, man, like you said, just to... see a lot of guys like the Rolling Stones and Mick Jagger and them still performing. It's like, why not? Why not? Why not?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
But with hip-hop, it wasn't really a thing for a long time.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You know what I mean? So you felt like... you would get a five-year run. They say any artist that was coming out back in the 90s, they was already putting a cap on how long or how far they felt you was going to go. So even for us, we was like, yo, hey, we do this shit for like three or four years. We good. Yo, we'll be cool with that. So they always put us in a, what's the word I want to say?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
To make us feel like at the end of the day, yo, this shit is going to be here for a minute, then it's over. But seeing guys still doing it, I don't give a fuck. I listen to Billy Joel. I'm a Billy Joel fan. That's my fucking guy right there. That's hilarious. I know people will be like, what the fuck?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
That's hilarious. I love his old shit. Until he had that supermodel wife, then everything got real soft. He got too much good pussy. Too much good pussy. He got supermodel pussy. And it's like, uptown girl, she's been living in her uptown world. Before that, you go back to his other shit, you know, Owing the Good Dog. He's got some great stuff, man. Scenes from an Italian restaurant?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I never knew that people seen that. I don't know how the fuck you knew that shit.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
That's a great song, man. Captain Jack? Ooh, Captain Jack's a great song. Billy Joel, man. But when he got older, it just became, you know, hey, he's changing as a human.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Oh, I heard about it. Yeah, I heard about it. But they loved that stuff. It was in the news back then that you guys performed in Rikers. Yeah, yeah. The 90s for hip hop, it was like people need, you have to understand, for young people, you grew up with hip hop, you're only 20 years old, I get it. But you have to understand from my perspective, in 1980, there was no hip hop.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah. New Yorker to the heart right there, right? I mean, that guy sold out Madison Square Garden like 300 times. See what I'm saying? Kind of crazy.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
So those are our heroes. Those are guys that we look up to that, you know, they still doing anything, man.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah. It's just beautiful that hip hop is like that now. Yeah. Because I feel like in the 2000s only it was more overseas was showing you guys love. Like a lot of Europe. Like a lot of my friends that were like maybe bigger in the 90s, they had to go over to Europe. To come check out hip hop.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And I tell people all the time, like being from the States, being where we from, I think they appreciate it more because they never really got a chance to grasp it as much as we did.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah, they can't believe it. Yeah. But for me... I think I love performing a lot more when I go out there because they come out and they never, ever make you feel like they don't appreciate you. You know what I mean? And even to this day, it's like the Klan still goes out there and makes a ton of cash. We see a lot of people. And we see young generations of kids now, too.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
It's like, yo, you look in the crowd, you're like, yo, fuck. look how old is that fucking kid that we just put him on stage and he knew the fucking words. Like, yo, he might have been like 17, 16 years old. Like, yo, he wasn't even fucking born.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Well, there's classic hip-hop now. You know what I'm saying? Like, when I was a kid, there was classic rock. You listen to Led Zeppelin, it was classic rock. Now there's classic hip-hop. which is amazing.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Well, it just shows that the culture has completely accepted it as an art form. And so now young kids that get into hip-hop, maybe one of their friends will be like, hey, you ever heard of this? And then they turn them on to new stuff.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And they're like, wow, yeah, yeah, and this is 1992, you know? That shit, you know, and I think that that's how we were. We always were infatuated with the music before our time, you know. I'm like how you just said, like, yo, you know, listening to Sugar Hill Gang, you know. I actually had them in one of my videos before.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Word. You know how that, and I brought them to my hood, too, so you know how that felt for me.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
That was dope, though, right there, man. But yeah, man, you know, that's why I always feel like, yo, I tell people all the time, you have to respect the people that did it before you, man, because they gave you something to dream about.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
To be able to instill in yourself. Like, if you don't have that, then you're not moving the way you're supposed to be moving. You know, I remember old man would tell us, if you don't know where you came from, you'll never know where you're going. So having that history, that history is an experience that sticks with you forever. You have to have that. Don't try to front on that.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You know, and I think a lot of times people, you know, they look at hip-hop and they think certain things is hip-hop. It's like history... of hip-hop is something that you gotta know, man. You gotta know it.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You should know it like the history of the United States. Exactly. It's something, if you're an artist, that's what lit the fire. Somebody had to light the fire. And if these young guys don't know, like, hey, this shit didn't even exist in 1979. It didn't even exist. That's not that long ago. And then all of a sudden, now it's everywhere? Exactly. Like, what happened? Somebody lit the fire.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
In 1992, that was all anybody gave a fuck about. That is crazy for a new art form. To emerge, right? Right. I mean, there was like Sugar Hill Gang. There was some hip hop, but it wasn't the thing until the 90s. And 90s hip hop.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And if they didn't light that fire, you wouldn't have it. Exactly. You wouldn't have the embers. Absolutely. You wouldn't have this desire to try this thing.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Exactly. Now, look what it's doing. Look what it did. Yeah. It's like, yo, one of the biggest genres of music is like, you know, and there's a lot of times people take shots at it. Like, you know, y'all ain't talking negative. Y'all ain't talking this. They talking that. Yeah. It's like, my thing to that is always like, yo, it's no different from going to see a scary movie. Exactly. Jason.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Exactly. These motherfuckers killing motherfuckers in the woods. I hated Camp. You know what I mean? Based on that, Heat is one of my favorite movies. Great fucking movie. I love Heat. You know, De Niro.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
But why is it okay to do that in a movie, but it's not okay to do that in a song?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Right. I don't understand it. It's hypocritical. You know, it's hypocritical.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
It is. It's hypocritical because they say it encourages violence. And that's the same thing they'll say about video games. Like, you know, doesn't it everybody? Yeah. So what's going on really? What's going on really is you have a bunch of disenfranchised people that don't have any hope. And if they are around a lot of violence, maybe something will get them excited about violence.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
If they're not disenfranchised and they have hope, they're not inclined towards violence. Right. It's a societal problem. It has nothing to do with the art itself. The art itself is representative of real experiences. So if you're telling people that they can't express themselves about real experiences, you're just going like this. La, la, la, la, la. I'm not listening. That's all you're doing.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
This is these people's lived expression, which is why Wu-Tang was so good. The reason why it was so good is because it was real. No one was questioning the authenticity of anybody that was in the Wu-Tang clan. So it's like that...
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
the message that you guys were putting out the way you were putting things out like Wu-Tang Clan ain't nothing to fuck with like that is it was like from you to the world you know and if someone doesn't like that you don't have to listen you don't have to listen but if you slap a warning sticker on it you're just gonna sell more albums you're gonna listen to it anyway right you're gonna you're gonna get caught up in it anyway yeah it's like look prime example when we made when we made the record Cream right
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Cream was a record that didn't have nothing to do with anything but the realness of what we were looking at. It wasn't really a song to rap to or have fun with. It was a reality. It was a picture we was trying to paint. Cash rules everything around me. Cash rules, like... Around me, not me. Should never fucking rule you, but around me.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And a friend from the neighborhood, he actually came up with that acronym. But I tell people all the time, my cousin, I had a cousin from Brooklyn and he used to come to Staten Island and he used to sell drugs for us and he came up with that word, cream, because he was like, yo... Yo, as long as I can make my cream, I'm good. I'm like, what the fuck is cream? Like, you know what I mean?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
He's like, yo, cream, yo, you ever see Tom and Jerry, the movie? And, you know, he make those big fucking sandwiches and all of that, and he splash all that cream on it. And, you know, I'm like, oh, the Tom and Jerry, the sandwiches, right? Yeah, when he made the big sandwiches and stuff them in your mouth and all that. Nah, real shit, real shit.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
It got big. It got big. It got so big. I remember it's so crazy you said that because I tell people all the time, like, disco to me was hip hop before hip hop was. You know, disco, R&B. Everything was a mixture. It was a mixture. So really when hip hop came, like you said, it came like maybe I'm going to say 80s, 85.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
So the cream that the cream that was splashing all over the place, he was looking at that as that's his money. Like, I just want my cream. I just want my cream. You know what I mean? So we like, yeah, you want to get your cream. You sit up in a fucking spot all day. You want to make your cream. You want to get it.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
A good friend of ours from the neighborhood, his name is Raid, right? And him and Methan, man, they was like real close, like brothers. So when we was in the studio, right into it, he was there and he just sat back and he just came up with cash rules, everything around me and him and Methan. They put it together, and next thing you know, that was a hook.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
At that time, for me, I was still writing a lot of stories. So I wrote, believe it or not, I wrote two verses for Cream. I didn't write, my rhyme never started off as I grew up on the crime side. I was writing about drug dealers in the neighborhood. Like, yo, I know this kid by the name of Gigante. Giganti, a Teflon Don with a Diamante.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You know, the Diamantes back in the days was like the, you know, the five-series Benz's for us back then. And a good friend of mine was like, oh, that rhyme is cool. I think it's all right. Why you don't like the rhyme? Everybody else like it. He was like, it's cool. I like it. So he made me go back and change it. And when I changed it, I started to think before I wrote it.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I'm like, damn, he said, yo, we need to rhyme about shit that's something that we could relate to, that we're dealing with around what the fuck we wake up to every day. And that's when I came with, I grew up on the crime side, you know, the New York Times side. So he just told you harder? Yeah, he just told me to think harder. Harder, yeah.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
He said, yo, chef, you could be a little bit more creative.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Well, Cream is crazy because it became viral. Saying dollar dollar bills, y'all, became viral.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
But you know where that come from, the dollar dollar bill, y'all. Dollar bill, y'all. Dollar dollar dollar Tila Rock.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You remember that record? Yeah. Money. It takes money. Yeah. Whatever he was saying back then.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
That's a serious record right there. Yeah, that's an old school record right there. Fly shit, though. But, yeah, meffing them, you know, meffing my man Ray. They sat down and they came up with cash rule, everything around me.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And it was a perfect, you know, symbol of what we were trying to express, that we were always trying to get money, but we was dealing with certain things in our community that, you know, that we were trying to get past first to try to make some money. And it was a sacrifice. It was like, yo, you do this shit, you might be able to get out of it alive or you might not.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
So that record wound up blowing up so big, it wound up being one of our biggest records. And it didn't have nothing to do with... I guess to me, it didn't feel hip hop. It just felt like real realization. Like real shit is we need to start listening. Like how you just played the Ghetto Boyz shit. You know what I mean? You're trying to give off a message. A message.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And that's what I think that people love about Wu-Tang is that we give out messages. We give out... We like an emotional rollercoaster group. We can give you the Wu-Tang Clan ain't nothing to fuck with. And then we can give you the tears where it's like, oh, shit. Yeah. What the fuck? He's right. You know what I mean? Yo, we got to be careful. We got to look at things for real.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
So all that had a lot to do with being around smart guys. You know what I mean? The smartness allowed us to write the way we wanted to write. Right. It's contagious. It was contagious back then.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah. Well, that's what I'm saying about really good lyrics and high-quality rap. It's contagious. Yeah, yeah. Because then everybody else's shit has to be tight, too.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah. And you know when you're coming with a group of guys that, yo, he kill it, you better come in.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You have to come in and say some shit that makes sense. I give a lot of credit to our first record, Protect Your Neck, and I know that's one of your favorite shits. When Inspector Deck said, I smoke on a mic like smoking Joe Frazier, the hell raiser. Raising hell with the flavor? Yeah. That right there opened up something with all of us.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You know, and... I always tell Dec, I'm like, yo, Dec, you are like a Scotty Pippen. You always going to hit if you get the ball in your hand. And he did that. He created that first verse that you notice me, I jump right in behind him. Yeah. Rhymes were built like Schwarzenegger. Yeah. Then meth came and you know what I mean? Everybody kind of like kept that consistency.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
That's what's so amazing about all these killers, all these different voices, all these amazing lyrics all on one song.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah, yeah. We was young boys, right? So I would definitely say you heard something and it was like, oh shit, motherfuckers is rhyming. I ain't, you know, this shit sound cool though. You know what I mean? It sound cool. But really it was a way to bring people together, you know, that was going through different shit in their life. You know what I mean?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah, yeah. But we wanted to show the world that each one of us had a style that was unreckoned. Each one of us can paint a picture within our own way.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
that you will love all of us so it's better to get us all now you know we'll sacrifice the the little the little look for the bigger look later right you know and that was one of the situations where we had to dance a certain way to be like okay yeah we'll take a little bit of money but we know we're going to be able to sell like you said yeah give us those 50. we'll sell them now we know we you telling me you don't got the money but you got the relationships okay
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Cool. Long as you got the relationship. Long as you got the money. Yeah. We're going to go out there and we're going to work to make it happen. But this is what's got to happen. And, you know, I give all the credit to Steve Rifkin. You know, Steve was the guy that owned Loud Records back then. He was a part of RCA back then. And he believed in us. He's like, yo, I'll give y'all that deal.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I'll give y'all that deal. And next thing you know, when everybody started taking off, now you got Method Man over here. You got Jizz over here. You got Old Baby Bastard over here. So we did something that was so new to the world that... It's like, oh, shit.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
From the outside, it felt different because it felt like a movement. Right. It's like Wu-Tang was like a movement. Exactly. It was different. But everybody tried the boxes.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
So even though we knew we were a group, in our minds, we looked at it, like you said, as a movement being created that would eventually spread out. and hit all corners of everything, and that was the plan all the time. That was a premeditated plan, because they wanted us to still be a group. It was like, nah, we... Look, we sacrificing this and that, but we not going to box ourselves.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You know, so by us doing that... it kind of like really paid the way for other groups and other artists and everybody to kind of, you know, follow this blueprint. So now you have, you know, these other guys coming out and creating their own labels and bringing in artists that they wanted to do.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
So to me, this kind of made hip-hop a little bit more interesting because it showed that artists were starting to get more smarter, which is important. You know, we didn't want to be just, Like you said, yo, just coming in and you sell your soul and you just stay there. Nah, we can't just stay there.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Is one of the hardest parts getting the right beat? Oh, the beat is everything, bro. Because it seems like all you guys are very prolific. Everybody can write. But if you don't have a great beat...
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
and how many great beats can you make right if you got an album then another album's coming out next year like whoa you gotta have 16 20 great beats yeah and then you got to pick from those beats what what you know what goes what song and try different ways out and you got to make sure everybody shows up at the studio how hard was that that was real bro
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I mean, I tell people all the time, like, number one for us, like, you know, being around so many different lyricists, lyricist guys...
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
beats are important you know i mean one time a fan asked me he said yo what's the most important thing to you the rhyme or the beat he fucked me up the whole day with that i was fucked up and and i and i answered him i gave him an answer like probably like three or four minutes later and i was like you know what nobody never asked me that i said the beat i said you know why the beat because the beat
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
makes you think about what you want to say and what you want to get across. You know, anybody could make rhymes. I can have you sit with me for fucking a month and you could be an ill fucking rapper. You, I can take you there. But to be able to have that combination factor of making rhymes a body of work or that sound that you want, you need to have the right production.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
82. Because I was in high school. I was a freshman in high school in 81. So I heard Sugar Hill Gang when I lived in Jamaica Plain, which was in 1980. Yeah. So that was the first time I'd ever heard any kind of hip hop. Yeah.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
So a lot of times Wu-Tang wrote to whatever they felt. It's like how you can listen to Protect Your Neck and you get that energy from us. Yes. You know, you get a certain energy because of that production. Then you get this energy when you get You get a cream, you get that. So for me, I always tell people the beat is everything.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And us just sitting down and waiting for RZA to come up with something. Like one thing about RZA, he was so clever. You know, he had a team of guys that was around him that was assisting him to helping him come with different sounds. And, you know, he played with different things.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And, of course, you know, just having his ear for music and listening to other people's stuff, he was able to isolate himself away from everything and start brainstorming for us. So it's like he was like a... He was like the Steelers back in the fucking 80s, you know what I mean, when they won four Super Bowls in a row. He was like that when Terry Bradshaw was playing, Lin Swan.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Especially because it became successful. Yeah. And then there was a lot of motivation behind it, a lot of energy behind it. Yeah. I hear what you're saying, but without the lyrics, the beat is not the same. I see from your perspective as a lyricist and as an MC that you would think that the beat is more important because it's important to you to get started.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
But damn, as a fan, you have to have those lyrics to it. Just the beats by themselves, that's not enough. You know how many times me and RZA would argue about that?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And I would tell him, like, yo, listen, bro. It took all of us. Yeah, you had that. You had this. We had that. That's what, you know.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
It's a 50-50 proposition. It's always like that. I think it's more 60-40. I think it's more 60 lyrics because the thing is the lyrics are the thing that make you go, oh. Oh, shit. Like a great beat makes you move your head and gets you going, but lyrics make you go, oh, shit. Like rewind that.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah, so like, yeah, like we said, yeah, 80? Yeah, I was 10 years old, so... Me probably really, really gravitating to it. I probably was like 12, like you said.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Well, you know, me is 50-50 all the time because if I don't have nothing to give me that energy to write, then how can I give it to you if I don't have nothing?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
It's a collaboration for sure. It's a collaboration for sure. But it's interesting that people would think, like, what's more important? Like, what's more important, breathing or having a heartbeat? Shut the fuck up. Like, you need both. You need both. Yeah, you got to balance it. You have to have both.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
but that's where the collaboration comes in I had Scott Storch in here the other day oh yeah I love that dude he's so fucking talented so out there you know his glasses on his fucking like you see him feeling the music it's like a rare savant there's dudes like that that are like beat machines you know like he just feels it it comes into his head and he feels it and it's just coming out of his fingers you know he's a super talented oh so talented I love him
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
But, like, that kind of guy is so special. And, you know, to team the kind of guy like that up with Dre or, you know, with, you know, 50 or any of these people that he collaborated with, it's like, that's special.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And that's why, like I said, you know what I mean? You can't never front on the maestro, you know what I mean?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
That was so important, scratching. They created a synergy to the artist to be like, yo, let me try this. Even if you go back to, like I said, look at Quincy Jones, man. Look what the fuck he did, man.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I tell niggas that all the time. It's kind of crazy. You ain't going to get another one of these.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
right right you know look at look at frank sinatra like who the fuck was handling his fucking music man right he was so clever he needed a vibe though he needed something who was that guy you ever hear frank sinatra when he's young oh he was before he was smoking all those cigarettes it's a super high pitch voice it's crazy it's crazy it's crazy you listen to the difference like wow it had so much range the production though i don't
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
What was the first hip hop that really grabbed you? Do you remember? Do you remember like what was the shit that you were first into when you were a kid? All right, folks, it's that time of year. Everyone is on a mission to improve their health and wellness habits and set the tone for 2025 by sticking to a routine. And while sticking to a healthy routine isn't always easy, it's so worth it.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Well, I think the whole thing back then was Elvis or whoever it was. Whoever was the person that was in front. Everybody behind the scenes didn't really get that much respect. Right, right.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah. Who was that crazy dude that wore the wigs that shot that lady in L.A.? He produced all the Beatles shit. He got tried for murder, and every day in the courtroom, he'd wear a different wild wig. He created the Wall of Sound. Fuck, what's his name? He was really insane. Phil Spector. Phil Spector. Phil Spector, back in the day, he was known for pulling guns on people.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
He'd pull guns on people, stick them in their mouths and shit. He was a complete psychopath. White guy? Yeah. Oh, shit. Phil Spector. Jewish guy, I think. And he shot this lady in the mouth. Oh, shit. Was he Jewish? I don't want any Jewish people mad at me. Jewish people get mad when you say someone's not Jewish and they did something terrible. Hey, look, guys, we not here to fuck with nobody.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Talented, successful Jewish people in the entertainment business. Be clear, man, yeah. But that dude, he was responsible for the wall of sound, the Beatles. That was a big thing with him. He was known for being a guy that would change people's music. Russian-Jewish, boom, nailed it. And he was from the Bronx, right? From the Bronx, yeah. Holy shit. Wild, wild boy.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And shot some lady, picked up some lady at a bar, took her back to his place and shot her in the mouth.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah, he would put guns in people's mouths. He was known for threatening people. Like, you want to get out of this fucking contract? You just shove a gun in your mouth.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
What's that? He pulled a gun on Cher. He pulled a gun on Cher. Shay recalls stopping Phil Spector in his tracks when he pulled a gun on her. He couldn't pull that shit with me. Right, right, right, right. We had this really strange relationship. You don't say. You don't say. Well, it's like the music business at one point in time was run entirely by gangsters. Of course.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
That's the story about Hendrix. The story about Hendrix is that his manager killed him. That's the conspiracy, was that his manager killed him because it's more valuable for Hendrix to be dead. His music, he's a...
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
maestro like a one in a billion year talent and that they knew that they had all these recordings of him and they could kill him and so that's why his girlfriend jumped off the top of a building yeah to own his shit because he was going to leave his management his bodyguard wrote a book about it years later and it just came out like I want to say like This episode is brought to you by NetSuite.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
and HR into one platform. With real-time insights and forecasting, you're able to peer into the future and seize new opportunities. Download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine Learning for free at netsuite.com slash rogan. That's netsuite.com slash rogan. This episode is brought to you by Focus Features presenting Conclave for your awards consideration.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
and you all know that I've been using AG1 for years. It's honestly been so supportive of my foundational nutrition. AG1 is a daily health drink that combines vitamins, minerals, superfoods, and more in just one scoop.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Conclave is a stunning cinematic achievement hailed by AFI as one of the year's best pictures. And it's now nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Actor, Ralph Fiennes, Best Supporting Actress, Isabella Rossellini, Best Adapted Screenplay, Peter Strawn, and Best Picture of the Year. Conclave, a film by Edward Berger in theaters now. 10 years ago. Wasn't that long ago.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Whereas the bodyguard said, yeah, the manager killed him. Wow. Killed Hendrix and threw the girlfriend off a roof. Did they do a movie of him, too? Oh, yeah. They did a bunch of movies on Hendrix. They need to do a real Wu-Tang movie. I know Hulu had a series, but they need a real, like, Quentin Tarantino needs to do a Wu-Tang. That's me, man. I know Quentin Tarantino. That's what I think.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I think we talk Quentin Tarantino, because he wants to do one more movie. How about he does a fucking Wu-Tang movie? What? The real Wu-Tang movie. It's like Hulu's great, but it has to be on Hulu. You can only get so wild on Hulu. For it to be real, real, it has to be a movie. Let me tell you something.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I wrote a book, right? And inside my book, I talked about how Q-Tip, a good friend of mine, Q-Tip, he had me and Leonardo sit down.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Leonardo DiCaprio? Leonardo DiCaprio, right? And I remember Q-Tip was like, yo, set up a meeting for you and Leonardo to meet in Brooklyn at this small pizza shop, one of Leonardo's favorite spots, and he want to talk to you. I said, yeah, that's what's up.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
So me and Leonardo, we started talking, and he was like, yo, Q-Tip was telling me that you was thinking about trying to get guys together to create a movie. I was like, yeah, this is what I was thinking. So make a long story short, I set up a meeting with RZA, myself, Leonardo's Peoples in L.A.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
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The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And I told RZA, I said, listen, before we do this Hulu thing, which at the end of the day it was a RZA's production thing or whatever he was doing, I said, I think we need to make a realistic, real-life movie of us. I said, it shouldn't be nothing that we should play with because people need to know our real story. So RZA entertained the conversation, but...
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I don't know, for some reason, I guess he felt like he was committed to doing whatever he wanted to do with Hulu.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah, yeah. And, you know, like I said, at the end of the day, the clan, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Jamie's the best. It was that night, and I remember that. Wow. I wish we could have been able to sit down with him because the way I had him looking at it, It was almost like I told him, I said, this would be like a smash, like a slash of Goodfellas and Menace's Society.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Next in one. Yeah. You know, to kind of talk about our story and whatever. And he was super open. He was like, yo, Chef, what we got to do? Yo, who do we need to talk to? But at that time, RZA was already in pocket on what he wanted to do. So I said, you know what? One day... you know, maybe I might get a chance to show my version of it.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Because, come on, how many Pablo Escobar movies we looked at?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Right. But I think that at the end of the day... You know, God willing, we will really give you guys another taste of really how we really see it.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I think it would be hugely successful. I think for music, from a movie rather perspective.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Or you do it on Netflix where you can get wild. Netflix has shit like Ozark. They get wild on Netflix. You can get wild. That's how it has to be. It has to be grimy. That's how you want it, right? It can't be in any way ABC After School specialified. You know what I'm saying? It can't be cleaned up through a filter. It has to be good, too. It has to be good narrative. It has to be set up.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
The scenes have to be set up. Because it's very hard to take an insane career of nine of the best MCs to get together under one mastermind with all these genius talents. And they form this movement. And you're going to condense that to two hours?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Man. See, that was one of his beats right there. He was like, yo, Ray, yo, yo, blah, blah, blah, yo. But I think it could be done.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I said, yo, look, come on now. I said, people do it all the time. I said, yo, look at Prime Example. Look at NWA. I thought NWA movie was dope. You know what I mean? Straight out of Compton. I thought they did a good job. But that was Dre and Cube and, you know, I'm sure you're always going to have somebody around that be like, yo, nah, that ain't it.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
But it was so realistic that when I seen ours, it was like, all right, I get it. You know, RZA even said to y'all, you know, this is more for the younger generation to kind of gravitate to. And once everybody loved it, they loved it. So it was like, okay, y'all love it. We love y'all for loving it.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
It's great. It's great. But hear me out. Opening of the movie, Rikers. Opening of the movie, you guys show up at Rikers to do the concert. We're old daddy bastards inside. That's the opening of the movie. That's the opening of the movie.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
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The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You want all the real gritty. You want the gritty. But that just get everybody on the hook right away.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And then you bring them back to the beginning. Right after that. See what I'm saying? You put the year, whatever it was.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And that's how you make movies. Yes. You pick all the greatest moments.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
What year was that? When did... What year was the Old Dirty Bastard and Rikers concert with Wu-Tang?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And what year did you guys start? What was the very first year?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
So you start the movie with Rikers, and then you bring it back to 92. Back to 92. That's what it is. That's what it is. I mean, just think about the incredible... amount of talent, not just rap. GZA is like a world champion caliber chess player.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Look that up, please. So just that alone in the movie is like, come on, this is real?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah, this is something people was looking forward to looking at.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah, think of a movie like that. Think of a movie that starts up with the gates opening and you guys going in, put all your belongings in the basket, the whole shit, getting frisked. checking everybody down, the guy reading you the rules, the warden telling you do not go into the crowd, do not do the, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, cool, cool, cool.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah. Wow. Think about it. That's the beginning of the movie.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
That's an incredible opening for a movie. And it really happened. This isn't bullshit. This isn't a bunch of dorks sitting around a table coming up with some nonsense. This is some shit that you lived through. That would be an incredible opening for a movie.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And it's just so incredible even more on how we connected because, like I said, everybody come from almost the same poverty bullshit, but... Everybody had different philosophies on how they felt their lives was going into. You know, I tell people all the time, you know, my neighborhood was about making money. You know, Ghost's neighborhood was about taking money. You know what I mean?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Taking shit from you, you know. GZA, you know, being one of the emcees that...
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
could have been down with the juice crew you know what i mean you know who the the juice crew is he turned it down really it's like they was the hottest back then master ace biz kane coogee rat all these all these dope mcs they asked me yo we want you to come and get get down with us he's like nah you know what nah you know all these things i remember like yesterday like wow you turned down the juice group
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
He was like, I love the Juice Crew, but I just was in this chamber right here. You know, us with Old Dirty, like, yo, you know, Old Dirty always wanted to be like Biz, Biz Markie. He had that personality, that charisma, that energy. So like you said, these are the things that I wanted to see. Each individual, like...
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
you know and like i said you know shout out hulu man for for doing a great job but i do agree like you we need another movie where it really defines who we are yeah you know
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
RZA you know RZA you know that was his side of how he wanted to tell it you know it's a great story it's fine it's fine the Hulu thing's fine but I think there's something missing and I think the something missing is a movie it's gotta be a movie it's gotta be a big screen big thing And it could be done, man.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Y'all heard it first, man. Y'all heard it first. I ain't have to argue with my brothers about it.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Massive hit. You know he had the most hits on Out of All of Us, right?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
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The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
He was so fucking talented, man. And so real. He had the most hits on Out of All of Us. Remember when he was on MTV and they started talking about, like, what are you going to give? Who are you going to give your money? He's like, I give my money to nobody.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
He was like, yo, you going to give it back? He was like, no. No. Yo, yeah, I remember that shit. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And everybody was crying. Everybody loved the moment. Because it was so real. Because it was so real. It wasn't like, well, I think it's really important that we establish some sort of a community fund. Shut the fuck up. He was just having fun.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You can make nothing. You know what I mean? But, you know, we always gave back in our own ways.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Of course. Well, by existing, you give back. By existing, you inspire others. By existing, how many rap careers, how many hip-hop careers were inspired by Wu-Tang Clan and all the members? Countless.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Countless. So many. I say that we definitely had a piece of watching the new generation grow and kind of build their arc the way we built ours. That's important to reflect on that. Back then, like you said, nobody wasn't giving motherfuckers this kind of money. We was the first group that ever had a million-dollar video. Wow. I remember that day me and RZA was coming up with the storyboard.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
What video was that? Triumph. Wow. We did the Triumph shit. It was like, we came up with all this shit. It was like, yo, this shit's going to cost a million dollars. You're like, what the fuck? It's a million dollars. Like, do it. You know, and at that time, you know.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
It really is crazy. To make it work... the most illest shit, some shit that I never would have thought would ever exist. It was able to exist because we tried it, but it wasn't... It wasn't normal.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
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The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
It has to. Yeah, to me for sure. I mean, you know, I always believed in my group, man. I mean, these guys is, like you said, very talented, very talented. Sometimes we don't know our power when we come together, but we might be the only group that stuck together so long, you know, because we all feed off each other every time. So to be able to reflect back when we was in our prime,
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
It was like we still didn't even give our best. It was almost like, okay, yeah, we're going to do it because we have to. Not do it because we're all in a happy vibe, a happy moment. A lot of times we make great things happen out of nothing, you know, under pressure and
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
might have been turbulence in the room might have been an argument that happened that day but we still managed to come out with something great out of that whole time of of that moment you know but um that's what's incredible is that through all the disputes you guys still stay together yeah yeah that's because there's no way you're gonna have nine dudes and not have disputes Exactly.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
It's hard, man. It's hard because, you know, everybody has an opinion. And you want to respect everybody's opinion, you know. But it made me think about sports and it made me think about how coaches and people, you know, outside of the group are so important. See, how we were designed, we...
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
We huddled up, but we never really had people around us kind of like push the narrative more to show us our true power. So we made a lot of mistakes, you know, of being great, but still handling the business a little bit different from if we'd have had some... Some coaches. Some guidance.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Some guidance. The problem was back then, no one knew what was going on. Nobody knew. Because it was so fresh. It was so new. The whole genre had only existed for six or seven years. Yes, right. So it was emerging and it was chaotic and it was so exciting. But there wasn't a lot of experts in how to manage it. It's like today, a young artist could come to a guy like you.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And say, hey, what should I do? Help me out. Like, what's the path that you think that I should take? And you could give them real advice. Where back then, like, who knew?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
They would have told you that's not going to work. You can't get nine dudes. That's crazy. How are you doing that? But it worked. It didn't just work. It, like, accelerated everybody. It, like, amplified all the voices. That's what was so crazy about it. It didn't just work. It worked better than being by yourself.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Has to. Nobody can do it by themselves and be great. Iron sharpens iron.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
That's right. And that's what it is. Steel sharpens steel. Yeah, you guys had so many killers together, there's no way it couldn't be great. Mm-hmm. That's what's incredible. It's so hard for people to do that. That's why it's never been done before, which is amazing.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
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The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
If you think about the history of hip hop, how many artists have come up and not one group has come together and made like a, oh, they're just like Wu-Tang.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Not one. Yeah. Not one. Yeah. Even when it comes to, you know, sales and, you know, each one of us was blessed to be able to go platinum and go. But we talk about that, you know, sometimes when we all look together, we we laugh and we say, damn, you know, no other groups did what we did, like come with guys that. Everybody in the group went gold and platinum and this and that.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I couldn't name one person. They was like, yo, name one person. Name one group that did what we did at that level back then. I couldn't name it, you know what I mean? Because everybody now... Well, the Kettle Boys branched out.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Did you see his little tiny desk performance? Oh, yeah. Fucking incredible. Fucking incredible. Yeah. Incredible.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And so different than anything else. Like, the way he did it, like, he adapted the lyrics to the environment. Yeah. Oh, it was incredible. Incredible.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
One of the all-time greats. All-time greats. Have you had him come to your show yet? I haven't yet. No, I'd love to have him on. I love that dude. I've had Willie on. I think that there's so many amazing talents that came out of that 90s hip-hop era that for a young guy coming up, someone who's interested in a career and now, it's imperative that you go back. Go back, you have to.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You gotta explore the classics. You gotta see what started this whole thing. And you gotta put yourself in this mindset like, It's hard to imagine my experience of it because you're not going to be able to have it. It's always been around. But for me, it was like when it came around, it was this totally new thing, this totally new sound, totally new avenue of music that existed.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And everybody was like, wow. And all the young people were excited. Everybody was excited, like, this is crazy. This is so different than everything else. And so for the people that are making a career in it now, like, ooh, I know there's a tendency to think you're the fucking man and everything else sucks. I'm telling you, you've got to abandon that. abandon that thinking.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Go back and educate yourself, you know, because it's free. It's free, yeah. Get on YouTube, get on Spotify, educate yourself. There's so much classic shit from the 90s that you're missing.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And all we were doing really was just, like you said, just expression, you know. Yeah. Being in the studio, smoking a lot of weed, you know, and a lot of times when we were smoking and just vibing, It's like we were mentioning things that, you know, like today, like prime example, you know, I own a cannabis business in Newark called Hashtory. You know what I mean? See you representing us.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You know, we said in rhymes like, can it be all so simple? Yo, I want to have me a fat yacht and enough land to go and plant my own sass crops. But for now, it was just a big dream. You know, so we kind of like spoke things into existence that... At the end of the day, like, you know, now as I sit here and I'm an owner of a cannabis business, I'm like, wow, he was talking about things.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
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The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yo, my first joint in it went gold. I put it on my mother's, you know, my mother's living room wall. You know, we did that. So we were kind of like saying things that meant so much to us back then, but still dreaming, you know, of it being a reality, and the next thing you know, it happens.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You know, like how you said, you know, GZA being so intelligent and talking about science and, you know, meth, you know, talking about certain things. And, you know, now today he's in the movie world and Riz is a director. And, you know, these were the things that were going through our minds as we were just smoking and listening to production going, and just saying, yo, what the right next?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Where do we want to go? And I think that that is important as an artist, is to dream and be creative. Don't sit in one box. That's the shit that just be driving me crazy a lot. With hip-hop today, it's like, yo, it's just sounding too fucking repetitious. Let's make it bigger. Let's... Let's take it over here, over here, over here.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
But sometimes it's just sitting in one fucking box where it's like, yo, come on. It's not just that. It's about opening up the doors for everybody to be able to see so many sides. Now it just seems like the hip-hop shit is just being controlled by one person that's saying, yo, we want y'all to stay right there. We want you to talk ignorant. We want you to not grow.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
We want you to just... Whatever they think is going to sell. Why is that the case? I don't get it. The same reason why they were trying to take the RZA and change him and turn him into something he's not. People always do that. They do that in comedy. They do that in podcasting. They do that in music.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
There's always some executive that thinks they know better, and they're going to mold you and shape you and change you, and this is what we're going to do. We're going to hire an image team. It's all just bullshit. It's non-artists interfering with art. That's what it is. It's when you have middlemen.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You have these people that profit off of your talent, and they think they're going to steer it in a way that's going to be the most profitable. They don't give a fuck if you're earnestly and honestly expressing yourself. That doesn't mean anything to them. They just want you to stay in that box because that's the box they're selling. And once it sells once, they don't want you to change it up.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Remember when Ice-T started a fucking heavy metal band? Oh, my God, yeah. Ice-T, who played a cop on TV for like fucking 30 years, he had a song called Cop Killer. Body count. And everybody wanted him to be the rapper. And Ice-T was like, I'm going to do a hardcore album. It was like, what? I'm a motherfucking cop kill. It's like, what is this? What is this? This is crazy.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
But it's like, he just didn't listen. He's like, I don't give a fuck what you say. I'm going to do what I want to do. And this is what I want to do now. And you have to give an artist that ability to do that. They have to be able to change it up anytime they want. Whatever, because whatever got them to the dance is going to keep them dancing.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
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The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And they might dance to the beat of a different song, but it's going to be the same person, that same creative force that created whatever you liked in the beginning. Well, you probably like this new direction they're going to go into because it's going to be just as good. Like you were saying, you like Billy Joel. We both like Cool G Rap. It's very different.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You wouldn't want to see the two of them at a concert together. But that's what you have to give room for in artists. And these executives and these people that are profiting off of art without being creative, their input's always terrible. It's always terrible because they don't have a vision.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
They don't really, unless you're like a Rick Rubin, like one of those cats that's just like super eccentric, weirdo, genius dude who just knows what he likes and go, hold on, hold on. Do that again. Stop that. Stop, stop, stop. Do it again. Do it again. Do it that way. Okay. Can you make it echo? Do it. Do it. Give me an echo.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Right, right, right. He's barefoot and shit and fucking doing yoga. One of the geniuses. Super weirdo. A Scott Storch type character. Yeah, you, those guys.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
They're artists though. It's like that's different. But when you get these suits and the suits get involved and they know that, oh, we made, you know, Raekwon sold a million and seven hundred thousand CDs doing it like this. So this is what we want from this one, too. We want it to be the exact same way. We want to do it like that. Do it like that again. Like, what's this new thing you're doing?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
What's this new thing? We talk about discipline. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. But that's one of the most important things about hip-hop, too, is songs inspire people to change their lives. Like Gang Starr's song, Discipline. That song inspires you to have discipline. Serious song. It's a great fucking song with great lyrics.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You know, that's what I miss about hip hop is the knowledge factor, the, you know, raising our kids to be smarter and, you know, not hiding anything from them. Like you said, once you put that warning stick on there, don't look at it.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
They're going to look at it anyway, so why not let them see for what it is and then say, yo, look, you can make these choices, but you go that way, you know what you're getting. You go this way, you know what you're getting.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I think all it takes is someone today to do what you guys were doing and blow up. And then everybody would want to do it that way. If someone today became like this genius lyricist who's like pointing out things in society and became a huge artist.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
But you think that music is still, you think the radio will play it?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I don't think the radio means jack shit anymore. I think what means something now is people sharing it. That's what means something. How do they get it out there, though? Put it on Spotify, put it on SoundCloud, put it on YouTube. Someone sees it, someone hears it, you send it to somebody, they send it to 10 people, and then it goes viral. That's what it's all about now.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I think it's just be undeniable. Be undeniable. Have some shit where you listen to it, you go, ooh! Be confident. And you have your friends like, you got to listen to this, listen to this, listen to this. First lines, first lines. Yeah, listen to that shit. Oh my God. That's how we always sold it anyway. Oh my God. Yeah, come out of the gate with a fucking haymaker.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Boom. This is what we do though. Yeah. See, damn, you talking like how I feel about my album I'm about to drop.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I feel that way. Well, you know, shit, I just been working on this documentary, right, for the Purple Team. So let me just be honest with you, take you back. I've been working on, you know, Only Built for Cuban Links is my What's Going On album, my thriller album that I made 30 years ago. This year, 2025, it'll be 30 years.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
So what we done was we went back and decided to do a documentary about it, a real-life film. So it's called The Purple Tape Files because, remind you, Only Built for Cuban Links was the name of the album. But being that I came with it as a cassette, everybody started to call this album The Purple Tape.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
So now, you know, we came back and we decided to do, you know, me and my team from my camp, you know, the Klan, of course, the Klan, but this is something that was my intellectual property that I said, yo, you know what? Me and my guys sat down, my team sat down and said, yo, you need to do a documentary about this album because you can make 50 albums. People are still going to talk about
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
That's rocketmoney.com slash JRE. rocketmoney.com slash JRE.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Only Built for Cuban Link. So I said, damn, you know what? You're right. So what I did was I said, you know what? Let me invest in it and kind of tell a story of what helped us inspire that album, what helped us be a part of the culture, and how it still allows me to still exist today. Like, if you see a lot of these guys today in the game, they still wearing Cuban Link chains.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You know what I mean? So who would have ever thought that I'm calling my album Only Built for Cuban Link, niggas? Now everybody named Mother is wearing Cuban link chains today, 30 years later. So, you know, that's been something that I've been working on. And believe it or not, we've been working on it for 10 years.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
So I got over 50 influential people. people that was in my life that was affected by that album to be a part of this documentary so now this is all in the making we didn't we didn't actually go out there and start pitching it yet we're finally getting ready to do it right now as we speak as we speak
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Once the new year kicking and all that, we will be ready to go out there and position ourselves to go do a deal with a network with this project. It's going to be L. It's a great idea. You know what I mean?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
The first shit that grabbed me was, like how you said, Sugar Hill Gang, you know? Rap is delight.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
So my thing is to talk about it in a way to where the way we made the album, all the experiences, all the things that we went through, and eventually that would wind up becoming a movie later on because the storyboard of how I talk about it is going to blow people's minds because it's like, damn, this is what you was going through.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
This is this is how your mindset was, because I just want people to know that that album was made because I love hip hop, man. And, you know, we were in a position to make something golden that at that time I was already thinking cinematic. I was already in my more Scorsese mindset because when I came in the clan, I was like, I don't do all the karate shit. I don't know how to rhyme like that.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I don't even know about drugs and hustlers and trying to get from here to there and turn my life around for the positive, you know? So we talk about this in a documentary, and we go through some of the songs, and like I said, you know, I got some of my guys that, you know, we had, you know, we had conflictions with some artists out there, like Biggie back then, everybody thought we had a beef, and
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah. Rap is delight. Hip hop. That was the shit. Oh, my God. It was everywhere.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
you know just it becomes interesting but the bottom line is that's what i've been working on alongside with working on some other music so i just said that yo let me get this done the right way first and then i'ma you know drop some new music so i got i got a definitely new album getting ready come out where's that gonna come out you think the new album um i say probably like between second quarter right now yeah and i never even mentioned the name of the album but i'll mention it
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
on your show. The name of the album is going to be called The Emperor's New Clothes. You ever heard that Dutch folk tale, The Emperor's New Clothes?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah, so that's going to be the name of it because I feel like the status quo today, everybody follows bullshit. Nobody wants to be genuine no more. Nobody wants to call out shit that makes sense. It's like, oh, if you believe it, oh, I'm supposed to believe it. I'm supposed to believe nothing that don't feel like what it's supposed to be to me. Right.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I had cousins. I had wild cousins and shit. They was, you know, they was wild. They was selling drugs. They was, you know, smoking weed and sniffing coke and, you know what I mean, doing whatever they was doing. And they used to live two floors above me. And I used to sneak up there and shit. And, you know, just be in their business, be in their world. And they would be playing music.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
goes back to like you said and i'm listening to everything you're saying about you have to do it from this way fuck that fuck fuck radio whatever is going to stop you from being you You know what I mean? So this is the same mindset that I'm thinking with my hip-hop. My new album that's coming. Like, yo, I'm not going to let you tell me that this is not what people still love.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You know what I mean? I don't care. I know what I know from coming up as a kid who loved hip-hop and what inspired me so much. I'm going to have a ball this year, man. I got a lot of great things that I want to give the world. But yeah, that's going to be the name of my new album.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
People still love it. And I'm telling you, these young kids that I have at the Comedy Mothership, when I play them 1990s hip hop, they go, oh. They love it. They just don't know yet. Yeah. They just don't know.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And we can't afford them because they wasn't alive probably at that time.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Also, they got so much shit coming their way. They're getting inundated by all these new artists and all these new TikToks.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
There's so much shit going on. There's so much shit going on. There's so much going on. But, you know, I always say that it's always a lane for people that love music. You know what I mean? I don't care. It's like you could be 50. You know, today I'm sitting here as a 55-year-old man that still have that kid in them to love music. what helped me be who I am today.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
So I'm still at my best when it comes to making music. Like today, The Chef is more of an architect artist now. I don't consider myself a gangster rapper or a funny rapper. I'm an architect rapper. You know, because I like to reflect on things about growth and development. You know, when people hear this album, they're going to be like, damn, like, yo, he still fucking got it.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I tell people all the time, don't ever think we're going to lose that shit. That's like sitting here and saying Mike Tyson can't fight. When you know at the end of the day, he ain't lose a fucking...
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
bit when it comes to how he feels that passion for boxing or whatever I feel the same way with my music so get ready but then like I said the name of the album is called The Emperor's New Clothes check for that shit I'm ready I'm ready listen brother thank you very much for being here it was a real honor real pleasure
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You my guy, man. And thank you for everything you guys have done over the years. I've been endlessly entertained by Wu-Tang Clan for a long fucking time. There you go. And I hope somebody listens to this and makes that fucking movie. Make that movie.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Do it the right way. We gonna figure it out. I wish I made movies. I wish I was a movie maker because that's what I would make. I would make it that way. I would open up with that fucking Riker scene.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Listen, Joe, it's never too late for us to do what the fuck we want to do.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Never too late. Never too late. Never too late. Thank you, sir. Love you.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
They had the record player. You know, you see Coke on the table and weed and everything. And my cousins, they was cool. They was like, yo, come in, man. We don't give a fuck. Like, just don't tell your mother that you was around and shit. You know what I mean? Nah, nah, I ain't going to say nothing. I ain't going to say nothing. And I would just be watching.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
It wasn't normal. It wasn't normal. You tried it, but it almost seems like it was just instinct. Like, it's not like a business strategy that anybody would ever come up with. Right. Nine dudes.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And, you know, I would see weed on the album covers. And, you know what I mean? Just motherfuckers running back and forth in the room. And, you know, they in the shit, but they always was playing music. And a lot of the music was R&B, you know, disco. You know, and the next thing you know, I heard this fucking record, Sugar Hill Gang. And I'm like, the groove was dope. I'm like, holy shit. Like...
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
I'm looking at the whole vibe. I'm like, this is who I am right here, you know?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
It's so crazy how it emerged. I mean, it emerged. Yeah. Nobody expected that, bro. Well, it was a totally new thing.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And there was a lot of resistance. I mean, for people that don't know, those little warning labels on your, when you used to have CDs, that all came from Al Gore's wife. Get the fuck out of here. Al Gore's wife, Tipper Gore, she was a Democrat. She wanted to censor rap music.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Because this was the first time anybody heard like Ice-T, you know, like 6 in the morning. Everybody's like, what the fuck is this? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, and that kind of explicit lyrics, they wanted to put a stop to it. And that's why they put, and these dumbasses, they didn't even understand, it sold way more albums. Yeah. Because that's what kids were looking for. They don't even swear.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Get this shit out of here. Once they got the label on it, it's like, I want it. Exactly. Once the floodgates got open and kids got turned on to real hardcore hip-hop, you couldn't sell the regular shit. Get out of here with that. There's a few guys who got through with regular shit, but it just didn't last.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
nah definitely didn't last but like you said though everybody wanted the raw shit and you gotta remember at that time it was a tough time man too much shit was going on I mean it was to the point where it's like yo in our neighborhood we had like crazy people like if they catch you at night they'll kill you like they'll be dressed up like a fucking drag or whatever all this makeup on and
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And nine of the realest dudes. Like, the rawest, realest dudes. Yeah. And it worked.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You know, I remember one time going to the incinerator room. My mom's made me go. She made me go to the to the take out the garbage and shit. I forgot to take it out. And she came home later that day and I was laying down and she fucking smacked me in the head with a broom. Like, yo, didn't I tell you to take out the fucking garbage? So now I'm going out to the incinerator room, you know, walking.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
It's on the same floor. And I remember when I cut the corner. I seen a motherfucker sticking his head out. And he had his hair all wild. His shit was like green and red and all this. And he had lipstick on all crazy. And his eyes was all fucking bugged out looking. And he looked at me. And I got the garbage pail with me. And it's like, yo, once I seen him, I just dropped the shit and ran. Mom!
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
You know what I mean? Back then, you know, you yell your mother name and shit. You think that that was something cool back then. You know, she's your hero at that time. Came back, the nigga was gone. But I think if he would have caught me in that incinerator door when it was closed, he was going to probably try to run in there and probably try to fucking kill me or something.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah, and it worked. And it worked? I tell people all the time, it was like when RZA, you know, he came with this whole philosophy of wanting to do it. It was like hitting a lotto for him. Like, he didn't know what to expect. It was more a reputation thing for us. It was like, yo, I want to do this.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
And that shit was going on back then because the drugs, the drugs was crazy back then.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Right, that's the big shift is crack. Yeah, crack. That's also in the 80s.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2250 - Raekwon
Yeah, but see, but see, before crack, You had that dope, that dope, that dope. So motherfuckers is mixing dope and coke together and getting high and shooting it.