Earlier this year, The Wu-Tang Clan announced that it would be releasing its sixth studio album, A Better Tomorrow.
In a recent interview with Grantland, Wu-Tang mastermind The RZA spoke about the notion that other Wu members should follow his lead, as the group ascended under his initial plan. “Well, I think if I was one of the other members, if I wasn’t RZA, I would fall in line,” said RZA. “Because it worked! It ain’t work one time. It worked multiple times. It worked more than it failed. The batting average is good. And at the same time, I’m not so egotistically conceited whereas I’m not gonna fall in line if someone else came with a great plan. And that’s where I feel a little remorse as this day is approaching.”
RZA continued, explaining how his efforts to get every Wu member on board for the new album has been difficult. “It’s like, wow, I kept trying to pull people together,” he said. “I spent a lot of money and a lot of time this year. I put my movie career on hold for the first half of the year because I was focusing on making this. I went down to Memphis, I went down to Philadelphia, I came back to the East Coast to reopen the Wu Mansion [RZA’s old house in New Jersey, where a bulk of post–36 Chambers material was recorded]. I invested thousands of dollars to rebuild it so that we can have a place to record a new album. And when I scheduled that to happen, only a few good brothers showed up.”
RZA specifically named names, stating that Ghostface Killah and Raekwon were either largely or entirely absent from the recording process. “And one of the guys who showed up the most was Method Man,” said RZA. “He showed the most tenacity, he was the most vocal, he showed up the most, and he got the most lyrics on the new album. He’s already recorded eight or nine songs. He’s been on it. You know, I give Cappadonna credit, he’s been really on it. U-God has been present. Masta Killa be representing. Inspectah Deck has been somewhat present. Ghost has been, you know, 20 percent present. And Raekwon hasn’t shown up at all. When you look at somebody like Masta Killa and U-God, they seem to have that original hunger to complete the legacy. I respect that everybody [is] busy with they own lives. I started with a plan that I thought would work. Now maybe my plan not working.”
AD LOADING...
After reading the article, Raekwon took to Twitter to respond:
This is the latest in a long line of conflicts between RZA and Raekwon, as well as Ghostface Killah. In a recent interview with HipHopDX, RZA addressed Ghost and Rae’s absence at Rock The Bells performances. “They’re bullshitting,” he said at the time. “There’s no reason for them not to be here.”
Additionally, Ghost and Rae were among the harshest critics of Wu-Tang’s last album, 8 Diagrams.
RELATED:Ghostface Killah Says Drake Made Wu-Tang Clan’s Movement Bigger
