The Chef is cooking again. Raekwon is back with his first solo album since 2017’s The Wild as the Wu-Tang Clan spitter served up his The Emperor’s New Clothes LP on Friday (July 18).
The 55-year-old recruited a savvy group of talented MCs to join him on the project, with hard-hitting verses coming from fellow Wu members Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck and Method Man as well as Nas, Westside Gunn, Conway the Machine and Benny the Butcher.
On the production side, Rae made sure to assemble the right crew to supply heat behind the boards with beats from Swizz Beatz, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League and Nottz throughout the 17-track album.
It’s a busy and emotional week for Raekwon with the Wu-Tang Clan wrapping up their final tour collectively on Friday (July 18) in Philly. Rae and the Staten Island legends said goodbye to NYC on Wednesday night (July 16), which saw the iconic crew rock Madison Square Garden in front of a sold-out crowd.
The Wu treated the hometown show to plenty of special guests, as Redman, Lil Kim, Big Daddy Kane, Slick Rick, The LOX, SWV and Havoc touched the stage.
While this is the Wu-Tang Clan’s last tour, Raekwon isn’t ruling out another Wu album down the line.
“I mean, we tryna get it together, you know? Everybody’s spread out. Everybody’s doing something great in their life, so when it’s time for everybody to get in the room, it just seems like it’s the hardest s—t in the world,” Rae said in a video. “But it ain’t like we don’t want to.”
He continued: “And then you got so many minds. You throw a beat out and a n—a be like, ‘I like that, I don’t like that.’ It’s hard. It’s real hard, but don’t count us out. Don’t never count us out.”
Listen to The Emperor’s New Clothes below.
