If you're a hip-hop fan, September is going to be a pretty great month for you. In addition to the new albums from Jay-Z, 50 Cent and Gucci Mane, the month will also see the release of Raekwon's long-awaited Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II. The Wu-Tang member (also known as the Chef) has been hitting up social networking sites attempting to build buzz for the record, his first in six years. He's pretty active on Twitter, and his YouTube account has also built up a healthy back catalog. In the past two days, though, he has really kicked it up a notch.
First, he debuted some new album art from Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II. The original album cover was assumed to be a simple variation on the first Cuban Linx (with a purple background), but this really takes it further. The Chef casts himself as a "sleeping giant" surrounded by tiny people and the head of the Statue of Liberty.
Is Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II going to be a concept album about Lilliput? It seems unlikely. Then again, Raekwon has been outside of his element for the past few days. He's been filing video dispatches from Toronto, including a news update from outside the CN Tower. In the video blog, the Chef says all eyes are on him, and he guarantees the audience that he's bringing "the real s---" on his new album.
Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II is not only a hotly-anticipated hip-hop album, but it will also mean a lot for the Wu-Tang Clan. After a string of can't-miss records, the group has had a bit of a dry spell as of late. They haven't recorded together since 2007's 8 Diagrams (an album Raekwon famously disliked), and their solo output after that was slow and uninspired. But something seems to have sparked, as last year's GZA album Pro Tools was surprisingly great, and Method Man dropped his best rhymes in years on Blackout 2, which dropped a few months back. With new albums from Ghostface and Raekwon on the horizon, it looks like a Wu-Renaissance is in the cards.