Raekwon: Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2LP Vinyl

Why you'll love it

Music On Vinyl presses this 2LP set on 180g vinyl. The album debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200, went platinum, and Rolling Stone ranked it No. 219 on its 2020 list of the 500 greatest albums.

This edition

2LP set
180g vinyl
Pressed in the EU

About the album

Wu-Tang Clan solo albums came thick and fast in the mid-90s, and this is the one that drew a new map. RZA built it in his basement studio in Staten Island, and Raekwon brought a cinematic, mafioso storyline, complete with film-dialogue interludes and Wu-Gambino aliases for everyone on the credits. It came out on August 1, 1995, on Loud and RCA.

Ghostface Killah is billed as the guest star and all but co-headlines. "Heaven & Hell" came out first, in 1994, "Criminology" and "Ice Cream" followed as singles with "Glaciers of Ice" and "Incarcerated Scarfaces" on the flips, and "Verbal Intercourse" brought in Nas, the first artist from outside the Wu circle to guest on one of its records. "Rainy Dayz" and "Guillotine (Swordz)" show how deep the bench goes.

The nickname comes from the original cassette, moulded in purple plastic at Raekwon's request, and it has stuck for 30 years. Our own attempts at a signature colour have so far produced a beige till roll.

Also at Kops: more Raekwon on vinyl · browse Hip Hop / R&B