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‘New Wu’! No, Really — New Wu!

The last time we checked in with Raekwon the Chef, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II was little more than a mad gleam in his eye. Now it’s got an EMI distribution deal, this official-looking video for single “New Wu†… and still no release date (UPDATE: it’s out August 11th!). Still, this new track is enough for right now: A lazily threatening song built around an airy vocal sample, it’s got the same type of slow-boil menace as RZA’s 8 Diagrams beats. Which is weird, because Rae supposedly hated those beats, but also not weird, because Rae sounds fucking great on them. (Maybe he finally realized as much?) Method Man’s work on the chorus is typically stellar, and Ghostface’s wordplay (“Jumping out of Benz wagons / My family lives in the hills, they call us Bin Ladensâ€) is predictably Ghostface. As for the video, it’s a standard club-rap thing, except for one terrible, odd interlude where a cop under interrogation by Raekwon and a bunch of his angry friends tries to convince everyone he’s not a cop, despite the badge hanging around his neck.

‘New Wu’! No, Really — New Wu!