‘Wu-Gambinos’ by Raekwon
- Only Built 4 Cuban Linx
- Deceptively simple beats hold you down while members of the Wu-Tang give you a merciless lyrical beating.
- We're going to run out of stars, but this one gets the cinco.
- Get it cheap at Amazon
It takes talent to turn a simple beat into something. Long before he was scoring films for Quentin Tarantino, the RZA was turning simple beats into works of art. Speed it up, add a few more layers of production, and you’d have something that might be considered a good starting point for one of today’s rappers. The key, and ostensibly the entire point of a simple beat, is that it must complement the lyrics. It’s not what he puts in, but what he leaves out that make the beats right for this song and the whole album, “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx.”
That’s what you get with “Wu-Gambinos.” The beat is an integral part of the song, separate of the vocals, but equal. Without the story to tell on top of it, RZA’s beat would seem empty. Without the beat, the track’s lyrics would tell a different story.
Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Method Man, RZA, all Master Killer each tell their own tales of what it takes to make it as kingpin. Every member of the clan on the track is impressive, but listen for RZA’s verse to make your head spin.
“Wu-Gambinos” is the kind of song that you can sit back and listen to while knocking back a few 40s, but you’ll probably find yourself trying to analyze the lyrics and take in the story. The rough beats say “sit back and relax,” but the raps say “you’re going to drive yourself nuts if you don’t Google the lyrics.”
Luckily there’s plenty of time for both.
