Duel Of The Iron Mic

On April 12th, 2013, four days before the release of 12 Reasons To Die, Wu-Tang Clan announced that they would celebrate their 20th anniversary with a tour and their final album. “Wu-Tang Clan are currently working on their upcoming album A Better Tomorrow, due for release in July 2013,” the press release read.

Yet July 2013 came and went and so did the end of the year. Sadly, the 20th anniversary of the group was only observed by the tour, with no news of a release date for the new album. One year later, in April 2014, Raekwon announced that he had gone “on strike” from the Wu-Tang Clan, and was not interested in participating on A Better Tomorrow, due to the sound of the production.

“This shit is not right. It’s not making us give the fans the best that we can give them. So of course we have a problem with that. It’s like coming out with some music that you’re not feeling. Therefore, it’s being compromised by RZA and his brother Devine, Mitchell Diggs,” Raekwon told Rolling Stone. “My thing is, yeah, he’s right, we’re on different pages when it comes to being creative because RZA, you’re not in the field no more. I’m still paying attention to what’s going on and an amazing group that’s got so much potential to be bigger than what they are if they just focus and come out with great music.”

Raekwon fired off about one of the first singles from A Better Tomorrow, the R&B tinged “Keep Watch,” released a month before that interview.

“I hate it. I hate it. I don’t hate shit, but I hate that fuckin’ record. It ain’t the gunpowder that my brothers are spitting; it’s the production,” he continued. “And I ain’t shitting on the producer [DJ Mathematics] because he’s one of our soldiers. But if it ain’t where it need to be… It’s 20 years later. We talkin ’bout a whole new generation is sitting here representin’ and making fiery shit and you telling me that we comin out with some mediocre shit? That ain’t part of our plan.”

Naturally, the interview also pulled the curtain back on the internal business of the Wu-Tang Clan as well.

“In order for Chef to work, the Chef contract has to be correct. It has to be a situation where I can say, You know what? This is the best situation for me and my family. That’s who I work for. I work for my family,” Raekwon elaborated. “It ain’t about making me happy; it’s about doing business and negotiating the best terms and making me feel like, You’re not lying to me. But before anything, everybody else’s business might be taken care of correctly where they can move forward, but Chef is not! My shit ain’t together! I have to deal with that first.”

It was as if the dialogue from the 1979 film The Dragon, The Hero—as sampled on GZA’s 1995 track from Liquid Swords, “Duel Of The Iron Mic”—had accurately predicted the Wu-Tang’s future.

“At the height of their fame and glory, they turned on one another

Each struggling in vain for ultimate supremacy

In the passion and depth of their struggle

The very art that had raised them to such Olympian heights was lost

Their techniques vanished…” ►

Before matters could be settled between RZA and Raekwon, this tale took an even more peculiar turn with the announcement of Once Upon A Time In Shaolin, a completed album from the Wu-Tang Clan for which only one copy would be manufactured. Encased in a nickel-silver box designed by British Moroccan artist Yahya, the 31 track, 128 minute album was produced by Tarik “Cilvaringz” Azzougarh and features every member of the Clan. The intent for the album was to treat it like “the scepter of an Egyptian king” (RZA’s words), to display it in museums and take it on “tour,” allowing fans to listen to it under tight lock and key.