When people think of hip-hop in New York, their minds go to a few select albums. Illmatic and Reasonable Doubt would likely battle it out for who depicts New York the best. Ready To Die by Biggie feels intimate in its construction, like we’re seeing his Bed-Stuy home through his eyes. But Only Built 4 Cuban Linx by Raekwon should always be in the running for how raw and chilling his rapping reflects New York.
The album is much dirtier and colder than its counterparts, where he sculpts a crime mafia tale of building an empire to make it out of the struggle. Anyone with a love for Scarface and mob movies knows the architecture of Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. But rather than play up the excess or lean into its cinematic quality, Raekwon unflinchingly reminds us that it’s real life. They didn’t base those movies on their imagination. They based it on people who lived rough lives as he did.
By the end of the album, “Heaven And Hell” with Ghostface Killah sounds like a ghost story. “What do you believe in, heaven or hell? You don’t believe in heaven ’cause we’re living in hell,” Rae shrugs on the hook. Rae reminded listeners that this isn’t just true crime fiction. People lose their lives in split seconds. It makes the record sound urgent, like you never know if Only Built 4 Cuban Linx would be the only time he got to tell his story.
Raekwon Released ‘Only Built 4 Cuban Linx’ on This Day Over 30 Years Ago
To this day, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx floors fans and critics alike. It proved that you didn’t have to go watch Goodfellas to understand the life-or-death context of the album. Consequently, it revolutionized how we understand street rap for years to come. As Jonah Bromwich wrote for Pitchfork, “It invented ‘mafioso rap’ and glorified mass criminality; its songs were paeans to those hardworking souls ducking RICO charges. The album was a blueprint for narrative in gangsta rap albums.”
Similarly, in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, it placed at 219. There, they marvel at how Raekwon could pack such deeply intricate verses without overstating them. Instead, he relied on his effortless sense of cool to craft narratives and stories you’d only get from the best Hollywood screenwriters. “It’s the rare hip-hop album that rivals the mob movies it celebrates for gripping detail,” they wrote.
(Photo by Frank Hoensch/Redferns)
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