Concrete Playground

There are fans, and then there are Wu Tang Clan fans. They stand alone in their willingness to tattoo the Wu 'W' onto their skin, memorise every lyric and follow all nine members’ solo careers. Well, it’s eight members if you discount ODB and ten if you include Cappadonna, but that’s for the aforementioned enthusiasts to decide.

Fandom is not a smooth road. The checkered career decisions of Wu members means that disappointments are frequent: Ghostface now has a white boy in his crew; RZA calls himself 'Bobby Digital' half the time; Inspectah Deck and U-God, despite their talent, keep decidedly low profiles; Method Man and Redman played at a festival last year alongside the Cat Empire.

So, thank God for Raekwon. The Chef’s 2009 release, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… Part II, was more than just an amazing album and worthy follow up to 1995’s groundbreaking Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…; it was a reward to fans for their reverence. Pay homage in person when he undertakes his first solo Australian tour.

By Millie Stein