Last year Raekwon of the Wu Tang Clan made one of the most remarkable comebacks in the history of Hip-Hop, if not the greatest return ever. His Only Built 4 Cuban Linx PT II put him right back into the light with other elites even though his last classic album was in 1995. AllHipHop asked The Chef to give advice to other seasoned artists looking to hit Hip-Hop in a major way. Here is what he said. As told to AllHipHop.com
“All I would say is go with your heart, know what I mean? If you dedicated to your craft and you know that you want to do something-it’s like nine times out of 10 you sayin’ if you want this to happen, it can happen, but at the same token come with the right product. Don’t go away from your craft if you sayin’ you going to take it back to what you take need to take it back to.
And at the same time, analyze the last s**t that you did that was hot; pay attention to it. Study it like how a boxer studies their fights. My thing is just stay believing in yourself, and be relevant. You can’t make you’re a** relevant when you aren’t out on the street, if you not really around to be found.
It takes a lot; a lot of dedication, and a lot of time, and the right staff and the men around you. If a ni**a tell you something is weak, or “No, I don’t get that from that,” then be willing to take that criticism in a great way. I think that’s what I did, I had a lot of people around me that were determined not to let me do what the f**k I felt, and it had to make sense to everybody. If I had one person that was against that, that bothered me. I was like why did you feel like that? “Yo I feel like that because of this or whatever”. And then they had a great thing that I had to pay attention to.
I just say, at the end of the day, have a correct team around you, and stay on your grind.”