Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... - Recording and Production

Recording and Production

Recording sessions began in late 1994, and proceeded mid-way through 1995 in RZA's basement studio in Staten Island, the same studio that many of the group's earlier albums were recorded in. In regards to Raekwon and Ghostface Killah's original recording intentions, RZA recounted "They had wanted to go to Barbados. But when they got to Barbados, the racism was so crazy. It was on some slave mentality. The Blacks was being treated like shit. They stopped back, and everything was recorded in my basement. No engineer, no assistant engineer. I did everything on that shit. The only two albums I did with nobody fucking with me was Linx and Liquid Swords. I was on a mission. To make all those early albums took three and a half years of my life. I didn't come outside, didn't have too many girl relations, didn't even enjoy the shit. I just stayed in the basement. Hours and hours and days and days. Turkey burgers and blunts. I didn't know if it was working. But nobody could hear or say nothing, no comments, no touching the board when I leave. Everything was just how I wanted it." Regarding the recording atmosphere, Raekwon stated "The way RZA had it poppin' back then, we would come into his spot. It was like dudes would come in on their own time and create stuff. I remember I just came in, and the beats was just pumpin'."

Seeking to musically express Raekwon's blend of Five Percenter creed and inner-city experience, producer RZA worked intensively on a polished sound, slower and more layered than that of Wu-Tang's previous efforts, using strings, piano loops and vocal samples from Kung Fu movies, and Mafia films. Due to Raekwon's storytelling, mobster-minded approach, the producer set up Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... to play like scenes in a crime movie. RZA has cited soul musician Isaac Hayes as an influence on his orchestral approach to several of the album's tracks. He also later revealed that several of the album's beats, such as "Incarcerated Scarfaces," were originally intended for Wu-Tang member GZA's Liquid Swords album, but because of Raekwon's timely writing approach, were used last minute for Cuban Linx. In regards to this, Raekwon clarified "RZA’s house was more or less like a candy store. You come in and have all kinds of shit to choose from. I would take stuff that I felt would suit my album correctly; others would take their own beats too. The beats were like a grab bag. If I came in and heard a beat that someone already claimed, then I just had to fall back. We almost never fought over beats or nothing. I’d tell RZA if I liked a certain beat, and he’d see if it would fit me or not."

Throughout the album, producer RZA sampled dialogue from various scenes in the John Woo film The Killer. RZA later recollected "I met John Woo that same year. He sent me a letter. He was honored that we did it. I felt confident we could settle anything that came up. You can usually settle that shit. It's part of the budget, man. But John Woo didn't want nothing, never no money for that. We actually became friends. He took me and Ghost to lunch and dinner many times. He gave me a lot of mentoring in film."