Rae,
Do you take us for fools? We've put up with over 5 years of hype for a record that quite clearly isn't going to live up to anyone's expectations. When you dropped State of Grace with that RZA intro in 2005 I was as excited as any jaded Wu-Tang fan could expect to be. It came out after one of the most lowest periods of your crew's output. We got 3 terrible records and only one worth playing more than once (if you're deluded enough to think otherwise, it was Ghost.) It seemed there was no chance of getting the Clan back together for one more run. State of Grace showed that RZA still had something left in the tank. More importantly it showed that you still had something more to give the fans. You and RZA were going to give us OB4CL2. At that point I could have cared less if Michael himself were going to put out a new record. '05 ticked over to '06 and we got an incredible Scratch article where you and RZA outlined exactly what you had planned for us. We eventually heard some of the songs you showed the magazine, albeit in a different form. State of Grace and Thug World demonstrated that, for once, the Clan knew exactly what we wanted and was willing to give it to us.
After that? Nothing. A few mixtapes that were more similar to the Lex Diamond Story than this masterpiece you were promising your fans. I didn't pay them much mind, certain that you were just separating the wheat from the chaff - giving us songs you would never put on any commercially released album. At least not according to the Scratch article.
... while he'll insist the album is very rough, in its infant stages it still sounds better than anything the Clan has released post-Supreme Clientele.
That article did a better job of promoting your album than even you. After the issue came out most of us could hardly wait. Yet you somehow pulled off the impossible - damping our excitement with a series of put-offs and delays, rumors of signing to Aftermath that amounted to nothing, rumors of working with Dre that haven't yet amounted to anything, rumors of getting the entire Clan on a Dilla joint that haven't yet amounted to anything. Yet you keep giving your fans excuses for why we haven't heard the album yet. According to you it has to be perfect. It has to live up to the original. But we still haven't heard it.
Come '09 and we're still waiting. There are less of us, of course. Some have just resigned themselves to the fact that you're not going to give us the album you promised. Most are just convinced that it's not coming out at all. Out of nowhere you give us Criminology Pt. 2 with a beat by some cat called BT. While a nearly identical song isn't what I wanted out of the album it's a nice homage to the original, with a passable flip of the sample. You assured us it was nothing more than a mixtape song. That State of Grace was the only song confirmed. Even I, a notorious hater, had reason to celebrate when New Wu dropped like a bomb. August 8th was set in stone. RZA was a substantial part of the album. The stars were aligned. Then, somehow, it all fell apart in the matter of a couple of months.
Suddenly, RZA isn't the mastermind behind the record. We'll be lucky to get 4 songs by the man who gave you your career. BT, the mixtape producer who's surprisingly good at sounding like a budget RZA, is on the album. We have Scram Jones, Alchemist, Dre, Dilla - it's looking less and less like you're cooking up a sequel to Cuban Linx. Instead we're getting the generic multi-producer Hip-Hop album of 2005-2006. Maybe you can also give us a little something for the clubs? A song for the ladies? A 'well rounded' album like Fabolous is so fond of releasing to the obvious dismay of fans everywhere? But I feel that, as long as the album comes out, I can breathe again and move on.
And now that date, you know the one - the one that you said was set in stone? It's not the date anymore. No, now it's been pushed back a month. From early 2008 to Summer 2008 to Early 2009 to August 8th to September 8th. I ask again. Do you take us for fools? This isn't the way to release a record. This is a way to sink your career with the weight of expectation. Ask Axl Rose. Ask Dre. As for the sample clearance excuse? Please. We all know your new record label is behind it. We all know you're not really in control. They don't see the appeal and they've pushed it back to give you more time to promote it.
In conclusion, you blew it. Your last chance to get up there with the greats. This is Ice Cream Pt. 2 all over again with all the bells and chimes and none of the great songwriting of the original. You act like you don't need RZA but your career without him has been nothing but one bad move, one shoddy excuse, after another. Learn from your mistakes. Stop trying to create a separate legacy because it will never happen. And then maybe you'll make an album the fans can be proud to own. As for me, I'm sick of the excuses. I'm done.
Appendum: I have a feeling in the pit of my stomach that your project is more Pyscho remake than Godfather Pt. II. Don't remake the Restaurant scene.
