Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...: Difference between revisions

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''Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...'' is often commemorated for its introduction to a distinctive [[slang]] individual to Raekwon and Ghostface;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wutang-corp.com/news/article.php?id=302|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070810201754/http://www.wutang-corp.com/news/article.php?id=302|archive-date=August 10, 2007|date=October 2, 2003|title=Raekwon @ Apollo Theater|url-status=dead}}. wutang-corp.com. Retrieved on 2010-03-01.</ref> heavy use of the [[Supreme Alphabet]] and [[Supreme Mathematics]], as often used by the Wu-Tang Clan, blended with terms picked up on the inner-city streets of New York, as well as several songs based around detailed, loosely-connected stories.<ref>{{cite web|url=hhttpshttps://humanities.wustl.edu/news/enter-five-percent-how-wu-tang-clans-debut-album-maps-complex-doctrine-five-percent-nation|title=Enter the Five Percent: How Wu-Tang Clan's Debut Album Maps the Complex Doctrine of the Five Percent Nation|date=May 13, 2020|access-date=July 2, 2025|website=[[Washington University in St. Louis]]: Arts & Sciences|url-status=live|archive-date=July 2, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250702152735/https://humanities.wustl.edu/news/enter-five-percent-how-wu-tang-clans-debut-album-maps-complex-doctrine-five-percent-nation}}</ref> In an article for ''[[XXL (magazine)|XXL]]'', RZA later illustrated "The theme of the album is two guys that had enough of the negative life and was ready to move on, but had one more sting to pull off. They're tired of doing what they doing, but they're trying to make this last quarter million. That's a lot of money in the streets. We gonna retire and see our grandbabies and get our lives together."<ref name=XXL/>

In keeping with this loose storyline, the album opens with the introduction track "Striving for Perfection", in which Raekwon and "co-star" Ghostface converse about visions and goals.<ref name=XXL/> On the proceeding track "Knuckleheadz", Raekwon and Ghostface divide money in the song's intro, and then engage in a [[robbery|heist]], with [[U-God]]'s character being killed off at the end of his verse.<ref name=XXL/> The reason for this elimination is because U-God was sentenced to serve several months in prison, which prevented subsequent participation on ''Cuban Linx''.<ref name=XXL/> U-God, however, recruited his lyric mentor and childhood friend [[Cappadonna]] to take his place later in the album.<ref name=XXL/>