Songoftheday 1/20/20 - Yo honey-dips summertime fine Jheri drippin', see you on Pickens with a bunch of chickens how you're clickin'...
from the album Only Built 4 Cuban Linx (1995)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #37 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 2
Today's song(s) of the day come from rapper Corey Woods, who records under the moniker Raekwon. Born in Brooklyn, he joined the seminal hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan in the early 1990s. In the summer of 1995, Raekwon released his debut solo album Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. The lead single, "Heaven and Hell", had also been used in the movie Fresh and was on its soundtrack. Although it just missed the R&B chart by one notch ("bubbled under" at #101), the track went to #32 on Billboard's Rap Singles chart. Next came "Criminology", almost made the top-40 at #43, helped by radio airplay for the listed B-side, "Glaciers Of Ice", which was the song played more on pop radio. The double-A-sided single peaked at #32 on Billboard magazine's R&B chart as well.
For the third release from the album, Raekwon combined two songs again that would each get radio airplay. "Ice Cream", which had uncredited cameos from Wu-Tang members Method Man, Cappadonna, and Ghostface Killah, got the majority of love from mainstream stations, while the other selection, "Incarcerated Scarfaces", were more for the hardcore crowd. Here's "Ice Cream"...
While this is "Incarcerated Scarfaces", the one the fans went for more...
Together, since Billboard combined airplay and sales for both songs, the single became Raekwon's first and only top-40 pop hit in October of 1995. The single climbed to #37 on Billboard's R&B chart as well. The Only Built 4 Cuban Linx album was a big success, going to #4 on the albums sales chart and selling over a half-million copies.
Raekwon returned with a second solo album Immobilarity in 1999, but lead single "Live From New York" only managed to place at #30 on Billboard's Rap Singles chart. Even so, the album was another top ten hit at #9. A second volume of Only Built 4 Cuban Linx released in 2009 matched his success with his first, peaking at #4. But other than a smattering of features, Raekwon wouldn't have another solo charting hit as yet. His most recent album, The Wild, came out in 2017 and made it to #88 on the Top 200 Albums chart.
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Here's Raekwon with the rest of Wu-Tang Clan live with "Ice Cream" (NFSW)....
And Raekwon with the Roots (now Jimmy Fallon's house band) with "Incarcerated Scarfaces"...
Up tomorrow: A fallen Latin star gets her second posthumous coda.
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