Originally Posted by
Cilvaringz
It’s not as simple as you think. I’m sitting on what could very well be a Wu-Tang Clan album, a Cilvaringz presents album or a Wu-Tang Killa Beez album. At the same time there’s a business friction within the group stopping it from recording their own actual 20th anniversary album. Verses have been recorded for RZA’s version of the album but not in a cohesive way we’d all like it to be done.
Now, we all agree, including myself that releasing it under Cilvaringz would seriously undermine the potential of this album. That’s something everybody knows and should remain the very final resort. At the same time you got RZA who will probably not want to release it in its original form because of taste difference or sample clearances or whatever reason. Then there’s the chance that if RZA does take it, you’ll get the backlash from the Clan re: payment/backends as Buddah_Mac described. Furthermore, if RZA takes it Divine will have to be involved and I’m not doing business with Vine for my own personal reasons. Power is also an executive on Clan albums and me and him don’t really talk like that.
On the other side there’s the investor who has a figure in mind that he wants as an advance if this album is licensed, to which ever party. And that’s fair enough considering it took us well over half a mil to do this.
So I had to come up with an idea that would allow me to release this album at its full maximum potential if I were not to succeed in doing it with RZA for the price we want.
That idea is extremely complex, is structured in 9 steps/phases and at the same time very revolutionary. I have no idea how the world is going to react to it. It would allow me to make more of a mark for myself in the music industry, not just because of the musical content on the album but mainly because what I will do with album hasn’t been done since the renaissance days in the 17th century.
So there’s a big bowl of ideas and ways to go with this. At the moment, I’m concentrating on art work and mastering. Mixing is now 100% done. Yes it took 5 months almost. It’s an intense album, many layers per song, some over 80 tracks.
Questions remain at this moment…
Will RZA like the record and take it as a Clan album? Or will he demand a high cut or stop me from releasing if I dont agree with him? Will Divine and Power make demands as well? Will the rest of the Clan stop me from giving it to RZA? Or will I say fuck it all, sue me and carry out my marketing plan, likely risking being kicked out the Wu?
It’s all still up in the air. That’s why I’m not even thinking about dates. I do know however that all will start in this upcoming month.
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And the 2nd :
Cilvaringz wrote :
I know it’s confusing so let me say it like this. Originally, the album was going to be a Heavy Mentwo for Killer Priest if you can recall me talking about wanting to do that for the longest. That didn’t work out but I kept producing and got into a zone where the beats were really starting to sound proper.
So then the investor pops up, I get a bunch of money and freedom to make my dream Wu album which wasn’t necessarily a Clan album at that point, nor a Killa Beez compilation. It was more of a combination of both, well the idea was. I just let the beats dictate who I should get on there. That’s how those line ups formed.
So as we were working and recording, the album started to look like it could be a Clan album. Not a Clan album the general public is used of hearing,** but more of a Clan album that the fans would love to hear,** one where the Clan interacts with the elite killer beez over vintage sounding Clan beats. And so that’s what it became.
When it became clear that The Clan was having issues in trying to come to terms for a 20th anniversary album, the prospect of my album becoming the Clan’s album became even stronger.
But RZA was never told about the recording of this album. I had some verses from him that he gave me on some of the beats maybe a month before I actually started working on this. So concepts for songs with RZA were built around what RZA did, not around what I wanted to do or others. That way we kept each song in check.
I didnt talk to RZA about this on purpose because first of all I hate talking bout what I want to do. I rather say shit when it’s already done. Also, I always like presenting projects completely done. Partly because I don’t want third parties’ interference on the direction of the album, so when an album’s done and mastered there’s not much they can do about it. And secondly, if RZA or whomever did like it, we could immediately go into releasing it and not be held back by “oh we still gotta mix this, or get a photoshoot and bla bla”.
That’s how I work.
So regarding RZA, I didn’t really want him to know about it at all, not until I was completely finished. But because they had that disagreement on the tourbus a few weeks back, Raekwon told him about it. Rae is the only one who knows the most about this album.
The rest recorded verses on beats obviously sticking to the concepts I told them, but not knowing what the outcome of each song would be. For example, Deck wouldn’t know U-God was on the same track as well as Killa, Meth, Red. Nobody knows about this superstar on the track neither, only Redman and Raekwon.
But I always knew the structure of each song, way before we even recorded it. You must have a final vision of a song before you start on it so you know what you’re working towards.
So out of loyalty to RZA, considering the minimal chances of the Clan themselves coming to terms for a 20th ann LP, I feel obliged to offer RZA a first option on the album. But RZA could easily not like the album calling it dated, or say too many samples we gotta digitize (which is a no-no), he could want 50% or more (also a no-no). There’s all kinds of possibilities that could happen. I usually do follow his lead and when I don’t agree I still force myself to agree with him cause in the end this is his brand. But not for this album. For this one I’m striving for a 100% of my demands. And for the sake of us, the fans and for the sake of my efforts and for the sake of this brand itself, I have to a point in life where I feel that we as fans can now dictate what is best for this brand, better than the brand holders themselves. As selfish and arrogant as that might seem, I really believe that the fans have a better idea/vision for the prospect of the W, than the Clan themselves. It’s because we know what we want to hear.
So this meeting with RZA can go well, or it can go sour. If it goes sour it means I will be restricted, mostly legally. I therefore had to build a plan around this possibility in order to safe guard this album’s prospects and maximum potential for if I had to release it myself. That plan became a good idea and at the same time, provided somewhat of a revolutionary aspect to it that could give my name some leverage in the history of music. Could also horribly fail.
So lets see how it plays out.
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