Raekwon and Ghostface Killah have released the trailer for an upcoming documentary about Raekwon's legendary 1995 album, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx.
The nearly three-minute trailer for Purple Tape Files features some of rap’s biggest names like Kendrick Lamar, Method Man, Nas, and fellow Wu-Tang members giving their thoughts on the iconic LP.
“It ushered in the alter egos, the aliases,” RZA in the clip Lamar also gives his thoughts, saying, “Still, to this day, it’s flows that you haven’t heard before, saying the most wild shit.”
Meanwhile, Snoop Dogg calls Only Built 4 Cuban Linx a “lesson on style," adding that "it was all created from the Wu-Tang movement.”
Raekwon himself speaks on the album and details his thought process in creating it. “I put myself into a serious mindframe,” he says. “A serious storytelling album. I had to make this product stand out.
“I knew that purple represents royalty, and that’s exactly what I was looking for,” he continued, referencing its distinctive color palette that led many to call the LP “The Purple Album.”
Raekwon also spoke about his decision to take rap seriously with the people around him. “We had to make a conscious decision,” he explains. “Either we want to stay here and keep holding guns and want to run around playing this game, or did we want to go for the American dream and get on this rap shit.”
It’s worth noting that none of the rappers speaking in the trailer look like how they do today, suggesting the documentary has been filmed over the years, not recently.
Either way, this is your chance to see hip-hop’s elite, plus media personalities like Charlamagne Tha God and Peter Rosenberg, speak on one of hip-hop’s most widely revered albums.
Check out the trailer for Purple Tape Files up above.
