While Tommy Boy did not release any of the three demos Monica Lynch plays, she certainly stands as a supporter of the movement. The conversation begins right at the top of the episode. Reacting to the snippets, she says, “I’ll be honest, I haven’t heard those since date of issue. Those were demo tapes that A&R man Kevin Maxwell gave to myself and other people at Tommy Boy who were [in power].”
The songs include a mix of “Pass The Bone,” “Enter The Wu-Tang instrumental” dated to 1992, and multiple mixes of “I Get Down For My Crowd” and “Illusions Of Love.” While the snippets are played on Shawn Setaro’s show, expanded snippets (as provided by Monica Lynch) are available to stream through the end of this month by
becoming a show patron.
Asked about when and how RZA was signed to Tommy Boy, Lynch replies, “I don’t quite recall how we came across Prince Rakeem. He was from Staten Island. His manager at the time was a guy named The Funky Melquan.” Setaro plays several records—including by Big Daddy Kane that reference this late 1980s and early 1990s New York City Hip-Hop industry figure. “As everybody knows, Prince Rakeem’s origins were with a silly type of a Rap record; I’m sure he’s probably still embarrassed to this day. It was ‘Ooh, [We] Love You Rakeem.’ It didn’t really hit or anything. But he was a great guy. It was interesting: we knew early on—it was apparent that [his music] was not gonna click. It was not gonna be taken seriously. But he went away; he’d make these sort of disappearances. I’d say, ‘Melquan, where’s Rakeem?’ He’d go, ‘Oh, he’s in Cleveland for a while.'”
RZA famously traveled into the Midwest during the pre-Wu-Tang Clan days. He resided, at times, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Steubenville, Ohio, among other cities. Lynch deduces, “My theory is that Rakeem was going through the metamorphosis into RZA. When he fully emerged, as RZA, it was with the Wu-Tang Clan. I think these demos probably represent that transitional period between [his EP and group success]. It’s not like he woke up overnight like, ‘Hey, I’m the RZA.'”
