My takeaways after finishing Raekwon's new book, From Staircase to Stage.

Billy Ocean

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That's BS. His whole gripe for A Better Tomorrow was about being paid some extravagant number. He didn't care about the music. He kept saying "the business had to be right." RZA was pleading with him to come to the studio to work, and he gave RZA a list of demands. RZA was telling him no music budget could handle that amount in current times. In the end, RZA paid him his number out of pocket, with half the Clan voting against it. That's when he decided to do 2 tiers of Wu-payments. Ghost, Rae, Meth get one number, the rest get another. I assume RZA gets the higher amount. There's tons of interviews about it.

And Ghost's entire lawsuit, spearheaded by the (alleged) snitch, was about getting RZA's cut of royalties. That dude ain't giving up ish.

It's a damn insult to fans intelligence for Rae to have the gall to tell them he'd sacrifice money for the music. EVERYTHING he's done over the past decade says otherwise.
 

Barney Rubble

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That's BS. His whole gripe for A Better Tomorrow was about being paid some extravagant number. He didn't care about the music. He kept saying "the business had to be right." RZA was pleading with him to come to the studio to work, and he gave RZA a list of demands. RZA was telling him no music budget could handle that amount in current times. In the end, RZA paid him his number out of pocket, with half the Clan voting against it. That's when he decided to do 2 tiers of Wu-payments. Ghost, Rae, Meth get one number, the rest get another. I assume RZA gets the higher amount. There's tons of interviews about it.

And Ghost's entire lawsuit, spearheaded by the (alleged) snitch, was about getting RZA's cut of royalties. That dude ain't giving up ish.
I'm just telling you what Rae said. He even ended the book talking about he hopes the Wu can make a new classic that they can tour with. He does mention refusing to do A Better Tomorrow until he got what the wanted. And he dissed the shyt out of the album, anyway :mjlol: He mentioned the pay tiers as the same as an NBA team. In his opinion, Kobe and Shaq deserve the most money even though the whole team won the championship. So, he was saying the successful solo Wu members deserve more money cuz they are the draw. He also threatened to shut down the Hulu show with lawsuits unless he got his money, too. He said they started making the show without him until he threatened them.
 

KFBF

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I don't get how we take record exec/management being shady as a fact but always give RZA a pass. Is Rae salty and embellishing shyt yeah probably but people acting like RZA was some altruistic saint is bs too.
 

nieman

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I'm just telling you what Rae said. He even ended the book talking about he hopes the Wu can make a new classic that they can tour with. He does mention refusing to do A Better Tomorrow until he got what the wanted. And he dissed the shyt out of the album, anyway :mjlol: He mentioned the pay tiers as the same as an NBA team. In his opinion, Kobe and Shaq deserve the most money even though the whole team won the championship. So, he was saying the successful solo Wu members deserve more money cuz they are the draw. He also threatened to shut down the Hulu show with lawsuits unless he got his money, too. He said they started making the show without him until he threatened them.

I get it, but he's said so much different shyt during other times. There's no way he was shutting that show down. And Shameik been in contact with him ever since he got casted, so when was he shutting it down? Dude doesn't think, which is how he always gets in the same situation. He probably gave up money on the backend for upfront money. He doesn't have an executive producer credit like Meth, so how much did he really get?

And this is the part I mean - does that seem like a guy that's a team player? So he already feels he's bigger than the group, the Clan is a unit. It all works when they're clicking. Your gonna shut down you brothers' money and relationships, jeopardize the future of the brand cause you don't get what you want? This show is RZA's baby, with Meth as a EP, Math on as music director, Divine, Power & Mook on as producers, the entire Clan including Dirty's widow on a consultant producers, Intell on as an extra.

This all goes back to the main reason he left from under Wu-Tang Productions. He didn't like paying dues so that his brothers could also eat off his success. Now that the W is bigger than him, now he wants to go back in collect on ish he forfeited. Like they (Divine & RZA) said, the system worked - it was them that didn't.
 

Barney Rubble

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I get it, but he's said so much different shyt during other times. There's no way he was shutting that show down. And Shameik been in contact with him ever since he got casted, so when was he shutting it down? Dude doesn't think, which is how he always gets in the same situation. He probably gave up money on the backend for upfront money. He doesn't have an executive producer credit like Meth, so how much did he really get?

And this is the part I mean - does that seem like a guy that's a team player? So he already feels he's bigger than the group, the Clan is a unit. It all works when they're clicking. Your gonna shut down you brothers' money and relationships, jeopardize the future of the brand cause you don't get what you want? This show is RZA's baby, with Meth as a EP, Math on as music director, Divine, Power & Mook on as producers, the entire Clan including Dirty's widow on a consultant producers, Intell on as an extra.

This all goes back to the main reason he left from under Wu-Tang Productions. He didn't like paying dues so that his brothers could also eat off his success. Now that the W is bigger than him, now he wants to go back in collect on ish he forfeited. Like they (Divine & RZA) said, the system worked - it was them that didn't.
Rae was salty that RZA turned down the Leonardo Dicaprio deal. Leo was probably gonna be in the movie and Rae saw dollar signs. RZA told him if he could find a deal that he would listen but Rae believes RZA didn't think Rae would actually find anything legit. So, when he showed up with Leo and RZA dismissed it, Rae was hurt pretty badly by that. He says they were gonna make the show without his character in the show, and he says there was a teaser of the making of Cream without Rae there. That's when Rae said he told them he was gonna sue them. RZA worked out the money and then Rae met with Shameik. Rae is mad the other Wu members aren't listed as producers, and made it sound like him and them have no input in the show.
 

Pimp

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The biggest mistake Wu Tang did was signing solo deals. These nikkaz could have been No Limit or Cash Money and owned their masters if they played the game right. It's better to have your man have all the money than the white man. At least birdman was able to make things right with his artist while these nikkaz who signed with white folks will never see their money.
 

up in here

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Rae was salty that RZA turned down the Leonardo Dicaprio deal. Leo was probably gonna be in the movie and Rae saw dollar signs. RZA told him if he could find a deal that he would listen but Rae believes RZA didn't think Rae would actually find anything legit. So, when he showed up with Leo and RZA dismissed it, Rae was hurt pretty badly by that. He says they were gonna make the show without his character in the show, and he says there was a teaser of the making of Cream without Rae there. That's when Rae said he told them he was gonna sue them. RZA worked out the money and then Rae met with Shameik. Rae is mad the other Wu members aren't listed as producers, and made it sound like him and them have no input in the show.
Rae was gonna cast Clifton Powell as Divine the most evil record label manager who walked the earth who steals from the group and treats everyone like shyt and Jussie Smollett as Rza, hippy band leader who conspired with his brother against the clan. And Rae would be played by John Boyega, with the film climaxing with Rae forcing Divine to let them go.

rza took one look and the script and said this shyt is never getting made.
 
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The biggest mistake Wu Tang did was signing solo deals. These nikkaz could have been No Limit or Cash Money and owned their masters if they played the game right. It's better to have your man have all the money than the white man. At least birdman was able to make things right with his artist while these nikkaz who signed with white folks will never see their money.


That was actually the most genius move RZA ever made. He had literally 4 of the biggest labels at the time all indirectly investing into the Wu-Tang brand by marketing and promoting Ghost, ODB, Meth and GZA; and it all folded back into Wu-Tang Productions. The plan was incredibly well thought out and executed for a time. The problem was the issues that came when certain members blew up over other members and then them not wanting to pay dues and see Divine and Power eat off their solo albums. Ghost said it himself in the Wu-Tang documentary. He doesn’t want to pay Divine or Power a dime. He wants ALL of his money going directly to him. Thats why RZA eventually had to let them all out of Wu-Productions.
 

Barney Rubble

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Rae was gonna cast Clifton Powell as Divine the most evil record label manager who walked the earth who steals from the group and treats everyone like shyt and Jussie Smollett as Rza, hippy band leader who conspired with his brother against the clan. And Rae would be played by John Boyega, with the film climaxing with Rae forcing Divine to let them go.

rza took one look and the script and said this shyt is never getting made.
:russ: If Rae had control you probably right. But, RZA was still gonna have control cuz he owns the company. The meeting was just to show Leo could finance the movie and would use his connections to make sure it had top tier actors, directors, and writers. Rae made it sound like Leo was gonna use A-List for everything.
 
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