Cappadonna breaks down the Tiers of the Clan's payment system

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"There’s an upper tier now,” he said. “The upper tier consists of Raekwon The Chef, Method Man, GZA, The RZA, and Ghostface. That’s the upper tier. They started this on the European tour. It’s a system that was developed within our system to bring a certain status to individuals. That was the most stagnant part of the building and structuring of this album. We had to deal with that. Even until the last minute, brothers had to overcome our differences in order to make it work. But there’s still an upper tier. I don’t know if that’s gonna affect anything in our future plans, but that’s what it is. I say that not to be a back biter; not to sprinkle any salt on our wounds. I say that as remarkable wisdom and giving you insight on true facts of what we had to overcome to make this thing a reality to us and for our fans.”

Cappadonna added on, addressing why each of the “upper tier” Wu-Tang Clan emcees deserve the status.

“I’m looking at it like, Rae, he’s done a lot of collabs with a lot of known artists so that puts him in a different bracket,” he started. “You’ve got Ghost who’s doing various TV shows. He’s in one bracket. Meth has been a success since the beginning. He’s doing movies, that puts him in a bracket. And GZA, based upon his delivery and sales, I guess he’s in his bracket. And of course, RZA. RZA never wanted to be in no upper tier or none of that. He don’t really trip on that right there. He’s not really comfortable with it for him but he’s just gonna play that part because, ‘I’m just gonna play this position to keep a balance,’ the team being more valuable than the captain. He can’t let nobody out rank you. He’s the captain. He had to take on the position just for that. To me, that’s real talk right there. That’s real active because it affected all of us and we had to deal with it the best way we knew how. And that’s why this album is such a beautiful significance. That’s why it’s so strong it can be considered, if not the best, one of the best because of the sweat that was put into it, the essence of our nature, the hardship, the tough love, and consistency. It was like a bunch of chaos and confusion that we came through. We came through obstacles. It wasn’t an easy album.



RZA responds in kind...



I don’t know where it came from but it definitely penetrated,” RZA said of the group’s "upper tier" in an interview with DX that premiered in the clip. “I think it came from a third party, one of our solo managers maybe. But when it penetrated I was like, ‘Yo, that really don’t make no sense.’ In that case just give me the most money. If you wanna just go stupid like that. But what I’ma do with that? There’s a eight-slice piece of pie here, eight slices in the pizza. I’m gonna take two pieces? Nah, I’ll take my slice, you take your slice. If I take two slices somebody gotta cut theirs in half. That don’t make mathematical sense in that cypher. But as far as me going along with it, I was like, ‘Yo, I’ll put myself on a lower-tier and y’all could try it for a year if y’all want.’ But I’m not participating in that ideology nor am I gonna stop the boat from running when you got that many brothers saying, ‘fukk that, this how they feel.’ So, we actually tried it for a year and I think we’re gonna have to vote on that again. That has to be talked about.”



http://www.hiphopdx.com/m/index.php?s=news&id=31509
 
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Isn't really surprising. Mostly I feel bad for Deck. He's dropped the most amazing verses but he's never had a huge solo album.

All the beats intended for his debut were in RZA's basement and got absolutely destroyed in a flood

His career could've been so different :mjcry:
 

wizworld

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Isn't really surprising. Mostly I feel bad for Deck. He's dropped the most amazing verses but he's never had a huge solo album.

All the beats intended for his debut were in RZA's basement and got absolutely destroyed in a flood

His career could've been so different :mjcry:

Where's his work ethic? What has he done to promote himself & his music? How many classic solo songs does he have? Maybe it wasn't meant to happen for him, if RZA never put him on he would have been stagnated in Park Hill.
I feel worse for U-God, dude has put out a lot of projects, but nothing ever stuck. He made a cool little DVD, but I'm sure I'm the only one that owns it. Dude also has a mental illness, or at least at one point he said he did.
 
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Zero

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Where's his work ethic? What has he done to promote himself & his music? How many classic solo songs does he have? Maybe it wasn't meant to happen for him, if RZA never put him on he would have been stagnated in Park Hill.
I feel worse for U-God, dude has put out a lot of projects, but nothing ever stuck. He made a cool little DVD, but I'm sure I'm the only one that owns it. Dude also has a mental illness, or at least at one point he said he did.
Deck puts out an album every few years that no one ever checks out


The flood was the worst thing that happened to him :sadbron:
 
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It's about what I expected. I mean Ghost, Meth, Rae, and GZA all have put out undisputed solo classics under the Wu banner. Meth brings steady exposure because if his film career. RZA is the general and has his own film and scoring career. And the most critically acclaimed Wu affliated albums of the past ten years have been Ghost and Raekwon albums
 

wizworld

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Deck puts out an album every few years that no one ever checks out


The flood was the worst thing that happened to him :sadbron:

The flood sucks, but his inability to make great solo songs is a bigger problem. How many artists have 25-30 great collabo songs (not counting Wu album material) but don't have 25-30 great solo songs?
 

Foxmulder

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Where's his work ethic? What has he done to promote himself & his music? How many classic solo songs does he have? Maybe it wasn't meant to happen for him, if RZA never put him on he would have been stagnated in Park Hill.
I feel worse for U-God, dude has put out a lot of projects, but nothing ever stuck. He made a cool little DVD, but I'm sure I'm the only one that owns it. Dude also has a mental illness, or at least at one point he said he did.
:laugh:
 

ThaRealness

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Isn't really surprising. Mostly I feel bad for Deck. He's dropped the most amazing verses but he's never had a huge solo album.

All the beats intended for his debut were in RZA's basement and got absolutely destroyed in a flood

His career could've been so different :mjcry:
I thought RZA recreated all of those beats
 

Piff Perkins

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The jealousy just don't stop...

Ghost, Meth, and Rae are the big hitters of the Wu. They're the most relevant to this day. RZA is RZA, he'll always be the general for good and bad. GZA hasn't been nearly as successful or consistent as them over the years, but Liquid Swords ensures he'll always be seen as a big part of the Wu.

I thought Masta Killa went on a nice run in the 00s with some dope projects but ultimately people don't come to Wu shows to see him. Or Cappa, and lord knows no one goes to see U-God; no hate but he hasn't really done anything great IMO. Then you have Deck who unfortunately is in this tier, despite being one of the greatest rappers in the group. I'm glad he's seeing success outside of the Wu with Czarface. The flood really ruined him IMO. He could have been That Dude if he got a RZA produced album in that first bath of classics (Cuban Linx, Ironman, etc).

There's always gonna be tension. RZA and Meth got Hollywood checks. Ghost got some TV checks. Rae is bleeding money with his "label." GZA seems content being who he is. Deck is touring with Czarface, selling merch. So if you're on the outside looking in you're thinking "damn, they already got money...why they also getting more than me for doing this work?"
 
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PaperEnterprise

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Deck is loyal, he listened to early managers and probably didnt work with others cause rza and divine wanted to keep wu memebers from working with others...

Example jay z wanting shyheim on coming of age...right now shyheim wouldve been in jay z will but the brother doing 14 years cause people who jay reached out to never told him about jay wanting him on reasonable doubt.

At decks prime, he had some dope guest appearances but when he was prepping uncontrolled substance, the wu wasnt as tight as before...

Also keep in mind when meth, odb, rae and ghost dropped...rza was in control. Even for cappa, killarmy n sunz of man...rza got them deals. When deck, ugod and masta killah dropped...rza wasnt too involved except for u gods project as a label exec...he was already transitioning to films and was tired of clan members thinkinv they could do better on theor own.
 
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