Raekwon

Corey Woods (born January 12, 1970), better known by his stage name Raekwon, is an American rapper.

The album received critical acclaim, and is regarded by many critics as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time, as well as a staple of 1990s rap.

In 1992, he joined the Wu-Tang Clan, an originally nine-member rap group drawing mainly from the Staten Island but also from the Brooklyn boroughs of New York City.

He rapped as Raekwon The Chef, and also used the aliases Lex Diamonds, Shallah Raekwon, and Louis Rich.

He rose to prominence as a founding member of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, which achieved mainstream success following the release of their debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), in 1993.

As recording artists, the Wu-Tang Clan debuted with the November 1993 album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), which was later certified platinum.

Its single "C.R.E.A.M." reached #8 on the Billboard rap chart.

In 1994, Raekwon signed a solo deal with Loud Records and released his debut solo single "Heaven & Hell" for the soundtrack to the film Fresh.

Raekwon would subsequently pursue a solo career, releasing his first solo album, entitled Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..., in 1995.

His first solo album, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..., was released on August 1, 1995.

Sales lagged his fellow Wu-Tang member Method Man's Tical.

Raekwon's album drew rave reviews, however, and it was promptly recognized as a classic.

The album's narrative struggle is set to imagery of criminal activity, largely cocaine trafficking, and emergence from it into the good life.

Wu-Tang member and house producer RZA, who produced the entire album, called it "like a crime mafia story."

Wu-Tang member Ghostface Killah rapped in over half of the album's tracks, and the two wrote some lyrics in Barbados and Miami.

It also follows a cinematic narrative, inspired by mob and kung-fu movies and a plethora of references and samples in which the main rapping lines with an on-going story of struggle and success.

Raekwon explained the lyrics' context as "trying to get out the hood. We wanted to buy the most expensive cars and jewelry and different things like that."

The album, he perceived, "was only built for a certain lifestyle or people that understood that language. But eventually, it would break off to people looking at it as a movie and respecting it saying, 'Yo, wow! This is authentic. This is something that never been done before' " Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... debuted at No. 4 on the popular albums chart the Billboard 200, and at No. 2 on Billboard 's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

Wu-Tang Forever, a double album, followed in 1997, and was certified 4x multi-platinum.

Whereas his next two albums, Immobilarity in 1999 and then The Lex Diamond Story in 2003, drew mixed reviews, his fourth album, long delayed, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt. II, released in September 2009, was likened to The Godfather 2.

Recognized for his "street epics" that are "straightforward yet linguistically rich," Raekwon is ranked among leading rappers.

Meanwhile, he founded the record label ICE H20 Records.

Raekwon was born Corey Woods in Brownsville, Brooklyn, where he was raised by his mother during his early childhood.

His father was an addict.

Raekwon only met his father once when he was six years old.

On that occasion, his father brought him to meet his paternal grandmother (also for the first time) and then snuck out of the apartment.

Raekwon moved with his mother to Staten Island after his mother was robbed.

They were living in Park Hill by the time Raekwon was adolescent.

Raekwon attributes the name Raekwon to the Five-Percent Nation, an offshoot of the Nation of Islam, when he was a "young kid."

Amid other solo albums by its members, the group released The W in 2000, Iron Flag in 2001, and 8 Diagrams in 2007.

He converted to Islam in 2009.

Growing up, he witnessed his mother being hit and abused by different men, an experience which he said "affected [him] a lot."

As a young man, his mother kicked him out of their Park Hill home when Raekwon got into an argument with her boyfriend and his mother sided with the boyfriend.

During this time, he spiraled into a pattern of hopelessness and violent behavior.

He became addicted to cocaine and crack cocaine until he became aware of how the crack epidemic was affecting those around him, at which point "it was an automatic stop."

Raekwon and rap partner Ghostface Killah attended junior high school together on Staten Island.

Raekwon attended New Dorp High School, where he befriended rappers Remedy, Method Man and Inspectah Deck.

After being caught in a crossfire and accidentally shot four times, Raekwon began rapping in earnest.

He later described being shot as an "important eye opener."

Woods first rapped as Sha Raider.