Raekwon is a making a statement about the current state of hip-hop on his new album, Emperor’s New Clothes. The title reflects his belief that the culture has been riddled with elements that take away from its authenticity.
“That title is a reality title to me. I just think hip-hop is … definitely being punctured right now by elements that really don’t hold onto the culture the way we know it to be,” he tells Billboard. “This is not to take shots at anybody, but I just feel like hip-hop is not being represented right.”
“There’s so many different layers on top of it that makes it not authentic to me that it’ll make you question what you know about hip-hop and what you feel,” Raekwon continues. He contends people are “doing whatever makes sense according to their popularity.”
He adds he loves the title because it borrows from the moral of the old folktale: “Don’t believe anything you hear.”
Emperor’s New Clothes dropped Friday on Nas‘ Mass Appeal Records, a personal collaboration that Raekwon tells Billboard came together due to perfect timing.
“We always said that one day we would connect together and do a project together,” he said. “So the timing was perfect, and I felt that it was time that I release some music that I had ready for the world that I was working on.”
His goal for the album is to restore the feeling he thinks hip-hop is currently missing.
“We gotta keep this s*** on the right track. That’s what I’m aiming to do, to bring that feeling back to the table,” Raekwon says. “It was fun listening to s***! It was fun hearing, ‘Yo, what did he say? Rewind that.’ It just felt good. We need that.”
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