Monday was a beautiful night in Brooklyn. Not too cold, not too warm, the lights on the bridge and the skyline illuminated the dark night sky beautifully…oh, and the legendary Raekwon was holding a listening party for his Lost Jewlry EP. The Source was in the building to hear what the chef had been cooking up, and damn, it was good. Of course, I would expect nothing less from the Wu-Tang representing MC, who has failed to disappoint in his 20+ year career, consistently delivering quality material for our listening pleasure.
DJ Ernie B provided the soundtrack to the night, spinning only the best New York hip-hop. From Big L to Dipset to LOX, and obviously Wu-Tang, he kept the classics coming all night, keeping the full crowd in good spirits as they took advantage of the Nuvo open bar and awaited the arrival of The Chef. Fellow veteran NY rappers AZ of The Firm, Prodigy of Mobb Deep, and Buckwild of DITC all came out to show support. Artist Andre Trenier was also in the building, painting an incredible portrait of Raekwon.
Thankfully, the legendary MC didn’t make us wait too long before the real fun began. Rae gave us a quick introduction to the project, explaining that it’s called Lost Jewlry because it’s “bits and pieces of gold” he assembled into a free project for his fans. He also briefly spoke about working on artists in Canada on his Ice H2O label, saying that he wanted to work with people outside of the country, showing them that we support them.
Getting to the music, Rae stated that you “can’t trust anything in this industry” before introducing the first track “Prince of Thieves”, produced by Scram Jones, who also handled the boards for the second track on the Lost Jewlry EP.
Faith Evans lent her lovely vocals to the third track on Lost Jewlry, titled “Hold You Down”. Freddie Gibbs – who Rae says he calls by his nickname Gangsta Gibbs – also makes an appearance on the EP.
The crowd went crazy when “For The Listeners” dropped, a dope track on the LP that Raekwon said he made for everyone who truly loves and supports hip-hop.
Before ending the night, the Chef played us the last track on the album, titled “F.I.L.A.”, which is also the name of his forthcoming album, set to drop in the second quarter of 2013.
Although Lost Jewlry is just an appetizer to the main course that is F.I.L.A., the Chef served us a treat that definitely fed our hunger and then some!
Check out the awesome video recap PNC Radio put together below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPbxhXYqLJA
Don’t forget to download Lost Jewlry for FREE when it drops! Check back on TheSource.com for the download link, we’ll keep you posted!
Kaitlin Stevens
(@kaytiimontana)
Photos by Roger Kratsz (@walldoe) and Marissa Carter (@CinderellaMYC)