In a recent interview with XXL, Raekwon explained why RZA is not attached to his new LP, Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang.

“Rza is not on the album. Being that he’s so die hard Wu-Tang, anything that sounds like it’s going at Wu-Tang wasn’t really up his alley,” Raekwon told XXL. “I aint mad at him. He’s doing his movie thing right now, he’s happy with that, and for me I’m just gonna keep the legacy alive. I think I’m a skillful artist that understands how to do things, so it wasn’t really a headache to not have him [involved]. He did things for me on Cuban Links II which I’m very grateful for, but I didn’t want to get him to start dealing with [Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang] because I knew that at the end of the day he wasn’t fond about it,” he added.

Speculation was that RZA’s lack of involvement was due to Rae’s public blasting of the direction taken on the Wu-Tang’s 8 Diagrams LP, however RZA did have a hand in Rae’s last solo effort, Only Built For Cuban Linx 2.

“It wasn’t about anybody trying to make this record to assassinate The Rza,” he said. “We love The Rza. The Rza is the one that found us in the street. But we don’t always gotta be in love with The Rza you know what I’m saying? So this album was definitely picked from that time.”

Via: XXL