The know-it-alls have long agreed: The Emperor’s New Clothes is about as necessary as a sequel to Der Schuh des Manitu. And given the already diffuse Wu-Tang catalogue, that’s hardly a surprise. But unlike Ghostface—whose Supreme Clientele 2 recently demonstrated why some follow-ups are best left in the drawer of drunken ideas—Raekwon enlists solid beat technicians like J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League and Swizz Beatz for his eighth album. And he has one thing Ghost doesn’t: a concept.
Instead of doomscrolling after Gen-Z’s zeitgeist, The Chef delivers what used to be called a »street album.« On first listen, the Akai-based arrangements and chipmunk samples might sound outdated or even jarring, but as the album unfolds, it reveals itself as a playlist for B-boys who may have outgrown streetwear but still blast their old DatPiff downloads through a JBL speaker now and then. The Emperor’s New Clothes brings back that not-so-old New York rap. So it barely matters if some tracks feel like warm-ups. Raekwon’s screenplay-style tales of drug kingpins are, even 30 years after Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, so ice-cold they make even the B-roll feel like the main event.
Alongside a nod to the Griselda mob and a memorable verse from Nas, Raekwon could easily have carried the tight 40-minute runtime on his own. If The Emperor’s New Clothes is a tale of how external perception shapes internal identity, The Emperor’s New Clothes 2025 flips it: this is how internal conviction shapes how the world sees you.
