Episode #142 | 9.7.23
Raekwon (Wu-Tang Clan Chapter 2): Dealing Crack, Caught in the Crossfire, and the NYPD Goes TNT
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In this episode
Corey Woods a/k/a Raekwon was addicted to the styles, sounds, and crimes of hip-hop street culture in the 1980s. He sold weed, coke, and later, crack, to fund his expensive taste in clothes and parties. But that life wasn’t all glamor. He was shot four times and nearly killed when he was caught in the crossfire. And times were changing. The NYPD launched a street-level anti-drug task force to target low-level dealers – dealers like Raekwon, who found life as he knew it was about to suddenly change.
Sources
From the Streets of Shaolin: The Wu-Tang Saga, by S.H. Fernando Jr.
The Wu-Tang Manual, by the RZA
From Staircase to Stage: The Story of Raekwon and the Wu-Tang Clan, by Raekwon with Anthony Bozza
Raw: My Journey into the Wu-Tang, by Lamont “U-God” Hawkins
Wu-Tang: Of Mics and Men (2019, mini series)
A Close Look at the FBI's File on Wu-Tang Clan (Vice)
I got Ol' Dirty Bastard's FBI files (Gun.io)
An Oral History of New York's Early Hip-Hop Clubs (Unkut)
Drug Crackdown Is Expanded to East Harlem (NY Times)
New York's Worst Drug Sites: Persistent Markets of Death (NY Times)
Rap group claims rough treatment by police (UPI Archives)
Disgraceland is a podcast about musicians getting away with murder and behaving very badly. It melds music history, true crime and transgressive fiction. Disgraceland is not journalism. Disgraceland is entertainment. Entertainment inspired by true events. However, certain scenes, characters and names are sometimes fictionalized for dramatic purposes.
Credits
Hosted by Jake Brennan.
Written by Zeth Lundy.
Copy edited by James Sullivan.
Scored and mixed by Colin Lester Fleming.
Additional music and score elements by Ryan Spraker.
Disgraceland theme song, “Crenshaw Space Boogie” written and produced by Jake Brennan. Performed by Jake Brennan, Bryce Kanzer, Jay Cannava, and Evan Kenney. Mixed and engineered by Adam Taylor.
*illustrations by Avi Spivak @avispivak