Raekwon shocked by Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Success

In an interview with Billboard, Raekwon expressed disbelief at the chart success of his Sept. 8 release "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...Pt. II," which debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200, selling 68,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The Wu-Tang Clan member's fourth solo album also bows at No. 2 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, and for three days during its opening week, the set was No. 1 on iTunes, ahead of Jay-Z's "Blueprint 3."

"I was shocked," says Raekwon, who released the project on his Ice H20 label through EMI. "My fans really stuck up for me in a way they never have before. It was one of those joyful, teary moments."

The sales picture for "Pt. II" is particularly impressive because the album arrived with hardly any radio airplay or mainstream media attention, generating buzz from overwhelmingly positive reviews and fan anticipation.

Twenty-one percent of the first-week total for "Pt. II" came from digital sales, compared with 17% for "Blueprint 3," according to Nielsen SoundScan. Jay-Z was originally scheduled to release his album Sept. 11. But even after the rapper moved his date up to Sept. 8, EMI says it was never concerned about a scheduling conflict.

"The two releases really complemented each other," says Dominic Pandiscia, senior VP/GM at EMI Label Services. "It was a great week for hip-hop fans."

To promote "Pt. II," EMI and Ice H20 hired the Los Angeles-based Cashmere Agency for an online marketing campaign, which included a series of viral videos and streams of the album tracks "House of Flying Daggers" and "10 Bricks." Other songs were kept under tight control, however.

Select media and tastemakers were invited to the rooftop of EMI's New York office to hear the complete album Aug. 27. Raekwon also made in-store appearances in four New York boroughs the week of release and kicked off a West Coast promo run the following week.
Some promotion, however, was unplanned. In August, Raekwon made news for starting a physical fight with New Jersey rapper Joe Budden. But Raekwon isn't proud of the incident. "I'm not into bringing negativity to the table when I'm trying to feed my family," he says. "That was a young artist acting like he doesn't get it -- but he gets it now."