Raekwon - Rainy Dayz remix promo 12" & Sample

In 1995 the Wu Tang Clan was unstoppable, they had changed the face of hip hop forever by dropping a classic group album on Steve Rifkind's fledgling Loud. After which they went onto sign solo deals and release albums featuring Rza production and all the other members of the Clan. My two favorite Wu Solo albums are easily Gza's Liquid Swords and Raekwon's Only Built for Cuban Linx. These both dropped in 1995; Raekwon at the start of the summer and Gza towards the end of the year.
Raekwon's album ushered in a new era of hip hop that soon had every other emcee giving themselves Mafioso pseudonyms (Don Cartegena for instance). The album featured gangster film samples and some of Rza's best production with Raekwon and Ghost spitting fire along with other members of the Clan and for the first time a Clan outsider, Nas. Although I love this album I didn't really feel the token track with a female singer on it, Rainy Dayz featuring Blue Raspberry. The track just seemed too formulaic and it kinda bored me. But in the Summer of 1996 a year after Cuban Linx dropped a promo 12" of Rainy Dayz popped up in the long since closed down Unity records off London's Carnaby Street. I had just had my first child and money was tight so spending £15 on a 12" was a big deal. However over the years I have not regretted shelling out that money. The main reason for the high price tag was the Rainy Dayz remix.

This track in my opinion is a hundred times better than the original and this is mainly because of the sample it is based around, a Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes track featuring Sharon Paige called You know how to make me feel so good. A fantastic duet between Harold Melvin and the underrated Sharon Paige taken from their 1975 album Wake Up Everybody. What really surprised me about the Rainy Dayz remix however was that it was produced by Mr Dalvin of Jodeci fame. Mr Dalvin does an incredible job of using the Harold and Sharon sample to craft a dope track for Ghost and Raekwon to spit over and the promo 12" even had an extended version which featured singing from Ol' Dirty Bastard as well as the remix instrumental. So for those of you who've never had a chance to hear these incredible tracks follow the link below and if you ever come across this gem in a record shop as Redman once said Pick it up pick it up.

Raekwon - Rainy Dayz remix promo 12" & Sample