PURPLE TAPE GIVEAWAY CONTEST


LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW OR EMAIL INFO@STRICTLYCASSETTE.COM

94 comments:

  1. The first time I heard OB4CL was at a friend's house. I actually listened to the purple tape, it was around 1996-97 I think. I didn't even know what I was listening to, I didn't know anything about US rap. I was blown away by the sound, our necks were about to break while we were headnodding. Then the years passed by and my friend sold his entire hip-hop collection piece by piece. I asked him last year, "hey, what about the purple tape?" and found out that he sold it around 2000-2001 for almost nothing. I really wanted to shoot him in the face for this....

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous17.9.12

    I remember back in middle school detention we would sneak in are tape players this one 8th grader had the purple tape and he would turn it from his headphones we was so far away from the teacher that a couple of us were actually Able to hear it. I was hooked immediately. Please let me get this tape its my favorite album of all time and in my opinion the greatest hiphop album of all time money. My email address is Dustinrbn@yahoo.com hope you liked my story

    ReplyDelete
  3. I hear ob4cl first time in the Age of 13 i saw the video ice cream.since then iam wu infected in dat time it wwas very difficoult

    ReplyDelete
  4. In dat time to get some wu stuff in germany but iam was hunting

    ReplyDelete
  5. I remember hearing Only Built for Cuban Linx for the first time at my man Dave's house. Dave was the year above me. He would put me on to joints like crazy. He would invite me and select few to his place and bless us. It was on one of those sessions that I heard the Purple Tape for the first time. I knew it was coming as a avid reader of both The Source & Hip Hop Connection. The weekend was 4 days away and one more pocket money payday away till I had the pounds I needed to buy it. It was gonna be mine but when Dave said he had it I couldn't wait. I had to hear the potential album of the before saturday. So we bundled round Dave's and he popped the tape in the deck. Now this is the first time I had seen a colour tape like that. I had seen a white tape but never a purple one. Seeing it made me think this had to be some old next level shit. It seemed so ballsy, something only the WU could do. The tape began and it was clear that this was going to be like the movies. We were listening to the tale of 2 hustlers/drug dealers who wanted out of the drug game. It felt like a Godfather/goodfellas kinda film but ingrained in the psyche of the streets of Shaolin. I had recently got into films and been introduced to the works of John Woo so it will come as no surprise to you that when I first heard the snatches of dialogue from The Killer my mind was blown! Each track on the album built, adding layer upon layer to the story. We all sat still, heads nodding in time to the Rza's sublime production. The music consumed us, weaving in and out of the speakers as members of the clan blessed tracks with their now famous new alias's created for the project. The album finally came to a end and the impact it left from my first listen I will never forget. It redefined the album experience for me again. I listen to the album every few weeks all these years on and recently gave a copy to my 15 year old cousin in attempt to keep the legacy of Only Built For Cuban Linx alive. I await his report.......

    ReplyDelete
  6. I was a freshman in high school when this dropped! My big brother came home with the cd the day it came out. I will never forget being in my room and hearing Knowledge God for the first time, bumping from my brother's room. That bass coming through the walls was crazy!! Still one of the best hip hop albums. I miss this sound!

    ReplyDelete
  7. The first time I heard the purple tape was in 2005 when I was in either in the 4th or 5th grade watching the boondocks and guillotine(swords) was playing in the background of one of the episodes. From that moment on I went to my big brother and he schooled me on the Raekwon and the rest of the Wu, from then on, pretty much all I listened to through middle school was in some way related to the Wu. When Rza released the Tao of Wu I went to barnes&nobles to watch him speak, when it was my turn in line to watch him speak I was so starstruck that I couldn't even find the strength to open the case of the 36chambers cd that I wanted him to sign, I'd never felt like that before and i felt like a b*tch lol. I remember patiently waiting for OB4CL2 to come out, and I bought it on the first day. I tried to got to the album release party but I wasn't old enough to get in. Either way I played that cd till I knew it by the back of my hand. I collect records with the little money I salvage , but I've always been obsessed with cd's records and cassetes since I was a child, the whole production and presentation of an album in it's physical form was always dope to me. When My older homies and uncles told me about the purple tape, it was always like a myth to me hahaha the majestic purple cassette, I literally had dreams about it. I never actually saw the purple tape before, but the closest I got was when I was walking home from school one day on lenox ave and this old man selling records had the original OB4CL lp, It was all jacked up and i got it for 2 dollars but to date that was one of the most exciting moments in my life. Wu-Tang 4ever.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The first time I heard this album I was in the the second grade I took my walkman to class and listen to it till the I got caught with.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous17.9.12

    we NEED MORE Re-Issue Cassettes AND even making cassette's for NEW DOPE Albums too! GOOD JOB Strictly Cassette Crew AND to Shout-Out to GetOnDown.com for doing this. Hope it won't be the last!
    - B.Done

    ReplyDelete
  10. Soopacee17.9.12

    well i heard glaciers of ice and Criminology all the time on Power 99....when the album eventually dropped, the first time i heard the whole thing i was smokin some blunts on the way to philly, listening to it in the whip with some homies.....we were going to philly to buy more tapes, records...and of course weed

    ReplyDelete
  11. I was never really a rap fan until my dad remarried and I had a new step brother who was an avid tupac fan. Of course I looked up to my brother so I became a hardcore tupac fan, but that was about the only rap I listend to besides a coupe other artists from the west coast. But the first day of my senior year in high school my best friend and I decided to wake n bake in his old Honda. It only had a cassette player and he only had one tape. Right when I got in the car I instantly asked him what was playing. That tape became one of my favorite pieces of music. It was my soundtrack to my senior year of high school and introduced me not only to the wu, but to all east coast rap

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous17.9.12

    the very 1st time i heard this album was when i hit the 9th grade heading into my summer break, (increasing my hip hop knowledege) my brother was banging hip hop like crazy and i was able to pick up most of the tracks due to the mix tapes that were constantly on rotation at the crib, but i remember being really bummed cuz i just played a high school baseball game that we lost and we didnt make the playoffs, , so instead of crying with my friends who took it real hard that we didnt win, i only could think of one thing that could ease my mind.. (you best believe i picked up a sack of chronic! no kush back then yet) made it back to the crib with some jack in the crack and noticed the cuban linx joint on my desk, i could rememeber it like yesterday banging it off my brothers cd player , , , the rest became history for me and raw hip hop.

    -la_blue

    ReplyDelete
  13. I was never really a rap fan until my dad remarried and I had a new step brother who was an avid tupac fan. Of course I looked up to my brother so I became a hardcore tupac fan, but that was about the only rap I listend to besides a coupe other artists from the west coast. But the first day of my senior year in high school my best friend and I decided to wake n bake in his old Honda. It only had a cassette player and he only had one tape. Right when I got in the car I instantly asked him what was playing. That tape became one of my favorite pieces of music. It was my soundtrack to my senior year of high school and introduced me not only to the wu, but to all east coast rap

    ReplyDelete
  14. I was on a beach in Bournemouth (South Coast of England) must of been the week it came out. My mate had purchased from the local HMV on his way down to meet us.. I new he was buying it.. so I took my cd walkman with portable speakers. We bumped that ish all day.. Im not sure if the other sun bathers realised they were listening to Hip-Hop history. Although we loved it on first listen I think we kinda took it for granted on just how good it was.. I think we got used to the wu bringing the real... I remember reading the inlay front to back numerous times being totally sucked into the world they created.. after that it was all about the helly hansen jackets, hilfiger polos etc.. Its still my fav Wu joint and in my top 5 albums of all time. I have the album on all formats.. unfortunately the tape aint the purple version.. but fingers crossed eh!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous17.9.12

    lakid87@gmail.com """""

    la_blue

    ReplyDelete
  16. It was September of 95 and I went to Minnesota( I'm from Washington State ) to go work at a corn factory. I was only 16 but only enough to get a summer job and make plenty of money to buy a bunch of dope hip hop albums. I had the Source magazine with me and the review of Raekwons album Only Built 4 Cuban Linx was mesmerizing. After two weeks of working graveyard for 12 hours a day and finally getting my very first paycheck, my brother took me to the Mankato Mall so we could go shopping. I bought Raekwons album, Grand Puba's 2000 album, Above the Law's Black Superman single, Mic G's Masta I.C. single and Shabazz the Disilpe's Death Be the Penalty single. What really stood out when I opened up Rea's plastic cassette case was the purple cassette. I was like man this is fucking nice and different. Every day when I woke up 2 hrs before work I would listen to OB4CL because it was so different from the west hip hop I was so used to. When I hear any song from the album I'm transported back to 95, cruising in my older brothers Cadillac bumping Glaciers of Ice in the summer breeze. I never did see another colored cassette until the Luniz's second album which was green. Anyways I didn't want to rush this comment to the be first, I just wanted to make sure anyone reading it would get a glimpse of a kid who was just happy to be able to afford to buy music in a summer that was so memorable like the purple tape. 1luv

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. Mr78priority@hotmail.com

      Delete
  17. The first time I heard Only Built for Cuban Linx was when I barely entered high school back in 2006. Around that same time I was growing my passion for true hip hop by listening to some of the game's greatest artists such as A Tribe Called Quest, Mos Def, Gangstarr, and not to forget the whole Wu-Tang clan. For me Raekwon, Ghostface, and the ODB always stood out from the crew with their unique flow and personality. So it was no surprise I would find my way to this great album. I remember the first joint I heard was Criminology and that forever got me hooked on this piece of work. Overall the whole album contained amazing lyrical content and I'm glad I was exposed to this numerous years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  18. its like this, being that i popped out in 89' i was only 6 or so when it dropped, but my father beeing probably one of the biggest hip hop heads you would ever meet would bump nothin but the wu at that time. he was the one who put me on to that whole wu way of life, and being around that at that age kind of changed my life and caused me to have a passion for this hip hop shit that even older heads would ask "yo how you know about that shorty?" that purple tape at first caught my interest because of its color, i mean i was 6 that shit was amazing to me, and on top of that poppin it in the deck just to hear the "cool tape" my father had bought as i liked to call it back then. it was single handedly that tape that reeled me in to this hip hop way of life. Peace, one love. Lxo1.89@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  19. Damon Jacobs17.9.12

    The first time I heard OB4CL was in August of 1995, the first week it dropped. I was 17 years old, about a month away from starting grade 12. My friends and I were (and still are) huge Wu-Tang fans! "The DZA" is a nickname a got around this same time because of how much I listened to Wu.

    I remember ODB's Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version was still getting heavy rotation at our house parties, it had dropped just a few months before. I heard Heaven & Hell, Criminology, and Glaciers of Ice in the months leading up to the release of OB4CL, and I knew that if the complete album was anything close to those tracks, it would be an instant classic.

    I remember I wasnt able to buy the album until the second day it was out because I had to work on the first day it dropped. I bought the CD at an HMV in downtown Toronto. The subway ride home was tough but enjoyable. I wanted to hear the album so bad but I only had a tape walkman at the time, the CD walkman's were to expensive so I had to wait until I got home to hear it. I spent the 45 minute ride home reading the pamphlet. Reading the insert pamphlet is a lost art. I was getting knowledge of production, samples, guest appearances, shoutouts, wondering who the fuck Cappachino was....lol. Good times.

    Just when I was about to get off the train and head home, a friend of mine paged me. Popped in a quarter at the payphone and he told me he had a few people over at his pad for a BBQ and wanted me to come by. I told him Id be bringing OB4CL and he was hyped!

    Arrive at my boy Jeremy's for some ribs, 40s, blunts and beats. His parents were away and everyone was out in the backyard doin what 17 year olds do. I toss on OB4CL and sat down with a plate of ribs and a St. Ides Crooked I brew. I remember I hardly talked to anyone for that first hour because I was trying to listen to the album.

    The sun was starting to set and it was a hazy orange, while the sky was, ironically enough, purple.

    damonjacobs@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  20. I first copped the purple tape at The Wiz in Middletown NY, the casseste costs me $7.99, $8.56 with tax. I remember that shit like it was yesterday. Me and my boy Ev Boogie drove a half hour to the mall to buy it. We walked into the Wiz reaking of weed, purchased it and left. We immediately popped it in the tape deck, rolled some dirt weed in a phillie and let our minds drift.What a great ride home

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous17.9.12

    I was in my 1st year of highschool, around 2nd or 3rd period, I told my math teacher I needed to use the bathroom. I left the class and made my way out the side door. Ran up 2 blocks to the local Strawberries record shop (no longer in the Albany, NY area) and was the first person at the door before they opened shop. At 1st they didn't even want to sell me the tape because they suspected I was skipping school. I told them I was going I. Late from a doc appt. and this Raekwon tape can't wait till after school. I bought the tape, popped it in my Sony black box and walked as slow as I could 2 blocks back to school with that purple tape pumping. Not realizing the school doors were locked and I needed to be buzzed back in by a hall monitor. So yeah, that week of detention will always be a memory of mine when I think "the purple tape"

    Who am I? Infamousedot on Instagram, Twitter and Infamousedot Design on Facebook.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Peter17.9.12

    The first time I heard the Raekwon cassette was when it was blasting out of my boom box, "Sharp GF 9494" it has some of the sickest lyrics I ever heard in a minute. After every song it was just fire, but then I guess it got to hot and after half way of the cassette my boom box ate that bad boy up and I never got to finished the rest of the cassette. I haven't found one since then and that's why I want to win this contest because money is tight.

    thestereohype87@gmail.com
    Instagram name:@thestereohype

    ReplyDelete
  23. The first time I heard the purple tape was in 2005 when I was in either in the 4th or 5th grade watching the boondocks and guillotine(swords) was playing in the background of one of the episodes. From that moment on I went to my big brother and he schooled me on the Raekwon and the rest of the Wu, from then on, pretty much all I listened to through middle school was in some way related to the Wu. When Rza released the Tao of Wu I went to barnes&nobles to watch him speak, when it was my turn in line to watch him speak I was so starstruck that I couldn't even find the strength to open the case of the 36chambers cd that I wanted him to sign, I'd never felt like that before and i felt like a b*tch lol. I remember patiently waiting for OB4CL2 to come out, and I bought it on the first day. I tried to got to the album release party but I wasn't old enough to get in. Either way I played that cd till I knew it by the back of my hand. I collect records with the little money I salvage , but I've always been obsessed with cd's records and cassetes since I was a child, the whole production and presentation of an album in it's physical form was always dope to me. When My older homies and uncles told me about the purple tape, it was always like a myth to me hahaha the majestic purple cassette, I literally had dreams about it. I never actually saw the purple tape before, but the closest I got was when I was walking home from school one day on lenox ave and this old man selling records had the original OB4CL lp, It was all jacked up and i got it for 2 dollars but to date that was one of the most exciting moments in my life. Wu-Tang 4ever.

    I already posted this comment but i used the link to my blog instead of my email adrress. Just making sure i followed protocol properly this time

    vvv5@live.com

    http://louis-v-belvedere.tumblr.com/

    http://www.facebook.com/aguy.vasco?ref=tn_tnmn

    ReplyDelete
  24. First time i heard OB4CL i was a youngster (around 10) and didn't quite understand what i was hearing...but i was mesmerized by the beats and the way they were attacked by the emcees...when i got older i revisited the classic and fell in love all over again...a family member had the original cassette back in the day and i was never able to get my hands on it...later on i copped the CD. As a huge WU fan(even have the W tatted on my arm) it would be really dope to be able to add the special edition reissue to my studio!!! Peace to all the Wu fans and whoever whens this better take care and appreciate the dopeness!!!

    email: Djanarchy@me.com

    ReplyDelete
  25. Maaan.
    This first time I heard OB4L was the day it came out. Bought it at tower records in Fresno, Ca. It was the one that had that "Sallah Raekwon" on the lower end. Will never forget it as long as I live. Shit spent the day doing 4 things....puffing blunts, drinking 64oz. jugs of ole English, listening to this CD & wanting to know what the fuck a Cuban Link was anyways. This was me & my boys favorite shit that year. Knuckleheads was my fucking song song. I'm a older hiphop head...on the west coast shit you were like a traitor if you didn't bump Death Row.....we were riders for all of hiphop, not just one side. Anyways my boy, Mike Mobley aka Daze 1 committed suicide in 1997, he mom blamed us, his friends so we wasn't allowed to attend the funeral. So a few of us got together one saturday night, went to his grave, smoked some, drunk some, played this CD, then dig a small hole & buried it with my friend.
    Even if I don't win, I finally got to speak in tbis cause this CD, "The purple tape" is more than hiphop history those who lived this era in music knows this was a huge part of the soundtrack of our lives.

    ....to mt man Daze One, we love you & miss you everyday friend. God bless your life.

    ReplyDelete
  26. The First time I got my hands on OB4CL was back in like 99-00. At the time, Everyone in the IE was hooked on drugs so everyone knew at least one Cluck head(They would sell stolen goods)
    Anyways,One of my buddies who was in in a rock band called me and told me he just bought a shit load of CDs from a cluck head and he seen some WU TANG symbls on a few and thought i should check em out. He Wasnt into hip hop and said "Go ahead and take what ever you like" In that stack of folders i found Common-resurrection, The Roots- illadelp half life, Blackalishious- Broken Arrow, Aesop Rockp Bazzoka toot Hiero- Third eye vision and of course Raekwon's Only Built For Cuban Links. Whwn i started high school I was deep into hip hop!
    To this day that album is still one of my favorites. The track Verbal Intercourse is still to this day my favorite track of all time. That track is the reason why i even decided to take a stab at MCing. Ive been MCing ever since!

    Follow me on Twit twat at @ItsArchitect909
    You can find a few of my tracks on www.Reverbnation.com/omclarchitect
    .... No its not what you think either, OMCL stands for Only MC Left lol.
    If I was to win that tape, Ill put it in my girls room as a shrine so my kids can see why their daddy is the way he is. Thanks you guys! Keep pushing the culture!

    ReplyDelete
  27. I remember copping the purple tape from The Wherehouse. Me and the homey were up on anything Wu-Tang. This is still the greatest Wu-Tang solo album to me yo! It's very dope to see that this is being reissued. I went through about 2 tapes and 3 different CD's. So yea, the copy I have now is not even purple anymore. I would love to have that purple tape back! Word up!

    smoothj14@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anonymous17.9.12

    I bought OB4CL at Sam Goody at my mall. As soon as I paid for it, I cracked it open, and put it my walkman. I spent the rest the of the afternoon in the food court listening to it I don't know how many times. By the time I got on the bus to go back home, I was already rapping along to Verbal Intercourse, and did not replace that tape for a good month. When I went back to college, my roommate and my boys had copies of their own, and it was the soundtrack to us moving into our dorms. Each of us took a lyric to Ice Cream and did it a cappella as were carrying our furniture up the stairs.

    secret4mulaco@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  29. Anonymous17.9.12

    Peace God,

    Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. I still remember getting my hands on this tape vile in 95' THE "PURPLE TAPE" at my local Mom & Pop spot. Shit was like Heroin being injected floating through my blood stream. The God in 95' was only "Striving for Perfection". I was a "KnuckleHead" being built on cuban linx just trying to get this "Knowledge God" Living in south central in 95' shit was crazy sun, crime everywhere, sun only had one education "Criminology" pumping madd trees, coke, shit was a soundtrack to niggas everywhere "Julio Iglesia getting C.R.E.A.M like that nigga". Now yo yo, what up yo, time is running out.It's for real though, let's connect politic - ditto! We could trade places, get lifted in the staircases. Word up, peace "Incarcerated Scarfaces" damn kid that was the illest hook in 95' shit was crazy my sun flip that like bricks. I remember back in 95' waiting for the RTD on Slauson, Purple Tape rocking it was one of those hazy "Rainy Dayz" some kid try to run up on me and rob me. I was like "Yo whatup kid" turn out it was my son Jus from the 60 blocks. I was about to body kid on some "Guillotine (Swordz)" type shit. Shit was bugged back then, just a young nigga rocking Wu-Wear not giving a fuck. "Can It Be All So Simple" till this day I ask myself this question. Damn, I remember watching this on "The Box" Rae had the illest Lo Piece, The Snow Beach joint. Not to mention MC EIHT made a small cameo in the video shit was bugged out. After the Linx dropped madd "shark niggas" was biting the WU. OB4CL was a breath of fresh air it was like drinking a cup of "Ice Water". Thinking back I remember playing "Glaciers of Ice" , "Verbal Intercourse", Wisdom Body" and "Spot Rusherz" so much that, that part of tape use to play a little slower than the other gems on this album i'm guessing I rewind it so much it got wore out. Those tracks were "Ice Cream" always on point when needed. Peace to all the "WU-Gambinos" living in Heaven & Hell" or in the words of starks "Peace to half-moon Caesars
    And all the bitches in the bleachers Hot weather, sex on the beaches"

    Peace to Shallah Raekwon aka the Chef

    nationofgods7@aim.com

    ReplyDelete
  30. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  31. The first time I heard Only Built 4 Cuban Linx I was roasting a blunt in the meijer parking lot with a co-worker of mine after work. It was hot outside you know, mid july and this white dude rolls by just bumpin' this awesome jam (that turned out to be the song Ice Cream) and I remember making the comment to my co-worker something to the effect of "dude, did you hear that? sounds like a wu-tang song" I'll never forget because he looked at me and said, "no...thats raekwon...that album's been out for 13 years now." at that point my mind was blown by not only the blunt but the fact that rap that "old" could still stand on its own and sound better than anything being produced even in '08. the rest is history

    ReplyDelete
  32. I remember the Raekwon's Purple Tape like it was yesterday, along with the slap from my mother for sneaking out any buying the album. It was the Summer of 1995 when Only Built For Cuban Linx came out. My mother was against any kind of hip hop that had curses in it after I let her hear Biggie's Ready To Die album. The video versions that I watched on Rap City after school paled in comparison to the album versions, as she also learned when she heard me walking around the house singing, "Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nothing To Fuck Wit" x100.

    SLAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    My mother laid a serious slap across the back of my head, and told me she didn't want me listening to any of the Wu-Tang fellow. She said they had some foul mouths that need to be washed out ith Brown Soap.

    Those were the days. But when The Purple Tape came out I was 14yrs old. One rainy Sunday afternoon, I told my mother that I was going to my grandmother's house who lived down the block from us. I walked to Graham Avenue where there was a store located around the corner from Kat's Drug Store that sold Spanish Music & Rap Albums. I took my allowance, and bought a copy of The Purple Tape for $7.99. I opened it up while I was walking home and was blown away that used a purple tape, to which i later learned Raekwon fought to make a product that stood out. I got that tape home, snuck into my room and listened to the tape all night. I had to hide the tape in my closet or keep it in my book bag. Until one day, my mother found the tape, pulled all the tape out of the cassette and waited until I got home to throw it in the trash. I remember her yelling at me.

    "You don't listen. Wait until your father here's about this."

    I never thought she would throw the tape out. I thought the would keep it and then give it back to me later. I still had my radio tapes and dubbs that i got from friends. But I never got another purple tape. I got the Only Built for Cuban Linx CD years later. At that time, The Purple Tape was iconic and hard to get, even back in the late 90's.

    Years later, I told my mother that the tape she threw away, was going to be worth so much money one day. She said, "SO!!!!!!!!" and walked away.

    I always hoped that i would get another purple tape again . . .

    ReplyDelete
  33. doodoopalmthepurpletape17.9.12

    first time i heard the purple tape i was at my homie snuffy's crib droping a deuce i couldnt wipe my ass fast enough when i heard his sister walk in pumpin spot rusherz on the box ran out the lavatory with shit on my hands from trying to wipe so fast and no time to rinse god damn this album inspired me so much to own a copy of it in a special keep sake box means so much to me please let the guy with the shitty handz win this classic tape i had a copy but my aunt lekisha used it as ash tray when i was on vacation sucks for me now if i dont win im going to be one of the asshole kids buying the og for 300 on ebay peace and thanks for having this contest

    ReplyDelete
  34. DRUFLOW17.9.12

    I remember my older brother bought the purple tape back n the day and it stayed in the cassete player for a min until I snatched it and held it hostage for a while till I got ruffed up and quickly returned it.Needless to say it exchanged hands often but ended up missing in the end and the legacy continues.................

    ReplyDelete
  35. DRUFLOW-drewr33@yahoo.com17.9.12

    DRUFLOW-drewr33@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  36. Being an older head, I could relate to what "cuban linx" meant and had to hear this album in 1996 because I was in the Army and stationed in Germany during this time. We would get music about 6 months to a year after it got dropped in the states. I would go every week to the "Sight and Sound" store to see what new hip hop they had. Talk about digging in the crates. I ran across this joint and of course recognized Raekwon as a Wu member and knew my money was going to be be well spent. I had just bought my first new car: A shiny new Honda Civic. And had already installed a 10 inch subwoofer, Amps, tweeters, EQ. Two words: Incarcerated Scarface. Period. Riding on the Autobahn going 115 mph and BANGIN this joint made being thousands of miles away from home a little better.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Agent Guevara17.9.12

    I was living in puerto rico playing mixtapes vibing to heaven & hell even rainy days remix because I had it but this wasnt available over thier so when I decided to return to the bronx, as soon as I get on the block...my friend Jamel runs up on like yo! you got to hear this, I was like why, so I heard it and it played like a movie, the lyrics, the beats & the skits.....this is hands down my favriote album of all time and Raekwon knows it!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Agent Guevara17.9.12

      NatureSounds94@aol.com

      Delete
  38. i remember listening to oly built for cuban linx back in 98' i was 10 years old and just finished elementary school. i went to middle school and met new people and there i got introduced to my only love... hip-hop. one day in 98' i went to a school friends home after school and we listened to some hip-hop but when he put only build for cuban linx in the cd player and striving for perfection started i fell in love with this album. we listened to the whole album and i took it home with me to transfer it from the cd on a tape. the next view weeks the tape was 24/7 in my walkman and i still love it and listen to the cd from time to time. but having the purple tape would be the dopest thing ever :) so if i win my email adresse is: sascha_keuthen@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  39. Ok first things first. I am featured on this site as well as promote SC like no other. I have been a supporter since its humble beginnings. And I won't enter anonymously because I don't believe I should excluded from this contest. I am not paid by SC.com in anyway. So let me keep it simple. Not many have done more for the current state of rap tape culture as much as me. The first time I heard the purple tape it had the same impact on me as just about everybody else's entry. So I won't make up some BS. Hooked like crack cocaine. I bought it at The Wall in Pottsville, Pa. the Tuesday it was released. I don't remember the exact date and I don't care to google that shit. Also the reason mine had a blue lifetime sticker on the back of the case. I put it in the take deck of my wip 500ft. outside of that store and cranked that shit with the windows down for several hours afterwards and took it to my bedroom til I fell asleep. Woke up the next day, played it til I got dressed and immediately took my ass back to The Wall and bought another copy. Because any head will tell you dope albums like this always gets wings. So originally I had 2. One was gone early and the other was on a return trip back to me when unfortunately it got lost in the mail. And I'm sad and angry I no longer have an OG. Some dickhead postal worker probably has it. I'm a bit of a narcissist so I'll tell you no one deserves this more than me. Period. This will go to a good home where it will be respected unlike some hipster who only wants it to be cool. Much respect to all OG collectors as well as those just catching on. I'll wrap it up and say salute to the dope site StrictlyCassette.com on this contest and wish nothing but continued success. It's come a long way. Consider my entry and no hard feelings if I'm looked over. Peace y'all kevinschwenk@ymail.com & @kevinschwenk

    ReplyDelete
  40. The first time I heard of Rae was around '97 with the track "Ice Cream". I didn't know who the dude was or anything. I just remember my cousin bumpin' it when I was a kid. Fast forward around 2002, that's when I actually discovered "OB4CL". I was looking for Nas features because he was my favorite MC at the time so I had to find out more tracks he was on. The one that stuck out was "Verbal Intercourse". The name itself is just so fxckin' raw! So I checked it out. It blew my mind! I've never heard production like that before and the lyrics/flow from all three dudes (Ghost, Nas, & The Chef himself) were all too dope. I was finally able to link that the "Ice Cream" track was on "OB4CL" and then it was on. I played that album from beginning to end for about a month straight. Looked into more Rae stuff. I just became a fan instantly. That whole 90's NY Hip-Hop vibe was and still is my thing. As much as I like to (or try to) listen to new stuff, I always find myself going back to the classics. And "OB4CL" is def one of them! Oh, and you can send me a copy of the Purple Tape to: markinopea@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  41. Anonymous17.9.12

    I heard it at Loud Records while sitting next to him before it was on tape. True story but not trying to enter contest. I was just lucky.

    ReplyDelete
  42. The first time I ever heard the chef was Saturday morning on BET Rap City with Joe Claire. Coming from Wichita Kansas the Ice Cream video was like peeking into another world. The Ice cream truck, the Tommy Hilfiger, the girls in the Ice Cream shirts. It changed my life.

    I begged my mom for a Hilfiger "Snow Beach" jacket. Bought a pair of wallabees and SWORE I was a member of Wu-Tang. After saving up my money from mowing lawns i was able to purchase "OBFCL" To be honest I didn't really know what Rae and Ghost were talking about, but I loved it anyway. From "Knowledge God" to "Incarcerated Scarfaces" I still to this day know this album by heart. It set the foundation for my love of hip hop today.

    Coming from the Midwest the version I purchased was the clear cassette, but I've always wanted to own the hip hop holy grail "purple tape".

    Thanks for giving me the opportunity to tell my story and hopefully win this tape.

    Kyle Williams
    kwill1000@gmail.com
    politikditto@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  43. I first heard 'Only Built..." whilst working my first job in a record store. In hindsight it was a fateful day. I had come in on my day off and was standing at the stereo with ear phones whilst those on roster were handling the last of the paperwork before shutting down for the day. All of a sudden this 6"4 redheaded New Yorker came in with a 5"2 Dominican sista in a suburb in Australia that was essentially krakkkaville. They came in asking about Souls of Mischief and over-hearing them I asked if they were after '93 or 'No Man's Land'. The girl's surprise and the dude's amusement that my dark blue satin t, leather pants, leather sky-high pumps knew who Souls were was priceless. They wanted to talk but I told 'em I was too busy checking out Raekwon's latest but gimme their digits and I'd holla. Dude was more of a backpacker not into the Wu but after hitting them off with a cassette dude claimed 'Rainy Dayz' was his fav jawn of the year. And THAT'S how the circumstances of how I met my best friend for 12 years and Raekwon's 'Only Built For Cuban Linx' ;D <3

    ReplyDelete
  44. First time I heard it was when Bigga B from Loud Records played it out of the Loud promo van. The Loud van used to come to V.I.P. records on the east side of Long Beach, Ca all the time. I would get every CD with the bar code punched out or 12 inch single from them before it came out in the stores. They liked the fact of me going in Poly High and always doing the promo for whenever they had in-stores to whatever was about to come out. Him and B Fin from Loud always looked out for me with the free promo shit and in return I would pass out the samplers to everyone in school or ran into in the street. Those guys knew how much I embraced the music that Loud records was putting out from Wu to Tha Liks to Mobb Deep. I always got everything before it came out and was always invited to events. Sadly I couldn't make it to any of the Unity shows that Bigga B put together since they were always on school nights and I was underage. When I think of this tape, I think of Bigga B. Bigga B was one of the most essential people of street promo in the 90s. He made sure people knew about Loud Records and doubt anyone can duplicate the "Unity" shows. Here goes an example of some of the fliers. Rest in piece bro.

    http://www.youtube.com/watchfeature=player_embedded&v=pF0MpCjsUlU

    I also remember the time I got to smoke a blunt with Raekwon at We The People Festival in Downtown LA some years ago. I went to the show with EPMD and everyone looked like they needed some weed. Luckily, I went to the marijuana dispensary before I got there. All these rappers from Kurupt to Sean Price to the god himself, Raekwon wanted to holla at me. For about 30 minutes I ended up in a tour bus smoking out with Raekwon. I remember the conversation being about OB4CL and how it was so dope. He knew what time it was and we ended up chopping it about the process of the album.

    theedopeshow1@gmail.com

    PS. If I win that tape, I am buying another MPV.

    ReplyDelete
  45. I was in 7th grade and staying at my best friends house. He had a brother that was about 10 years older but he wasn't there at the time and we went into his room and there was rack full of hip hop albums everywhere. I wasn't into hip hop at the time but the 'Only Built' cover stood out to me and my friend. As soon as we hit the play button I was hooked and been in love with Raekwon, Wu and hip hop in general ever since.
    PS I posted this story on your Instagram earlier but at the time it was 3am and I was extremely tired so didn't read the instructions correctly cause my eyes were half closed so I hope no one has stolen my story haha. My email is cameronfabijan@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  46. The first time I heard the whole album it was the thursday before the album dropped. I was DJ-ing at a club here in Houston and my man DJ Frosty Ice brought the vinyl up to the club, he already marked all his favorite tracks on the album, it was early in the evening and there was maybe 30 people in the club, I said fuck it and played the whole album. Everyone sat near the dj booth and we all just vibed out to it. Afterward once things got poppin I played slections throughout the night, the late crowd had no idea what they were listening to, it was dope to see.
    That following weekend my man Sisboombah picked me and our crew up in his montero and we listened to the whole purple tape in his ride driving around all night. Those were some classic nights accompanied by a classic soundtrack. Thanks Rae for creating those moments, wouldn't trade them for anything.

    ReplyDelete
  47. it started in 95 me and my mom was at a garage sell and i saw a purple tape no covers i just picked it up and went to my mom and said this. i don't remember how much she paid and honestly wasn't sure what it was but i popped it in soon as i got home and the intro left me in a ahh. i mean i was 6 years old. i must of listened to that tape 3 times a day after school was amazing from start to end,didn't understand to much about what he was talking about. until the tape finally spoiled. it was years later that i brought the CD and let me tell you the album is still perfection and all was understoood. it was one of the reason i researched the movie the killer from chow yun fat and scarface growing up . watching hours of mafia, kungfu, black exploitation, films i was raised and molded in wu tang clan and raekwon along with ghost became my favorite.his style and delievery on ob4cl was like magic. Alot of the tracks in the album i could relate to as a teen believe it or not, i was a Knucklehead wondering if it could be all so simple. i loved this album so much respect to RAE for the classic , even tho i don't win knowing i told my tale and everybody else feel a certain way about this album is big.. knightboss954@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  48. LOL damn there's no way I'm gonna win, but whatever I'll try. So around two years ago, I decided to get into the Wu. Loved 36 Chambers, loved how it was so gritty and how there were 9 guys who could lyrically rip it. I was still a young cat looking for some new (or classic) hip hop to listen to. After 36, I listened to some of the solo albums, and before I listened to OB4CL, I really liked GZA's Liquid Swords. At the time, it was one of my favorite albums ever. Then like a year after that, I heard Ghostface and Raekwon were gonna be at Rock The Bells, and I was going so I was excited. I saw there were gonna perform OB4CL at the time, but I didn't know what the album was like. So I thought "if i were gonna see them, i might as well listen to the album." So I decided to look up each track on youtube in order. The first intro was cool, but it was just an intro, so I was just waiting for the first song to come up. Right when Knuckleheadz comes on, with that piano... I was sold. Rae's first verse was dope, but I loved how Ghostface came out.. "who's the Knucklehead wanting respect?" Then "Knowledge God" comes on, the violin intro is amazing. I kept that song on repeat for a while. The vid for Criminology was as cool as the song, with Ghost chillin in a bathrobe haha. Man I could talk about every song on here but they're all just great. Wu-Gambinos, Verbal Intercourse, with one of the best Nas verses ever, the Can It Be remix..... Guillotine Swordz was a track I remember listening to out of the blue, and I totally forgot it was on this album ha! Even the skits in the songs are interesting. The slang on this album is crazy, and it's amazing how they make it all flow together. What got me into this album though was the production. RZA's production on this album is some of my favorite production I've ever heard. Hell he's using samples from video games and movies. That's definitely going out of the box. Sounds just like a movie. This album almost made me forget about Liquid Swords for a while ha! (both are my favorite albums though, no doubt). And at RTB, they blew the fuckin house down!

    @senorcarlos24@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  49. Juan Millan18.9.12

    Man....... The first day I fell in love with hip hop was the day I heard OB4CL. I was 13 years old(1999) and I was actually introduced to 36 chambers but there was something about Rae that just caught my ear. His word play, his gambino flow. His "i'll slap the shit out you with a toothpick in my mouth" style just made me say "shit I need his lp!" and damn sure i saved enough what left over change from groceries and shit my parents bought and got me OB4CL! A classic! The reason why I know the beef between BIG and em.. And my pick up line "you eyes sparkle. Just like glass in the son".. "ice cold bitches get melt when in the clutch, they want their titties sucked" I mean damn this cd changed my life. Started studying the clan and each chamber and their uniqueness and RAE was the one that stood out and motivated me to be who I am today. Twitter @jaecmill

    ReplyDelete
  50. Anonymous18.9.12

    aight so... summer 95 I was 10 yrs old growin up in hartford ct and i remember being in tha last week of summer camp ridin tha bus one morning.. and my friend had a dubbed copy from his older brother and we would listen but our young ears and eyes hadnt seen enough of tha world to comprehend tha complexity of what reakwon was spittin.. when i got older tho around 10 grade (2000) i bought Supreme Clientele and tha cd version of OBFCL and it was like i never heard this before.. songs like "Guillotine (swordz)", "Can it be all so simple rmx" "Ice water" and especially "Verbal Intercourse" blew me away, somethin about Raekwon Ghost and Nas on a Rza track together was jus way too alluring, id replay it all day.. or ever time id here "Tommy Hill ice rockin niggas" or "Allow me to demonstrate tha skill of shoalin.." The Beats, Rhymes, sound bites and even skits made this one the most memorable projects to me ever!.. i made sure i went out and got tha vinyl too... s/o to @buttonpusha on IG email: n.thatcher@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  51. Summer of 1995 - just finished Junior year of HS - and we had just moved into the city proper (Chicago), from the suburbs. And my welcome to the city was the Chicago Heat Wave of 1995 - 750 heat-related deaths. Having survived July's power outages, looting, and sticky melting streets, New Music Tuesday was on the menu. Everyone had "36 Chambers," most of us copped "Return to the 36 Chambers," and "Criminology" had already dropped as a double A-side with "Incarcerated Scarfaces," which was everyone's 1200's.

    Early morning August 1st, with my yellow SONY Sport Walkman (with the 'S' scratched off, and a T added so it said TONY) I took the Red Line down to Fullerton (still used tokens then, haHA!) and skated down Clark the rest of the way to Tower Records, climbed the stairs and waited for the doors to open for that purple tape that managed to both: make the summer more bearable, and make the urban landscape more menacing.

    Ghostface: "...it feel hot at night and shit."
    Me: "Word."

    antoniodvergara@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  52. BP - ill Raekwon font, by the way, that shit is nice.

    ReplyDelete
  53. Nerd_Herder18.9.12

    it was the summer of 95, just before my sophomore year in HS. i grew up in a lower-middle class rural town in NC. My fam was poor but comparatively speaking, we were apart of the upper-echelon of the poverty ladder, which isn't really saying much. like most black neighborhoods, no matter where your geographic location there is always a pocket of the 'hood where the landscape is a little more disparaging, the people just a little more desperate and it is there, i would escape to and strangely find some freedom.

    i was a tomboy who hung out with cats who were much older than me. on occasion these dudes would make road trips "up north" to cop fake designer wares and flip em to folks down south who didnt have access and wanted to front on the untrained eye. One dude, Sean C. after coming back home from NY had this tape. it was purple. he was a bootlegger, so i figured this was just another bootlegged mix-tape he got along with his fake MCM bags and Gucci shirts. Sean C was also an aspiring rapper who was always up on the latest, greatest & under the radar artists. He had an ear for hip-hop greatness and I knew whatever was on this "purple" tape was going to be special.

    Sean C. broke out his sister's pink boombox (we clowned him for that repeatedly), plugged it into the socket of his project patio as me, Izm, Black, and Vee eagerly waited to hear. "This that new Chef Raekwon" he said. My eyes got big, "First ODB, now Raekwon? The Wu ain't breaking up?" I asked. I broke my dubbed Enter the 36 Chambers tape rewinding "Can It Be that It was all so simple" and although I was developing a weird love affair with ODB's maniacal yet lyrical wizardry, I still wasn't trying to hear that. Izm chimed in, "nah, he just doing his own thing". The cypher was beginning as a nickel baggie was opened and fresh Philly had been split its guts falling on the concrete. I didn't indulge. it wasn't my thing. music was my high.

    Just before those raw, gutteral beats there was this crackle as was the case with most analog. Starks & Rae at first are politicing then came the crescendo. Rza's fingerprints were all over it. I was too young to understand how masterful each song lead into the next, creating a movie in my head where only the actors and the stage were mine to create. The homies were dissecting the lyrics with a surgeon's precision down to a philosphical, hood science. They were older so they some had the experiences that paralleled those lyrics. Criminology and Incarcerated Scarfaces got em amped while Verbal Intercourse seemed to blanket the air, causing us all to be introspective. truly all i really remember was how it made me feel; like i'd taken that first line of blow and then anxious to rewind it back, just to recapture the feeling.

    MsLDHardy@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  54. I wish to listen this album in cassette with a purple haze blunt..that would be Cla-Sick!
    Peace from France.
    Cnhitz@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  55. MoneyMarc18.9.12

    I met my wife at a college party and when I got back to my dorm to see what was good after the party Cuban linx was the soundtrack for the night. I called the number she gave me and was shocked she was playin the purple tape in the background too! It was love at first listen lol. We built a bond and frienship over cuban Linx and got married 6 years later and have been married for 12 years with three kids. We still rock to cuban linx on road trips especially when the kids take a nap lol.

    I copped the purple tape for the first time from a record store on Pitkin ave in Brownville Brooklyn, Took it to college in VA. I Let my tape rock til my tape popped then copped another from tower records. After I popped that one I copped the cd from a friend selling his collection. Then I copped again because he didnt have the liner notes. Then when my wife to be moved in I had double copies lol

    I need a copy just for nostalgia but I still got a tape deck in the whip too!

    marcus.lacewell@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  56. First time I heard Cuban Linx, I had just bought the tape and was about half way through side B when my brother came in my room, beat my ass for something I can't remember and took my tape out of the box and threw it out the window. I went and got it out of the snow, cleaned it off and got to play a couple more tracks before it got ate. I spliced it back together the next morning and finished it. I had that same copy with the scotch tape holding it together for about 10 years and listened to it countless times until it finally got stolen. I replaced it with a CD and I remember being surprised as hell to hear "North Star" at the end of it the first time I listened to the cd all the way through.

    ivancmerlin@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  57. Anonymous19.9.12

    I will not/could never forget the first time I heard Rae's OB4CL. I was only 8 years old and my Hip Hop roots were just coming alive. Headed to this record shop I used to buy candy at with my older cousin and I saw him checking it out while I was doing kid stuff. This was the older cousin that put me on to EVERYTHING, he was my idol and just the coolest/all-knowing person I ever knew. I asked him what it was and he said, quote "THIS is what Hip Hop stands for." It was a moment that stayed in my head forever, one of my oldest childhood memories that I remember vividly. Wu Wear hat and all, he cops TWO of Raekwon's purple tapes (one for him and one for me), looks down and says "Wu-Tang is for the children". We get in the car and he pops it in as we ride back to my house; man I was in a zone I never knew existed, breaking down every bar and fully engulfing myself as thinking I'm an 8-year old cocaine trafficker, lmao.

    We get to my crib and I thank my cousin for everything, he hands me my purple tape. I get indie and immediately put it in my tape deck (at this point, OB4CL is my only tape and first Hip Hop piece ever). I get about 1 minute into "Striving For Perfection" as my mom knocks the door open screaming and asking wtf I was listening to. She took it and I never saw it again, while my mom (to this day) claims she lost it. After that, my cousin, still having his, told me I could come by anytime and listen to his tape w/ him...freely haha. We chilled a lot more after that and he took me under his wing, mentoring me about everything Hip Hop.

    Long story short, Raekwon's "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..." has impacted my life not only on a musical level, but also connected and intrigued me to learn about the entire meaning of Hip Hop and the culture that comes with it. Today, I run 2 websites, manage a successful duo (Notoriety) and am obsessed with the Wu and it's all based off the fact that OB4CL existed.

    matthewwhitlock@dropther.net

    ReplyDelete
  58. Anonymous19.9.12

    The first time I heard this album Is the day I fell in love with hiphop.

    Oliva33@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  59. The day it dropped I took a bus to the mall, ran into the Camelot and bought it. I quickly took the plastic off and popped that joint in. I was bumping it in my headphones all the way home on the bus. Took like 1/2 the day to get to the store and back, but it was worth it. Classic.

    ReplyDelete
  60. I was in grade 7. I was into rock at the time. My boy played this album for me and that was it. I had officially become probably one of the biggest Wu fans ever. This album changed my life. I absolutely fell in love with hip hop that day. I still listen to this album religiously. Best album ever IMO. Would love to get my hands on this awesome piece of music history.

    Davidjleon@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  61. OB4CL came out on Tuesday, August 1st. the summer after my first year in college. I ran to Tower Records that afternoon and snagged it up real quick, eventually buying the vinyl at Fat beats in LA.

    at the time my friends and I had been recording music of our own on 4 tracks, and the inspiration OB4CL provided was paramount. Making beats on a Roland MS-1 and a vinyl collection, we were inspired by not only the music, but the skits and everything woven into the mystique of not only the Purple color of the tape itself, but the whole format behind the tape.

    Not just a normal album... it was like bumping a mix tape, the continuous flow of sound streaming through the box was amazing. to get wrapped up in a ghetto mafia storyline. it was like cinema on cassette. it still is. my cassette copy was either misplaced or lost to someones hands, but I still have my vinyl... just not the same thing. Need that purple tape. nothing matches the analog sound.

    mikejune22@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  62. Brian Correia19.9.12

    Dear Strictly Cassette,

    I am a 24-year-old who grew up in the 'burbs of Boston. I grew up around a bunch of ign'ant folks who didn't much care about music (my uncle, at least, cared enough to have a "You Can't Spell Crap Without 'Rap'" bumper sticker). Content to bump the very same adult contemporary and top 40 that was in constant rotation in my parents' car, I didn't much care about music myself until seventh grade when a friend of mine introduced me to a "punk" (he would later dye his hair blue) who introduced me to The Clash and the free music of mp3.com. That began an Internet-fueled music obsession that has consumed me ever since. But still, for a long time, I avoided rap like the plague. I had been led to believe by my family and my peers that it was music for "wiggas" and actual black people. Slowly but surely, though, I tip-toed into the hip-hop world via the usual rock-radio suspects: Cypress Hill, Run-DMC, The Beasties, and Public Enemy. The more I listened, the more I loved hip-hop. I started doing more and more research, deciding that more and more artists were "acceptable" for me to listen to like the little prick I was. Armed with a CD burner, a stack of blanks, and the filesharing programs/websites du jour, I listened to shit like Ready to Die, Illmatic, and Enter the Wu-Tang for the first time, as part of an Internet-guided hip-hop-for-beginners boot camp I put on for myself. Believe it or not, I had to wait for those albums to grow on my virgin ears, but I'm glad I did. As such, I did not have the opportunity to hear OB4CL until probably around 2003 (freshman or sophomore year in high school), when 36 Chambers finally clicked and I was devouring every so-called "essential" Shaolin release that allmusic.com told me to. To be honest with you, for a long time I preferred Liquid Swords. But I think of that now and laugh: Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... is clearly the victor. I copped the CD, I copped the LP (Record 2 melted off my turntable next to a sunny window, though), and the Purple Tape is the missing Cuban Link in my cassette collection. It's The Godfather of hip-hop albums, and not just because it's the only one with a dope sequel. It has soundtracked each of my summers since I heard it, millions of car rides, and inspired at least one ill-fated attempt to customize some Wallabees I bought on eBay. I'm a more rabid rap fan today than ever, but whenever I'm getting bored or fed up with the infinite choices that a service like Spotify provides, I look back in envy of the days when I was Googling "top 10 hip-hop albums" and hearing this shit for the first time. But then I put it on, and it feels like the first time all over again. How many albums can you say that about?

    Ch'boy,
    Brian
    (brianmcorreia at gmail dot com)

    ReplyDelete
  63. The 1st time i ever heard OB4CL was when i was so young that i was riding around with my pops bumpin it. From then on The Wu has always been my favorite ever since then! WU 4EVER !!! I even still have the original purple tape i love this album!

    edhendershot@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  64. Wu Tang albums were the anthems to most of my high school years. 95 was a great year and great year for the Wu Tang in my opinion. Return to the 36 Chambers, Only Built For Cuban Linx and Liquid Swords. It was the summer after my high school graduation. I took my mothers Aerostar minivan without permission of course and swooped up a couple of homies. My boy Jeremiah had just copped the Raekown album and we couldn't have been more excited but we headed to Sherman's Liquor first before we popped it in the tapedeck. We pimped a homeless guy to buy us some St Ides flavored malt liquor 22's that were poppin at the time. After we headed to the local train tracks to do some graff on the cars. On the way there we bumped the hell out of the album, puffing, sipping and acting a fool. I swear Knuckleheadz came on and I was like "this shit is perfect for our little misson"! One of my favorite joints off the album by the way, it would get me all riled up back than haha. Anyhow that was a pretty good night for a good year! Peace Godz!!!

    Eugene M

    Dumbitdown77@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ILLMeGA20.9.12

      Sup people ?

      I am 33 and I am from France.
      I discovered rae skills in the "protect ya neck" joint in 1992 and He's been my favorite from the beginning.
      "Enter the wu" is a dope album but ""Only Built 4 Cuban Linx" is a classic !
      I remember perfectly the day when I had the album in my hand because I had waited like 3 weeks my order from loud records. Indeed, at this time, it was not so easy to get import stuffs from the US in my town.
      At the first listening, I was kinda disappointed because my expectations were very high !
      The second time, I was high and I really loved it; it really made sense !
      The special stuff about this album is the cinematic aspect ! It's my favorite movie of all time !
      I mean the tales from lex and starks match perfectly the cinematic ambiance of this album.
      This is my favorite rap album from all time before "illmatic" and my fav tracks are "incarcerated s arfaces" and "north stars" (jewels).

      Glad to be participate to this contest !

      Peace ya all from France !

      ILLMeGA

      Email: cdalzuffo@gmail.com

      Delete
  65. 1995 two years outta High School & the group home where I had emancipated at 18. Those were real hard times in my life livin on the streets from room to room hotel to hotel tryin to figure out what I was gonna do with my life & who I would have to vic for my next meal. I was datin some girl I had fell for years before & we had met back up but now she had a baby from some other guy & she was always comin & messin with me then leavin to her baby daddys. We would fight like crazy breaking things yellin & screamin at each other. I remember how I used to lay in bed & listen to Rainy Days & think about that girl all pissed off & lovesick (simpin over some ratchet #FAIL ). That purple tape was the soundtrack to my life at that time it was so gully & grimey that it put everything else in perspective. I would bump Incarcerated Scarfaces I think more than anything. I was whylin out at those times slangin, robbin fools, boostin out the mall & returnin that shit to another mall. Those were the days when you didnt need a reciept if it still had the tags on it. All the cocaine references & murder/guntalk on the Rae tape made it feel like the weed I was smokin & the little bit a dirt me & my homeys was doing wasn't shit. I gotta lot of good memories of that tape and everytime it'd break get stolen or I'd leave it in someones car I'd by it again. I must have bought atleast 8 or 9 at the Wherehouse or Sam Goody back in the day. Heads around my way in Cali were bumpin DJ Quick & Second 2 None at that time & liked to call anything EastCoast backpacker rap but like I said before to me it was a soundtrack to my movements the lowdown grimey bitter way I was livin at that time. All Praises Due to the Most High for gettin me up outta that mess & for always givin us some dope HipHop to rock along the way. Peace
    thereallastman@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  66. I lost my hip hop virginity 2 that tape.................

    ReplyDelete
  67. Listened to OB4CL at the age of 15. Blew my mind! Used the order form in the CD to order some Wu-Wear...took one year to get it! Still listen to that record! I need this set!

    ReplyDelete
  68. Anonymous20.9.12

    I recall being upset prior to the release because it kept getting pushed back. For some reason there was something about this particular Wu record that had Hip Hop heads everywhere anticipating it's release. I really can't remember being that excited about a release date before that album. When it finally did......"!!!!!" I had the cassette of course. Sony Walkman days on the bus to school. It dropped in the Summer & I remember enrolling for sophomore classes, catching up with friends & enjoying the fact we all shared the listening experience of that album before the end of Summer to talk about & set us off on a style trend for the entire school year. My best friends and I were the only ones rocking Wallabees on campus! We had the illest footwear & some folks didn't know where the influence came from. Definitely left an impression as a true Musical Masterpiece.

    ReplyDelete
  69. Anonymous20.9.12

    the above comment ectoplas@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  70. Anonymous20.9.12

    I was 9 years old when I first heard OB4CL. I was in my room and my older brother came home, rushed to his room, and slammed his door. Didn't think anything of it, but out of nowhere I heard other people talking in his room. I thought he was watching a movie, but the dialogue turned into rapping. I slowly moved toward the wall that separated our rooms and leaned my ear towards the wall. For the next couple of minutes I was sitting down, my ear on my wall, bobbin my head to the music. Then I heard verbal intercourse, at the time I thought it was a Nas song. I was able to distinguish his voice because a year before my brother introduced me to Nas' illmatic. So I got up, knocked on his door, he paused the music and opened his door. Asked me what I wanted and I asked him "are you listening to a new Nas album?" He laughed. He let me into his room and schooled me on Raekwon and his new album. 25blacksocks@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  71. The best part of growin up back in the 90'z was bumping that purple tape on the train every day on my way to school ..if you only knew how many time I bought that tape over and over , if the tape pop in my boy's whip you already know im coppin a new one on friday ..I made sure my sony/aiwa was always fresh and clean so it won't eat my tapes.. I still have a few hundred tapes that I still bump here and there.. yo almost every record store in the city knew me ..I used to hit them up weekly , from queens to harlem ..

    ReplyDelete
  72. I was on Wu from early doors but when cuban dropped...

    WHEN CUBAN DROPPED...

    it was like nothing my boys and I had heard before. NOTHING.

    It was Wu...but it was a totally different angle. It was the real birth of one of the most iconic hiphop tag teams ever in ghost and rae.

    It was ICE WATER.

    It was HEAVEN AND HELL.

    We were 16. living in London and the silk rawness of that album was like the perfect backdrop....

    It didn't matter that it was shaolin because it was OUR soundtrack. I cant even stress to you how bad we wanted the butter pecan rican's and french vanillas...

    We would go to each others yards/cars/go to our girls/westwood/ and it would be on repeat...BANGING...with the odd drop of 36 chambers, mobb (R.I.P), odb (R.I.P), gza...

    It would get me through work/college and shitty times

    I'm 33 and I'm still wishing things could be simple.

    Thats how much this album means to the hiphop community. shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!
    The boxset isn't even for me it's for my baby bro WHO I FED THIS ALBUM TOO! AGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

    damn I'm pumped.

    Peace god.

    Jamie@collectiveimage.net


    ReplyDelete
  73. Anonymous21.9.12

    the first time i heard OBFCL i was living in East Afrika (Kenya) and was @ school. Someone had brought a bunch of tapes from a mysterious group called "Wu Tang Clan". at the time, my only image of them was a foggy black and white image ripped from an early rap magazine (before the source) which was taped to my metal pencil case.

    each tape (OBFCL, Ironman and Liquid Swords) was meant to tell us more about the group- who they were, what they looked like, but most importantly, what they were saying, but it only added to the mystery. there was no internet, and in Afrika, there was certainly nothing that could even possibly get you more clues to this mystery.

    about a week after listening to this tape- i couldn't get the music out of my head. ice-cream? incarcerated scarfaces? i didn't know what any of this meant, until about 4 months later, when i saw the music video to both these videos.

    i ran to tell my friends what i had just seen. "this is what i saw" i said, and vividly and very lively explained everything. it didn't help fully explain the questions we had in our mind, but it started that chase to acquire as much information about this illusive group.

    to this day, i cannot tell you i fully understand what the music means (we all know the references to the mob, cocaine dealing etc), but i feel like all this is the top of an iceberg, with more details still submerged underneath.

    this is my story.

    Charles
    ckariuki (at) gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  74. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  75. P.sincere@gmail.com

    First time I heard OB4CL, I was in elementary school, either 3rd or 4th grade. I was already Familiar with the Wu from "chessboxin" single. All my older brothers and cousins were huge Wu fans so I was influenced early. I remember hearing "Criminology" and was blown away. "ice cream" was a automatic favorite due to the dope classic video with the variety of women (especially shorty ghost was spittin too). The whole gambino persona throughout the album was new, exciting and made you really feel like you were watching a movie. The whole "featuring Ghostface" made it really feel like a joint album but also introducing another artist on a whole new level. Another memory is when a friend of mine got hit by a car, it was around the time "Glaciers of Ice" video dropped and the ending part "a longgg timeeee" always scared me and made me think of the accident for some reason lol. But all in all, definitely a monumental and classic album.

    ReplyDelete
  76. This Album is close to my heart at it was released around the time my grandfather died. His funeral was in Puerto Rico. I remember bringing my walkman and playing it and these kids who did not know English were jamming to it. It's crazy how hip hop has no bias and has crossed many cultural barriers. That’s what I call a real Hip hop moment. So whenever I hear a song off the album I think of that time

    @oliva33 twitter.
    oliva33@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  77. DAVE HATE21.9.12

    ok ..here goes.

    back when this came out i bought the tape(purple) and cd(purple case also) i was a graff kid coming up and would live with the headphones turned up to ten.. i considered this an anthem to my situation( i grew up in foster homes(parents were heroin addicts)so alot of the raw gritty diolouge was relatable to me in a million ways...

    fast forward some years:
    i ended up doing a 1 year vacation, provided by the california penal system and while gone my sister took my belongings..she started dating some dude that like hiphop so being whooped gave him my entire collection(he ended up playing her) i lost my covenant wakeup show mixtapes,the rae purples and the only thing i ever held dear to me at that time my entire tape/cd/record collection.

    talk about the breaks :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rough shit - the heavy-hitters are telling their stories! How many copies does BP have? Ha-ha!

      Delete
  78. Anonymous21.9.12

    hi

    i heard the purple tape once

    at first i though it was a prince cassette... after listening to it... it was soooooo not a prince cassette. the end.


    yours truly
    abel...
    yeah that abel...

    ReplyDelete
  79. red-one22.9.12

    first time i heard the purple tape was when i was 132, it changed my life completely, i've been a wu-tang fiend since then, i even got a wu-tang logo tattooed on my arm.

    inte_@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  80. Anonymous22.9.12

    First time I heard cuban linx I was on my way to a party in a taxi, my friend had just bought it that day and was describing it to me. The driver overheard him and asked "Have you got it on you now?"
    my friend was like "yeah", Driver said "well put it on if you want". put that shit on, bumped the whole way to the party, tipped the guy, forgot the tape.
    Never saw it again!

    kendog_St@hotmail.co.uk

    ReplyDelete
  81. I'll be honest about it. Born in 1988 I didn't get my hands on this album before the start of the 21st century. I don't remember the date I first heard it, not even the year, but as soon as this album grew on me it became one of my personal favourites. Being a huge tape fan, I soon got my hands on original purple tape release as well as on clear tape, black tape and sampler tape releases. So this limited edtion tape is the only one missing in my collection of OB4CL cassette tapes and it would be a amazing to get it.

    ReplyDelete
  82. Anonymous23.9.12

    I remember being in 10th grade when only built for cuban linx dropped. That was one of my favorite years as a youth that ill never forget, that time frame of my life holds some ill ass memories.....95 was the year....soo many dope albums came out but none could match the purple tape. Rae and Ghost painting real live visuals and especially the production provided by the rza was flawless from the first track to the last. I was at a unity show in downtown los angeles about 2 months prior to the album coming out...And was able to come up on glaciers on ice promo single tape and shallahs greatest and latest...i burned the shit out my tape deck playing those soo much, finally august 2nd came and the rest is history....masterpiece

    victorcruz1988@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  83. Anonymous23.9.12

    The first time I heard Raekwon's "Only Built For Cuban Linx" was on the day it was released, Tues, Aug. 1st, 1995. When the leaking of an album only occurred through strategic planning. Back when dj's were serviced the records or when consumers bought the cassingle/maxi-single. Internet access to an album was unheard of! I had heard "Criminology" and "Glaciers of Ice" through late night college radio and was already familiar with "Heaven or Hell" from the "Fresh" soundtrack the year prior. These were monster bangers leaving the fans wondering what the Wu brand was gonna hit us in the head with next.
    When I picked up the album (I can't front I was in the transition to cd's) I didn't know the cultural phenomenon it would become in terms of the rarity of the Purple tape/cd. I copped the cd and the cd tray was purple. It was definitely fly for cd packaging and the album included the bonus "North Star (Jewels)". The outer packaging contained a small sticker with the Wu logo and the words "Raekwon Collector's Edition". I peeled it off the plastic and preserved it on the back of the cd case until it faded. Speaking of the back of the cd, I hadn't even heard the album yet and the line up blew my mind. The Wu members started rocking mafioso aliases, Cappadonna was being introduced into the fold. Wu-Tang Clan was definitely the most exciting movement to follow in hip hop.
    I got the sneak peak, getting to study the album on the bus ride home before my friends possessed it. Every track was cutting edge sound...from the soulful samples Rza used, the martial art & crime lord movie soundbites, the whole layout...it was top tier rhymes put together in an audio movie form. It was like Kool G Rap times 9 (9 members of Wu). It was hard not replaying tracks when you know there's a whole album ahead full of gems. I had goosebumps straight through. An instant favourite, an undeniable classic and when I told my boys it was Mobb Deep "The Infamous" caliber, they knew it was serious!
    This album became the soundtrack for the rest of the summer. This was the album bumped at jams, representative of my style. The Wu defined my style and behaviour.
    I truly hope to win this Purple Tape cassette package as it's an important artifact in my eyes and ears. This could be displayed in a hip hop museum. I want to play the tape in my tape deck for the memories.
    I appreciate how you guys document the culture @strictlycassette. We helped build this and we're only gonna keep it going.

    The Saga Continues...

    Ryan

    e-mail: barrhavenbridge@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  84. Anonymous23.9.12

    Well, I'm only 16 so i wasn't around when the purple tape dropped. I was about -2 months old actually. But my interest in hip-hop started in the 5th grade. I would listen to Eminem secretly (parents wouldn't exactly approve) and think about the twisting lyricism, metaphors, and pure flow. From then on, i was on a mission. I traced the history of hip-hop going from Em to Dre to NWA to Pac to Biggie to the Wu and on and on.I did it all myself because my parents and I are immigrants and they didn't know anything about hip-hop. In addition being a girl always made it difficult to communicate with any guys that knew about rap because they didn't take me seriously.

    I have always disliked digital media. Where was the proof that i owned these magnificent works of art? I lived for the feel of of what i was listening to.

    At the age of 13, i was finally able to start collecting. The first albums i ever bought were Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), Liquid Swords, and Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. I was captivated by the power I felt pulsating through every rhyme of those albums. I felt like I was wandering the gritty streets of Shaolin Island with a hoody on... I've listened to it countless times, each time finding something i hadn't before, hidden nuggets. It was quite like a video game that you can play over and over because of the changing scenarios. This is what makes this tape timeless. This is why we're all clamoring for it here. It is quite simply, a masterpiece and a large part of my young life.

    rocky4884@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  85. Anonymous23.9.12

    Copped the tape,weed was in hand.Apart from listening to the tape,the insert and purple tape made the experience a lot more satisfying.Back then anything that was Wu was something you wanted in your hand...I mean just the logos themselves were mind blowing.The music was beyond anything at the time.It was like class in session.What a great time to be alive...Had to purchase the vinyl,singles....this set the trend for all the Wu solo acts!
    Email:Syncinthecity@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  86. Mickey Nassrin24.9.12

    The first time I heard the Purple Tape was on September 1, 1995, the day I got my drivers license. I actually bought the tape a couple of weeks earlier, but being such a huge Wu head I waited until that day so that it would be the first album I would hear when I drove. As I got the license and dropped my dad off, I played side one and began crusing around the city. As I pulled up to the beach, "Criminology," was pumping out of the speakers of my mom's 1988 Honda Accord. Right then this white dude wearing Adidas trackpants, a pager and a cuban link necklace ( I swear, I'm not making this up) comes up to the car as "Criminology," is blasting and asks my friend and I if we want to buy weed. We turned him down but I knew the music was what called him over to the car. By the end of the day, I had heard the album twice over back to back. I just thought the album was so incredible and there wasn't one song I wanted to skip over. I still remember my favorite songs upon hearing the album for the first tiem were "Criminology," and "Ice Cream."

    Over the years I've popped the Purple Tape and gone through 2 CD's of Only Built For Cuban Linx. This album keeps coming back to me and is considered my favorite album of all time. Ultimately, it is a part of my coming to age story. If you'd like more proof that this album was what I heard when I got my license check out the link below to a YouTube review I did for Good Wood Wu-Tang pieces 3 months ago where I mention it at the 0.18 mark. .http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcvVK9GGuV4

    I'm sorry this came off so long winded but I really wanted you to understand that the first time I heard the Purple Tape was not just an album listening to me, but a part of a major day in my life which I still remember to the tee. Lastly, my email address is mickeymnassrin@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  87. Anonymous24.9.12

    Nation of gods was the only one of the 4 worth winning this shit... There was way better entries than the other three winners...All good tho....nation of gods if u read this get at me and ill top off your prize with a "glaciers of ice" cassette promo single" featuring some unreleased versions of "cant it be all so simple on the b-side....peace fam....

    alexra1978@yahoo.com....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Splittinwigz24.9.12

      Word. What other 3 you think should have one. Nation of Gods had the illest one. People were bitin his shit...

      Delete
  88. Anonymous24.9.12

    Sup...the other three should have been 1. The anonymous homie from fresno ca that baried it at his homeboys grave... 2. Kevin Schwenk. 3. Theedopeshow 4. Lastman and i left 1 out cause i know him personally and i keep it 100 soo i wont include him...Nerd_herder and nation of gods won the right way the other 2 can be replaced with any of the 4 listed and i would of felt this contest allot more....peace to SC and all the entries for this contest tho and a big fucking shout out to tape collectors worldwide...one

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.