Kanye West Recognizes Raekwon As 'A Greek God' Of Rap

If something works — like Raekwon's virtuosic collaborations with Kanye West on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy's "Gorgeous" and Cruel Summer's "The Morning" — there's usually a good explanation. For Rae and 'Ye, they work well together because they took the time to get to know each other before getting down to business.

"It was cool [working with Kanye], because we was in the studio in Manhattan, and it was more like a hangout thing," Rae said on Wednesday's "RapFix Live." "One thing about artists, we never like to come in and force each other to go to work.

"So we was just vibin' and talking about how much we both are fans of each other's work. Sometimes you gotta do that with artists. When we got to working on 'The Morning,' automatically that track was crazy," he added. "I wasn't actually there when he was doing everything else, 'cause I had to go back home to see my children at the time. So I just made it my business to get it done over there and make sure it was on deck for him."

Sway pointed out that 'Ye is known for complimenting an artist when he first encounters them, and with the legendary Staten Island spitter, it was no different. "He just was like, 'Yo, you like one of the Greek gods in this rap game. It's an honor to be amongst somebody that taught me everything I know,' " Rae recalled. "Kanye is so sincere when it comes to expressing himself, and he was just like, 'I learned everything from y'all.'

"[But] my thing is, 'No, you learned it from hip-hop,' " he added. "We was just a part of the movement. When you meet somebody that's really hip-hop, that really love it, they have to sit down and let you know how they feel about things. It's like an introduction, because if you never really worked with that guy before, you want to sit down and get to know him as a person, and that's what we was doing, just vibin', kickin' it and playing a couple things."

Rae hopes he can convince the G.O.O.D. Music CEO to collaborate with him again for the third installment of Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. Fans of the celebrated franchise may have to exercise patience, though.

"Right now, Cuban Linx is still on the shelf being developed," Rae admitted. "That's not actually the next project. For me, it's always about taking my time, not rushing. I don't wanna put it out ahead of time, I don't wanna put it out too late, so I gotta start going on my little missions, stash beats and all of that and really get where I wanna go."

While the Chef is cooking up some marvelous tracks for OB4CL, fans will have to make do with the drug-rap narratives he weaves together for his upcoming sixth solo album, F.I.L.A. (Fly International Luxurious Art).