Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang (2011)

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Due to the 8 Diagrams controversy, which took place in late 2007, Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang was initially planned to be a Wu-Tang Clan group album, minus production from RZA. Raekwon later revealed that it would instead be his fifth studio album, and as originally intended, would not feature contributions from RZA. In regards to this decision, Raekwon clarified in an interview with Vibe "RZA doesn’t have to be on every album. I wanted to give some other producers a chance. It’s not about beef."

When Raekwon was asked about the album in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he explained "It’s not nothing derogatory towards Wu. It’s just that Shaolin is the place, Wu-Tang is the crew that came from that place. It’s like me just going back to my history of being an emcee first, before I actually became part of Wu-Tang. I always give RZA that support as far as saying he brought Wu-Tang to the table. It was his philosophy. He picked certain dudes to be part of this group, and he said, 'This is what it’s going to be called'. Before that, I was on the block. I was living in Shaolin. So this album just shows the street side of me, challenging the great side of Wu-Tang. Which is almost like how T.I. did T.I. vs. T.I.P. You’re going to get sounds that relate to Wu-Tang. You’re going to get sounds that relate to great Rae at his best shit, too. You’re going to get a lot of animation as far as the skits are concerned. It’s going to be a hot one. Everyone’s going to love it."