The Story Behind Wu-Tang Clan’s ‘C.R.E.A.M.’ and the Song RZA Sampled To Create It

Every real hip-hop fan knows “C.R.E.A.M.”. It’s one of those songs that defines the hip-hop canon, where anyone trying to get into rap has to do their due diligence with Wu-Tang Clan first. They rap over a brutally cold instrumental, where Method Man, Raekwon, and Inspectah Deck all speak to the power of the dollar. Ultimately, they don’t want to struggle anymore, and it defines every single pursuit they have, for better or worse. “C.R.E.A.M.” succinctly captures what the genre and culture have always been about.

But how did the song come together? According to RZA, the song was even called “C.R.E.A.M.” at first. Instead, they landed on “Lifestyles Of The Mega-Rich”, which certainly doesn’t roll off the tongue in the same way. It took “four or five times” for Wu-Tang Clan to finally get the results they were looking for.

“The first time we recorded it was during a court case that I had, and I felt that I should not have been arrested. [That version] was called ‘On Some S**t’ and it was just me and Ghostface [Killah]. Later, it got recorded with just Raekwon and Inspectah Deck; it was called ‘Lifestyles Of The Mega-Rich’,” RZA recalled to Power 106 Los Angeles (via Ambrosia for Heads).

“When, when we got to the studio to record the 36 Chambers album—it went through some more transitions—I decided that this track has to be on the Wu-Tang album. So I reminded Rae and Deck of their verses, but their verses was long.” 

The Creation of the Most iconic Wu-Tang Clan Song in Their Catalog

From there, Method Man crafted the hook for “C.R.E.A.M.”. But it was their fellow friend Raider Ruckus that came up with the famous acronym.

“We had words like ‘BIBWAM’ which meant, ‘B*****s Is Busted Without A Man’ and all this other crazy s**t. Raider Ruckus was so ill with the way he put the words together. We would call money ‘cream’ so he took each letter and made a word out of it and killed it the way he did it,” the Wu-Tang Clan legend told Complex.

“Something like that had never been done before as far as a hook or even a way of speaking. This is just showing and proving that we paid attention in class when we was kids. You can’t do s**t like that unless you got a brain in your f**king head! You got to have some level of intelligence to do something like that.”

The iconic Wu-Tang Clan beat had been kicking around in RZA’s old material for years, according to Raekwon. He sampled the opening piano riff and looped drums on “As Long As I’ve Got You” by the Charmels. Rae was adamant about rapping on “C.R.E.A.M.” since the late 80s. Thankfully, RZA kept his word.

“I remember writing to the beat a long time ago before we actually came out. That beat is old. That was probably like a ‘89 beat,” Raekwon recalled to Complex. “RZA had it that long because he had a bunch of breaks. He had all kind of things and he was making beats back then, but we was just picking and that beat happened to always sit around and I would be like, ‘I want that beat, so don’t give that beat to nobody.’ And he kept his word and let me have it.”

(Photo by Al Pereira/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

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