Bonus Interview: Raekwon The Chef

Rapper and Wu-Tang Clan member Raekwon got his nickname from the flavor he brings to his music, but it could just as easily refer to his passion for food. In this bonus interview, listen in as the Savor team catches up with Raekwon at A3C 2018.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hello and welcome saver. I'm an Eeries and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum.
And in this our bonus episode, we present you with
a interview with Ray Kwan. Yeah you might have heard
of him, like the rapper, Yeah yeah, Wu Tang Clan,
Ray Kwan, the chef, which is one of the reasons
we wanted to get in touch with them. Absolutely. Also,
this happened a few months ago when the eighth three

(00:29):
C Festival was happening here in Atlanta, and Woutang Clan
was performing there and our friend Ramsey, producer Ramsey, who
you might have heard on our Wings episode, got in
touch with them and they were having a barbecue at
the festival, like a like a good old Southern barbecue,
And so some of the marketing humans on the festival

(00:50):
side were like, yeah, uh, Kwan helps set it up,
So do you want to talk to him about it?
And we were like yes, sure or oh yes, I
think we can make time for that in our schedules.
Uh yeah. And so we we went with we have
a super team of our own. It's Lauren, it's me,

(01:11):
it was Ramsey, super producer Andrew, and our friend Kyrie.
We went to this festival. Um, and there was kind
of this current of you know, hopefully it happens, but
maybe it won't. Yeah, with it with any big enough name,
it's kind of like it could happen, it could totally
not happen, right, um. And for about an hour and

(01:33):
a half it felt like it was totally not going
to happen. But then suddenly we got we got the call.
We did and it was like where are you? Ray
Kwan's been waiting and we were like, uh, much rushing ensued,
but but it but it was absolutely fine. Like like
we we got in and sat down and dude like
saw that we were in a total panic and he

(01:54):
was like, oh, you need a minute. That's cool, and
just like went and talked to some kids and like
left us alone until we collected ourselves. And oh it was.
It was a completely delightful conversation. It really was. I
had no idea what to expect. I mean speaking for myself,
but um, just hearing someone of his level of fame

(02:15):
geek out about things like garlic and all of oil
really endearing. Oh, absolutely, such reverence. Yes, everything he described
was something that I make a lot, you know. And
he talked about how he cooks for for the Wootan Clan. Um,
Ramsey got to ask a you'll get to hear in

(02:36):
the interview, but I love that he had an answer
for it. Yes, he also just released a sparkling wine recently. Yeah,
so so check that out if you would like. Um,
and we unfortunately Lauren and I did not get to
go see Wootan Clan perform, but Andrew and Ramsey and

(02:57):
Kyrie did and they reported back great things, much jealousy
and food. Oh my goodness. Yes. Uh. And Rapelon is
touring himself right now, so I mean, if you're listening
to this right now, then you can perhaps go catch
him in your local area again, also depending on when.
Right now it is for you mysterious, mysterious, mysterious. But

(03:19):
I think we have set it up enough. Let's get
to the interview. Yeah, y'all throw in a barbecue here. Um,
can you talk a little bit about the food that's
being served right now? I mean I can't really tell
you what they had out there because it was something

(03:42):
that they already had organized. But we don't love barbecues.
We all love barbecues. I mean I was expecting, you know,
turkey franks and turkey burgers and all of that though,
But that's the kind of barbecues I like. You know, well,
you know, more traditional. This is stuff we used to
do when we as kids with our family family reunions

(04:04):
for the July weekends. You know, everybody would get together
and grill, and you know, grilling is a way of
bringing people together to you know, you pull a grill
out of everybody's enjoying themselves and we're eating. You know,
can you talk more about some of the foods to
eat eight when you were a kid without did you
have anything you're nostalgic for? Um? You know as a kid,

(04:25):
I was always inspired. And you know, my mom's view
was a cook. She's a great cook. She's been cooking
for years, cooking in the neighborhood. You know a lot
of people know they calling Miss Woods, you know, and
you know her famous thing was chicken. You know, she
made a lot of um fried chicken and cola greens

(04:47):
and macaroni and cheese. So I would really say that
that was my you know, my thing right there. You know,
if I could get that, I was cool. But this
is not barbecue. This is just more like one of
my top, you know, top things that we used to
eat back in the days though that we really loved.
My mom she used to put mustard in a chicken

(05:09):
and it was dope. Though it's kind of good though,
you know that's kind of fair now. Um, you know,
I try to eat more, a little bit more healthier
far as a lot of grilled stuff now roasted, you
know that that pretty much. Man more on my diet
these days, you know, every now and then our cheat though,
don't get me robed. Let me get some wings or something,

(05:30):
you know. But other than that though, today, I you know,
I do a lot of grilled foods, chicken, a lot
of salads, a lot of grain. I try to make
my plates more colorful now. They say that's important, you
know what I mean, making sure your food that's colored.
So that's important though for me. Did you get interested
in cooking when you were a kid or was it?

(05:52):
Was it not until later when you had kids yourself? No,
I mean when I was young. My mom's you know,
she was working a lot, so she would up and
le tell us, you know, you're gonna learn how to
cook while all dot at work. So if you're hungry,
you know, and we would start off with stuff like
heating up rabbioli's you know, um, definitely, like I said,

(06:15):
making burgers and all of that, putting onions in it
and make it has some kind of flavor, not just
an average throw it in the pan. And you know,
she would tell us, you're a little bit of salt pepper,
and then she would say pepper rika. So I started
getting used to certain kind of flavors that she would
want to have in it. So next thing, you know,
I started making my own. I'm like, wow, yo, I'm

(06:36):
nice at this now, you know. And I would, um,
you know, put a lot of onions in there and
let it sim up and it wouldn't be like a frog,
but it would be more like a being cooked from
the inside. You know. The next thing, you know, I
started putting onions and onions inside my turkey meat and
making a burn. You know. And as you go on
as a kid, you start trying things, you know, and

(06:59):
that's what I used to do, you know, hags and
cheese and what a little choppers and tomatoes, And the
next thing, you know, I just was like, yo, I'm
making my own boot. Stop beating my brothers and my
sister and next thing, you know, I was off to
the racist with cookie. So I was like, yo, this
this will work for me right in so you know,
but definitely known that's where I got my whole experience

(07:23):
coming for my mom though. You know, are there are
there any ingredients or spices that you're super into right now? Um?
Just just more or less the basics though, you know,
like I said, you know, but now I may use
a little bit more garlic powder, garlic saw garlic is
good for you. Um, steam, vegetables, you know, olive oil.

(07:45):
You know I used that now more often. Um. You know,
like I said, a lot of color, a lot of
coloring stuff. Peppers. I love peppers. Now before you couldn't
pay me to the green pepper. Now it's like what
the green peppers whatever? With the crushed red peppers at So,
you know, a little bit of everything though it makes
the dish better. Though, Could you talk a little bit

(08:07):
about how you got onto onto that style of eating? Um,
you know, just growing up and just paying attention more
to what I put in my body. And you know
we always talking about food because every now and then
I'll talk to my Mom's your mom trying to make
this blah blah blah. I'm trying to make lemon fish
and you know, she would tell me, yo, get your lemons,

(08:27):
get your onions, you know what I mean. Salt and pepper,
you know the basics, you know, garlic or whatever, however
you want to do it, and always taste it as
you go on. Like you know, a lot of people
just think that, you know, cooking is easy, but it's
really more about taste, you know what I mean. It's
about season and so and and I never I never did.

(08:48):
I never did like like measurements. I always did, like
how she did, like shake it in just you know,
let your hand go for a minute, you know, and
um to be tasting it and it tastes I you know,
so not nothing really crazy, just the basics. We have
some more of our interview with Ray Kwan, but first

(09:09):
we're gonna pause for a quick break for a word
from our sponsor, and we're back. Thank you sponsor, and
back to the interview. Does does music work the same way?
Are you just kind of like like letting your hand
do what it's doing and then kind of taste exactly?

(09:30):
Music does work the same way. It's all in the mind.
It's all about paying attention to what you want to
give the people. And you know, for me to chef,
I'm always trying to give you guys a different, a
different dish every time. So yeah, I do compare my
food to my dishes, you know. But like we always said, chef,
I'm gonna keep your mouth watering with rats and with food,

(09:53):
of course, no doubt, no doubt. That's that's that's how,
that's how you got the nickname right, and that flavor,
that's why add that flavor. That's other stuff you're into,
like like like fashion. Do you find that in intersects
with with your music and your food as well or
I mean everything. It always been a lifestyle thing for me.

(10:14):
You know, when you grow up in hip hop and
you love music, R and B, reggae, so all of
that music. We grew up within the neighborhood, so it
reflects me. And when I get in the booth, you know,
I'll get it. I'll get around listening to music, you know,
beats and all that. I kind of look for those
certain things that inspired me though. So yeah, I say

(10:36):
that all of it, food, music, art, dancing, it's all
about it's all involved in the culture because as we
grow up as kids, these are the things that we
love to do, We love to go outside. It was
the thing that we had in our neighborhood called paul
Kill Day where you know, my neighborood is called paul
Kill and stand Alans. So once a year it would

(10:59):
be thinking called paul Kill Day where everybody come out.
You know, it's like a festival, a little bit of music, guys,
djen you know, and on food being served hot dogs
and that's what I thought we was coming. We just
gonna get overhead. But the menu was kind of spicy.
I'm like, whoa hold on? You know. But um, those

(11:20):
little things like that always been involved in the coach
of music. So it reflects. You know, food is everything,
you know, It's about eating good listening to good music,
and just enjoying life, you know, and that's what it's about.
That's what it's about. I read that you're you're vaguely
thinking about opening a restaurant someday. Is that still sort

(11:43):
of sort of in your head? Yeah? I mean, you know,
it was something I wanted to do a couple of
years back. I was just getting ready to do it,
and then kind of like some things happen and it's
kind of like I had to fall back or whatever.
But one thing about the food business is kind of
tough though. You know, it's kind of tough and you
gotta have trustworthy people around and you want to always

(12:06):
make sure everything is fresh. So for me, it's like
I just had to really take a step back to
really kind of evaluate what I wanted to do. But um,
you know, you never know what the future holes, you know.
I try to get my mom's involved, like, my you're
gonna get down with me? She like, of course, I
get down with you, you know what I mean. And
then some days she'd be like, I'm not cooking no more.

(12:28):
But then every year it's like, you're cooking. Stop it.
She she loves the cook though, So we never know
what the future holes though. But you never know how
your kids into cooking too. I teach them now and
tell them and say, yo, you want to eat, You're
gonna learn. You're gonna learn just like I do. But
you know, they know the basic things though, you know,

(12:49):
I'll kind of let them learn on their own. And
you know, like my little one, she's nine years old though,
but she wants to do everything bake cakes and highs
and everything. So you know, I'm happy that she likes
to do it. Though you know, eventually she may want
to take this as a trade in school. You know,
I'll tell her, you know, calling very is it's a

(13:10):
dope thing, you know, But she gets this from she
get that from my mom. So that's what suck, you know,
Is there is there a meal? Is there like a
dish that's your favorite, or like a meal that's the
best you've ever had? You know? It's my favorite back
in the days, lasagna. I love lasagna. I ain't gonna
front it seems like when every time my mom's made

(13:30):
lasagna as a kid, I was always like she must
have been checked day for something. She must have got
a check goal, you know, worked hard and got the money,
and we always requested that. And to this day, I
love lasagna, you know what I mean. That's one of
my favorites for sure. Are you the best cut in
the weird Tank plan? Absolutely? I got to because I've

(13:54):
never seen never seen these mothers cook, you know what
I mean. But you know I would say that though,
because these guys aren't really cooked too off, and though
you know they more they like to eat. And then
some of them is vegetarians and they don't trust everything.
But for me, I hook up with salmon in five
minutes and you know, I see guys start looking around, Yo,

(14:17):
what you got? What you got going on over there?
So yeah, I would definitely say the chef is definitely
the guy to look forward to when it's time to
cook in the wool, No doubt, that's a fact. Anybody
else tell you anything, brother Tithing to come see me,
you know, or or what are you working on right now? Man?

(14:40):
What's coming up? Um? Well, you know, right now, I'm
working on this big documentary that I've been working over
like the last couple of years. It's called The Purple
Tate Fouls. I got. I got some other things coming
out that I'm gonna surprise you guys with later on
down the line. We've just been doing a lot of
charming running around and we can't up. But it's Sunny
Baby anniversary, you know, next month Abat Clan twenty five

(15:05):
years in the business. It's still going. So that's a
blessing within itself. And like I said, we got a
lot of other things coming up that I want you
guys to look look out for I just can't choke
about it too much because I want to surprise y'all.
It's gonna be dope, though. Trust me, I'm gonna blow
your mind. Listen, I'm gonna blow y'all mind with my

(15:27):
next next secretive mention. Watch every word you know, guys
like for like vultu. If you guys are making a
complete like vote on all right, I would say, Um,
I would say it's a tough one right there. He

(15:50):
came with the intricate questions. Um, I would definitely be
glic goes to be the peppis, Metho be the onions,
risidens just up be the proteins because they protein cats. Um,
you gotta be the um. He would be the salt,

(16:13):
and peppis him and Deck and cap and Massecula be
the oil, and Finnick is you knowing who else the
old dirty Bassett of course, or be the pot. He's
the mountain plot, you know what I mean. Without him,
we can't get this moving. That's what it is. Old. Yeah,

(16:36):
and that wrafts up our interview with Ray Yeah. Um
oh that was so it was so delightful. Um, thank
you again so much to to him and to the
entire team that made that possible. Yeah, yeah, we we
really had a great time. It was a great conversation. Afterwards,

(16:57):
we went to a local far restaurant and we just
kept kind of saying to each other, I can't believe
pressisted that interview in in the happiest way possible. Yes, absolutely, yes, Um.
If you have any routing stories to share with us, uh,
please do please do. You can email us at hello

(17:21):
at saber pod dot com. We're also on social media.
You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at
saber pod. We do hope to hear from you. Thank
you so much to our superproducers Dylan Fagin and Andrew Howard.
Thank you to you for listening, and we hope that
lots more good things are coming your way.