Vinyl Record
Prince Rakeem - Ooh I Love You Rakeem
Prince Rakeem - Ooh I Love You Rakeem on LP vinyl. A 1991 record available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel, Ireland.
LP ยท 1991
Available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel.
Buyer notes: 1991 LP, currently available from the Kilmorna Collection vinyl shelf. Pay for pickup in Listowel or ship within Ireland for EUR 5.50.
Ooh I Love You Rakeem is a 1991 artifact from Robert Diggs before the world knew him as RZA, before the Wu-Tang Clan rewired New York rap, and before the grimy Staten Island mythos became a complete aesthetic system. Released under the Prince Rakeem name, the EP can sound startling if approached from the later Wu-Tang catalogue first. Its surface is brighter, more label-shaped and more party-rap adjacent than the chessboard menace and dusted soul loops that would soon define him. That contrast is exactly why the record matters. Ooh I Love You Rakeem and its associated mixes belong to the late Tommy Boy moment, when young New York rappers were still negotiating between club accessibility, novelty hooks, battle identity and the industry's appetite for marketable personas. Diggs is present, but not yet fully transformed. The voice, timing and ambition are there; the worldview is still finding the harder frame that Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) would make unavoidable two years later. As listening, this is not the place to start for the Wu-Tang sound. It is a prehistory document, a before-picture with musical consequence. It shows how far RZA traveled in a short span: from an industry-friendly solo identity to the architect of one of hip-hop's most influential collective languages.
The EP matters because it catches RZA before RZA, in 1991, while the eventual Wu-Tang architecture was still unformed. It gives collectors a rare view of the distance between early major-independent rap positioning and the raw, self-contained mythology that followed. The value is historical contrast: the later producer, strategist and group leader becomes more impressive when this earlier route is audible.
This is for hip-hop collectors who care about origin points and alternate paths. It should be filed beside early Wu-Tang family history rather than judged as if it were a lost 36 Chambers chapter. The collector appeal is the Prince Rakeem identity itself: a glimpse of Robert Diggs before the sound, name and mythology hardened into RZA.
Early-90s New York rap single energy with club-friendly production, youthful vocal presence, pre-Wu-Tang identity and a brighter label-era finish than RZA's later work.
Recommended for: Wu-Tang collectors tracing RZA's pre-group history; Hip-hop listeners interested in early-90s Tommy Boy-era singles; Fans who enjoy hearing artists before their defining transformation; Collectors of rap EPs that mark important career pivots.
Who is Prince Rakeem? Prince Rakeem was an early recording name used by Robert Diggs, who later became known worldwide as RZA of Wu-Tang Clan. What year is Ooh I Love You Rakeem from? The EP was released in 1991, before Wu-Tang Clan's 1993 breakthrough. Does it sound like classic Wu-Tang? Not really. Its value is that it documents the pre-Wu-Tang phase, before RZA's darker production language fully emerged.