after the critical and relative commercial success of "only built 4 cuban linx... pt. ii", raekwon collaborated with method man and ghostface killah for "wu-massacre", a short trio album designed to showcase unity within the group. following this release, raekwon resurrected talk of "shaolin vs. wu-tang", a project announced in 2007, originally planned as a wu-tang album, minus rza, due to his response to the previous group album "8 diagrams". raekwon forwarded his projects continuously through his growing label icewater. he both worked on his own project while signing other underground artists.