Synopsis

Raekwon performs "Incarcerated Scarfaces" against a stark New York backdrop, moving between apartment rooftops, stairwells, elevators, and street-level locations. Wu-Tang Clan affiliates appear around him as the performance unfolds with a raw, documentary-like energy. The visuals match the track's themes of confinement, street loyalty, ambition, and life in neglected urban spaces. Rather than following a conventional narrative, the video builds its atmosphere through location shooting, group presence, and tightly framed performances that emphasize the song's gritty Staten Island and New York identity.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was filmed in Harlem, including the area around 120th Street and First Avenue.

• "Incarcerated Scarfaces" was shot during the same weekend as Raekwon's "Ice Cream" video, making the two videos part of the same concentrated production period.

• The rooftop and elevator settings reinforce the song's central tension between confinement and upward movement. The elevator imagery is particularly striking because it turns an ordinary apartment-building space into a claustrophobic stage.

• The track was originally intended for GZA's "Liquid Swords" project. Raekwon heard RZA playing the beat, immediately began writing, and reportedly completed the song in roughly two hours.

• Raekwon created the song partly as a dedication to friends serving lengthy prison sentences. That personal motivation gives the video's title and prison-centered imagery a direct connection to the record's original purpose.

• The song appeared on "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..." and was later issued as the B-side to "Ice Cream" in 1995.

• The official version available online was published decades after the original video circulated through 1990s music-video outlets, giving the clip a renewed digital life.