The Wu-Tang Clan is apparently in the midst of a mutiny.

In a video interview on the Missinfo.TV blog yesterday, Wu member Raekwon gave the first comprehensive account of trouble brewing in Shaolin, saying that Wu mastermind RZA and the rest of the clan are at an impasse over their forthcoming album, 8 Diagrams, and that the rest of the group might make another album without the group's leader, founder, and producer.

The beef appears to center on creative control and allegations that RZA has been letting that dispute leak into the clan's business affairs, withholding money unless the group's members agree to allow 8 Diagrams to be released on December 11 as planned and in its current iteration.

Raekwon said the creative dispute is musical, with RZA looking to incorporate loads of guitar into the group's sound and the members not supporting the move but RZA sticking to the sounds regardless.

"We can never forget all the positive energy that he shared with us, but if your ears are f***ed up right now, and we don't like the way that you're doing business, you have to respect the fact that men are going to be men," Raekwon said. "Before I'm a rapper, I'm a man."

In an interview with Billboard, RZA responded to Raekwon's complaints, although vaguely.

"My idea with this album was to have an hour of your day be different--you go into this other world of beats, hardcore lyrics, and imagery of hip-hop," he said. "I wanted the listener to be stimulated by the music. I don't know if everybody agreed with it. Everybody has their own opinion. This is in my vision at the end of the day."

Whether or not the Wu remains RZA's vision appears to be at issue. In his 2005 tome The Wu-Tang Manual, RZA described the group's inception in 1991, saying that he promised the members that if he had total control of the Wu-Tang empire, it would conquer the hip-hop world, after which he would relinquish his total control.

This isn't the first time the Wu has aired its internal drama. In 2004, U-God publicly accused RZA of stifling his solo career, but the two aired out their differences on a New York radio show and had patched things up.

Ghostface Killah also expressed frustration with the Wu-Tang operation last month, claiming he was asked to delay the December 4 release of his new album, The Big Doe Rehab, so the Wu-Tang album could come out that day instead. He added he hadn't been paid his share for touring with Wu-Tang this summer on the Rock the Bells tour.

"The hierarchy at Wu-Tang Clan is on some bulls***," Ghost told MTV News last month. "They trying to f*** around and make me push my album back and doing all this. But ni**as ain't give us money when we did them Wu-Tang tours...It's a battle right now. Ni**as better pay my f***ing money. Matter of fact, they can keep the money--just get me out of their life right now."

Missinfo.TV interview Part 1:

Part 2: