THE GUESTLIST NETWORK | MAY 2011 RZA @mroshi
The Wu Tang Clan have just announced their first UK tour in 4 years and will be hitting HMV Forum on 11th & 12th June and Glastonbury this summer. We caught up with one of Wu-Tang Clan’s chief producers, the one and only RZA.
HIPHOP//RNB 35
Yes Big RZA, how’s things? What up y’all. Yeah all good.
I hear you’re going on tour again for the first time in four years with the Wu? Got some big special dates, Glastonbury’s one of them. Wu tour at least once a year, its hard to get everybody together. When we started the business we were young and obviously didn’t have families, now we have families we’re more mature and engage ourselves in other profitable business.
If there is something you can remember about back in the day when it was you GZA, ODB and Force of the Imperial Master that sticks in your mind.... Well one thing in those days Hip Hop was new and fresh in the city. There weren’t a lot of people with record deals or on the radio. So a lot of the Hip Hop just took place on the streets, in small block parties or recreational halls. Being down with the crew we used to travel throughout New York, Queens, and Brooklyn where there was battles. MCs and DJs you know what I mean, go to a neighbourhood battle a guy you never met before but you heard about ‘cause he had a tape out and you get together and battle…and the best man wins… the good ol’ days of Hip Hop.
Since then what do you feel has been your greatest achievement, one of the best producers of all time... conquered Hip Hop with the ‘Wu’ in five years...what do you personally take as your biggest achievement? Being able to raise a family you know. Having sons and a daughter that I brought into this world, I have a five year old son, he likes playing drums and rappin’ he likes hip hop clothes, it’s so cool to see his energy and his spirit. On a creative level, being an element of the Wu Tang Clan and bringing it together has been the greatest joy in the world. From being ‘ghetto’ guys in the hood to world famous MCs and artists. My new sensation is that I’m doing film now, that’s where I feel my energy is at. My spirit is feeling real good like when I first started doing Hip Hop that wanting to do more, I got a whole new energy for film and I am having some fun you know.
Is there a movie that you’ve worked on that means the most to you? Well so far, being part of Kill Bill and being part of the music was a real transition for me. But being an actor on a movie like ‘American Gangster’ working on the same billing card as Russell Crowe, being a part of that big family really showed me that it’s okay to dream. Growing up in poor
neighbourhoods, life looks pretty dim, like there’s no chance of heaven on earth. If you work hard and put your energy right life will unfold like a flower, you will see the beautiful part of life.
You’ve been behind a lot of classic Hip Hop albums... There’s a couple, if I think back to my early days of course 36 chambers set it all off. Those are two of the greatest albums I’ve been involved with. You know Wu Tang forever which as you know a manual for Hip Hop. Also, working with Biggie Smalls on his double album which was considered one of the biggest albums in Hip Hop. Working with Cypress Hill one of the first Hip Hop groups to come from the West Coast...with Nas one of my favourite MC’s. I got a chance to do a lot of work with a lot of my favourite artists but one of them that I regret not working with is Lauryn Hill.
If I said you could go to an island and take two artists with you to make an album, who would you choose? That’s a good question, I would take Lauryn as one. Also Wu Tang who would be with me anyway, I think Stevie Wonder is one of the greatest artists who’s still living. I listen to his music all the time, I was working on a film in China and I had the Stevie Wonder catalogue and I realised this guy started off as a young man blind,
you know little Stevie Wonder to growing up into a teenager growing up into a man to one of the greatest musicians in history. I’m also a big fan of Junior Gong and the whole Marley family.
You’ve always got a ton of projects going on, what have we got to look out for? I’m in the process of working on a film right now called The Iron Fist with Russell Crowe, it’s going really well for me…a total creative high for me.
What books have you written that we can get our hands on? Of course I wrote a book called the Wu Tang manual which was originally about the Wu Tang Clan and where we came from and some of our slang. The second book which I wrote was called the The Tao Of Wu which I was really really proud of which was my memoirs of my life and some of the things I’ve learnt from the Bible and Jesus Christ or reading the prophet Mohammed in the Qur’an or the great Buddha. My own ghetto life of going through hell and going through heaven, growing up in Brooklyn and New York City…I put all that in a book. I think it was a good book because I had some people come up to and say they have lead similar lifestyles you know a lot of people in the hood and then you got people not in the hood, you can relate to my life as a fan
going through the ups and down the gains, loss and revenge. You know the book ‘Tao’ means the way and the ‘Wu’ actually means universe, so it means the way of the universe. I would suggest this book to any Wu Tang fan if they want a bit of wisdom.
If you were invisible for one day what would you do? [laughs] I’d change the world, I’d sneak in all the places where there was negative laws where I could change the negative laws into positive ones so we as population of planet earth could enjoy pieces of democracy so there’s ways we could solve all that. . Go to London and go to the Priminister. I’d go to the Middle East and make peace. In my home land America, I would add positive laws man you know. Freedom is important, you’re not free to go shit on the floor in my house. What is freedom without justice and equality?
So tell me, why do you like London? First of all it’s a unique city, it’s a very big city and it’s full of cultures that have merged who have migrated there over a few years. Whether it’s from Indian cultures, Jamaican cultures, Scottish cultures or other parts of the United Kingdom.
What’s the best thing about being RZA?
There’s nothing better than being a successful father. Another great thing is that we came out of pretty tough times, being accepted by the artistic community whether I’m doing music or whether I’m acting or I’m painting. People have accepted my ideology, whether I’m playing guitar or drums it’s the expression of the artistic nature in me. We’ve all got an artistic nature we need to find it and find ways to express it. I’ve been given the chance to do it and people know me around the world for doing it. Learn from the masters, learn from the old ones but try to use your own voice that’s when your voice becomes part of the rest of the world. Whether you’re BB King, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Run DMC ... the Wu Tang Clan. These names are all expressions of Art that we know that made it on their own, Jimi Hendrix was known for playing guitar but he did it in such a way he become synonymous with it so many artists try to learn from these artists but you can generate your own voice to become part of history.
Catch RZA at Glastonbury on part of the Wu World Tour this summer and at Brixton Academy on 11 & 12th June. For more information www.wutang-
corp.com
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