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RZA
RZA in New York City to discuss The Tao of Wu, October 15, 2009
Background information
Birth name	Robert Fitzgerald Diggs
Also known as	Prince Rakeem, The Scientist (As member of Force of the Imperial Masters, later known as All in Together Now Crew) The Abbot (As member of Tommy Boy Records) , Rzarector (As a member of Gravediggaz) , Bobby Digital, Bobby Steels, Prince Dynamite, Prince Delight, Ruler Zig-Zag-Zig Allah
Born	(1969-07-05) July 5, 1969 (age 42) Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York
Origin	Staten Island, New York, United States
Genres	Hip hop
Occupations	Rapper, CEO, record producer, actor, screenwriter, author, director
Instruments	Rapping, guitar, piano, keyboards, zither, sampler
Years active	1989–present
Labels	Tommy Boy/Warner Bros. Records Wu-Tang Records/Razor Sharp/Epic/36 Chambers Records/Wu Music Group/Wu-Tang International/SME Records Virgin/EMI Records Koch Records
Associated acts	Wu-Tang Clan, Gravediggaz, Easy Mo Bee, Kanye West, Eslam Jawaad, Kool G Rap
Notable instruments
E-mu SP-1200 Roland MC-909 Roland MV-8000 Roland MV-8800 Ensoniq-16 plus

Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, better known by his stage name RZA ( /ˈrɪzə/; born July 5, 1969), is an American Grammy-winning music producer, multi-instrumentalist, author, emcee, and occasional actor, director, and screenwriter. A prominent figure in Hip Hop, RZA is a member of the Wu-Tang Clan.^[1] He has produced almost all of Wu-Tang Clan's albums as well as many Wu-Tang solo and affiliate projects. He is widely considered one of the most influential and landmark hip-hop producers of all time. He subsequently gained attention for his work scoring and then later acting in films. His revolutionary techniques of sampling, speeding up tracks to fit the beat laced, and his cinematic skits sprinkled throughout albums have greatly inspired other producers in the industry. He produced for a slew of Wu Tang solo albums as well as group albums that dominated not only commercially, but also thematically and artistically. His production from the mid 90's to the late 90's brought about one of the greatest 'bouts' or 'runs' of inspiration the industry has seen, creating various classics.

He has also released solo albums under the alter-ego Bobby Digital, along with executive producing credits for countless side projects. In addition to the Wu-Tang Clan and his solo releases, RZA was also a founding member of the horrorcore Hip Hop group Gravediggaz where he used the name The Rzarector. Furthermore, he has acted in several movies, including Coffee and Cigarettes, American Gangster, Gospel Hill, Life Is Hot in Cracktown, Ghost Dog, Funny People, Derailed, Due Date and Repo Men. He continues to build his acting and production work hand in hand. He is currently appearing in the Showtime TV series Californication.

In 2008, RZA was ranked #4 on About.com's list of the Top 50 Hip-Hop Producers,^[2] while The Source placed him on its list of the 20 greatest producers in the magazine's twenty-year history.^[3] He also made the "Elite 8" in the search for The Greatest Hip-Hop Producer of All Time by Vibe.^[4]

Early life[link]

Born in Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York, RZA spent time in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as a child, where his father had a convenience store in the Hill District.^[5] From the ages of three to seven, RZA lived in North Carolina with his uncle, who always encouraged him to read and study.^[6]

He is named after Robert Kennedy and John Fitzgerald Kennedy.^[7] His mother greatly admired the Kennedys, the RZA has called his given name an "honorable" name, given the legacy of both brothers Robert and Jack.

Music career[link]

Early on, Ol' Dirty Bastard and I used to watch kung fu movies, leave the theater, do some kung fu fighting, get on the train, keep fighting, and then run into MCs and musically battle them like it was a kung fu fight. That was my weekend habit. When we could afford VCRs, we got all the kung fu movies we could get our hands on and watched three or four a day. We were smoking blunts, drinking beer, watching movies, making demo tapes. To this day, at least four times a week, a kung fu flick is in my DVD player. And I'm still DJing, making beats, making songs, and fucking with kung fu movies. I'm still the same kid when it comes to those things.^[8]

1994–1996: Gravediggaz and Wu-Tang solo projects: Round one[link]

As each of the group's members embarked on solo careers, RZA continued to produce nearly everything Wu-Tang released during the period 1994–1996, producing in both the hip-hop producer sense (composing and arranging the instrumental tracks) and in the wider music producer sense (overseeing and directing the creative process as well as devising song concepts and structure in addition to being responsible for a recording's final sound). RZA's rule over the Clan at this time is described in 2004's Wu-Tang Manual book as "a dictatorship". Yet he still released a hit single of his own, in the form of Wu-Wear: The Garment Renaissance. The song was featured on the High School High soundtrack, and was released to coincide with the Wu-Tang clothing brand. It peaked at #60 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #6 on the Hot Rap Singles chart.^[9]

When it came time for the Gravediggaz, Prince Paul was thinking about putting a group together. He wanted to get some good MCs. Poetic was another dope MC who was underrated out in Long Island. He had one single out on Tommy Boy that didn't take off, but he was a dope MC. As the Grym Reaper, you know how many dope lyrics he dropped. Frukwan, one of the top lyricists out of Stetsasonic. He and Paul were friends already. He told him about me. He said, "I know this one guy who is super-dope." At the same time, I was also trying to do Wu-Tang. I was trying to start my own company and stuff, so when Paul called me up and invited me to his crib in Long Island and told me his idea for forming this group, I thought it would be an honor to be in a group with him. But I told him, "I'm also producing a group, and I'm also part of a family that I'm building." He said, "Yo, that's crazy." We would talk a lot of times. [Ol' Dirty Bastard] came to his house a lot of times with me. [Method Man], too. We all would just go there and try to find ways to get out of the streets. Me, I was trying to get out of the ghetto. Paul had a lot of respect for me, so he helped me break out of it. I think he liked that I was so dark, but I didn't know I was dark.^[10]

[edit] 1997: Wu-Tang Forever

This had already to some extent begun on Wu-Tang Forever, which for the first time featured RZA delegating a small number of beatmaking duties to other producers in the Wu-Tang camp, such as his proteges True Master and 4th Disciple who are known as the Wu-Elements, and Clan member Inspectah Deck.^[11]

1998-1999: Gravediggaz and Wu-Tang solo projects: Round two[link]

During the 1998–2000 period RZA ceased to produce every Wu-Tang solo album as he had done previously, but continued to contribute usually one or two songs on average to each record as well as receiving an Executive Producer credit.

I had to put out Bobby Digital instead of The Cure because if I didn't do that I would've suffered two things. First, I would have revealed where I was musically too soon. Wu-Tang is the perfect medium to expose anything new because I got the most people coming together to buy it. For me to expose it for my own self, I don't think that would've been a wise thing for me to do. I might've caught more people than Bobby Digital caught, but I still wouldn't catch the magnitude of what the Wu-Tang could catch. Maybe this year or next year the game may be different. The Cure is so intimate in writing that you gotta live that Cure shit. I was living like Bobby Digital in '98, '99 na'mean? So if I put "The Cure" out, then I wouldn't even be able to get on stage and perform it for ya'll cause I'd be lying."

Studio NYC 2001

[edit] 2001-2004: Post The W solo projects

In 1999 the RZA moved into composing film scores. His first work, Jim Jarmusch's Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999), earned praise; he also had brief cameo in the film itself, as a fellow samurai wearing camouflage. The experience was positive and, as he noted during an interview on National Public Radio's Fresh Air, the work with traditional musicians gave him the desire to learn how to read and write music.^[12]

This is one of my biggest adventures, and one of my [best] feelings. We watched Kill Bill in Manhattan. At the premiere, that happened, but you know, that's Hollywood. But in Manhattan, a theater, just a bunch of kids coming from wherever New York, inside a movie theater and the movie's coming on. They don't even know that I'm the man with the music, and when it said, "Original Music by The RZA", we hear the audience clapping. And they didn't clap for nothing else, because the movie's just coming on. I was like, 'Wow, what the fuck is that about?' That's different. It actually might be something special. You never care who did that... Once you see who stars in the shit, you don't read "edited", you don't read all that. You be eating your popcorn and it go right by you. But, for somebody to see that and then clap, that's a different thing right there. That felt pretty pleasing.

2003

2005-present: Solo projects: Round three[link]

RZA at the 2007 Eurockéennes.

He has also stated that the long-delayed The Cure album will now be his final solo album, for he will end his career as MC and move on with his movie directing career.^[13]

Before signing with SRC Records in early 2007, RZA was flooded with offers from Bad Boy Records, Aftermath Records, Interscope and Def Jam among others for the Wu-Tang Clan super-group.^[14]

In 2007, he did the score of the Japanese anime Afro Samurai starring Samuel L. Jackson. He recently and quietly released an instrumental album entitled, The RZA-Instrumental Experience, and worked with Raekwon on his highly anticipated Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II. Talks are on between System of a Down bassist Shavo Odadjian and RZA regarding a collaboration between the two artists called Achozen.^[15] RZA has stated in an interview that he is involved in the project.^[16]

RZA performing with Wu-Tang at the Virgin Music Festival.

The time is right to bring some older material to the masses digitally. Our fans have been dedicated and patient, and they’re hungry to hear the music that has set us apart from so many others. Hip-hop is alive in Wu Music, and with The Orchard, we’ve got a solid partner that understands our audience and is committed to doing all they can to help us reach the fans. I’m definitely looking forward to working with them to see what else we all come up with. There’s much more to come.^[17]

He has also confirmed that he will be solely-producing Liquid Swords II with GZA, which was tentatively due in Fall 2010,^[18] but the status of the album has not been updated since the release date passed. RZA also worked with Kanye West on the latter's fifth album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,^[19] as well as Watch The Throne by Kanye and Jay-Z.

In a recent interview discussing the producer's new line of headphones, RZA revealed that he recently decided to clean out his beat machines of instrumentals he made for the Wu-Tang Clan that were never used; as a result, he has so far given away ten beats each to Nas, Busta Rhymes and Talib Kweli, as well as 20 beats for Kanye West, including the two that were used on the artist's most recent two albums.^[20]

Achozen[link]

RZA has also formed a musical alliance with System of a Down's Shavo Odadjian, Kinetic 9 and the Reverend William Burke from Chicago for the band Achozen. Music from Achozen also appears on the major motion picture, Babylon A.D., on which Achozen song "Deuces" is heard blaring at the introduction of the film. The four principal members feel that their unique sound is not only spiritual in nature, but a new genre of "heavy hip hop", not "rap-metal". Achozen's first live show was at the Key Club in LA on December 1, 2006. On Friday, November 13, 2009 the second Achozen track "Salute/Sacrifice" was released exclusively as a free download on Odadjian's online art district and networking site, Ursession from the upcoming Achozen debut album.^[21] The Achozen album was anticipated to be released in mid-2010 ^[22] but no firm release date had been scheduled by the end of 2010. Since early 2011, RZA has been producing UK artist Josh Osho's debut album.

Various Wu-recording labels[link]

Since the early 1990s, several 'various Wu recording labels' were established. The earlier labels are believed to be dissolved. The connection that RZA had to these labels were unknown.

Other record labels were later founded in the early 2000s, and are still active in the present. Very little is known about these labels, other that the fact that RZA produces music on them. It is unknown if RZA is CEO, or has high position within these labels, considering that he was never known to have a CEO position of any recording label.

• Wu-Tang Records
• Razor Sharp Records
• 36 Chambers Records and Wu Music Group
• Wu-Tang International

Artistry[link]

RZA's production technique, specifically the manner of chopping up and/or speeding or slowing soul samples to fit his beats, has been picked up by currently popular producers — most notably Kanye West and Just Blaze, the two main producers behind Roc-A-Fella Records. West's own take on RZA's style^[23] briefly flooded the rap market with what was dubbed "chipmunk soul," the speeding of a vocal sample to where it sounded as though the singer had inhaled helium. Several producers at the time copied the style, creating other offshoots. West has admitted that his style was distinctly influenced by the RZA's production,^[24]

Said by Kanye West:

Wu-Tang? Me and my friends talk about this all the time... We think Wu-Tang had one of the biggest impacts as far as a movement. From slang to style of dress, skits, the samples. Similar to the [production] style I use, RZA has been doing that.^[25]

In response, RZA himself has spoken quite positively of the comparisons:

All good. I got super respect for Kanye. He came up to me about a year or two ago. He gave me mad praising and blessings... For people to say Wu-Tang inspire Kanye, Kanye is one of the biggest artists in the world. That goes back to what we say: 'Wu-Tang is forever.' Kanye is going to inspire people to be like him." After hearing Kanye's work on The Blueprint, RZA claimed that a torch-passing had occurred between him and West, saying, "The shoes gotta be filled. If you ain't gonna do it, somebody else is gonna do it. That's how I feel about rap today."^[26]

His Bobby Digital albums introduced tweaked-out new age elements to his sound; these have incorporated themselves more fully into his beats on newer albums such as Method Man's 4:21... The Day After.

The way I produce now is I produce more like a musician", RZA said. "In the old days, I produced more like a DJ. I didn't understand music theory at all. Now that I do understand music theory, I make my music more playable, meaning not only could you listen to it, you could get someone else to play it. Before, you couldn't even write down Wu-Tang music. I think almost 80 percent of this record can be duplicated by a band, which is important for music, because that means 10 years from now, somebody can make a whole song out of it and cover it like how I'm covering The Beatles song.^[27]

In a recent 2010 radio interview with UK hip hop station Conspiracy Worldwide Radio, RZA spoke in great detail about the homemade, candid ethos of much of his classic work, including the organic creation process behind ODB's debut album.^[28]

Mentality and leadership[link]

This section contains too many or too-lengthy quotations for an encyclopedic entry. Please help improve the article by editing it to take facts from excessively quoted material and rewrite them as sourced original prose. Consider transferring direct quotations to Wikiquote. (December 2009)

RZA promoting The Tao of Wu, a book describing the philosophy of the Wu-Tang.

On 1997, I personally tore Wu-Tang Clan up. I won't forget this day, we were on the Rage Against The Machine tour bus. Everybody was becoming lazy, niggas even started not showin' up. I said, "Yo! I did my shit! From this point on, do what the fuck you want. The Wu Mansion? Y'all turned that shit to a club house! From now on, The Wu Mansion is MY house. You wanna come and rock? I'll be there," and niggas respected it. To me, it's like Mike Tyson: he got to the top of the world and shit, and he stopped trainin'. Fuck that, you must never stop trainin'. Well you can stop if you want, if you're happy, but if you wanna go further. All I did was promise to get'em to there, from this point, it's up to each of them. For that, Method Man's a good example: he took it to the movies and he went to the moon. So brothers had no success after that, nahmean? Cappadonna, see, he's drivin' a cab. Well, he's aight, we take him on tour, he makes a couple hundred grands, so... He's my man, he's hustlin'...^[29]

He has stated in several interviews that the challenges of maintaining the group are not egos, but rather timing and scheduling due to the fact that the members have families and side projects.

Actually, we don't deal with a leader. We deal with leadership within each other. So everybody has leadership qualities at any given moment. Anybody is prepared to take the position to do what they gotta do to make whatever gotta happen pop off. They consider me the best knower, know what I mean? So, it's like the deciding vote.

He has shown little or no concern about illegal downloading, for he feels that it has little impact on the music industry:

Naw. When I make music, I make it to be heard, personally. And, if somebody download it, if they heard it, then my job was delivered. Of course I love to make the money. I get million dollar album budgets, so of course there's money involved with it. But, personally, as a musician, as an artist, the first thing is to be seen and heard. If you're not seen and heard, who cares? I was talking to Jim Jarmusch and he was like, somebody see his film, the guy's happy. He don't care. He wants somebody to see his art and appreciate it and that's how I feel about my music also. I never got pissed off at the Internet kids with the downloading. In fact, I told them, 'Help yourself. Have a good time.^[30]

In several interviews, in response to the phrase "hip hop is dead", he said, "How can hip hop be dead if Wu-Tang is forever?" In regards of the southern dominance, rather than criticize the music, he instead spoke on the look and image of the southern artists themselves. He went on to say:

How has the South dominated hip hop for the last four, five years without lyrics, without hip hop culture really in their blood? Those brothers came out representing more of a stereotype of how black people are, and I think the media would rather see us as ignorant, crazy motherfuckers than seeing us as intelligent young men trying to rise and take care of ourselves.^[31]

In the 1990s, the Wu-Tang Clan was one of the first hip hop acts to have a clothing line. However, throughout the following years to the 2000s, nearly every hip hop act has followed suit and created their own clothing line. In response, RZA spoke on his views on the oversaturation of the hip hop clothing market:

Yeah. That's what happens. It's good and it's bad. It's helped a lot of hip hop artists. It's fed them more than the record business, in some cases. It's bad, too, because you have companies like Mecca, Akademiks, Karl Kani, FUBU. FUBU's almost gone already, it feels like. You got a lot of these other companies disappearing because of hip-hop. It's a really strange thing. But I think it's good for hip-hop, because one thing that's better — don't take this politically, or no shit like that — we all grew up with Polo and Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger and all that. I can respect Andy Hilfiger, because he did reach out to the hip hop community, but Tommy, the most he ever did for hip hop was send some free clothes to Grand Puba. But now blacks have a choice, and we design our own styles. And they're copying us, so it's ironic.^[32]

Various names and aliases[link]

RZA is known for having multiple aliases, for different lyrical styles and personalities: Prince Rakeem, The Abbot, Bobby Digital, Bobby Steels, the Scientist, Prince Delight, Prince Dynamite, Ruler Zig-Zag-Zig Allah.^[33] During his time with the Gravediggaz, he went by the name the Rzarector, which is for waking up the mentally dead.^[34]

Film career[link]

Originally, he was offered the role of "Brown" in The Departed (2006), but turned it down because of scheduling conflicts.^[35]

He performed cameo roles in Funny People, Gospel Hill, and Life Is Hot in Cracktown. He was also said to be attached to friend Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill project in one way or another, featuring as a solo artist on the soundtrack to Kill Bill 1 and selecting some other songs for the soundtrack too. In 2010, RZA appeared in the science fiction action film Repo Men.^[36]

RZA is set to appear in G.I. Joe: Retaliation as the character Blind Master.^[37]

Directing[link]

RZA at The New Yorker in 2005.

I made my albums like movies, you know what I mean? I wanted people to be able to listen to a movie in their car while they was driving. "I want to start off making movies where people will know they're at a movie. Like my man Tarantino, he did that movie Pulp Fiction — classic movie, man. Every time it comes on TV or cable, I have to stop and watch it. And it's based on nothing, really. There's only a few people out there that are able to do that, where it comes from nothing but the vision and imagination of the artist.^[38]

Directors Quentin Tarantino and Eli Roth are involved in the production of The Man with the Iron Fists, according to several movie Web sites.^{[39][39][40][41]} In regards to the movie, Eli said:

This movie will have everything martial arts fans could want, combined with RZA's superb musical talent. This project has been his dream for years, and I'm thrilled to be a part of it. And fans should know that yes, there will be blood... This ain't no PG-13.^[40][41]

He is also co-producing a movie remake of The Last Dragon, with Samuel L. Jackson assuming the role of Sho'nuff. John Davis of Davis Entertainment and Gordy's son Kerry Gordy, along with RZA are set to produce. Penning the screenplay as well as producing is Dallas Jackson, who heads up the urban family label DJ Classicz with Davis. Rihanna is rumored to appear in the movie as Laura Charles.^[42][43]

Personal life[link]

He was once affiliated with the Nation of Gods and Earths but has stated that he is no longer a member of any particular group. However, he usually wears the Five Percenter Universal Flag as a necklace, and still follows Five Percenter aspects, which include the Supreme Mathematics and the Supreme Alphabet. He also has taken on various aspects of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Islam, and Christianity as stated in his book The Wu-Tang Manual as well as Hinduism which he talks about thoroughly in The Tao of Wu in order to expand his spiritual growth. He has gone on to state that Qur'an, The Bible, and Lotus Sutra are three of his favorite books stating that each of the three contain enlightenment. One of his favorite hobbies consists of watching martial arts films, and he is considered to be an "encyclopedia of martial arts films", due to his vast knowledge of the genre.^[41] His second well-known hobby is chess, for he is a director of development, and champion of the Hip-Hop Chess Federation.^[44][45][46]

On children and domestic problems RZA said:

I got children of my own, you know what I mean? Domestic problems at home. If you start coming home at night from helping all your fans and people and then you've got problems at the house, that will kill any man's spirit. Say you're Bobby Digital, you're RZA, and your girl fornicates on you—you feel like shit. 'Who the fuck? How the fuck?' And say it's some nigga who sells weed—'I'm a millionaire and you're fucking with a regular motherfucker?' That takes a lot from your spirit. That slowed me down, and then the passing of my mother—the two big blows of the year 2000. It really kept me back a few years—I had to go and find myself again. I never told anybody that. You got an exclusive on that one! And I think that's enough right there.^[47]

Along with a number of members in the Wu-Tang Clan, RZA is vegetarian.^[48]

RZA has a personal verified account on Rap Genius where he explains the meaning of his own lyrics.^[49]

Controversies[link]

Fox News reported that in mid-2007 RZA attended one of Hillary Clinton's parties and donated money to her 2008 campaign. Fox News criticized the fact that Clinton took money from RZA, claiming it was contradictory due to RZA's felony record, FBI investigation, ties to the Gambino family and his music lyrics.^[50] RZA referred to the investigation in one of his lyrics, "Plus, feds had one ad saying I gun traff' / I sold 20 million records bitch, some laugh."

1998 in Battery Park, Manhattan, and Dirty—the feds were out to kill him. I had so much love for him and shit that I wanted to help protect him, and I had a feeling overcome me that I was a superhero—somebody to help the world! So I had my brother order a Level 4 fucking vehicle—what the president rides in. You can shoot it with an AK and it keeps moving. After he hit a deer, it didn't even dent the car! The deer flew way in the air and not even a dent on the paint! It was a Suburban. I still got it. It weighs nine tons. It’s parked at my brother's house in New Jersey. And the suit I built but one of my employees sold it to a drug dealer. Some drug dealer in Brooklyn got it. That's funny! A $20,000 suit—Level 4 bulletproof and knife-proof. You couldn't stab or shoot me. Head to toe. It had a few other toys I don’t like to talk about. I don't wanna describe it too much. That nigga who got, he got it! I had a briefcase to go with it as well... to block bullets! We were just buggin' out!^[51]

Discography[link]

• Bobby Digital in Stereo (1998)
• Digital Bullet (2001)
• Birth of a Prince (2003)
• Digi Snacks (2008)

References[link]