Wu & A: RZA on Making Peace With Raekwon and the Future of Wu-Tang Clan
In the 21 years since the Wu-Tang Clan released their monumental debut album, the group has spread itself far and wide. There have been more than 50 Wu-Tang solo albums. The nine living members reside all over the country, from L.A. to New Jersey to Arizona. All are in their forties, with families as well as solo careers to attend to (Cappadonna even has a grandchild). Method Man recently shot a movie with Adam Sandler. GZA spends his spare time lecturing at high schools and colleges about the cosmos and the importance of science education. U-God is working on a memoir that proudly delves into his rap sheet.
On the increasingly rare occasion Wu-Tang makes a new album, getting everyone together falls primarily on the shoulders of the man who has led the group (and served as chief producer) since the beginning: RZA, who, by the way, has his own successful acting career. The Wu’s new album, A Better Tomorrow, had a particularly difficult birth: For a time, RZA was locked in a public feud with Raekwon, another in a long series of intra-Wu beefs.
A Better Tomorrow came together largely because, through it all, RZA has remained perhaps the world’s biggest Wu-Tang fan. On a gray day in early November, immediately after getting off a long, somewhat contentious conference call with the rest of the Wu, RZA sat down to explain how he and Raekwon made peace, what life was like at Wu Mansion in the Nineties, and what’s up with the other new Wu-Tang album.
How’s it going?
How you doin’? That was the whole Clan right there.
All nine?
Except for Ghost.
What were you guys talking about?
Trying to figure out videos, singles. Getting positive and negative feedback on what’s the course of action to take. And of course I got my ideas.
What were the other ideas?
The main idea is having a voice in the idea, you know? I try to look at myself in the mirror and say, “Am I doing something wrong?” I strive for a democracy, and then nobody [bothers to] vote — it’s like Congress not showing up to pass a law. Something’s gotta happen, so you initiate a fucking executive order and now everybody’s pissed off at you. I’m going through that in a micro way and it’s confusing and frustrating because at the end of the day, I was just striving to make it better.
If you look at all the great bands throughout history, basically none of them were democracies.
With the Wu-Tang Clan, we’re at a mature age in hip-hop. How do we move beyond that? By focusing energy onto one idea. It’s like you have to say, “I’m gonna stop fighting and I’m just gonna start riding.” I have some of the greatest hip-hop talent on the planet. The talent has not decreased or evaporated. I hear Method Man and I’m like, “This fucker is writing like he’s fucking 16 years old.” You hear Raekwon and his voice, his delivery. Ghost is still finding a way to take me back to the old neighborhood through his lyrics. Then you’re hearing someone like U-God sounding better – like, “Wow, he’s developing like a late bloomer.”
Lyrically, the biggest inspiration on this album was Masta Killa. He’s the one that inspired everyone to get ahead. Cappadonna has that Staten Island shit, that certain slang, that New York shit. People say they know of Method Man, Raekwon, maybe RZA and GZA, and don’t know the other guys. But Wu-Tang’s second tier has been very prominent and inspiring in getting this record done.
Was this the most difficult Wu-Tang record to make?
Yeah, it was the most difficult one. The last one [2007’s 8 Diagrams] was difficult and this is knocking it out the box.
There was a minute when Raekwon wasn’t on this record. He had some demands that you took to the group. What did he want?
He wanted a stronger economic position.
More money up front? Is there money up front? I mean, it’s 2014. The industry is not what it used to be, right?
Can somebody please explain that to the rest of the fucking world? Or, not to the rest of the world — to the rest of my band? Raekwon’s demand was strong, actually, for money up front. I basically just came out of pocket with that.