RZA Sends Love to Staten Island After Sandy
Staten Island is in RZA‘s thoughts in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the Wu-Tang Clan mastermind tells Rolling Stone.
“I have family on Staten Island,” says RZA, who is in town promoting his directorial debut, The Man With the Iron Fists. “My sister’s house is damaged. My other sister’s house is damaged. My brother’s house is damaged. At least half of my family felt the effect of the storm.”
Staten Island was hit especially hard this week, with widespread flooding leading to tragic losses of life and property. According to the New York Times, 19 borough residents died as a result of the storm.
“My barber just came in and gave me a shape-up, and he’s like, ‘Yo, forget what they see on the news, man,'” RZA adds. “The entire Bay Street – places where I walked, where the barber shop has been since the Wu-Tang started – had feet of water destroying things.”
For RZA, Sandy brought back memories of the 1994 flood that ruined hundreds of priceless unreleased beats at his basement studio in Staten Island. “I’ve been in a flood before,” he says. “I lost a lot of my music to a flood. So I can imagine how much suffering people are going through. I know it’s a terrible thing out there, so my blessings go out to Staten Island, Jersey, Queens – the whole Tri-State Area.”