Big Mel
@bigboss
I'm not thrilled about him working with Grecian pianists for the album. Just get with Bronze Naz.
GZA "Dark Matter" album cover
- Thread starter Hip-Hop-Bulls
- Start date
erker
All Star
Damn, thanks for posting!! You have no idea how happy this makes me. First day cop for sure.
ManBearPig
half man half bearpig
Wow this really coming out?
This thread was created in 2012 
These Wu nikkas, man
These Wu nikkas, man
ZEB WALTON
ayo! - BEZ
Gza always deliver a solid album. He out some time ln this one.
Can the gza reignite the wu ala cuban linx 2?
We shall see
Can the gza reignite the wu ala cuban linx 2?
We shall see
lol yea this might be the most delayed Wu album, not counting MK's debut because you never knew if it was coming in the 90s/early 00s
hope its good, he seems to have invested alot of time in it so hopefully the beats match that effort
hope its good, he seems to have invested alot of time in it so hopefully the beats match that effort
Bout damn time.
The power of words still resonates with GZA
GZA
When: 8 p.m. Oct. 30
Where: City Winery, 1200 W. Randolph
Tickets: Sold out
Info: www.citywinery.com/chicago
When: 8 p.m. Oct. 31
Where: City Winery, 1200 W. Randolph
Tickets: $35-$48 (all ages)
Info: www.citywinery.com/chicago
“‘Liquid Swords’ is still one of the most influential albums from the Wu-Tang catalog today,” Billboard stated Nov. 7 last year, on the platinum-certified record’s 20th anniversary. “From the dialogue samples of [classic samurai film] ‘Shogun Assassin’ to GZA making his mark as a lyrical force, ‘Liquid Swords’ has become a large part of pop culture.” The veteran music-biz trade publication hailed RZA’s “grimy and stark production” and The Genius’s vivid, harrowing narrative: “Cold and calculating with a crunchy flow, GZA took you through the dark depths of Shaolin [Staten Island, in group parlance] on ‘Liquid Swords.’”
Significantly, Billboard continued, “[w]hile 1995 was the year the East Coast started to make a presence in a West Coast-driven hip-hop world, it was Wu Tang’s commercial dominance, coupled with excellent projects like GZA’s sophomore set, which elevated them to a high regard in rap circles.
“Liquid Swords” was GZA’s second solo project since forming Wu-Tang Clan (originally known as All In Together Now Crew) in early-’90s Staten Island, N.Y., along with his rhyme-spitting cousins RZA and Ol’ Dirty b*stard. “Dirty was always wild and crazy,” GZA noted of ODB, Wu-Tang’s beloved comedian who passed away in 2004, “but he had the most intellectual raps as a teenager.”
GZA — aka “The Genius” | COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Scintillating wordplay, GZA stressed, has been the Wu’s raison d’être since inception. “For us, it was always about writing the most intellectual, wittiest rap,” he said. “Always. Always.” And a thesaurus never needed to figure into the process, GZA’s favorite dictum being, “Work maximum damage in minimum time.”
“I don’t [need to] use four- and five-syllable words,” he pronounced. “when one- and two-syllable words still tell a strong story. Half short, twice strong.”
Economy of language is a through line for GZA. Released in July, his new cosmologically-themed track “The Spark” condenses the history of our universe, from pre- to post-Big Bang and beyond, into four compact yet detailed (“picosecond,” anyone?) verses plus chorus. Part of a special music project by NASA, saluting the space agency’s Juno Project mission to Jupiter, it serves as a preview of GZA’s hotly anticipated, years-in-the-making seventh solo album, “Dark Matter.” (“It’s definitely being released this year,” GZA promised, “and it may be the second of December.”)
Science, astrophysics in particular, now serves as The Genius’s main muse.
“Just the aspect of everything being connected — [for example], we’re all made of stardust — is a beautiful thing. There’s so much to pull from,” GZA enthused, while decrying a narrow-focused sameness in many of today’s hip-hop lyrics as the product of “sterile imagination.”
“GZA has always been an undercover science geek,” said Christopher Emdin, and associate professor of science education at Columbia University. “It is beautiful to witness him slowly reveal his true identity.”
Teacher and rapper collaborate on Emdin’s New York-based scholastic initiative, Science Genius. Its website describes the program’s focus as “utilizing the power of hip-hop music and culture to introduce youth to the wonder and beauty of science.” Plus, GZA has lectured about this inspired, potent admixture at MIT and at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, among other august scientific institutions, and has appeared as an interview guest on Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s radio show, “Star Talk.”
“As a science educator, I am always fascinated by people who can relay complex subject matter to the public and make it simple and relatable,” observed Emdin, who is also associate director of the Institute for Urban and Minority Education at Columbia Teachers College. “GZA is one of those people.”
GZA
When: 8 p.m. Oct. 30
Where: City Winery, 1200 W. Randolph
Tickets: Sold out
Info: www.citywinery.com/chicago
When: 8 p.m. Oct. 31
Where: City Winery, 1200 W. Randolph
Tickets: $35-$48 (all ages)
Info: www.citywinery.com/chicago
“‘Liquid Swords’ is still one of the most influential albums from the Wu-Tang catalog today,” Billboard stated Nov. 7 last year, on the platinum-certified record’s 20th anniversary. “From the dialogue samples of [classic samurai film] ‘Shogun Assassin’ to GZA making his mark as a lyrical force, ‘Liquid Swords’ has become a large part of pop culture.” The veteran music-biz trade publication hailed RZA’s “grimy and stark production” and The Genius’s vivid, harrowing narrative: “Cold and calculating with a crunchy flow, GZA took you through the dark depths of Shaolin [Staten Island, in group parlance] on ‘Liquid Swords.’”
Significantly, Billboard continued, “[w]hile 1995 was the year the East Coast started to make a presence in a West Coast-driven hip-hop world, it was Wu Tang’s commercial dominance, coupled with excellent projects like GZA’s sophomore set, which elevated them to a high regard in rap circles.
“Liquid Swords” was GZA’s second solo project since forming Wu-Tang Clan (originally known as All In Together Now Crew) in early-’90s Staten Island, N.Y., along with his rhyme-spitting cousins RZA and Ol’ Dirty b*stard. “Dirty was always wild and crazy,” GZA noted of ODB, Wu-Tang’s beloved comedian who passed away in 2004, “but he had the most intellectual raps as a teenager.”
GZA — aka “The Genius” | COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Scintillating wordplay, GZA stressed, has been the Wu’s raison d’être since inception. “For us, it was always about writing the most intellectual, wittiest rap,” he said. “Always. Always.” And a thesaurus never needed to figure into the process, GZA’s favorite dictum being, “Work maximum damage in minimum time.”
“I don’t [need to] use four- and five-syllable words,” he pronounced. “when one- and two-syllable words still tell a strong story. Half short, twice strong.”
Economy of language is a through line for GZA. Released in July, his new cosmologically-themed track “The Spark” condenses the history of our universe, from pre- to post-Big Bang and beyond, into four compact yet detailed (“picosecond,” anyone?) verses plus chorus. Part of a special music project by NASA, saluting the space agency’s Juno Project mission to Jupiter, it serves as a preview of GZA’s hotly anticipated, years-in-the-making seventh solo album, “Dark Matter.” (“It’s definitely being released this year,” GZA promised, “and it may be the second of December.”)
Science, astrophysics in particular, now serves as The Genius’s main muse.
“Just the aspect of everything being connected — [for example], we’re all made of stardust — is a beautiful thing. There’s so much to pull from,” GZA enthused, while decrying a narrow-focused sameness in many of today’s hip-hop lyrics as the product of “sterile imagination.”
“GZA has always been an undercover science geek,” said Christopher Emdin, and associate professor of science education at Columbia University. “It is beautiful to witness him slowly reveal his true identity.”
Teacher and rapper collaborate on Emdin’s New York-based scholastic initiative, Science Genius. Its website describes the program’s focus as “utilizing the power of hip-hop music and culture to introduce youth to the wonder and beauty of science.” Plus, GZA has lectured about this inspired, potent admixture at MIT and at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, among other august scientific institutions, and has appeared as an interview guest on Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s radio show, “Star Talk.”
“As a science educator, I am always fascinated by people who can relay complex subject matter to the public and make it simple and relatable,” observed Emdin, who is also associate director of the Institute for Urban and Minority Education at Columbia Teachers College. “GZA is one of those people.”
