RZA on Hot 97 morning show. Long interview...addresses Raekwon comments

[MartyMcFly]

Even though Rosenberg's a fukk nikka, I completely agree with what he says about the Wu album should be Wu producers. I'm a fan of Pharrell and Kanye but I wanna hear Wu production on a Wu album. Wu have a sound that can't be replicated and the last time they got outside production, we ended up with iron flag. Not total garbage but the least wu sounding album of them all. The only producer I'd accept on a Wu album is Alchemist. Just makes straight fire and he is only non-wu producer to come close to do a good job of making Wu-Tang sounding beats. Some of the beats on Masterpiece Theatre by Willie the Kid straight up sound like Wu

Actually breh, Easy Mo Bee did Take It Back on 8 Diagrams. It wasn't bad. And yeah the three joints off Iron Flag that had outside producers were OK...Back in the Game had a Wu feel to it so props to Trackmasters for that

 

[VladTheImpaler]

that's my Abbot

 

[Poppa_Dock]

lol @ ebro letting it known right off the bat that he doesn't want to talk to weirdo RZA.

 

[Funcrusher]

But did you expect it any other way?? RZA always keep it 100 when dealing with his brothers so I knew he was going to set the record straight and put things in their proper perspective .


But anyway pos rep to @Billy Ocean for posting the interview. That shyt was insightful as hell.


Imagine if RZA was able to get to Rebel INS album before they got "tainted"
shyt makes sense now why Cappadonna was able to pop off before INS, MK and U-God

It's not really that I expected anything different, but that thing about where Rae called him a liar and Rza just said yeah well, interview was done 2 weeks ago. That just extra stupid. Call dude that made your career a liar, when all you had to do was send a goddamn text message to ask when the interview was done. Props to Rza for keeping it cool, it would be understandable if he just said you know what, good luck with that FILA album you delayed for 2 years now, I don't need your verses.

 

[Billy Ocean]

and the Wu as we know its is over

Noo, no, Danie....I refuse to believe that!

 

[Billy Ocean]

lol @ ebro letting it known right off the bat that he doesn't want to talk to weirdo RZA.

Fvck you talmbout, breh? Please don't tell me it took you over four pages for you to decide to finally come in and troll, breh. You better than that.

 

[Billy Ocean]

Yo, I'm still heavily anticipating to hear the RZA beats he crafted for the Better Tomorrow album. I don't give a fvck what anyone says, some of the beats he did for 8 Diagrams was brilliant:







He also feels like the music he made for Better Tomorrow sounds as timeless as Al Green classics. Got me really fiending to hear them.

 

[VladTheImpaler]

Also we have to admit, Rza got them all their own deals EVEN THOUGH LETS BE HONEST..... the only thing Otis Williams do for the Temptations was be in the group.....David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks...and SOMETIMES Paul....were the effin voices! Let's not forget this.... people can talk all they want about stuff being equal and all of that...BUT value for VALUE...U God DOES NOT have the same Value as Meth....Cap does not have the same value as Ghost....GZA for all his wordplay and great swords does not bring the same value as RZA.....so it's really a tough one. 9 Emcees and all important and then cross that with with 9 egos and it's a mess.....and u God has some nice verses......but you go to a WU show...and he is missing...do you still feel like you saw the Wu.....and got the Wu Experience....what if Meth or Starks is not there....

I just say thanks for the classics..... and peace to the Clan.

 

[Bickin Back Being Bool]

amazing interview

 

[pimpineasy]

all true wu heads know that Rae has always had a bit of a crab in barrel mentaility....................
even Ghost too. remember when they clowned Meth while giving an interview during a bus or train ride.
GZA i will excuse because his mind was kinda removed from rap even before dropping liquid swords.
Rae seems to forget that cuban linx was only good due to the tri fecta of rza beat, ghost hyper verses and his gambino style

 

[VladTheImpaler]

all true wu heads know that Rae has always had a bit of a crab in barrel mentaility....................
even Ghost too. remember when they clowned Meth while giving an interview during a bus or train ride.
GZA i will excuse because his mind was kinda removed from rap even before dropping liquid swords.
Rae seems to forget that cuban linx was only good due to the tri fecta of rza beat, ghost hyper verses and his gambino style

All based under the Abbot's instruction.

 

[Piff Perkins]

Noo, no, Danie....I refuse to believe that!

I wish I could believe.

I like a couple beats on 8 Diagrams (Campfire is classic Wu) but overall didn't like it. If the production is more of the same...eh. Why not have RZA compose musicians, and basically re-create samples? Questlove did a great job producing Al Green's last album. RZA could get some musicians like the El Michels Affair, who did a nice live version of 36 Chambers a few years ago, and then direct them with sample tracks. They re-create them, RZA dusts them up and they go from there.

 

[Amestafuu (Emeritus)]

Yo, I'm still heavily anticipating to hear the RZA beats he crafted for the Better Tomorrow album. I don't give a fvck what anyone says, some of the beats he did for 8 Diagrams was brilliant:







He also feels like the music he made for Better Tomorrow sounds as timeless as Al Green classics. Got me really fiending to hear them.

I like all those songs too. Very slept on.

Rae is a bytch made nikka...

 

[Billy Ocean]

I wish I could believe.

I like a couple beats on 8 Diagrams (Campfire is classic Wu) but overall didn't like it. If the production is more of the same...eh. Why not have RZA compose musicians, and basically re-create samples? Questlove did a great job producing Al Green's last album. RZA could get some musicians like the El Michels Affair, who did a nice live version of 36 Chambers a few years ago, and then direct them with sample tracks. They re-create them, RZA dusts them up and they go from there.

I definitely agree that RZA's work with samples are greater than his sample-less music, but I still loved most of the beats he made for 8 Diagrams. Very underrated album and I still believe that alot of peoples negative views on the album is heavily influenced by Ghost and Rae's sabotage job. Album is better than Iron Flag but you wouldn't think so the way some people sh!t on it.

And yea, I ain't believing the Wu's demise until I hear some new material from the group as a whole. The Wu's most salient members still are top tier MC's. Keep Watch is an unfinished Math beat. A track that should not have been released. Can't judge off that. And even with that said, A LOT of people still like the song. And rae is just being grumpy ass, wish I was a real leader like RZA, feeling himself Rae. I still believe he'll be back in the fold soon.

 

[Ziggiy]

Insightful interview. I really gained a whole new level of respect for RZA.


My two cents....


Raekwon and (to an extent) Ghostface are hood nikkas with hustler mentalities whose main goal in life is the abstract goal of "winning". This is a mindset, that growing up in impoverished conditions, is instilled within you when young. The "kill or be killed" mentality is a main factor of SURVIVAL within the ghetto. Many successful MC's have taken this mindset and parlayed into success within the industry. The "moving in a room full of snakes" concept if you will. Raekwon wants to win, by any means necessary, and winning to him signifies his demands be met. Whether he's actually worthy of the demands or not don't mean anything, common sense means nothing in this equation, because common sense dictates that these 8 black men should've been either incarcerated or dead before they reached 25. Defying the odds is something that has been ingrained in each and every one of them, it's what allowed RZA to create a dynasty, what allowed Rae to make such a HUGE comeback after successive failed albums, what allowed GZA to come back from a hellish experience with his first album to become one of the most celebrated lyricists of all time, what allowed Ghostface to continually reinvent himself album after album, and what made Method Man a star. How could you, as an MC who has accomplished so much, possibly find it easy to swallow what it is that MAKES you great and take a backseat to another man's vision and direction? And doing so WITHOUT getting some concession in return?

THIS is what's at the heart of the disagreement. It's no coincidence that Rae and Ghost have had issues with RZA and a Wu-Tang album dating back to 8 Diagrams. Remember it was Ghost who first mentioned the wanting of having other producers besides RZA involved a Clan album. Then Rae came forward and said that the next Clan album (which became Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang) would excise RZA completely. If you read an early Ghost interview where he talks about suing RZA for money, he highlights the fact that he won, he doesn't even talk about the money so much as he's happy that he WON, that HE was in control. It's going to take allot more than RZA returning to his old apartment to make dusty 90's soul samples with Karate Chop interludes to convince 8 lifelong HUSTLERS entering middle age to relinquish complete control without the promise of a guaranteed "win".