RZA: solo LP, Tarantino flick & Wu-Tang Clan

It is only few months since the transAtlantic rap-album ‘The World According To RZA’ appeared in stores and it is even fewer months since with spoke with the Wu-Tang Clan’s mainman when the next ‘chamber’ appears: ‘RZA: Birth Of A Prince’. We thus return in a rush to find out about the new disc (on new label), probe a bit more about ‘Kill Bill’ and discover whether there is going to be another Wu-Tang Clan album or it has all, according to the rumour-mill, gone pear-shaped.

Although he told us that ‘RZA: Birth Of A Prince’ would be out so soon we really doubted the pace he was suggesting but, on the whole, it shouldn’t surprise as his activities have been many, varied and frequent. There have been countless Afro-American musicians that influenced and changed the world of music but there were only a handful that really infiltrated the business side and truly altered things for good. George Clinton was one of the first with his Parliament Funkadelic dealings, then P.Diddy (ex-Puff Daddy) comes to mind and, certainly, RZA (born Robert Diggs), the unofficial-mainman-but-crucial Wu-Tang Clan bro.

Ever since appearing in the early 1990s with their genre-defining kung-fu inspired Shaolin Hip-hop, the WTC has grown into an empire. Alongside each member having a solo recording contract, there is clothing line Wu Wear, two publishing companies (Diggs Family Music and Ramecca Publishing), Wu Electronics (based in Bern, Switzerland) for development and marketing of advanced studio and DJ equipment such as Replicator.

After completing work on the soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino’s ‘comeback’ film, RZA worked on the next instalment of his solo series of discs following life and (mis)fortunes of his alter-ego Bobby Digital, as well as part-producing the recently-released-from-prison Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s next album. Some members of WTC, Meth-Man, Raekwon, GZA, ODB and Inspectah Deck, have formed No Said Date (CD produced by DJ Premier of GangStarr) although a new album by the ‘mothership’ band is also due.

“It started out as another chapter in the ‘Bobby Digital’ series”, RZA explains in his quick patter that is a bit barren of emotions at the same time, “but I soon realised I had outgrown it because of the lyrical content. I was planning to call it ‘The Birth Of RZA’ but changed it to ‘Birth Of A Prince’. It’s not typical, I took care of that. Both Chambers have moved up a little bit and it even more sideways. It’s a move and I’m enjoying it.”

“I like my music to come out quickly after the completion, I like it to appear 12 weeks after the completion. I have so much music in me and I need to get it out. I think it is the best of all solo albums I’ve done and production and the ideas I introduce are completely different.”

A celluloid touch

RZA also runs the Wu Films, responsible for a number of Kung Fu movies released/distributed in the USA and worked on Tarantino’s ‘Kill Bill’ flick soundtrack; what memories is he left with?

“Hard work, that’s what I’ll remember,” RZA sighs. “Enjoyable but it was intense. I had to do few short segments but he knew in detail what he wanted and I worked on it until I matched his [audio] vision. As for the film, he’s actually taken the genre of martial-arts, he knows it and appreciates it and has complimented it, and added to it! He’s not just taken it and ‘gone Hollywood’ but it is authentic and you see scenes you haven’t seen captured since the 1980s, and even the 1970s! This really is like the real movie and has all the makings of a classic.”

“I’ve watched it in editing room,” the rapman perks up at once, “and have seen parts of it hundreds of times and still am not tired of it! Music is fine apart one incidental segment I did that made me really feel like being pushed against the wall. I went back the following day and presented him with two pieces and he told me, ‘One had the movement but it wasn’t air-lock tight’ and he asked me to try and combine all the elements to go with his segment. It took three days, a 25-second cue and he heard it, before entering, through the (studio) door and made a comment, ‘It inspires me’.”

‘Kill Bill’ is split into two parts; more work for you, perhaps?

“Yeah, it is true but I think everything is done by now. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it but it is much easier to write songs. Still, I caught the moment and he was very pleased, we hung out at his crib, watched Spaghetti westerns… I’ve got some other good stuff in there but it was easier, that one was the cue that was totally the essence of that scene. I love working on movies, it is a good experience and fans will enjoy the movie and music and it is going to be one that will be watched many times, not just the once.”

Streetcore broodin’

Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s comeback album will have six tracks produced by cousin RZA and is to be followed by another Wu-Tang Clan disc despite certain members being dissatisfied with ODB’s special treatment, of being allowed to sign outside of the WTC’s organisation.

“Everything is happening, there is going to be one because everyone is asking for it. Also, I’ve been preparing for it… Everything I’ve been doing has made me become a better musician. Working on films encourages me because it humbles me but it also gives me new tools. This is not Hip-hop production; being a Hip-hop producer doesn’t mean you have to be a musician. Hip-hop producers are half-a-dozen, it is all a known formula, and it doesn’t take musical talent.”

“If you read my old interviews, from 1993-95, I was always downplaying that I had a musical talent. I used to say I was a DJ/producer/Hip-hop kid and I really had no musical talent. I had a feeling how to do things and you can hear that in my early work. But then, I was studying and learning chords to be able to play piano. I can’t play other peoples songs but I get 20 different song-ideas per day! I feel I’ve developed a musical talent and I get a lot of people coming to me and telling me how ‘Ghost Dog’ (subtitled ‘The Way of Samurai’, 07/2000) OST was great.”

“I used to have melody for each character and people would tell me that’s why Isaac Hayes used to do. Isaac Hayes tutored me for two years and we’ve got plenty of songs, maybe ten, we recorded together but nobody’s ever heard them. He’s cool and then Quincy Jones gave me some support…”

“So, all these has come through on my album and will be on the next Wu-Tang Clan album.”