CHAMBER #1...THE RZA
YOU DIRTY WHORE!!!!...yes my friends...the telepaths are celebrating!!!...celebrating all things wu tang...celebrating the fact that 20 years ago enter the 36 chambers dropped...celebrating all the clan in the front and the back...me and drama are gonna have ourselves a little telepathic conversation or 10 on each and every clan member...yes, it's including u-god...starting with who we think is the greatest member of wu tang...starting with #1...who was it...fuck we know who it is...no drama there...so let's just kick off and get into this whore...i mean this fine lady...i mean this wonderful man that goes by the name of...THE RZA!!!
WILLIAM BROWN
FIRST QUESTION: was rza clearly #1?
FIRST QUESTION: was rza clearly #1?
SECOND QUESTION: did his questionable solo albums as bobby
digital knock him back a few notches?
DRAMA EN SABAH
1. RZA the architect, Produced Enter, The Dirty Version, Tical, Only Built, Liquid Swords, Iron Man, and Forever. Great work scoring Kill Bill.
At first I thought it was pretty unanimous
that RZA was number one but with more thought I wavered a little bit.
I'm still confident he is but I think it's pretty easy to forget how big Meth
was in the 90's. Still we got to give it to RZA his production was
the driving force behind many of those hits. It's tough to have a
"sound" that doesn't go stale after two albums. RZA held it
together for like 7 albums if you count Forever as two records. He doesn't get
enough credit but he changed the sound while still keep it familiar. If you
listen to say OBCL, Liquid Swords, and Iron Man there are subtle shifts
musically on those albums that make sure they don't sound exactly the
same.
SECOND QUESTION: did his questionable solo albums as bobby
digital knock him back a few notches?
Naw things like that only matter if you're a one hit wonder
which he clearly isn't. Michael Jordan's 21 point seasons with the Wizards
didn't put a dent in his HOF standings. Besides the first Bobby Digital album
was a concept album and wasn't that bad he stepped outside his usual subject
for that one. I actually charted pretty high as
well. Commercially you can't hate a rapper with a top 20 album. I
never heard the second one Digital Bullet but it did well commercial as well.
Keep in mind these were after Wu-Tang wave was over. This speaks
to RZA longevity. His third album Birth of a Prince was really good.
I like that one a lot. Matter of fact it's going back on my playlist
immediately. Me and boy Danger Man Lally nearly missed the start of a movie
bumping the shit out of that album in a parking lot the day we got it and that
was like 10 years after Enter the Wu-Tang.
Do you have any reservations about putting him in the
number one spot?
WILLIAM BROWN
i have no reservations, i think he's a clearly number one by
a large stretch...it was his vision that brought this all together...there's a
nice scene in the "wu tang manual" where he told the story of walking
endless miles through the different boroughs, over the bridges...walking and
thinking...crafting and honing his vision of what he wanted to do with
wu-tang...he brought all of these people together and made it work...he tailor
made beats and crafted individual albums for method man, gza, odb, rae and ghost...he
was an actor, he directed a movie, made soundtracks to movies...wrote two
books...created his own character "bobby digital" and made solo
albums with that concept...he produced and rapped at a high level...his wisdom
and experience brought a depth to everything he touched...his knowledge of
islam and the 5 percenters...he brought all kinds of pop culture
together...kung fu flicks, comic books, chess etc...and made it wutang...i
can't think of chess without thinking of wutang...kung fu the same...
question: do you have a favourite rza lyric?
question: do you think he's the best rapper/producer
ever?...better than dre, kanye?
question: what are those bobby digital albums like in
the year 2013, cause i was never feeling them too much, i remember being
disappointed?
DRAMA EN SABAH
A favourite RZA lyric? That's a tough one. He
has many good ones but one that jumps out at me is his verse on Impossible.
The one that started "Fusion of the five elements/in search of higher
intelligence." That was a great verse but Ghostface's most infamous
verse is on that same song so RZA might not have gotten his just
desserts there. Funny enough U-God's best verse is on that song as well.
|
I can't give RZA the best producer ever tag.
Though he is in the running. I don't know that anyone can compete with Dre who
goes from NWA to Snoop to Em to 50. No one has more important records than Dre.
Does that mean he's more talented thanRZA or even Marly Marl? Not necessarily
but big tunes count for something. Still RZA is way up there in my
books
I just finished listening to the In Stereo album again and
that is some top notch work. I'm not too familiar with Digital Bullet but I
know it was a gold record and that was going on 10 years after Wu-Tang's hey
day. Both those were gold records at a time when Wu-Tang wasn't really selling
records. So they did find an audience. I think In Stereo was a really, really
good record. As I mentioned earlier I liked Birth of a Prince a lot as well
though most of it doesn't hold up as well as In Stereo.
Did you ever get into any of that Gravediggaz stuff? I
know a lot of people will tell you that was some of his best work. I never
really got into it though.
WILLIAM BROWN
yeah i remember listening to the gravediggaz...supposedly they created the whole horrorcore genre of rap...like brotha lynch hung and tyler the creator etc...i never found them that dark though...maybe that's because prince paul was involved so much on the first album...like when i think of prince paul the last thing i think of is horror...i think of fucking daisies and his goofy concept albums like handsome boy modelling school...
i remember being pretty excited about this "cure"
album he was working on or has been working on for 20 years...i got some stuff
that was supposedly off of it but...i think he said that it would be his final
solo work and then he was going to focus strictly on movie directing but who
knows...i was never a big bobby digital fan but i read that he gave alot of the
beats he was going to use on his solo stuff to wu tang albums
because they could reach a bigger audience...
random fact: did you know rza is a vegetarian?
and i like this little personal nugget:
"I got children of my own, you know what I mean?
Domestic problems at home. If you start coming home at night from helping all
your fans and people and then you've got problems at the house, that will kill
any man's spirit. Say you're Bobby Digital, you're RZA, and your girl fornicates on
you—you feel like shit. 'Who the fuck? How the fuck?' And say it's some nigga
who sells weed—'I'm a millionaire and you're fucking with a regular
motherfucker?' That takes a lot from your spirit. That slowed me down, and then
the passing of my mother—the two big blows of the year 2000. It really kept me
back a few years—I had to go and find myself again. I never told anybody that.
You got an exclusive on that one! And I think that's enough right there."
DRAMA EN SABAH
Man when RZA said "I chewed my fucking arm off and made
my escape" on that Gravediggaz record that was pretty big for a lot of
people. Not sure what album it was but there was an answering machine snippet
that had a guy asking RZA how long it took him to chew his arm off.
Not sure if I knew rza was a vegetarian. Might have read it
in the manual though. Man I find it funny that quote doesn't mention RZA talked
about how his wife filed for divorce because of the interview he did where he
said to get into the role of Bobby Digital "I must have fucked a 100
bitches". Of course she's going to fuck the weed guy after that. I
remember reading him saying that and thinking man isn't his wife going to read
this shit? Then shortly thereafter she files for divorce.
WILLIAM BROWN
On the origin of the name RZA: "I used to be called
Rakeem. I thought I was going the right way, but I was going the wrong way, and
I had to find my way back the right way in order to find Allah. That's called
'zig-zag-zigging.' I use Allah as a proper name for God, because in Allah, I
get all. I get Arm, Leg, Leg, Arm, Head. By me accepting that that's me, Rakeem
Zig-zag-zig Allah, that became a title more than a name. RZA."
i think i read in the tao book that he was so depressed with
all this relationship stuff with his wife that he just laid on his lawn for a
few days and then had some epiphany or the spirit entered into him and he was
okay after that...more than okay he was on fire creatively...
here's some stats i found of record sales...i think it was
from about 5 years ago though...
man they sold over 4 million
of wu tang forever!
what do you think of the rza's involvement with
hollywood...from acting to scoring soundtracks to directing?...how did you feel
about his directorial debut?
DRAMA EN SABAH
I think all the extra stuff shows his range and can only add
to his the level of respect he's owed but that being said I can't say I've
cared that much. It's rare I think much about a score after the movie is over
and I can't say I cared much for the Man with the Iron Fists.
I did like the Wu-Tang manual though. I don't mind
RZA as an author at all.
WILLIAM BROWN
In the end...what has rza brought to the table for you?...how has he made your life better?
DRAMA EN SABAH
Well I mean RZA brought the Wu to the table and the Wu in my opinion is easily top four in terms of groups in Hip Hop history. Right up there with Run DMC, PE, and NWA. He also brought a new sound to the scene that was really influencial which to me is most for a producer to be considered a top tier guy. I think with the books and what not you really get a chance to see a figure in Hip Hop show some depth. RZA is really going to go down in history as one of Hip Hop's all time great thinkers.
WILLIAM BROWN
In the end...what has rza brought to the table for you?...how has he made your life better?
DRAMA EN SABAH
Well I mean RZA brought the Wu to the table and the Wu in my opinion is easily top four in terms of groups in Hip Hop history. Right up there with Run DMC, PE, and NWA. He also brought a new sound to the scene that was really influencial which to me is most for a producer to be considered a top tier guy. I think with the books and what not you really get a chance to see a figure in Hip Hop show some depth. RZA is really going to go down in history as one of Hip Hop's all time great thinkers.
THE TELEPATHS
FAVOURITE RZA CUTS...
bobby digital - domestic violence
this shit right here was classic for me...bitch to be a nurse, you gotta go to school first!!!!
wu tang - maria
suicidal, she been in more hotel rooms than bibles...my favourite rza line...
gravediggaz - 1-800-suicide
this shit still sounds dope!
RZA - Tragedy
One of the best RZA solo tunes in my opinion. Dense with 5 percenter philosophy.
Wu-Tang Clan - Impossible
Possibly the best verses of three different Clan members appear on this one song. RZA's opener is a master's course in rhyme writing.
GZA Shadowboxin'/4th Chamber
Really this entry is about 4th Chamber but why the fuck wouldn't you want to listen to Shadowboxin while we're at it? I mean give me Meth on Shadowboxin' all cot.damn.day. But this is about RZA and RZA serves up the love love nicely on 4th Chamber. What I want you to check for is the end of his verse where he says Protons, electrons, always, cause, explosions. See what he did there? Well he does that more than once throughout the Wu catalogue. Might be fun to try and find them all. Peace.
Prince Rakeem - Oooh We Love You Rakeem
For shits and giggles. You can hear some influences that would appear later on Enter the Wu-Tang