“GZA recalls early visits to the Bronx, block parties, and a young RZA getting in trouble”

This is why WU is great. Peace to all Postdoctoral Wu fans.

Gza @ Harvard (Lecture)

Audio courtesy of The Crypt (and Harvard, I guess).

Wu heads will appreciate this early interview with the young, optimistic and confident Gza-genius. Though he manages to keep it polite, you can catch flashes of his disillusionment with the industry.

Interview With The Genius (1991)

The Genius (pre-GZA) hit San Francisco with his manager, Melquan (the same Melquan that Just-Ice said “peace” to) the Funky President, to promote his first album, Words From the Genius, on Warner Bros/Cold Chillin’. I believe this was in January or February of 1991. He made a promo/autograph signing appearance at 520 4th Street (old Trocadero Transfer, now Glas Kat), and one of his radio stops was at KPOO-FM 89.5 on the “Soulful Sundays” show with KK Baby. This is a recording of that interview.

recently: Public Access Interview And Freestyle With The Genius, Ason Unique And Prince Rakeem / vdo

via dj stef

J-Zone unearths rare footage of the elder Wu-Tang Clansmen recorded circa ’91 for a public access show. Gza rips with ODB on the beatbox, classic. No word on who the 4th man in the hat is.

Additionally, Krumholtz, repped by CAA and the Collective, is developing Igotchaback, a half-hour single-camera comedy for FX based loosely on the lives of legendary rap artist and Wu Tang Clan founding member GZA and his publicist Heathcliff Berru. The project, which Krumholtz is executive producing with an eye to star, centers on an up-and-coming music industry manager tasked with representing an aging rap star mired knee-deep in existential crisis.

Last pilot season, Krumholtz starred in another 20th TV/Imagine pilot, Fox comedy Tax Man.

update: Just remembered, Heathcliff Berru is the publicist also associated with Odd Future.

RZA’s Message Confirming His @RZAWU account

How lovely would it be if GZA rhymed on this? Cameo @ about 1m50s. Link

That’s how the ferry looked in ’93.

All in together now. Catalog runs deep.

Pretty old material but still dope nonetheless. Gza breaks down the album track by track. link

“4th Chamber”—Crazy, crazy song. If I ever do a rock album, not saying I would, but if I did, it would have to be on that kind of vibe. It would musically have to sound like “Rock Box” from Run DMC. Making “4th Chamber” was crazy because I didn’t have a rhyme ready for that one. That’s why I went last on it [laughs]. Plus, Ghost killed it with his verse so I knew I had to come correct.
This is one of three songs that crowds always go crazy for when we do a Wu show. As soon as they hear the [imitates opening guitar sound] they just explode. It’s not even a GZA song to me—it’s a Wu-Tang song. And Ghost’s verse is [just] incredible to me. He delivered so well. I don’t know if you saw the video, I directed that too. This song, the guest verses, the video, the crowd response, all turned out perfect for this one.

“Shadowboxin”—Meth delivered well on this one too. I even do his verse when I do it live! I mean, “I breaks it down to the down bristle,” is so dope. It’s hard not to rap along to this one. Just like when I hear “Triumph,” it’s hard not to do Deck’s verse. I think I was actually [just] the filler for that song anyways [laughs]. It always seemed more like Meth’s track. I remember RZA telling me I needed to get on it, so he put me in between. It’s an incredible song though, and I love performing it. It’s just another emcee lyrical joint with crazy smooth cadences.

“I Gotcha Back”—This was a short rhyme I wrote for one of my nephews. When I said, “My lifestyle so far from well, could’ve wrote a book called Age Twelve and Going Through Hell.” It’s for my nephew who was twelve at the time, and whose father, my brother, had been locked up since ’88. So he wasn’t around for my nephew when times were rough, so I wanted to up my nephew a bit with this track.

It was actually part of the soundtrack for the movie Fresh. I don’t know if a lot of people know this, but I directed the video for that song. The interesting thing about that [one] is how the video blends in with the movie itself. I had two nephews in the video, they were both real young at the time. And in video, they both had met up and shots rang out from some young gangsters. It’s a shame because both those kids in the video, both nephews of mine, ended up getting in trouble for ringing out shots and are both doing time right now. It’s kind of ironic. One of my nephews ended up getting eights years for that shit. So the whole song is a sad irony to me now.

Vids courtesy of DGIProductions. Via Soul Assassins.

GZA f/ Bronze Nazareth – 7 Pounds (Remix)

via thecrypt

Standout track from Genius vs. Genius remix project by Dysposable Heroes. via

Gza – Leaving The Surface (Dysposable Heroes Remix)

Dysposable Heroes Presents: Genius vs Genius

For Grimm’s new column about comics.

This interview is special to me because I had the rare opportunity to interview the GZA, who’s co-founder of the multi platinum group Wu-Tang Clan and a dear friend of mine for the past 25 years. GZA and I kicked it for a while and talked about us growing up in the ’80s, as well as our love for chess and mutual respect for Chess Grand Master Maurice Ashley (who’s also a friend of ours). But one other thing we have in common is our love for comics (GZA is currently working on his own book), so read on as two hip hop Grandmasters discuss comic books. M.I.C. & Wu-Tang is one family, one love. Enjoy…

This going back and forth between Gza and 50 Cent needs to stop. Does anyone really think 50 can f*ck with the Wu lyrically? Link

More videos @ youtube.com/grandgood.

see also:
Gza – Paper Plates (50 Cent Dis) / video

see also:
Gza Talks Pro Tools / video

The notoriously elusive emcee opens up in this rare and exclusive interview, providing coveted insight into the new album (and his favorite tracks), the current state of hip-hop and also directly addressing the recently leaked, buzzing 50 Cent diss track (“Paper Plate”).