Rza (of Wu-Tang Clan)

Great questions and even better responses. Link (via)

What traits do you most like and most dislike about yourself?
The trait I most like about myself? That’s a little vain, ain’t it? I got the biggest… Nah, I’m just joking. I like my realism. I keep it real and I know for a fact that righteousness is the way. I don’t like to do negative things. Even though I’m forced to do them, I’m never content. If I have to go break a nigga’s jaw? I’m not happy I had to do that. I don’t feel pleasure in negativity.

What are your feelings on piracy, internet or otherwise?
When they first started talking about it I didn’t really care, but I didn’t know it was going to have such a major effect on the entire industry to a point where million dollar deals are now worth $300,000. That’s kind of deep in a sense because the price of everything went up, like to live in New York used to cost $2,000 now costs $4,000. But you’re not making that million dollars, you’re now making half-a-million. The companies are losing so much money that the artists are losing so much money. So at first [piracy] wasn’t a problem — I was actually one of the people saying, “Yo, let them download it, man! Music is made to be heard!” And I agree, music is made to be heard but at the same time it does cost money to make this shit. Studio’s are $2,000 a fuckin’ day sometimes. And I try to get a hook up and they won’t give me one. They cost a lot of money for me to make music, so when someone just downloads it for free without giving any kind of compensation back to my cause it does create a problem. It’s a touchy situation because I was kind of advocating downloads but I didn’t know it was going to cripple the business, yo.