Long read, but worth every second. RZA breaks down the beef between Wu members, finances (diversify yo bonds nigga), the music industry, and just drops knowledge. Wildstyle is a German mag, so here is the full interview translated on FWMJ’s blog. Choice quotes:
…I told Ghost right in court to come over to me. Ghost is my brother, Ghost has got babies from my sister, did you know that? I’m the uncle of his children, my little sister has two babies from him. I was like “Yo Sun, we’re in court, look how stupid this is. They got us in court not talking to each other”. His lawyer tells him not to talk to me. Why? Because they don’t want the truth to come out. The lawyer costs Ghost 1000 dollars a day, he costs me 1000 dollars a day and this case has been going on for 2-3 years!
Wildstylemag.com: Does that make you sad?
RZA: It makes me supersad!…
Like I have a blood-brother named King who used to rob me, beat me up, take my clothes, stab me with forks and shit. He was just the older brother, who got jealous when your mother gives you more love. He was just mad, he was a mad kid, yo! He used to steal my money everyday. And when I got wealthy I bought this big 100 acres of land in Ohio. And I told him to go there and run the land. He went there for 3 years and ran the land. When he got to run the land by himself the solitary and the solitude made him become a real man. And now he’s my best motherfucking friend. Life is like that sometimes.
RZA: What’s happening right now in the Hip Hop industry is that it is deeply affected by the general economy of the country. The people who are getting the money now are young. When you are young “money” is not the same. I give you an example: If you are 19 years old and you get a record contract with 15.000 dollars, you’re a cool 19 year old motherfucker. So it doesn’t bother you, you know?! You don’t even realize it. But for the artists that are 25 and up 15.000 dollars is not a great salary, it’s a medium salaray. So that’s where the problem comes out. If you see somebody like Souljah Boy, who is only 16 years old, making fucking 200 Grand a year, then he’s doing great. And all he is buying is sneakers and candy. But if you are dealing with a rapper that is 25 years old that may have his first child on the way, or maybe his first home he has to buy, there’s the problem.
Let me use the example as a woman of an analogy. Me and my ex-wife wouldn’t get along, you know. So she would go somewhere and I would think to myself “Where the fuck is this bitch at, what is she doing? Who is she with?” I could think of a thousand things she’s doing. But she only did one thing: She went to the fucking grocery store. That’s life yo.
