What We Learned: RZA’s ‘Ask Me Anything’ Session On Reddit

RZA was a guest on Reddit’s Ask Me Anything Session and answered fans questions about everythingWu-Tang, Bill Murray and martial arts.

Check out some selected Q&A’s from the AMA session below.

Previously:  The RZA Wants To Bring The Ruckus In New Movie ‘Brick Mansions’

Can you describe what the reaction was from everyone was after Inspectah deck first laid down his verse in Triumph?

He slayed it. And everybody knew it. And everybody else tried to slay. But he slayed it.

How was working with Earl Sweatshirt? I've heard that during the making of Molasses, you spit a freestyle for three hours.

Yeah, we got zoned out that night. He's a cool cat. And I think he will be a great talent in hiphop.

Rae came out and said that you haven't been as involved in the hip hop game recently like ghost and rae have, which isnt that out there of a statement. Flipside, you've been handeling film scores and the films themselves. but Similar shit was being said during the 8 diagrams sessions, with ghost and rae not being down with the beats and thinkin they were outside the hip hop climate so to speak. with the same sorta issues rising up now, and with 8 diagrams not being the wu comeback album to shake the ages we all know yall cats can make, what are you doing or planning to do different with A Better Tomorrow to make sure it hits that pinacle?

Actually, I'm not trying to hit no pinnacles. The thing is, when an artist makes a painting, or a song, he makes it. The way the world responds to it is secondary. If they respond to it, and say it's great, then he's going to say great. If they don't respond to it, does that take away its greatness? No, because he's already satisfied in his creation. When Wu-Tang first made our first album, I knew it was great. But many people in the industry slept on it. But after it had success, it changed the direction of the industry. So be it. This may be possible now. Or maybe not.

Regardless, we should always be ourselves.

So the victory is moreso in the process and the completion rather than the world's reception of the completed task.

Do you see the Wu Tang Clan as even having anything left to prove with an album? If not, do you think that may be another barrier? A "what gift do you get a man who has everything" situation?

Because between all the solo and group accolades, yall have literally done it all. I say this out of love, seeing that one of the last milestones hip hop has left is for a classic group to come back and give us that heat again, to the point where they reinsert themselves in the mainstream conversion. My money is on wu or The LOX right now and i think yall can do it.

I agree that Wu-Tang has already made their statement in the world. But as the world grows and changes, and we are still a part of it, our point of view of today's world I think is still relevant. In our earlier albums, we described our childhood, our young adulthood. We have yet described how is it being a man in toddy's society, and a man who has traveled the world, raised children, seeing it change from being very separated because of racism and barriers to seeing these barriers begin to come down. And racism is slowly disappearing. (*I say that because on Staten Island, we would always get into fights with the white boys, and nowadays a lot of the white boys hang out with us and work with us). So I think it would be a wonderful gift to ourselves and to our fans and to the world if we deliver A Better Tomorrow.

What is your relationship with Bill Murray like? You guys were in Coffee and Cigarettes in 2003, and then in 2010,this happened. Do you still talk?

I don't talk to him often, because we both have crazy-busy schedules, but we have a similar circle of friends. What I can say is what a cool dude.

Did anything inspire you with regards to the choice of beats on Enter the 36 Chambers? Also, are you still an avid chess player? :D

On 36 Chambers, I kind of went on my own inspiration. I was out to prove my abilities. Yes, I still play chess.

Will we ever get 36 chambers remastered?

Perhaps some of the tracks will be remastered. A lot of them are probably not in multitrack form anymore. So the remaster would still have to come from a stereo mix.

Ever give any thought to writing/directing a Wu Tang Clan movie to tie in with an album?

Yes, actually. Although making movies is very difficult and it's hard to get green lights, I'm going to keep pushing though. And maybe one day, it will see the light.

If you could suggest, let's say one to three books, that you think everybody NEEDS to read, what would they be?

I think we should all read the Bible, the Koran, and the Bhagavad Gita.

what happened first, you naming yourself RZA or your cousin naming himself GZA?

I named myself the RZA first, and I named him the GZA shortly thereafter.

Whats your all time favorite Martial Arts flick?

What is your favorite ODB verse/line/metaphor/song?

I'll tell you the 3 that inspired me the most. Shaolin versus Wu-Tang. 8 Diagram Pole Fighter. And the Five Deadly Venoms.

For ODB "I be the answer to your why, the tear to your cry." It's off a song he did with Killer Priest.

Whattup Rza huge Wu Fan and personally you are my favourite producer ever!Thank you for doing this, I have a few questions actually, my first question regards the tracks Method Man and Clan In Da front, Did you tailor a beat for every member in the clan, how did you choose who got their solo songs on the album?Who are your other favourite rapper-producers?Lastly are there any beats that once you had finished then played back you realised that it was going to be a classic.Once again thank you!

Yes, I used to tailor the beats to their rhyme styles. I knew my Wu brothers for so long, and made so many tapes with them, that I grew an ear to what would fit the MC.

Choosing solo songs for each artist on a Wu-Tang album is something that kind of materializes during the process.

Pete Rock, Dr. Dre, Kanye West.

Yes, I have one right now that I just can't wait til the Wu MCs get on, because I just know that this is one of those magical ones.

What was it about Gravediggaz, and the horrorcore genre in general, that appealed to you when it was first starting?

At the time, being young and thinking of my childhood nightmares, I wanted to write songs from the darker side of my mentality. I feel like the Gravediggaz are the pioneers of this mentality of lyricism. Hiphop could use a few more doses of it now.

What is your best memory from the set of Brick Mansions?

Besides having my family come to set, and seeing the remarkable work that everybody was doing, I have to say eating vegetarian food with Paul Walker.

Hi, big fan of all your work and I have a great deal of respect for your outlook on life (I try to live to build up the twelve jewels myself), only question I can think of off the top of my head is, given that you've produced a lot of hip-hop, does the beat need to go with the lyrics? As in one of the two books you wrote you mentioned having hundreds (perhaps thousands, I don't recall) of beats that you've made that are just lying around waiting to possibly get used. I'm making rather a mess of the phrasing of this question, but essentially I'm curious about the production process of whether the lyrics come before the beat, or the beat comes before the lyrics, or the lyrics are written and then you find a beat you've already made but not yet used. Thank you.

All these processes are used. In a song like Method Man, he came to my house with the lyrics written, at the same time, I had just finished a new beat. We put the 2 together, and made a classic. Yet there's been many cases such as on Cuban Links, when Ghost and Ray took a tape of beats with them to Barbados, and Miami, and wrote the lyrics to the beats. So this process goes back and forth. As far as the thousands of beats that I have that have not been heard by the world, I hope that one day a generation (whether it's my children or somebody else) comes across them, records songs to them, and continues the Wu-Tang expressions.

Can you share any memories of your tour with Rage Against the Machine?

That was one of the highlights of my career. At the time, Wu-Tang had the #1 album in the country, and we began playing some of the biggest venues that we had to that date. One of my best memories is when Zack broke his leg on tour, and needed a little energy during the New Jersey show, and I came out and rocked the stage with him. The rest of the Wu went home. :(

Peace

Who are your influences?

What is your favorite rap album ever?

Your favorite song on 36 Chambers?

Favorite beat from any song ever?

My main influence is life itself. As a producer, I was a big fan of Marley Marl, and famous soul producers such as Isaac Hayes, David Porter, Willie Mitchell, and we can't forget the great songwriters from Motown.

My favorite song on 36 Chambers always changes. For today, I'm going to say Seventh Chamber.

That is a question that remains unanswered, even to myself.

Liquid Swords II when?

I think GZA may be in the process of writing that now.