RZA dissects Wu-Tang’s early bangers

There are no superlatives strong enough to describe Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). The Wu-Tang Clan​’s 1993 debut album is a lo-fi masterpiece – the sound of nine explosively talented rappers cramming into a grimy basement studio, executing big ideas with a small budget.

Led by rapper, producer and eccentric philosopher the RZA, the Clan inherited wisdom from the Five Percent Nation – an offshoot of the Nation of Islam – and the kung-fu flicks they’d devoured in seedy Staten Island movie theatres and via passed-around VHS tapes. Through RZA’s dusty samples, the Wu-Tang Clan basked in the fading warmth of the soul records which soundtracked their parents’ youth, but they rapped with the cold cynicism of kids who’d bore the brunt of Reaganomics and the ​’80s crack epidemic.

The album’s debut single, Protect Ya Neck, was an introductory posse cut powered by aggression and laced with bitterness. RZA and GZA (who founded Wu-Tang with their notorious cousin Ol’ Dirty Bastard) had failed at sustaining their rap careers with cleaner styles, and blamed their labels for an apparent lack of support and strategy. So Protect Ya Neck – initially self-released via Wu-Tang Records in December ​’92, then re-released by Loud Records six months later – was another roll of the dice. This time, with a dark sound, they cut through.

Over the 32 years since Wu-Tang dropped their debut, the group has released plenty of great records and endured almost as many dramas – including lawsuits, public fallouts over RZA’s musical direction and the whole Martin Shkreli debacle. In 2004, the group tragically lost ODB to an accidental drug overdose.

But no matter how messy the Wu-Tang saga is, these days, they always manage to pull it together on stage. They’re currently on the UK leg of the Final Chamber tour. Ghostface Killah and Method Man have already cast doubt on RZA’s framing of this really being the final tour. Regardless, it’s a rare chance to see every member – as well as Young Dirty Bastard, who’s filling in for his late father – reunited on stage.

Ahead of the London shows, I probed RZA on some of the stories behind the 36 Chambers’ biggest hits. On a number of occasions, he ended up rapping entire verses from the songs, chuckling to himself as if he’s still in disbelief at how good they are.

This is Wu-Tang Clans’ debut single. When you were recording it, did you know it would be the track which changes your lives?

The crazy thing is, we recorded Tearz first in the home studio on an eight track, and I was going to press that up as the first single. And we wanted to then do the B‑side with a posse cut to introduce us to the world. But when we were recording Protect Ya Neck it was just sounding so powerful. So some brothers started changing their lyrics. The only person who definitely didn’t have to touch nothing was Inspectah Deck. His first verse was just so compelling. But the track was different [at this point], to be honest. The original beat was more of a straight sample loop. It wasn’t me playing the bassline or playing the little melodies.

Once we got all eight MCs on it, it was like, yo, this is the calling card. This is the warning. This is lyrical assault. This is like, yo, all rappers better protect their necks now, the Wu-Tang Clan is coming to chop your fucking head off. It was a very intentional lyrical aggression, you know what I mean?

So to answer the question, I want to say yes, I think I knew. I think Dirty knew. I think other brothers felt it. I was like, nah this is a knockout punch. This is going to crack the door open.

GZA’s verse is particularly interesting, because it’s really cynical about the music industry. You and him were the only members who’d previously had record deals. With Wu-Tang, did you feel like you were re-entering the industry with a more rebellious attitude?

Yeah, it was a fuck you to the labels. GZA said it all in the lyric. He was like: ​“Yo, first of all, who’s your A&R? A mountain climber who plays an electric guitar?” That’s the kind of guy that’d be sitting in the office telling you whether or not the hip-hop is gonna work or not. A lot of the stiff necks at the time who weren’t familiar with the culture, they were blocking it. After Wu-Tang though, that’s the motherfuckers who had braids and dreads! [laughs] You started seeing motherfuckers that had culture in the buildings later.

So GZA was verbal about the way that the culture was being treated. And he said ​“they so stingy, they got short arms and deep pockets” – like, they got money, but they’re not investing it into the business of the culture. They’re just taking from it. So, yeah, his verse was very powerful. And to be quite honest – and every Wu member would probably say this without feeling any ego – he also was the best lyricist amongst us at that time. He was the sharpest one. So he had to go last. Because once he say something, it was nothing else for us to say!

This is Wu-Tang’s most streamed song on Spotify. Why do you think that is?

I think that hook speaks for itself, I think the acronym is amazing. ​“Cash rules everything around me – cream, get the money.” It’s like a mantra, it’s a call to action.

I think the lyrics, they pierce, you know? You think about Inspectah Deck’s lyric – ​“22 long, hard years, still struggling /​Survival got me buggin’” – every young man is going to go through that! ​“I don’t know why I smoke cess, I guess that’s the time I’m not depressed, but I’m still depressed /​So I asked, what’s it worth?” You could be from any community, and there’s lyrics in there that will hit you. You’re going to go through some level of depression. You’re going to go through [something] the first time smoking drugs. If you live in an urban community like we did, where you got ​“stick up kids, corrupt cops and straight shots, the block stays hot…” [RZA goes on to rap the rest of Deck’s verse] .

On this album, I think the group has a Trojan horse approach, because you’re smuggling a lot of intense and dark lyrical content into these anthemic and catchy songs. Like, this one always goes off at the live shows.

Yeah. Method Man said ​“Wu-Tang Clan be attacking your emotions”. I think Seth Rogen said it best, he said this song is kind of sad! But you still feel something. You still want to smoke to it. You still want to be fascinated by the story.

And just to give you one more beat on that song, it took a lot of changes. We had four different titles before we finally got to C.R.E.A.M. One title was More Some Shit. It was just about trying to fight the system, trying to not go to jail. And then it was called Lifestyle of the Mega Rich, where it was like stories about Mafia guys and things like that. But when we got to the studio and we was recording 36 Chambers, we was like, ​“Yo, we got to make this a song, not just a demo, not a freestyle.” Method Man, Raewkon and Inspectah Deck, they truncated their ideas that fit within the space, and they came with it.

Ghostface and Raekwon are known to be the duo within the group. Was this the moment you recognised their chemistry?

Yeah, this was the beginning of the Raekwon and Ghostface partnership. Those two got each other. They got each other’s sneakers. Two gangsters. They was like the De Niro and Pesci type guys, you know what I mean? I knew that those two complimented each other in a way. They was probably the most street colourful out of all of us. And as producer, I wanted that energy.

The song is nostalgic in a very melancholic way, pining for the old days. When you were growing up in the ​’80s and ​’90s, did you guys have the feeling that life in New York had been in decline since the previous generation?

The track is actually really invoking less than that. This is 1992 and we wished it was 1987. In ​’87 man, hip-hop was new. The clothing was cool. What happened, for us, was that hip-hop seemed like it was getting softer in a way, or more poppy – Young MC, MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice – these types of things are happening. And that side of the culture was dominating, and we was like, ​“hold on – what happened to KRS-One? Rakim? Big Daddy Kane?” So we wanted to bring back that energy of hip-hop that had the ruggedness to it. We wasn’t even going back to the ​’60s. We just talking about, ​“Yo, can it be so simple, just like it was five years ago?” But it’s a lot of dreams in those lyrics, bro. [Starts rapping Ghostface’s verse:] ​“Hangin’ on my livin’ room wall, my first joint and it went gold /​I want to lamp, I want to be in the shade /​Plus the spotlight, gettin’ my dick rode all night /​I want to have me a phat yacht /​And enough land to go and plant my own sess crops /​But for now it’s just a big dream /​​‘Cause I find myself in a place where I’m last seen”.

One of the special things about this track is it’s the only one on the album which features a full verse by U‑God, and it’s the only one with Masta Killa on it. What do you remember about recording those verses?

There was a [Wu-Tang] song called The Six Man Symphony, maybe in ​’91, that was a neighbourhood hit and it was very similar to Chessboxin’. And U‑God was the set off man for it, so he’s the set off man on this. In those days, I always wanted the first verse to be something that the DJ would spin back. With that first line – ​“Raw, I’m gonna give it to ya, with no trivia /​Raw like cocaine straight from Bolivia” – I was like, any New York DJ is going to want to play that back, over and over. And the only reason that’s the [only full U‑God verse] on the album is because during the recording, he end up going to jail. he He went in, they let him out on bail, he got remanded, sent back in again. For the Protect Ya Neck video, he was out for like three or four days or some shit. So that’s why on the second album [1997’s Wu-Tang Forever], he’s on like 11 songs.

The Masta Killa verse is iconic. It’s the first verse and it confirmed him as a member of the group. How did the rest of the Clan feel about their new groupmate when they heard this verse?

It took time for the rest of the group to accept him as a member. From the time Protect Ya Neck came out, to the time that we started recording the album, you got like a six month window. And during that six months, Masta Killa just became more and more part of the Wu-Tang movement. During the recording of 36 Chambers, he was in the studio at least 65 – 70 per cent of the time. I told him. yo, you want to get on something? I got something. I got a space. And he came back with that fucking crazy lyric.

This is arguably one of Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s finest moments. Did you always know Dirty would be a big selling point for Wu-Tang, or did you ever wonder if the record labels would be scared of him?

No. Look, the three foundations is the GZA, RZA, ODB. The GZA taught me, I taught Dirty. And then we became the three masters, our energy trickled down to the rest of the brothers. Everybody knew that Dirty was going to be somebody. So it wasn’t no risk. And as soon as the Protect Ya Neck came out, the phones was ringing for ODB and for Method Man. The top labels was already biting. It made so much sense that it was GZA, Dirty and Meth [to first sign record deals as solo artists]. Because in the foundation of it, that was like the hierarchy. Me and Ghost were roommates and brothers, and Ghost was still developing himself and fighting a lot of different things, but Dirty was already developed. Dirty was already confident enough that he could say [raps Shame verse]: ​“Got burnt once – but that was only gonorrhea /​Dirty, I keep shit stains in my drawers /​So I can get fizzy-funky for ya /​Murder, taste the flame of the Wu-Tang /​Rah! Here comes the Tiger vs. Crane /​I’ll be like wild with my style /​Punk – you play me, chump, you get jumped!” [laughs] It’s like he don’t give a fuck! You play him, you getting stomped the fuck out. That’s it.

What are your memories of recording this track?

Dirty was already Dirty [at this point], right? Meaning he may come to the studio… he might not [laughs] But he came. And when he came, yo, I was a little angry, because it was late. We didn’t have much money and we was paying them by the hour. But he came in and he says, fucking turn the beat on, and I turn it on. And he goes and do that shit in one fucking take, bro. I said, ​‘Nah, man, you didn’t, you didn’t say the whole hook!’ He said, ​‘nah, it’s finished’. He said, ​‘trust me, they’re gonna love it!’ Then I said aight. I trust you. And he was right. He was right about many things.