By Edem Latsu Nukafu
Robert Diggs known in private life prominently put together a “five-year plan” at the commencement of the Wu-Tang Clan‘s run. Now, he has provided an explanation for why his beats were so important to that vision.
Granting an interview to Torae SiriusXM’s HipHopNation, the ‘Rule Zigzag Allah’ took a fashblack on why he was not only the only producer on the group’s 1993 debut album (with two co-productions from group members), but also did almost all the beats on the initial solo projects from Ghostface Killah, Method Man, Dirt Mc Girt (ODB) , Genius and Raekwon the Chef.
“In the old days, I was very dominant,” RZA admitted. “Like, it’s all my beats. And that’s because in the old days, I didn’t feel that other producers were giving the Hip Hop type of beat that I thought was dope for Wu.”
Watch the snippet below;
Elsewhere in the convo, RZA shared how the crowd reaction to early Wu bangers was something he was very intentional about.
“If you pay attention to Hip Hop and you listen to Wu, one thing you may recognize is that a Wu joint will come on, and nobody won’t dance. Everybody [will] listen,” he let out.
“That’s because I didn’t want you to dance. I want you to listen. And that means that while a lot of producers was producing for the club, and trying to make people dance and produce a radio hit, I was producing for Hip Hop.”
Last month, RZA opened up on a different little-known aspect of the group’s past with Hot 97’s Peter Rosenberg — how Method Man got his name.
The ace producer disclosed that Method Man only adopted the moniker after recording the track of the same name for the group’s debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).
RZA uttered: “Method Man was Shakwon until he made that song — Shakwon the Panty Raider. Then, after he made that song, everybody in the hood called him Method Man.”
Method Man, whose government name is Clifford Smith, adopted the persona after the tune’s success.
“It was the concept because meth is w*ed. He’s the king of smoking w**d. So he’s the method man. A year later, he’s Method Man,” RZA proceeded.
Prince Rakeem also mentioned that it was a group decision for the name switch: “It was a conscious decision by us as a crew, but the streets did push it.”
