RZA

RZA Reveals That A Long-Rumored ODB Biopic Is Indeed Happening

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Mike Relm

Earlier this year, Wu-Tang’s Once Upon A Time In Shaolin album was sold by the government to pay off part of ultra-weasel Martin Shkreli’s $7.4 million forfeiture judgment. But members of The Wu-Tang Clan have stayed plenty busy with other endeavors. For starters, the second season of the Hulu show Wu-Tang: An American Saga came out, and one of its members, RZA, re-launched his series Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater on his platform 36 Cinema, which hosts screenings of old school kung-fu and blaxploitation films, complete with guests and live commentary.

In a recent interview with Mic, where RZA spoke about An American Saga, the 2019 Sacha Jenkins-directed documentary Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men, and the need for Black voices to tell Black stories. He also revealed that he is working on a biopic about Ol’ Dirty Bastard. If you’ve heard about this before, it’s because in 2018, The Hollywood Reporter ran a story revealing the project was green-lit by Columbia Pictures, that it would be produced by RZA, and that a search for a director and screenwriter were underway. Not only that, but he shared that it’s part of a bigger vision:

“The documentary was to capture the story as best we can in the reality of it, and then the TV series was to dramatize it. The third tier of the plan, which I’m in progress of, is an ODB movie biopic. Like the five-year Wu-Tang plan, this was a five-year media plan that I concocted, I meditated on, and I’m striving to live out. So far, it’s working well.”

ODB was a polarizing figure, to say the least, and his life was shrouded in equal parts flamboyance and mystique. A RZA-produced biopic is sure to shed light on his fantastic and mad existence.

RZA Admits Selling Martin Shkreli Wu-Tang Clan’s Exclusive Album Put It ‘In The Wrong Hands’

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Wu-Tang Clan had high hopes when they created only one copy of their exclusive album Once Upon A Time In Shaolin, which was meant to be auctioned off and barred from commercial sale for 88 years. But things didn’t quite go according to plan when currently imprisoned “Pharma bro” Martin Shkreli bought the LP before going to jail for several counts of fraud. RZA now admits that selling Shkreli the album was a mistake, but his original vision for Once Upon A Time In Shaolin could still come true after all.

RZA recently sat down for an interview on Hot 97’s Ebro In The Morning radio show, where he discussed selling the album to Shkreli and said it definitely “was in the wrong hands.”

The rapper explained he met with Shkreli before selling him the album, but that was before his true character was revealed. “The thing that’s powerful about it now is, now that it’s out of our hands, no disrespect to Martin Shkreli, because I don’t never knock somebody who bought something,” he said. “But it was in the wrong hands in reality. He made the deal before it was revealed of his character, his personality, and all the insidious things he would go on to do. That wasn’t the guy that I met. He definitely unfolded into that guy. He had control of this one-of-a-kind piece of art, and I could see it was in the wrong hands. But still, it was a sale and I can’t complain about who we sell it to. Everybody’s got a right to buy something that’s for sale.”

The government has now sold Once Upon A Time In Shaolin to NFT organization PleasrDAO in order pay off the $7.4 million forfeiture judgment against Shkreli at the time of his conviction. RZA believes that the album is now in the “right hands” after meeting with the person behind PleasrDAO, saying his original vision for the album could still become a reality:

“But now, I think it’s in the right hands. I’m hoping that it is in the right hands. I spoke to the gentleman who’s leading the way and he just seems to have more of a Wu vibe about him. Wu is a vibe and I strive to say it’s a vibe of positivity, even with the aggression. […] There were some original ideas that we wanted to do with this album. A lot of beautiful ideas that wasn’t disclosed to the public, and I won’t disclose them now, but those ideas were not able to happen with Mr. Shkreli. Now that PleasrDAO has it, there’s an opportunity for a lot of these beautiful ideas of what this art can be and how it can expand itself in the world.”

Watch RZA’s full interview with Ebro In The Morning above.

Vinyl Me, Please Announces Its Stacked Fall Slate With Records From Usher, Clipse, RZA, And More

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Vinyl Me, Please has established themselves as an essential ally to vinyl collectors over the years, as they regularly offer exclusive editions of revered albums, pressed in unique colors and accompanied by delightful extras. There are only three months left in the year, and today, VMP has shared the roadmap for how they’ll be handling their monthly releases for October, November, and December.

October’s albums of the month are Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest (as the month’s Essentials release), Teddy Pendergrass’s Life Is A Song Worth Singing (Classics), Three 6 Mafia’s When The Smoke Clears: Sixty 6, Sixty 1 (Hip-Hop), and Sam Hunt’s Montevallo (Country). Following that in November will be Usher’s Confessions (Essentials), Freddie King’s My Feeling For The Blues (Classics), Clipse’s Hell Hath No Fury (Hip-Hop), and Gram Parsons’s Grievous Angel (Country). Closing the year in December are The Meters’s Rejuvenation (Essentials), Roberta Flack’s Quiet Fire (Classics), RZA’s RZA as Bobby Digital In Stereo (Hip-Hop), and Buck Owens & His Buckaroos’s Carnegie Hall Concert (Country).

All of the releases are bound to be special, and in particular, Usher’s Confessions represents something new for VMP, as Alexandra Berenson, their Head of A&R, notes, “We’re really excited for the opportunity to run a record like this because we haven’t really done a massive R&B crossover hit in our Essentials. It’s a very cohesive album and it has been totally underserved on vinyl. It hasn’t had a reissue since it first came out and we figured, ‘Let’s give this the VMP treatment. Let’s try to make the most definitive version of this record that we can.’”

Learn more about the upcoming Essentials releases here, the upcoming Classics releases here, the upcoming Hip-Hop releases here, and the upcoming Country releases here.

RZA Expresses His Love For ‘Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater’ In His Latest Solo Single

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RZA’s love for cinema is well-known — in fact, it’s the core of the entire Wu-Tang brand. After launching his Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater event this spring to announce his upcoming solo album, today, he shared a new single with the same title to further promote the return of his alter ego Bobby Digital. The high-concept album finds RZA verbally sparring with Bobby Digital over throwback production courtesy of longtime collaborator and friend DJ Scratch.

The concept posits Bobby Digital as a more outgoing version of the rapper inspired more by exploitation flicks like Shaft and The Mack (just check out the original RZA As Bobby Digital In Stereo album cover from 1998, inspired by classic movie posters). Meanwhile, the “RZA” persona is the more contemplative aspect of himself, influenced by the aged kung-fu masters in the Shaw Brothers films from which he borrowed the Wu-Tang ethos.

DJ Scratch, whose career credits include albums from the likes of Busta Rhymes, EPMD, Flipmode Squad, The Roots, and Talib Kweli, is executive producing RZA Vs. Bobby Digital, prompting RZA to say in a statement, “He delivered tracks that resonated and brought me back to a sound that I felt was missing. For me, it was really natural for me to flow and write to these songs.”

Listen to RZA’s new single “Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater Part 1” above.

RZA Vs. Bobby Digital is slated to drop 8/6.

RZA flips racist-rooted Good Humor song for the kids

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Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA is the man to call when change is needed. The hip-hop hitmaker and leader of the all-mighty Clan came to the rescue when Good Humor needed a replacement for its racist-rooted jingle and wants ice-cream truck drivers to project their necks – and vehicles with its new tune. RZA flips racist-rooted ice […]

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RZA Launches His ‘Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater’ WIth A New Single Called ‘Pugilism’

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With Marvel’s release of the Shang-Chi trailer on Monday, expect kung-fu movies to start making a big comeback in the coming year (if they haven’t already; see Raya And The Last Dragon, the renewal of Warrior on HBO Max, and the recently premiered reboot of the classic show Kung-Fu). It’s likely that no one is more ecstatic about this turn of events than RZA, who based the Wu-Tang Clan’s entire aesthetic on hs Saturday afternoon forays to the matinee to catch the latest Shaw Brothers movies growing up in Staten Island, New York.

RZA is about to pay further homage to his first love as he revives his 36 Cinema platform he started at the outset of the pandemic, which hosts weekly screenings of classic kung-fu and blaxploitation films with live commentary from RZA and weekly guests. His new programming slate is fitting titled “Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater” and kicks off — heh — this Saturday, April 24 with a screening of Heroes Of The East at 9 pm ET with Portland’s Hollywood Theatre’s head programmer Dan Halsted.

Celebrating the announcement, RZA also resurrected his Bobby Digital persona for a new single called “Pugilism” — the first such release since 2008’s Digi Snacks album. It’s the first single from RZA’s upcoming fourth solo album, Bobby Digital: Digital Potions, which he’ll share more info about during this Saturday’s screening.

Listen to “Pugilism” above and get tickets for the inaugural Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater showing of “Heroes Of The East” here.

Wu-Tang Clan, Fabolous + Kash Doll Announce Abrupt Concert Cancellations

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Hip-hop’s legendary Wu-Tang Clan, Fabolous and Kash Doll are going the safe route for their fans. The trio have made announcements about upcoming concerts getting nixed or rescheduled as a result of the current coronavirus crisis. Big Facts This week, Wu-Tang leader RZA announced upcoming shows outside of the United States would not go down. […]

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