I don't knock material rappers, but let me hear it in a different way. How many songs do I have to hear about rims on a car? It's ridiculous. There's no substance. It's a hollow shell.
— Gza
Every family argues and goes through things.
I love nature, and I love information.
I remember the first 45 record I bought. It was called 'A Dog a Donut'; it was a breakbeat. Actually, I think I bought two at one time, and the other one was 'Dance to the Drummer's Beat.' Those are breakbeats. I paid a dollar for it, for each one. Your average producer or DJ would know who came out with those.
I am honored that 'Liquid Swords,' the song and album, have been so widely embraced for so long.
Hip-hop is my vehicle for scientific enlightenment. It wasn't until my music career matured where I was exposed to science as an intellectual pursuit.
When I was growing up, I never really ate vegetables. I was just a hot dog, hamburger, French fry person like most kids.
I'm not a sports person, but every now and then, I incorporate sports in my rhymes because I'm always grabbing from certain things and getting inspired by something whether I'm totally involved in it or not.
I get inspired by many different things.
I love physics.
As you grow and get older, you evolve.
Everything is always coming from something else. Even if you create something, it has to be inspired by something else. If you think of Apple and Steve Jobs, he had to be inspired by something that launched the ideas in his head.
Writing, for me, really started in the '70s as a young child. I used to read a lot of nursery rhymes, and I learned a lot of those rhymes word for word.
I think all artists want that plaque, whether it's Gold or Platinum or multi-platinum. I think we all look forward to getting a plaque and hanging it on your wall and having something to show for the music that you've created.
I think every being in the universe is connected somehow.
I don't think people have ever really been in touch with science. They're drawn to it, but they don't know why they're drawn to it. For example, you may be blown away by the structure of something, like a soccer ball or a geodesic dome, with its hexagonal shapes.
Wu-Tang has only done, like, three rehearsals throughout our whole career.
Wu-Tang is a group that has a cult following.
I think, for myself, as an artist, the progression is a lyrical progression and what I choose to target my lyrics at and how I construct the rhymes.
I like science and mathematics. When I say mathematics, I don't mean algebra or math in that sense, but the mathematics of things.
Hip-hop became the voice of rebellion and the youth, as rock music did in the '60s.
Some MCs don't take the time to take a beat home or just vibe with it and just figure out, 'How do I attack this track?'
I'm a scientist by nature and not by trade.
As far as being a vegetarian, it's a moral thing, a health thing, a conscious thing - a combination of all. I think it's better to be that way.
I think, as an artist, the overall goal is to teach and educate no matter what the song is about. Somewhere where a listener can get something out of it, something that can give them help to move forward, help them learn something, analyze something in a different way, or think about something.
I'm constantly writing.
I could write about a pencil if I wanted to. You just take it back deep enough, all the way back to the tree it came from.
I just have certain interests in different things, and they inspire me to write. I would encourage aspiring artists or MCs or rappers to be able to grab from many different sources to create your story.
I had a few DJs in my neighbourhood that would play music in the streets. There was no hip-hop yet; there were just DJs that were playing disco, funk, and pop music, and we would gather round, go to the parks, and dance and enjoy ourselves.
A song is composed of music and lyrics: 50 percent is the producer, 50 percent is the artist. So, I'm responsible for 50 percent. All I know is that I have to do my job, and I have to do it well. And he has to do the same.
'Liquid Swords' just represents a sharp tongue, sharp words.
To write a story is to create a world of your own.
It's gonna sound so boring to most people. There have been times when I've been told, 'Oh, you're doing an album about physics? I hope it's not boring.' They don't get the idea. Because rappers are so one-dimensional, so narrow-minded, it comes off corny.
Most people associate Wu Tang with Staten Island or Shaolin, but actually, I'm a native of Brooklyn. I was born in Crown Heights, raised in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brownsville, and Bushwick.
Wu-Tang is looked at like the Rolling Stones of hip-hop.
Moog has been incorporated in a lot of our music. I know RZA has several of those machines. So, it did play a major role in a lot of music we were doing.
New York is the hometown I represent.
I've seen a dude who had the Wu logo tatted on his face. I mean, his whole face was tatted, but the Wu was the biggest thing on his face. That is a statement, something that means a lot to us.
It's always been about shelf life. Long-term parking, not short-term. That's why I take the time that I do when I write.
I love Indian food and Thai food; those are, like, my favorites. I also like Japanese and some Italian.
I wasn't raised a vegetarian. I wish I was, though. I mean, that's really the best way to go. I just learned at a young age and stopped eating some things.
Emceeing has always been about making the most intellectual, most creative, wittiest rhyme as possible regardless of any subject. It was always about bringing the best out of yourself.
Some of us don't respect water. We waste it and pour it out. But a lot of disastrous stuff involves water. Tsunamis. Hurricanes.
Learn all you can learn. Never stop learning.
I never really thought I had an extensive vocabulary like that, and I'm not an avid reader. I didn't read a lot growing up - at all.
I would go to an aunt's house, and she would let me play music, and she had 'The Last Poets' album. At that time, albums didn't have explicit stickers on them, so some of the songs had profanity on them, and I was moved by that. I would listen to those songs, to the flow, and I'd balance it back and forth with the nursery stuff I had.
I've directed all my videos throughout my whole career, 'cause that's leeway. I was granted that opportunity to be able to do that.
Live a life full of humility, gratitude, intellectual curiosity, and never stop learning.
There were certain things that grabbed my interest, such as photosynthesis, such as us living off plants and plants living off us. You look at everything in that light - so if I'm looking at ice cubes, I might start thinking about absolute zero, or Fahrenheit and Celsius. There's so much that can make me think about science.
Documentaries sometimes can be shot over 10 years. You plan to stop in two, but you still gotta catch more.
