I think artists should really write more.
— Gza
I'm a late-night person who likes to eat a lot of breakfast stuff at night.
My favorite subjects was science and math. But as I got older, I was hanging out cutting class, going to hooky parties.
I usually do about five drafts per rhyme for each song.
I was always interested in skateboarding, BMX bike riding, flipping, gymnastics. Anything with tumbling, turning, twisting, and extreme sports.
When the Black Lips sent a track over to me, I thought it sounded like a Beastie Boys track, the way the singer was singing and flowing on it. He was right in the pocket.
You are like a sponge when you are young.
Writing is sort of like chess for me. You have to think carefully before you move, thinking, planning.
Even if we didn't make records, we would have done it on the side for fun. Like, some painters sell their work; others just keep it - they love to do it whether they get paid or not.
I don't like to just be simple. Even though some of my stuff can seem simple at times, I like to write in a way that, when you listen to it over and over again, you hear something new, and it requires you to think.
Education is the tool. Even if we haven't directly instructed a session, I think Wu-Tang has been an instructor of education to anyone who has been a fan, anyone who has supported our movement, whether its been from buying a Wu-Tang CD or coming to see a show.
If you take a song like 'We Will, We Will Rock You,' 'You got blood on your face... ' - he's rhyming on that! And if you take the lyrics out of that song, you get a hip-hop beat. It's a rock song, though. So it's not out of my element for me to get with Black Lips.
We were always scientifical in our raps.
I'm always touching plants and vibing with them.
If you hear people talking about the Golden Era of rap, they're usually talking about the early Wu Tang Clan era and then Nas and Biggie and so on. But for me, it goes back to the '80s - 1986 to 1989.
Rap has always had a braggadocios flavour to it. That goes all the way back to 'Rapper's Delight.'
Normally when I do an album, I have a concept behind it.
People say Wu-Tang makes you think too much. What's wrong with thinking?
I like broccoli. I like rice. I like carrots. I like vegetable juices. Y'know? I mean, I'm with all that.
I think I'm okay; I got a pretty good shot when I concentrate. I like pool.
I like snowboarding, and I like to watch it.
I played on a 10'x10' chessboard at a hotel in Miami. The pieces were heavy, and I got tired just making a move. Not cool with that.
There's no set way to do anything. Sometimes you have to go outside the box; sometimes you can do things the standard way. Like, you don't have to have a beat to write a song: sometimes you can write lyrics without the music.
Chess is a game of stimulation.
Our love of kung fu goes back to the Bruce Lee days in the 1970s. Outside the action, we loved the interesting, heartfelt stories and the dialogue. It was RZA's idea to draw all that in there as samples.
We've done a lot of shows and a few albums without Dirty. He was a wild and crazy dude.
I used to make demo tapes with cats that rocked with Russell Simmons and people like that. The history goes so far back; I've always been really focused on writing dope rhymes.
Wu-Tang has opened many doors for hip hop.
I just listen to a lot of stuff. Sometimes I play music; a lot of times, it will be stuff from back in the day. Sometimes I scan through the radio. Not the average stations that play the everyday thing.
Rap - it's a childhood passion. Writing rhymes, it's something that I was doing before rap records even existed. And I will continue to write until I can't write anymore.
Why is the sky blue? Why is the grass green? Why is metal a conductor of electricity, and wood is not, but you're more likely to be struck by lightning when standing under a tree? These are questions that require science to answer.
Hip-hop started with street poets with great lyrical skills, and that's what hip-hop has always been about for me.
Rappers should sit down and construct quality lines.
I'm just really, really laid-back-slash-lazy. Last minute with everything.
I drink a lot of juice.
I don't eat meat - chicken, fish, none of that. I eat a lot of vegetable sandwiches, like lettuce, tomatoes, sprouts, cucumbers, whatever I can put on bread with mayo and eat, y'know.
I probably take about a month to write a song, depending on how much time I can dedicate to it, and it depends on how many hours a day there are and how many days in a week and weeks in a month.
Snowboarding is skateboarding without the wheels, just on snow. It's the same thing, just that one is on hard ground with the wheels, the other is on snow. You just have to know how to maneuver your board and do things you want to do.
Like MCs, each chess player has his own style: how he likes to open, when he likes to attack. Just like we face off with each other lyrically, we challenge each other's minds on the chessboard. Sharpen each other's swords.
A lot of artists think that to be current, you have to follow what's out there and do something that's so unlike what you normally do. It can work, but it doesn't if you chase it.
In chess, you have to bring all the pieces into the game. It is about development. In writing, you have to develop the story.
Before hip-hop existed, we were listening to soul songs from the '70s. I grew up with Motown, Elton John, and the Beatles. To me, that's good music.
When we did 'Back In The Game' on the Wu-Tang 'Iron Flag' album, I did a verse about gambling. I didn't want to be 'back in the game' or 'back on the block' - that's typical. I made it all metaphorical.
I've studied rap in every borough.
I think artists sometimes go back to something when we never should, for many different reasons. You hear a lot of stories that make you feel good about the work and the project; sometimes you try to relive that, like, 'I want to make a part two.'
Oh, hip hop is always changing.
One of the basic principles when you dealing with mathematics and Islam: Seek knowledge.
Since early childhood, I've been trying to learn all I can. Science is everything; it's not just physics. It's the way of understanding your environment, the world around you.
Music is forever changing.
When I was growing up, to be an emcee meant to write the most clever, intellectual, and wittiest rap. And that's what we did.
