RZA
Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, better known by his stage name RZA or the RZA, is an American rapper, record producer, composer, actor, and filmmaker. He is the de facto leader of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, having produced most of the group's albums and those of its members. Known for his signature use of soul samples, sparse beats, and cinematic elements, his production style has been widely influential in hip-hop. The Source and Vibe both ranked him among the greatest hip-hop producers of all time, while NME included him on its list of the 50 Greatest Producers Ever, spanning all genres.
RZA has released solo albums under the alter-ego Bobby Digital; he was also a founding member of the horrorcore group Gravediggaz, performing as the RZArector. He has also worked extensively in film and television, composing scores for major films such as Kill Bill: Volume 1 and Kill Bill: Volume 2. He made his directorial debut with The Man with the Iron Fists and later directed Love Beats Rhymes. He served as an executive producer on Wu-Tang: An American Saga, for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music.
As an actor, he has appeared in American Gangster, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, and A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, as well as the TV series Californication. He has also done voiceover work, including roles in The Simpsons and Minions: The Rise of Gru.
Early life
Diggs was born on July 5, 1969, in Brownsville, Brooklyn. He was named after the Kennedy brothers, Robert and John Fitzgerald, both of whom his mother greatly admired. Diggs has called his given name an "honorable" name, given the legacy of both Robert and John. Diggs has a younger brother, Terrance Hamlin, better known as the rapper 9th Prince, and an older brother named Mitchell “Divine” Diggs.From ages three to seven, Diggs spent summers in North Carolina with his uncle, who encouraged him to read and study. Diggs was introduced to hip-hop music at the age of nine; by eleven, he was competing in rap battles. He relocated to Steubenville, Ohio, in 1990, to live with his mother. Diggs spent weekends in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where his father ran a convenience store in the city's Hill District.
Diggs got involved with petty crime and drug-dealing, and was charged with attempted murder while in Steubenville. He was acquitted of the charge, giving him what he has called a "second chance".
Music career
Before the Wu-Tang Clan
Diggs first became interested in making his own hip-hop music in 1979 when a friend of his introduced him to Rapper's Delight by The Sugarhill Gang. In 1984, Diggs formed a rap group with his cousins Russell Jones, then known as The Specialist, and Gary Grice, then known as Allah Justice, called "Force of the Imperial Master", which they soon after renamed as "All in Together Now" in 1985. Around this time Diggs formed the DMD Posse which consisted of RZA, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, U-God, Inspectah Deck, 4th Disciple and Method Man. Diggs and Grice then signed with Jamaica Records for management purposes and Jamaica convinced Tommy Boy Records to sign Diggs as a solo artist in 1989 under the name Prince Rakeem. He released the original Ooh I Love You Rakeem promotion version of the EP, but was forced to remix and rerelease the single when Tommy Boy failed to acquire the rights to the original sample. The rereleased version underperformed commercially, and Diggs was subsequently dropped by Tommy Boy.1992–1993: Forming the Wu-Tang Clan
After a shoot-out in Ohio in 1992, he faced eight years in jail. "When they said 'not guilty', my face stuck in a smile for three days," he recalled. "I was just walking around town, thinking about my daughter and my wife. Right then I said goodbye to anything that would put me in that situation again. I was up on trial on an attempted murder charge. I was a motherfucking fool, with all that knowledge in my head and ending up there."In 1992, Diggs formed a new group with his two cousins and five other childhood friends. They named the group Wu-Tang Clan, after the 1983 kung fu film Shaolin and Wu Tang. As part of the group's formation, each member chose a new nickname for themselves. Diggs chose "RZA", based on a nickname he had been given by fans of his music, "Rza Rza Rakeem", which in turn was based on a song by All in Together Now, "Pza Pza Pumpin", as well as Diggs' graffiti tag, "Razor". He created a backronym for "RZA", stating that the name stood for "Ruler, Zig-Zag-Zig, Allah" which further translated into "Ruler, Knowledge-Wisdom-Understanding, Allah" when using the Supreme Alphabet.
Wu-Tang Clan released its first single, "Protect Ya Neck", in December 1992. Masta Killa then joined the group in 1993, becoming its ninth member. They released their debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang in November 1993. RZA operated as Wu-Tang Clan's de facto leader, producing the group's songs and deciding who would get placed on which tracks.
1994–1996: Gravediggaz and Wu-Tang solo projects: Round one
As each of the group's members embarked on solo careers, RZA continued to produce nearly everything Wu-Tang released during the period 1994–1996, which included both composing and arranging the instrumental tracks as well as overseeing and directing the creative process. RZA's rule over the Clan at this time is described in 2004's Wu-Tang Manual book as "a dictatorship". He also released a hit single of his own, in the form of "Wu-Wear: The Garment Renaissance". The song was featured on the High School High soundtrack, and was released to promote the Wu-Tang clothing brand, also called "Wu-Wear". It peaked at No. 60 on the Billboard Hot 100, and No. 6 on the Hot Rap Singles chart.1997: ''Wu-Tang Forever''
1997 saw the release of Wu-Tang Forever, the Wu-Tang Clan's highly anticipated second album. The album for the first time featured RZA delegating a small number of beat-making duties to other producers in the Wu-Tang camp, such as his protégés Mathematics, True Master and 4th Disciple who are known as the original Wu-Elements, and Clan member Inspectah Deck.1998–1999: Gravediggaz and Wu-Tang solo projects: Round two
During the 1998–2000 period RZA ceased to produce every Wu-Tang solo album as he had done previously, but continued to contribute usually one or two songs on average to each record as well as receiving an Executive Producer credit.2001–2004: Post ''The W'' solo projects
In 1999, the RZA moved into composing film scores. His first work, Jim Jarmusch's Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, earned praise; he also had a brief cameo in the film itself, as a fellow samurai wearing camouflage. The experience was positive and, as he noted during an interview on National Public Radio's Fresh Air, the work with traditional musicians gave him the desire to learn how to read and write music. In 2004, he co-scored David S. Goyer's "Blade: Trinity" with composer Ramin Djawadi.File:Hip Hop producer and rapper RZA - Robert Fitzgerald Diggs.jpg|thumb|RZA in the Studio with U-God and Prodigal Sunn
2005–present: Solo projects: Round three
He has also stated that the long-delayed The Cure album will be his final solo album, so that he can devote more time to his movie directing career.Before signing with SRC Records in 2007, RZA was flooded with offers from Bad Boy Records, Aftermath Records, Interscope and Def Jam among others for the Wu-Tang Clan super-group.
In 2007, he produced the score of the Japanese anime Afro Samurai starring Samuel L. Jackson. In 2007 he released the little-publicized instrumental album The RZA-Instrumental Experience, and worked with Raekwon on his highly anticipated Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II. From 2005 to 2008 he collaborated with System of a Down bassist Shavo Odadjian on the project Achozen The group released two singles, one of which, "Deuces", was included in the 2009 film Babylon A.D. The group also recorded an album that has remained unreleased, although eight of the songs were released in 2015.
In 2010 he worked on what was intended as a solo album for GZA, Liquid Swords II, but the album remains unreleased. RZA also worked with Kanye West on the latter's fifth album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, as well as Watch the Throne by Kanye and Jay-Z.
In a 2011 interview, RZA revealed that he had recently decided to clean out his beat machines of instrumentals he made for the Wu-Tang Clan that were never used; as a result, he gave away ten beats each to Nas, Busta Rhymes and Talib Kweli, as well as 20 beats for Kanye West, including two that were used on West's previous two albums. RZA produced UK artist Josh Osho's 2012 debut album L.I.F.E.
RZA also contributed vocals to three songs on John Frusciante's 2012 EP Letur-Lefr and in 2013 he contributed vocals to one song on Kid Cudi's 2013 album Indicud. In August 2012 RZA founded a new record label, Soul Temple Records, with a distribution deal from RED Distribution. On September 28, 2012, he hosted one episode of the web series Equals Three, substituting for regular host Ray William Johnson. He appeared on Earl Sweatshirt's album Doris, contributing a verse on the track "Molasses". Despite artistic disagreements with Raekwon, RZA and The Wu-Tang Clan released their sixth album A Better Tomorrow in 2014.
In 2013, RZA and Paul Banks began to collaborate as Banks & Steelz for what became the 2016 album Anything But Words. Guest appearances include Kool Keith, Ghostface Killah, Method Man, and Masta Killa. Two singles were released from the album, "Love + War" and "Giant". RZA collaborated with Ramin Djawadi, with whom he co-scored Blade Trinity and Blake Perlman for the song "Drift" for the Guillermo del Toro film "Pacific Rim".
In June 2020, ice cream company Good Humor approached RZA to create a new jingle for ice cream trucks to play, to replace the tune "Turkey in the Straw", long associated with minstrel shows that often featured racist lyrics. RZA's resulting composition was released in August 2020.
In a 2020 interview, RZA discussed how being stuck at home during the COVID global crisis resulted in him resuming work on his long-unreleased The Cure album.
In August 2024, RZA released the album A Ballet Through Mud, an orchestral ballet score. The score was conceived during the COVID-19 pandemic based on a notebook of lyrics RZA had written as a teenager. Before being released as an album, the score premiered in 2023 on stage through a performance by the Colorado Symphony.