When we first met RZA back in 1993 – the year his group the Wu-Tang Clan released their now-classic debut album, Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) – we knew the Brooklynite only as a rapper and a producer. Now we know him as so much more.
In addition to making music with the Wu and as a solo artist, RZA has acted in films directed by Jim Jarmusch, Ridley Scott and Judd Apatow, and he recently directed his own film, The Man With The Iron Fists. He has also done the soundtracks for nearly a dozen films, including Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill series, and he has written two books, including the illuminating The Wu-Tang Manual. He has also lectured at Harvard and he plays a mean game of chess too.
RZA recently spent some time talking to The Red Bulletin and sat down to participate in a game of Last Questions. Want to know what the last book RZA read is? Or what the last movie he watched is? Or when was the last time RZA thought about death? The last thing he does before he goes to bed? Hit play on the video above for RZA's answers and prepare to be enlightened.
RZA does everything all the time - except when he doesn't. Taking a break from making movies and music, or playing chess, or studying the Hagakure, is critical.
In a new interview with The Red Bulletin, RZA talks about how he recharges his creative powers by hiding out at home: "For me it’s healthy. It’s like going in the water. You could get in the water, you could swim, but you’ve got to get out and dry off. You’ve got to relax those muscles. All my homes are like that. If you go back east, I live in the woods, five acres, off the road. On Halloween, kids don’t come down the road, because it’s kind of scary. You’ve got to detach yourself in order to reattach.
"I don’t mind going out, getting wild, crazy, zoning in, whatever it is - the Wu-Tang tours, working hard on my latest movie. As long as I come home, detach, turn a little fire on, sit down, I’m ready for the next day. Time is consumed by your job. But to me, even if a man can give himself an hour a day, he’s benefiting."
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