Broken Record Podcast Episode 49 sees host Rick Rubin catch up with the legendary RZA of the Wu Tang Clan in their latest instalment. With the expansive knowledge and experience of the Hip hop industry shared between the two, you know this conversation was going to be something special.
RZA and Rubin cover everything from how he first got into hip hop, early Wu Tang recording sessions, getting creative during quarantine, being sued by U-God, ODB and monks in China's Wudang Mountains.
Rick talks about how perhaps some of the Wu Tangs best works were delivered when they did not have any major pressure from record labels and RZA explains how nowadays he is having to negotiate with the other members just to get them together to make music, giving them "100 g's here, 50 g's there, whatever."
RZA explains how the 2014 Wu Tang album 'A Better Tomorrow' was a self funded album and states 'It should never cost money to make music."
"In the old days, take the song M.E.T.H.O.D Man. That song came about because he came to my house on a Friday night with the weed. I had an 8 Track Recorder in my house. I had a mic and I had just made a beat cause I had been making beats all day. He showed up, he had a couple of comic books, two bags of weed and some blunts. He had just finished doin' his 'pharmaceutical work' (laughs) and he came for some down time. We rolled it up, we lit it up and we smoked it, I put the beat on, I plugged the mic in and he did the song. In fact the electricity went out and we had to plug into my Aunt's electricity downstairs, and we recorded it. And that's because that was what we wanted to do."
Check out the full podcast below;
