Historical Figure
RZA
b. 1969
American rapper and record producer (born 1969)
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Biography
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.
Timeline
The story of RZA, told in moments.
Born Robert Fitzgerald Diggs in Brooklyn, New York. One of eleven siblings. Grew up between Brooklyn and Staten Island. Spent time on the streets selling drugs as a teenager.
Formed the Wu-Tang Clan with eight other MCs from Staten Island and Brooklyn. He produced their debut, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), on a four-track recorder.
Negotiated an unusual deal: each Wu-Tang member could sign solo deals with different labels. It was unheard of. Five major labels signed individual members. RZA produced most of the solo albums.
Released Wu-Tang Forever, which debuted at number one and sold over 600,000 copies in its first week. RZA's production style, built on obscure soul samples and kung fu movie dialogue, defined East Coast hip-hop.
Directed The Man with the Iron Fists. He'd studied martial arts films obsessively since childhood. Scored films for Quentin Tarantino and Jim Jarmusch.
In Their Own Words (2)
When you think about a better tomorrow, you think about veganism in the world. I don’t need a dead animal or dead piece of flesh to go into my live body. There’s nothing on this planet that doesn’t want to live. I had animals as friends, they were happy to see me in their own animal way. I’m quite sure they did not want to be on my plate. I think hip-hop has become more conscious about diet… You are what you eat, so if this cow who is stressed, dumbfounded, sick becomes your meal, when you eat it, you are eating that stress and sickness. You are eating that fear. My peers and people that are related to me appreciate the vegan lifestyle, it’s really spreading.
From a PETA video (24 November 2014). Quoted in "Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA says he refuses to put ‘dead animals’ in his ‘live body’ in PETA advert", in NME.com (24 November 2014)., 2014
I tell you one thing I did used to like: the fish and chips. But I stopped eating fish this year. One day I just felt the death in it.
"One of these men is God" by , in Select, July 1997, p. 60., 1997
Artifacts (13)
historical research, or scientific research
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You know very well that we've come to Germany to take our revenge
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during all the years until 1961, not only was I convinced I should never see a s...
ring the day, spending his nights secretly engaged in writing. In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech he wrote that "during all the years until 1961, not only was I convinced I should never see a single...
There is nothing that so assists the awakening of omniscience within us as insis...
ers to the responsibility of official Soviet writers like Ilya Ehrenburg. In The Gulag Archipelago, Solzhenitsyn wrote, "There is nothing that so assists the awakening of omniscience within us as...
Above the muzzle of our window, and from all the other cells of the Lubyanka, an...
inating the sky to celebrate the victory in the Great Patriotic War. From his cell in the Lubyanka, Solzhenitsyn remembered: "Above the muzzle of our window, and from all the other cells of the...
[Solzhenitsyn]'s despotism ... would crush my independence and would not permit ...
Reshetovskaya wrote negatively of Solzhenitsyn in her memoirs, accusing him of having affairs, and said of the relationship that "[Solzhenitsyn]'s despotism ... would crush my independence and would...
There's a Stalinist in each of you; there's even a Stalinist in me. We must root...
who defended it at the presidium of the Politburo hearing on whether to allow its publication, and added: "There's a Stalinist in each of you; there's even a Stalinist in me. We must root out this...
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