This past Friday the 13th the Wu-Tang Clan released their highly anticipated album The Saga Continues, so today the album’s producers The RZA and Allah Mathematics dropped by The Breakfast Club to talk about their roles in the album’s creation.
Speaking to the morning trio, the RZA explains why he decided to executive produce the album and let Mathematics handle the actual producing duties, the notion behind the creation of Once Upon A Time In Shaolin, and why he’s passing the torch of Wu-Tang producer down to Mathematics.
Here are the 8 things we learned from the RZA and Allah Mathematics on The Breakfast Club.
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Photo: The Breakfast Club
1. Passing The Torch
RZA stepped back from producing on the latest Wu album because he felt Mathematics captured that old school Wu sound better than he could at this point in his career.
2. The Abbot
According to RZA the abbot of the Wu-Tang temple in China is also a musician and recognizes the RZA as the abbot of the Wu-Tang in the western hemisphere. Talk about OG props.
3. The W
Mathematics actually came up with the Wu-Tang Clan logo. RZA paid him $400 for the now worldwide famous “W.”
4. Weapon of Choice
To craft his beats for The Saga Continues, Mathematics went back to the ASR 10 beat machine.
5. Once Upon A Time
The idea behind the creation of the one of a kind Once Upon A Time In Shaolin album was to bring back the notion that music is in fact an art that’s to be appreciated. Unfortunately Martin Shkreli a.k.a. the prince of douches (Donald Trump being the king) bought the album and due to the legal issues behind that sale, that album might never see the light of day.
6. Martin Shkreli
When RZA first met Martin Shkreli he said the guy was respectful and told him that Wu-Tang was inspirational to him. It wasn’t until he was watching an episode of Real Time With Bill Maher that RZA learned of the Shkreli’s ascended levels of doucheness.
7. Azealia Banks
Speaking about Azealia Banks, RZA said “she’s a natural talent” and “never got a chance to see any of the other rumors that I heard.” He did say at one point he was “very angry” at her for getting out of pocket. He does say that Russell Crowe did spit at her (not on her) and Russell did apologize to RZA for his actions.
8. No Culture Vulture’s Here
Asked if the Wu has ever been accused of culture-appropriation, RZA says he’s only been praised by people like journalist and music critic Jeff Chang who feels the Wu-Tang have been part of promoting Asian culture to people who otherwise would’ve never been familiar with it.
