RZA

• Genre: Boom Bap/Nineties
• Hometown: New York

About

The mad genius behind one of the most important crews in the history of hip-hop, RZA has rewritten the rules for making beats. Following a brief stint as Prince Rakeem in 1991, he came back with a vengeance, masterminding the Wu's classic debut Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) in 1993. The rest is history. The Clan blew up, spawning clothing lines, movies, comic books, video games and seemingly unlimited numbers of solo albums, but it was the Rzarector's trademark sound that made it all possible. In addition to his work on Wu records, both group and solo, he has managed to stay quite busy. He was a founding member of Gravediggaz and he has begun working in film, both as a director and a composer. In 1998 he recorded his futuristic concept album RZA as Bobby Digital in Stereo. The sophisticated pseudo-soundtrack went over the heads of many Clan fans, but displayed his need for experimentation and growth as an artist. The RZA would release three more solo projects over the next decade, two additional Bobby Digital projects (2001's Digital Bullet and 2008's Digi Snax) as well as 2004's Birth of a Prince.

- Brolin Winning