subscribe to Style Like URZA | founder of the Wu Tang Clan, composer and author
"I look for the understanding of things. I don't judge." RZA
-
-
"I look for the understanding of things. I try not to judge." Robe from Shanghai Tang -
On the origin of the name RZA: "I used to be called Rakeem. I thought I was going the right way, but I was going the wrong way, and I had to find my way back the right way in order to find Allah. That's called 'zig-zag-zigging.' I use Allah as a proper name for God, because in Allah, I get all. I get Arm, Leg, Leg, Arm, Head. By me accepting that that's me, Rakeem Zig-zag-zig Allah, that became a title more than a name. RZA." -
"To me, hate comes from misunderstanding. Love is the highest elevation of understanding." -
Custom-made Ostrich Feather Jacket. "It's just pimp. It's that pimp-style." -
Plaque commemorating Wu Tang for selling 4,000,000 copies of their album "Wu Tang Forever" -
Gucci Loafers and Clarks Wallabees. RZA attributes the fame of the Wallabee to fellow Clan member Ghostface Killah, who passed his love for the shoes along to RZA -
"Boli Dharma, the father of Buddhism, got into a dispute with a monk. The monk said, 'Stay away from the mud. The mud is dirty. It defiles you. We should not touch things that are defiled.' Boli Dharma said, 'Wait a minute, our most revered plant is the lotus, and it grows on mud. Therefore, there must be something good in the mud.'" -
On the Wu Tang symbol: "The 'W' came from my mind. I was looking for something to really represent me and to represent my crew. We had a DJ named Mathematics, and I was always having him draw me different logos. He would always draw out Wu Tang, this way, that way, and I was always telling him to make the 'W' in Wu Tang like an axe, like a weapon. Being a hip-hop artist and an MC, I felt that I was a sportsman." -
-
RZA was always known to wear hoodies. He had this fur one made to look more elegant. Custom-made Fur Vest -
-
"I'm a chess fanatic. In different rooms [in my house], you always find chess." -
"I study martial arts. I have many books on martial arts, I live by martial arts principles. I apply those principles to my life." -
RZA and Ol' Dirty Bastard -
"I have a hunger for knowledge. My uncle, one of the most important people in my life, gave me books on medicine." Rza now reads books on Western and Eastern medicine and has always wanted to be a doctor. -
"Sneakers are not my thing. I'm more of a boot-wearer than a shoe-wearer." Timberland Boots -
-
"The thing about Wu Tang was we all had our own style, that's what made us special. You've got nine guys, nine different styles worn nine different ways. Eventually each one of us would rub off on each other. Ghostface Killah was the king of Wallabees, though I might have twenty pairs of Wallabees myself." Original Wu Wear Shirt -
-
This is the original logo.."In 1992 I was still called Prince Rakeem. I formed the Wu Tang Clan, and my first single was supposed to be 'Protect Your Neck,' and I wanted a logo." Mathematics, Wu Tang's DJ, came up with this as the first sample. "I removed everything, kept the 'W,' but told him to alter the 'W' to make it look like how it is now - more like it could be an axe, a blade, a dart, an eagle, a Phoenix - and I took the sword." -
"In my book, called 'The Tao of Wu,' are different stories and different things that have happened to me in my life, and the lessons I learned from them. The point of the book really, the meat of it, is the lessons I've learned from the struggles I've been through." -
RZA recounts a time early in his life when he overcame a physical battle with mental strength: "We fought for two hours to a point where he couldn't stop me. He had to have two rocks in his hands, swinging rocks, anything to try to keep me down because we were going for death. We were both exhausted, and it had to get broken up. [Later on], he became my student. He became the person who would come and study with me and learn from me. He realized something different about me, and that I was a man that was strong in mind. Even though I was skinny and couldn't bench 250 pounds like he could, I was still a fighter. I would fight to the end." -
"I'm very proud of my book. People buy music because it entertains them. For people to buy your book, to me that's the greatest. When a kid walks up to me and says, "I read your book, it inspired me," that hits me like a ton of bricks. That's something that I could never have dreamed of, being able to help educate somebody when our school system failed me." -
-
-
"Greek literature and Greek mythology is a way of escapism, a fantasy world. The whole Olympus story, Ulysses, Perseus, Theseus. A lot us don't know the story of Theseus, another one of Zeus' sons. All of those stories, they take my imagination so far away. I loved Greek mythology before I loved martial arts. Martial arts kind of resembles Greek mythology in that when you watch a martial arts film, you see the jumping in the air, or you see a guy with iron skin. That reminds me of Achilles. It reminds me of Apollo, it reminds me of Mercury. They all have a similar root." -
"My ex-wife was a certified yoga instructor. She had yoga classes right in this house. Our neighbors, the doctor, the dentist would come, the philosopher, the corporate guy. They would come here, move the furniture, and we would practice yoga in here." -
"Ghostface Killah is the king of Wallabees. He was the first guy who would take his Wallabees and get them two-toned and dye them out. Before you could even get [certain] colors, he would get them made himself." Clarks Wallabees -
-
"I always had different people in my life that looked at me as a brain child. These people were always giving me something. I was nine-years-old and my aunt gave me a book on Sigmund Freud. She knew I was a reader." -
-
"I grew up with so many myths and so many fabrications over the years that we learned through our society. Now, having gone through that, having a chance to be a man who has studied, who has found the truth in things, I am able to pass that knowledge on to others." -
-
-
-
On his mother naming him Robert F. Diggs after Robert and John F. Kennedy: "In the old days, we used to call [Robert] a ‘slave name.’ Now I call it my honorable name. ‘Honor thy mother and thy father,’ it says in the Bible. I honor the way my mother felt. I see that she felt love for those men. When I see those men’s speeches now and I see what they were trying to bring to the world back in those very confusing times, I’m glad that she gave me that name. I'm proud. I try to represent it the best I can." Robe from Shanghai Tang -
Custom-made Fur Vest -
Gold Wu Tang records, Kung Fu magazine and a plaque commemorating Wu Tang's musical involvement with it, and a photo of RZA with Ol' Dirty Bastard -
"[In my life and music], you see the Asian influence, you see the Muslim influence, you see the Egyptian influence. It's an accumulation. I find beauty in all cultures." -
When I was interviewing RZA for this site, I kept thinking royalty, in the ideal sense, noble, and captivating. RZA is mesmerizing, handsome, articulate, learned, gentle, soft-spoken, and humble. In his presence, you feel as if he should be on a pulpit, and that anything he dons becomes something akin to the regality of a velvet cloak. Ever a relucant icon, he is simply dressed but unfailingly elegant. His home is filled with his omnipresent extended family, his beloved chess boards, and his voluminous collection of books. RZA’s own style, as well as that of the Wu Tang Clan, is seen through the rebirth of the Wallabee, Asian-influenced embroidery on camouflage, colorful Timberlands, and few make a doo rag look as classy (I cant’ stop envisioning how drop dead chic Rza would be in a tuxedo with his do-rag, something he told me he does wear). Most of all, his aesthetic is based in his passion for drawing from all cultures. It is beyond impressive that he is self-taught in almost every subject, including medicine, and understood Freud at the age of 9, even while stuggling to survive in the worst adversity. This philosophical approach to knowledge is evident in the iconic Wu logo – a W made up of an axe, blade, sword, eagle, and a phoenix. Wu Tang is also famous for popularizing the hoodie, and RZA has taken this one step further, designing his own fur hooded sweatshirt. RZA’s real name (to hear more about the derivation of his pseudonym, check out the picture captions) is Robert F. Diggs, after Robert F. Kennedy and JFK. In his youth, he was first embarrassed by the name’s slavery-based derivation, but now sees it as honorable, not only because of the idealogy of its namesake, but also for the name’s roots in British aristocracy. His unquenchable thirst for knowledge has led him to see the good in everything. However, the power behind RZA’s magnetism, in my opinion, is that he doesn’t equate success with fame. Despite all of his accomplishments, he still doesn’t see himself as successful – just blessed.
