RZA
The musical leader of the Wu-Tang Clan, RZA (Robert Fitzgerald Diggs) was born in Brooklyn, and spent his childhood moving with his family to North Carolina, Ohio and Pittsburgh. His teens were troubled and he dealt drugs, deciding to turn his life around after being acquitted of an attempted murder charge. He turned to rapping instead, forming a couple of formative groups with his cousins Russell Jones and Gary Grice (later known as Ol' Dirty Bastard and GZA). RZA made his own debut as a soloist, under the name Prince Rakeem, with a 12-inch single "Ooh I Love You Rakeem" on Tommy Boy in 1991. However the murder charge got him dropped from the label, and RZA went to Staten Island with his cousins to regroup. Taking its name from a kung fu movie, the Wu Tang Clan (now up to seven members) made its debut with the next year's "Protect Ya Neck" single and the album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), which RZA produced. A platinum-selling and widely influential album, it took rap in new directions both lyrically (through the members' flamboyant personalities) and sonically (with RZA's use of classic soul and B-movie samples). The album also launched a New York hip-hop renaissance during the heyday of L.A. gangsta rap. RZA was also the first to break outside the group, launching the horrorcore genre with fellow New York rapper Prince Paul in his group Gravediggaz. The sophomore album Wu-Tang Forever was a double LP that outdid the debut in terms of multiplatinum sales, critical acclaim and musical ambition: The first single "Triumph" was nearly six minutes and had no chorus, but featured all nine rappers then in the lineup. RZA also teased his later work by playing more keyboards and using fewer samples. Following a second Gravediggaz album, RZA made his solo debut with RZA as Bobby Digital in Stereo, which included much of the Clan and was designed as the soundtrack to an unmade movie. Soundtrack work would occupy much of his energy in the coming years, starting with Jim Jarmusch's "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai" (1998), in which he also had a cameo role. After scoring or acting in a further dozen films, RZA made his own directorial debut with the martial-arts film "The Man With the Iron Fists" (2010), which the Los Angeles Times called "one of the best bad movies ever." RZA also acted in, but didn't direct the 2015 sequel. His second movie "Love Beats Rhymes," a coming-of-age drama set in the rap world and starring Azealia Banks, was released in 2017. Though far less prolific in the 2010s, the Wu-Tang Clan survived the 2005 death of Ol' Dirty Bastard. In 2015 RZA coproduced their double album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, which was limited to a single copy and sold for $2 million. When the buyer turned out to be the controversial businessman Martin Shkreli, they donated some of the take to charity.
Photos
RZA
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Ol' Dirty Bastard: A Tale of Two Dirtys | Self | - | 2024 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Blue Carbon: Nature's Hidden Power | Original Music | - | 2024 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Nyctophobia | Executive Producer | - | 2024 |
86% |
|
Problemista | Bobby (Character) | $2.1M | 2023 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | A Wu-Tang Experience: Live at Red Rocks Amphitheatre |
Director, Executive Producer |
- | 2023 |
9% |
|
Poker Face | Unknown (Character) | - | 2022 |
70% |
|
Minions: The Rise of Gru | Unknown (Voice) | $369.5M | 2022 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Handle with Care: The Legend of the Notic Streetball Crew | Executive Producer | - | 2021 |
46% |
|
Clean | Pawn Shop Kurtis (Character) | $315.4K | 2021 |
84% |
|
Nobody | Harry Mansell (Character) | $27.2M | 2021 |
37% |
|
Hard Luck Love Song | Louis (Character) | $62.6K | 2020 |
No Score Yet |
|
Life in a Year | Ron (Character) | - | 2020 |
72% |
|
Cut Throat City |
Director, Producer |
$855.9K | 2020 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Risen: The Story of Chron "Hell Razah" Smith | Unknown (Character) | - | 2020 |
54% |
|
The Dead Don't Die | Dean (Character) | $6.5M | 2019 |
40% |
|
Thriller |
Principal Hurd (Character), Executive Producer, Music |
- | 2018 |
100% |
|
Survivors Guide to Prison | Self | - | 2018 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | MFKZ | Shakespeare (Voice) | - | 2017 |
68% |
|
Roxanne Roxanne | Original Music | - | 2017 |
44% |
|
Love Beats Rhymes | Director | - | 2017 |
17% |
|
Meet the Blacks |
Executive Producer, Original Music |
$9.1M | 2016 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Syl Johnson: Any Way the Wind Blows | Self | - | 2015 |
45% |
|
Mr. Right | Shotgun Steve (Character) | - | 2015 |
No Score Yet |
|
AWOL-72 | Det. Adams (Character) | - | 2015 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Man With the Iron Fists 2 |
The Blacksmith / Screenwriter |
- | 2015 |
25% |
|
Brick Mansions | Tremaine Alexander (Character) | $20.4M | 2014 |
18% |
|
The Protector 2 | LC (Character) | $2.3K | 2013 |
29% |
|
G.I. Joe: Retaliation | Blind Master (Character) | $122.5M | 2013 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Tom Yum Goong 2 | LC (Character) | - | 2013 |
51% |
|
The Man With the Iron Fists |
The Blacksmith (Character), Director, Screenwriter, Original Music |
$15.6M | 2012 |
50% |
|
The Next Three Days | Mouss (Character) | $21.1M | 2010 |
39% |
|
Due Date | Airport Screener (Character) | $100.4M | 2010 |
22% |
|
Repo Men | T-Bone (Character) | $13.8M | 2010 |
No Score Yet |
|
Afro Samurai: Resurrection | Original Music | - | 2009 |
50% |
|
Life Is Hot in Cracktown | Samy (Character) | - | 2009 |
69% |
|
Funny People | Chuck (Character) | $51.8M | 2009 |
7% |
|
Babylon A.D. | Original Songs | $22.5M | 2008 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Afro Samurai | Original Music | - | 2007 |
81% |
|
American Gangster | Moses Jones (Character) | $130.1M | 2007 |
21% |
|
Derailed | Winston Boyko (Character) | $36.0M | 2005 |
24% |
|
Blade: Trinity | Original Music | $52.4M | 2004 |
18% |
|
Soul Plane | Music | $13.9M | 2004 |
63% |
|
Coffee and Cigarettes | RZA (Character) | $2.0M | 2003 |
85% |
|
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 | Original Music | $70.1M | 2003 |
84% |
|
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai | Original Music | $3.3M | 1999 |
TV
Credit | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | 85% | Wu-Tang: An American Saga |
Creator, Executive Producer |
2019 2021 2023 |
No Score Yet | 42% | Jimmy Kimmel Live! | Guest | 2023 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Tiny Chef | Self | 2022 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Nick Cannon |
Music Performer, Guest |
2022 |
82% | 16% | A Little Late With Lilly Singh | Guest | 2021 |
No Score Yet | 55% | The Kelly Clarkson Show | Guest | 2020 |
100% | No Score Yet | Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men | Unknown (Character) | 2019 |
No Score Yet | 44% | The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon | Music Performer | 2018 |
94% | 79% | Fresh Off the Boat | Himself (Guest Star) | 2018 |
85% | 76% | The Simpsons | Himself (Guest Voice) | 2017 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Super Into | Guest | 2016 |
41% | 90% | Gang Related | Cassius Green (Character) | 2014 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Wendy Williams Show | Guest | 2014 |
No Score Yet | 85% | Robot Chicken | Unknown (Guest Voice) | 2013 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Late Night With Jimmy Fallon | Guest | 2012 |
57% | 78% | Californication | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2012 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Conan | Guest | 2012 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Bonnie Hunt Show | Guest | 2009 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Colbert Report | Guest | 2009 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Daily Show | Guest | 2005 |
50% | No Score Yet | Wanda at Large | Unknown (Guest Star) |