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RZA

RZA

Highest Rated: 100% Survivors Guide to Prison (2018)

Lowest Rated: 7% Babylon A.D. (2008)

Birthday: Jul 5, 1969

Birthplace: Brownsville, New York, USA

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.

Highest rated movies

86% 84% Problemista 83% 94% Nobody 81% 89% American Gangster 69% 48% Funny People
64% 75% Coffee and Cigarettes
54% 38% The Dead Don't Die 51% 40% The Man With the Iron Fists 50% 66% The Next Three Days

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% 84% 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% 35% Poker Face Unknown (Character) - 2022
69% 89% 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
47% 56% Clean Pawn Shop Kurtis (Character) $315.4K 2021
83% 94% Nobody Harry Mansell (Character) $27.2M 2021
37% 89% Hard Luck Love Song Louis (Character) $62.6K 2020
No Score Yet 82% Life in a Year Ron (Character) - 2020
70% 39% 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% 38% The Dead Don't Die Dean (Character) $6.5M 2019
40% 14% Thriller Principal Hurd (Character),
Executive Producer,
Music
- 2018
100% 70% Survivors Guide to Prison Self - 2018
No Score Yet No Score Yet MFKZ Shakespeare (Voice) - 2017
69% 63% Roxanne Roxanne Original Music - 2017
44% 63% Love Beats Rhymes Director - 2017
17% 72% 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% 57% Mr. Right Shotgun Steve (Character) - 2015
No Score Yet 28% AWOL-72 Det. Adams (Character) - 2015
No Score Yet 23% The Man With the Iron Fists 2 The Blacksmith / Thaddeus (Character),
Screenwriter
- 2015
24% 47% Brick Mansions Tremaine Alexander (Character) $20.4M 2014
18% 31% The Protector 2 LC (Character) $2.3K 2013
29% 48% G.I. Joe: Retaliation Blind Master (Character) $122.5M 2013
No Score Yet No Score Yet Tom Yum Goong 2 LC (Character) - 2013
51% 40% The Man With the Iron Fists The Blacksmith (Character),
Director,
Screenwriter,
Original Music
$15.6M 2012
50% 66% The Next Three Days Mouss (Character) $21.1M 2010
40% 52% Due Date Airport Screener (Character) $100.4M 2010
21% 41% Repo Men T-Bone (Character) $13.8M 2010
No Score Yet 72% Afro Samurai: Resurrection Original Music - 2009
50% 54% Life Is Hot in Cracktown Samy (Character) - 2009
69% 48% Funny People Chuck (Character) $51.8M 2009
7% 26% Babylon A.D. Original Songs $22.5M 2008
No Score Yet No Score Yet Afro Samurai Original Music - 2007
81% 89% American Gangster Moses Jones (Character) $130.1M 2007
21% 58% Derailed Winston Boyko (Character) $36.0M 2005
24% 58% Blade: Trinity Original Music $52.4M 2004
18% 51% Soul Plane Music $13.9M 2004
64% 75% Coffee and Cigarettes RZA (Character) $2.0M 2003
85% 81% Kill Bill: Vol. 1 Original Music $70.1M 2003
84% 86% 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 41% 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 62% 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)