Source: Power 105 / Power 105
For the past few months the Wu-Tang Clan has experienced a sort of resurgence in popularity thanks to their Showtime docu-series Of Mics and Men and more recently their series on Hulu, Wu-Tang: An American Saga.
Though us OG Hip-hop heads never tired of the music from Staten Island’s finest, this new generation is now getting familiar with the iconic Hip-Hop group and taking notice of what they’ve contributed to pop culture via music, movies, and even videogames. Today the Ruler Zig Zag Zig Allah commonly known to y’all as The RZA took to the morning airwaves with actors Erika Alexander (Livin’ Single) and Ashton Sanders (Moonlight) to drop some knowledge on The Breakfast Club while promoting his latest series on Hulu, Wu-Tang: An American Saga.
Taking questions from DJ Envy and Charlamagne Tha God, the three guests get into topics ranging from American Saga, to why Black women don’t get the same opportunities in Hollywood that Black men do.
Here are the 8 things we learned from The RZA, Erika Alexander, and Ashton Sanders on The Breakfast Club.
Erika Alexander confirms that she had to meet some of RZA’s 10 siblings in order to get the greenlight to get the role of RZA’s mother in American Saga.
Ashton Sanders admits that he wasn’t too familiar with Wu-Tang Clan’s catalogue when he got the role but got into it real quick afterwards. RZA meanwhile revealed that he doesn’t have a problem Sanders not being a Clan fan when he cast him to play himself in the series. He was more concerned with whether or not Sanders could match the “spirit” and energy of a young RZA.
For American Saga, RZA took a few liberties with his life including taking his older brother’s name, Randy, and giving it to his younger brother on the show and taking the personality of his older sister, Sophie, and merging it with his younger sister on the series, Shurrie.
Explaining how he got into the whole game of chess, RZA confesses, “I was blessed with a girl that took my virginity and taught me chess!” A blessing indeed.
Talking about Old Dirty Bastard, RZA remembers that in the beginning he would have to “fight” him to get him to write his rhymes. He says Old Dirt Dawg was more focused on getting girls and being a great dancer than he was with being an MC. But once ODB began crafting his own style it was a wrap and there was no stopping him. R.I.P. ODB.
Though the Wu has had a recent history of being disgruntled with each other for whatever reasons, RZA says everything is “peace” now that they’ve grown and that they’re just letting everyone “live their lane.” Rap groups do have a tendency of having fallouts and break ups over the decades. These days Bobby Digital finds himself making movies in Hollywood while other Clan members like The GZA is doing shows and speaking at colleges about science.
Asked why she thinks it’s harder for Black women to get jobs in Hollywood than Black men, Erika Alexander says “They think men are the key to cash. Again, I’m talking about the new century, women will tell their story.” After explaining just how recently women got the right to vote and financial freedom for credit cards, Erika notes that “the streets were ruled by men. We were women hiding out but then you look back and you see Ella Baker and Fannie Hamer and all these people who were passed over because Martin Luther King and all these people were charismatic and beautiful and out front. But the people who were in the back of the house making it happen were women and now we’ll be set up to tell their stories.”
RZA says all the samples he took from kung-fu flicks for Wu-Tang’s earlier work he cleared later on after they were released because “you couldn’t find who to clear.” He does say that these days 90’s samples are getting notices of clearances because everyone is up on their game. Thanks Hip-Hop.
