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Even though I know that he’s giving an honest and realistic response following the clumsy release of 8 Diagrams, it’s vaguely depressing to hear RZA say that attempting another Wu-Tang Clan album would be “bad business.” Its members’ varying degrees of solo success (and RZA’s own control-freak tendencies) have made it extremely hard for the group to come together, and it’s no surprise that collective enthusiasm is at a new low. But to hear it from the RZA himself guarantees the group is basically done for: “I don’t know, really, to tell you the truth. Wu-Tang is forever, I think, and we’ll be making the same sounds, whether we make it together or separately. But as far as making an album together, I don’t know.”
WuChess opened today, and in addition to a (welcome, to me) return to Wu-branded merchandise it offers a new business model from the RZA, who’s charging $48 a year for chess instruction, online play, tournaments, and social networking. More »
“You Can’t Stop Me Now,” from the RZA’s upcoming Bobby Digital release, Digi Snax, describes how the beat mastermind moved from street crime to sampling, finally becoming famous alongside the Wu-Tang Clan in 1993. What fifteen year old accomplishments have to do with our ability to stop him today is left unclear.