GZA followed unlikely path to McGill lecture
“However it happens is how it’s supposed to happen, you know?”
GZA, also known as the Genius, née Gary Grice, is reflecting on the unlikely path that has taken him from the streets of Brooklyn to a long and honoured rapping career. The 46-year-old, in Montreal Saturday for a lecture and solo concert, is best known as a charter member of the WuTang Clan, the Staten Islandbased supergroup masterminded by GZA’s cousin and fellow rapper, RZA.
The group gathered nine artists, all unique stylists in their own right; together they brought a lyrical dexterity, thematic richness and literary heft that was new to hip hop. Their 1993 debut, Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), was an influential gamechanger, and was followed by an acclaimed series of solo albums, all of them featuring various permutations of the group, of which GZA’s platinum-selling Liquid Swords is arguably the best.
“I was writing rhymes before MCs were making records, so it was a hobby for me,” GZA said of his nascent rapping days. “It wasn’t about money or a career. Of course, when rap started growing so rapidly in the ’80s, it did start to dawn on me that, hey, this could be something.”
A solo deal as The Genius with the Cold Chillin’ label proved a false start; it was only several years later that he found his ideal forum and launching pad with the Clan.
It’s a long way from there to lecturing at major universities. GZA was first approached about the idea by the manager of fellow Clan member Ghostface Killah, who thought the gig “wasn’t his thing” and passed on the request to GZA.
His first speaking engagement was at Harvard. Is there a certain satisfaction for a person who candidly says that he “wasn’t a great student” to now be delivering lectures in places like that and McGill? “Sure. I mean, I was a smart kid, but the classroom just wasn’t for me. And you know, I’ve always regretted that. So yeah, this is all kind of nice.”
Freely admitting that lecturing — a form of onstage communication more exposed than rapping — still gives him butterflies, he said he received a useful bit of advice from a friend, the Pulitzer-winning novelist Junot Diaz. “He said, ‘Man, whatever you say, the kids are gonna love you.’ I mean, hip hop is everywhere. Maybe five out of a hundred kids don’t listen to rap.”
Asked what attendees can expect at his Montreal lecture, GZA said, “I’m still working on it, but what I usu- ally do is autobiographical. I tell stories from my life to illustrate why music is important. I also talk about Science Genius, a project I’ve been involved with where high school students compete in rap battles where the subject is science. Raps will be based on natural selection, for example. It’s a way to get kids more involved with science through music.”
The Wu-Tang Clan have been in the news recently for the much-discussed release plan for their forthcoming album. Once Upon a Time in Shaolin will be rolled out in an edition of precisely one elaborately packaged physical copy. That copy will be toured around galleries, museums and festivals, where listeners will be able to hear it under strictly supervised conditions.
Finally, it will be auctioned off, for a sum that’s already being projected in seven figures. The project is the brainchild of leader RZA, part of whose motivation for the release is to “inspire and intensify urgent debates about the future of music” at a time when “the industry is in crisis.”
The word “crisis” makes me wonder what GZA says to the many young people who approach him for advice about entering a field where growing numbers are fighting for a piece of a shrinking pie. “I say absolutely, follow your dream, but diversify too,” GZA said. “I’ve been lucky enough to make a decent living doing what I love, I’ve just put my daughter through college, but it’s a changing world out there, so the more ways you can apply your knowledge, the better.”
As for the future of rap, GZA is less than entirely optimistic. “You hear a rap song these days and it seems like it’s never more than a minute before somebody mentions his jewelry and car. It’s so ironic, you know. Slavery was about whips and chains, and what are these young artists rapping about? Whips and chains. I do think it’ll come around to something more conscious again, but it’s going to take a great young artist to turn it around. Me, I’m going to do a couple more albums and move on.”
GZA delivers a lecture on Consciousness, Creativity and Music, Saturday, 4 p.m., Room 132 of Stephen Leacock Auditorium, McGill University. GZA appears in concert Saturday, 10 p.m., at Cabaret Underworld, 1403 Ste-Elisabeth St. For ticket information for both events, visit www.ckut.ca, www.rickeydevents.com, or call CKUT, 514-448-4041, ext. 4975.