Credit: Kyle Christy

Wu-Tang Clan and Bill Murray are two names you wouldn’t put together. The hip-hop group and actor might be from two different worlds, but they crossed paths several times in the 2000s. One time, Murray got GZA so drunk that he forgot he had a show to perform.

The founding member of the crew was forced to apologise after an “under-performance job” at SXSW in 2010. GZA missed a show after security approached him at Newark International Airport and tried to make him check in a bag that allegedly didn’t need to be checked in, describing an employee as an “asshole.”

“He took me over to that little, square, metal thing to try to see if your bag fits,” he told HipHopDX. “I just wasn’t feelin’ that; I kind of cursed him out. Power-trippin’. Nowadays, [Transportation Security Administration] really thinks they’re fuckin’ Secret Service or something.”

He eventually arrived at the festival the following day and successfully performed a concert, but after hanging out with Murray, things took a turn for the worse. He got so drunk, partly due to a lack of food, that he forgot he had another show that day.

“I did the first show and had totally forgot about the second show,” he admitted. “I was thinking [my next show would be Friday],” he recalled. “For the first show, I started hanging out with Bill Murray. I got so wasted. Then, I started hearin’ about the show later on, and I was like, ‘Show? What show?’ I was there, I didn’t eat that day, and I really had a lot to drink.

“I did another show, and it was really bad. It was to the point where [I debated performing drunk or not performing at all]. Even right now, I’m still tryin’ to figure out which was better. When [U-God‘s manager] Domingo get me [on stage], I have no recollection of most of it. It was what it was.”

GZA revealed he was drinking beers, stouts and shots with the actor, who was a dangerous influence on him. “It started off with some beers,” he explained. “I actually forget the name of the beer – it was dark, like a Guinness. It had a funny, foreign name. I drank maybe four of those, which was cool. I probably drank two on stage, throughout the show. I had a shot too. After that [first] show, we went across the street to this bar that Bill was in earlier, and he just started drinkin’, man.”

He continued, “Shots was goin’ down, down, down. A couple of more drinks, and boom! You know when it hits you? Then dude starts talkin’ about, ‘Come on, we’ve gotta go do this other show.’ I was like ‘What?!’ I was messed up. Most people could see, I was out of it. Lesson learned.”

GZA and RZA starred alongside Murray in the 2003 movie Coffee and Cigarettes. In a scene together, the two rappers drink herbal tea and converse with their waiter, Murray, about caffeine and nicotine. “You’re GZA, The Genius, and you’re RZA, aka Bobby Digital,” Murray says in the film. GZA responds, “And you’re Bill Murray, Groundhog Day, ghostbustin’ ass Murray.”