The Arctic Monkeys song RZA name-drops in his lyrics: “One of my favourite bands”
As the de facto leader of Wu-Tang Clan, one of the most groundbreaking hip-hop groups ever, RZA appreciates all types of music. The trailblazer in rapping and producing is a self-proclaimed fan of rock music and has voiced his fandom of Arctic Monkeys on several occasions.
RZA was recently stopped in the street by Track Star and asked to name various songs to win a few dollars. At one point, he was played the Sheffield band’s 2018 song ‘Four Out of Five‘ from their Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino Studio album.
The Brooklyn-born rapper references the track in one of his songs and proceeded to rap the lyrics. He also revealed that Arctic Monkeys are a source of happiness for him.
“One of my favourite bands. Haven’t met them yet – Arctic Monkeys,” he said. “I name-dropped this song in one of my lyrics. ‘I’m on the FDR Drive, bumping Arctic Monkeys’ ‘Four Out of Five’. If you wanna know something about RZA, hit him with the Arctic Monkeys – that’s how to get him happy.”
This isn’t the first time he’s praised Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino Studio. In 2021, RZA named it one of the albums he can’t live without. He first encountered the project through his son, who played the album during a long car journey.
“Arctic Monkeys’ Tranquility Base… although this is not a hip-hop rock album, it hits harder than many attempts to create such a palette,” he said during a Spin interview. “The lyrics, the arrangements, the instrumentation and the cadence of the performances are all top-shelf.”
He continued, “I was introduced to this album on a road trip with my son who had just downloaded it. It totally caught me by surprise, made the trip memorable and stayed in my playlist ever since. ‘Batphone’ is one of the few modern rock songs I memorised from start to finish.”
On another occasion, RZA named his five favourite rock albums of all time, which included Arctic Monkey’s 2013 album, AM, while also revealing his pick for the best song on the project. “I chose this for the song ‘Do I Wanna Know?’” he told Q magazine. “I could play the Interpol album and this album back-to-back. It’s chunky, it’s a good measurement of rock.”
His other four rock album picks included Interpol’s Our Love to Admire, System of a Down’s Mezmerize, Red Hot Chili Peppers member John Frusciante’s The Empyrean and Clutch’s Psychic Warfare.
RZA once expressed his desire for Wu-Tang to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but they have yet to appear on the ballot. He claimed hip-hop is inspired by rock music and cited a song on their classic 1993 album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) as an example.
“I think we should [get in], and I do care,” he told Rolling Stone. “It may take some time to get in there. I think it’s good for us and I think it’s good for rock and roll, because hip-hop is a form of music that grabs from every genre, but definitely grabs from rock and roll.”
He added, “Listening to a song like ‘Bring Da Ruckus’, I thought I was making hip-hop, but shit, it has a motherfuckin’ rock and roll groove like a motherfucker. I don’t know how the fuck I did that. I go back and listen to some of The Beatles’ progressions and some of [Led] Zeppelin’s progressions and movements, like, ‘Okay, I was on some shit, though.’”