RZA once admitted he selfishly made the Wu-Tang Clan into “a dictatorship”
Any hip-hop crew or label has a leader, founder, or frontman. From Dr. Dre with Death Row to Chuck D with Public Enemy, rap groups and collectives usually rally around someone with a vision and a dream. That said, the Wu-Tang Clan had RZA, and he was the pioneer who took them from a Staten Island basement to the hip-hop charts.
That said, he was not only successful in navigating the music industry, but as their producer, he also found the gritty, lo-fi sound that made the group successful. However, he once admitted that he was slightly draconian in the way he ruled over his friends at times. Although he got the job done, he unveiled that, on occasion, he had the collective set up like a “dictatorship.”
During a conversation with Rüdiger Sturm of The Talks, RZA explained that although it may seem harsh, it was necessary to get them to where they got as the group was rowdy and, at times, uncontrollable. As such, he needed to find a way to instil focus.
RZA explained that it was he who had the foresight and the blueprint, asserting, “I had the vision, I knew the path, and I did practice a dictatorship for a while. Dictatorship and monarchy, that type of energy inside an individual man, that idea is feasible when you are the only one who knows where to go.”
The ‘C.R.E.A.M’ creator insinuated that he was so hell-bent on success that he embedded a culture of cooperation and, more importantly, obedience, stating, “Wu-Tang was a group of Alphas, so [I told them] ‘If you’re going where I’m going, the only way I am going to take us there is total submission.”
Since the collective broke out, he has always returned to the analogy of the Wu-Tang Clan as a bus, with him as the driver. While speaking with Sturm, he reinforced this and recalled the mindset during the group’s rise, stating, “[My stance was] I am driving this bus, and you are passengers, and when you get there, then you can start talking. But before we get there, don’t say shit to me. That was the analogy I said to them when everybody got together.”
Specifying the insane amount of responsibility he had during the crew’s early days, he suggested that although it was harsh, it was necessary for the rowdy bunch, adding, “I had a company that had all the assets and legal power and industry power to take us where we had to go. I knew where to go. I knew how to do it. But I couldn’t take no confrontation on the way. And they all agreed, which is really remarkable when I look back on it. Because we can hardly agree on anything! “
The ‘Protect Ya Neck’ producer concluded by unveiling that never had any hesitations about whether or not he was destined for success, finishing, “I had no doubts. It’s almost like I had seen it as clear as my own hand. Equations are a formula that have the correct answer. It may take time. And so with that equation of me understanding what I was, my own determination, the dreams and creative energy that I was bringing to the world, and the creative energy of my crew, it was inevitable.”