The Wu-Tang Clan album RZA was forced to censor: “You can’t say that”
RZA is the self-proclaimed leader of the Wu-Tang Clan, with even the man himself once acknowledging that he acted as the group’s dictator at times. Whatever RZA said went, even when it came to the lyrics that the other rappers were allowed to spit.
During an interview with Complex in 2011, RZA admitted that he once actually stepped in to prevent his bandmates from rapping about certain subjects. While working on Raekwon’s first solo album, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…, RZA felt that, sometimes, Rae and the other rappers went too far. So, he censored them.
Speaking of his meddling, RZA explained, “I said, ‘You can’t say that. You can’t say that, G. You can’t say it.’ They were like, ‘Man, come on.’ I’m like, ‘Nah. You’re going to do that to her? Nah. See, you don’t do that.’”
Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… is notorious for its references to mafioso life, so it already went pretty far, lyrically speaking. But there were certain ideas that the rappers were playing with that RZA wasn’t happy to let pass. The Wu MCs would later have more freedom over their own verses, but, during this particular period, RZA’s word was final.
“As time went on,” he recalled, “they started saying whatever the fuck they wanted to say, but when I was there in the studio, I wasn’t going to let just anything be said. I know the attraction power.”
What he meant by “the attraction power” was that he understood how powerful the Wu-Tang Clan were at their height. People, particularly young people, listened to what they had to say, and RZA recognised that they therefore had a responsibility to speak carefully.
“After Cuban Linx came out,” he said, “I already knew how many thugs and gangsters were born and that it would make. I knew how many people would be glorified by it. I knew that when the movie Scarface came out, we all wanted to sell drugs. I knew I had the same power with that album. I didn’t want to be responsible for it, but I did want those kinds of people to listen to me.”
RZA was eager for young people to listen to Wu, and, as he claimed in this interview, he was active in trying to bring them on board with the group’s music. Once they were hooked, that meant they were susceptible to the themes and messages within the music.
“I went out and attracted everybody, so that when Wu-Tang Forever came out—boom,” RZA said. “It had all those elements but there was some real important messages in there: ‘You can’t party your life away / Drink your life away / Smoke your life away… ’Cause your seeds grow up the same way.’ I wanted that to be known.”