GZA

Within the Wu-Tang Clan, GZA earned recognition as its most intellectual MC and stood among its most celebrated figures under the alias the Genius. His measured, exacting delivery and complex, bookish verses lacked the dramatic flair of Method Man and Ol' Dirty Bastard, the collective’s two most commercially dominant members. Yet within dedicated hip-hop circles, GZA commanded respect for his impeccable command and verbal agility, leading many to regard him as the Clan’s finest technician. Born Gary Grice on August 22, 1966, on Staten Island, New York, he moved among several New York boroughs while living with different relatives throughout his early years. Exposure to rhymes from the first generation of hip-hop MCs came during time spent in the Bronx, after which he returned to Staten Island to exchange material with his cousins, later known as Ol’ Dirty Bastard and the RZA. The three first joined forces in the early ’80s within the little-known group All in Together Now.

Years later GZA secured a deal with Cold Chillin’ just as the label’s influential period drew to a close. In 1991 he became the sole future Wu-Tang member to issue a solo project before the group formed, releasing Words from the Genius. Easy Mo Bee handled most of the production, yet the album achieved little commercial traction and offered scant indication of the stature GZA would later attain. Disputes with the label prompted his departure, leading him to reconnect with a similarly frustrated RZA, fresh from an unsuccessful run at Tommy Boy, and Ol’ Dirty Bastard to establish the Wu-Tang Clan. After incorporating six additional friends and associates, the crew emerged as an underground phenomenon and upended the rap landscape with its 1993 debut, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). Their novel arrangement permitted each member to negotiate an individual contract with any chosen imprint, and GZA aligned with Geffen. In 1994 the track “I Gotcha Back” surfaced on the soundtrack to the film Fresh. His follow-up solo album, Liquid Swords, arrived in 1995 and quickly gained acclaim as a hip-hop landmark for its restrained yet ominous tone. Although it did not elevate him to Method Man’s level of stardom, the project performed solidly, climbing into the Billboard 200’s Top Ten and landing one position shy of the summit on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart. No major pop singles emerged, but the title track, “Cold World,” and “Shadowboxin’” each registered strongly on the rap chart.

After the Clan’s 1997 second album, Wu-Tang Forever, GZA resumed solo work with 1999’s Beneath the Surface. Critical response proved somewhat less effusive than for Liquid Swords, yet the record earned solid praise, particularly when measured against weaker Clan-related releases, and reached the top of the Hip-Hop/R&B album chart. Following the group’s 2000 effort The W and 2001’s Iron Flag, GZA issued his fourth solo album, Legend of the Liquid Sword, in late 2002, reinforcing his standing among rap’s most precise practitioners. Grandmasters, a joint venture with Cypress Hill DJ Muggs, appeared in 2005; an instrumental edition followed in 2006 and a remix version in 2007. The next year GZA released the solo album Pro Tools through the independent imprint Babygrande, featuring appearances from RZA, Masta Killa, and producer Mathematics. He delivered lectures at institutions including Harvard and Oxford, then leveraged those academic ties and his longstanding fascination with science to create a curriculum blending science and hip-hop aimed at New York City high school students. At the same time he advanced work on another solo project, Dark Matter, enlisting electronic pioneer Vangelis among the contributors.