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movie news
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Tue. 10 30. 2007 12:00 AM EDT
5 Questions: RZA +
5 Questions: Common
Two hip-hop heavyweights discuss their roles in American Gangster and how living the hard-knock life helped with preparing for their characters. Art, it seems, imitates reality.
by
Jeff Wilser
(
Universal Pictures
)
It's true. Without RZA, hip-hop wouldn't exist as we know it. And instead of fading into obscurity or playing the coy game of retiring-unretiring-retiring, the founder of
Wu-Tang Clan still pumps out new albums (the upcoming 8 Diagrams, DigiSnacks and production on Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II), cuts soundtracks (Kill Bill, Ghost Dog, Blade:Trinity), and sharpens his acting chops. True to form, in American Gangster, cash rules everything around him and co-star Denzel Washington. RZA talks to VH1 about his days in the ghetto, the future of hip-hop . . . and why making music is a little like dealing drugs.
VH1: Does American Gangster remind you of your past?
RZA: Yeah. I can relate to the movie because I lived it. The rise from rags to riches -- that's what I did with Wu-Tang Clan. Life was very bad: a bunch of guys from the streets that had nothing. A lot of us lived in the ghetto, working for some drug-dealer or whatever. Some of that stuff from the movie -- like the naked ladies making the drugs -- some of that stuff is real. It's real to my life. I've been involved with stupid sh*t like that.
VH1: Any similarities between making music and dealing drugs?
RZA: Frank [Denzel Washington's character] understands that he has a commodity, and he has a fair price for it, and there's a strong demand for it. Anytime you got that, you're going to win. Like when I started Wu-Tang Clan, I was doing deals that they couldn't refuse. We sold Method Man's first album for only $175,000, and it went on to sell 2 million copies. When I first signed with Loud Records and Steve Rifkind, he told me, "I don't have a lot of money." I told him, "I don't need a lot of money. Just give me 50G, 60G. I just want to get it out there. And when the people get it, it's going to make money." That's how it works. It works on Wall Street, it works in the crack house, it works for hip-hop. [Laughs]
VH1: How has the camaraderie of Wu-Tang changed from the early days?
RZA: Our lives have changed, our daily connections have changed. But when it's time for us to go to work, the studio hasn't changed. It's still a lot of weed, a lot of drinking -- not a lot of women in the studio, we don't allow that -- but there's a lot of jokes, a lot of bullsh*t, a lot of arguments. But work gets done. I think Raekwon said it best in a Source interview: "When we together, we don't have no problems. It's when we apart." And that's what's changed. In the old days, we could be apart, and everything would still be understood. And now when we're apart, we drift. We all drift.
VH1: So when you're not in the studio, what does the Wu-Tang do to screw around?
RZA: Bowling, playing chess, video games, kung fu. It's really the same thing that boys do. I like the fighting games the most. If you talk to Meth, he's into SOCOM, he's into the online entertainment. He's probably online right now, playing somebody. [Laughs] I like to play the sports games and the fighting games. Every once in a while if I've got a day to myself, I will do one of the role-playing games. The new John Woo game Hard Boiled -- it's like you're playing the movie yourself. It's is kind of fat, it's kind of deep.
VH1: Where do you see hip-hop heading?
RZA: In a good direction. The young people coming up, I think they're going to have more chances than we had. In the old days, everybody just wanted to be a rapper. That's all they want to be. Now, you don't have to rap, you can be a movie composer. You can compose music for the No. 1 film in the country. Or video games. There's so many outlets, I think it's going to continue to grow. I think this new Wu-Tang album will be an influx of creativity, because it will make people say, "We don't got to do it like that," because Wu-Tang did something totally sideways.
It's the hot new thing. From Eminem to Method Man, from Ice Cube to Snoop, you can't be a legit hip-hop artist without first tearing up the silver screen. Add Common to the list. After testing the water with Smokin' Aces - and after hitting a new musical high with Be and Finding Forever - the mogul gets a plumb role in an Oscar-worthy flick, joining Denzel Washington's mob-family in American Gangster. VH1 grills Common on what's up with him and Q-Tip, how he would change the music industry, and why the world of hip-hop has so many beefs.
VH1: There are no good guys or bad guys in American Gangster. Did that speak to you?
Common: I definitely felt a connection with that. I come from the south side of Chicago, which is a hood of black life. I did some bad things in the street, but I knew my heart was good. Even if you're doing things that might not be the most righteous things, you can still be focusing on trying to do good. Denzel Washington's character was about making money. Unfortunately it was illegal and a drug business that causes addiction, but his goal was just to take care of his family, and live the dream that other great businessmen have lived.
VH1: What can we expect from your work with Q-Tip and the Standard?
Common: A Tribe Called Quest has been a big influence on me. Q-Tip is one of the greatest artists. To me he's like Charlie Parker with jazz. It's really in its incubation right now, but it's coming. The sound is definitely going to be progressive, with the funk and the soul to it, and a little bit of jazz. So this group is like what happens if you get two jazz artists to do an album together. I look at my career as parallel to those jazz musicians who made music until they're 80. God willing, I can do that, and do different things, and do albums with other artists. But the Standard is going to be real MC stuff. You're going to feel that in the Standard.
VH1: Let's say you could magically change one thing about hip-hop. What would it be?
Common: Radio. I would change the way radio functions. I would have radio playing a variety of music, as opposed to the same stuff over and over again. Our people are intelligent enough - black, Latino - that if they hear good music and a variety of music, they will like it. Simple as that. It's like this. [Motions to a spread of fruit] They could have set some French fries for us to eat - and I love French fries - but fruit could be just as good, but you have to get used to tasting it. If you get used tasting certain foods, like French fries, then you only want that food.
VH1: You've had beef with Ice Cube. There's the whole TI thing. Why are there so many beefs in hip-hop?
Common: In all truth, it's a reflection of the community. A lot of people in the hip-hop community come from the street. And the street has conflict. A lot of us, when we get into the hip-hop industry, still have built up a "persona." And just because we're in the music industry, it doesn't take out all the things that we've experienced. So sometimes you get those conflicts the same way you get those conflicts from gang-life. Hip-hop artists - not all of them - don't leave behind their ways, whether good or bad.
VH1: Where do you see the industry going?
Common: With the reemergence or artists like Q-Tip - and with Wu-Tang coming back - it's providing a certain balance. People in certain age groups, or people that grew up listening to hip-hop, they need a certain feel in hip-hop. And that feel is coming. I think Kanye provides that feel, and I provide that feel. I think hip-hop has room for Kanye West and Lil 'Wayne. It has room for Common and TI. It's all part of what hip-hop is about. It's all an expression of who we are. It's not "one" thing. It's not just gangsters.
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