Pre Wu-Tang RZA & GZA

I'm sure by now you can tell that I'm a fan of digging deep into the history of artists, producers, record labels, and anything else I can get my hands on. Some know the story of the Wu-Tang Clan and the brilliant deal RZA negotiated with Loud in regards to the members being able to sign solo deals to whatever label they want, but I'm sure even fewer know the about some of the artists Pre Wu-Tang releases. I'm going to focus on the RZA & the GZA's pre Wu-Tang output. If you didn't know, RZA, GZA, and ODB were originally in a group Force Of The Imperial Master (later renamed All In Together Now Crew). Unfortunately I can't find any audio from that time, but I was able to find a video of RZA and ODB at a talent show. RZA and ODB are hilarious in this video because after being told not to curse they both continue to keep saying curse after curse. The rapping doesnt start til about 1:30 but the stuff they say beforehand is pretty hilarious.



Around 1990-1991 both RZA and GZA signed to labels that gave them single deals with album options. RZA signed to Tommy Boy (once home to De La Soul, Naughty By Nature, and Queen Latifah) and GZA signed to Cold Chillin (once home of Big Daddy Kane, Masta Ace, Kool G Rap, Biz Markie, and others).

Due to the fact that RZA went to jail, he was only able to release his Oooh We Love You Rakeem EP (1991).



Luckily he was able to make a video for the single which we have here for you. Notice the complete contrast between this song and the harder edged stuff that Wu-Tang released.



GZA was able to release an entire album (the only Wu member to do so prior to Wu Tang) via Cold Chillin titled "Words From The Genius." (1991).




The album flopped miserably which isn't surprising because the lead single SUCKED. I blame the label for that because it seemed as if they were trying to market GZA as a Big Daddy Kane clone. Oddly enough some of the other tracks on the album aren't too bad. It's like GZA and Easy Mo Bee made a decent album and then the label felt they needed a terrible commercial song to release as the single. Check out the single "Come Do Me"



As you can see its NOTHING like the GZA were used to. It's a shame they used that song as a representation of the album because NOTHING else on the album was like that. In fact some of the songs had some semi funky beats and dope lyrics like the track "The Genius Is Slammin"



In 1994, Cold Chillin did the classic maneuver of rereleasing the album once GZA had gained fame with Wu-Tang. They made a new cover



And replaced "Come Do Me" with an unreleased track called "Pass The Bone." Not surprisingly the song featured both GZA and RZA and was produced by RZA himself...obviously another attempt to capitalize on GZA's new fame.





I agree with GZA 100% when he says "Positive elevation always corrects errors" because after that mediocre album, he joined up with Wu and they released one of the greatest albums ever and then released his 2nd solo album "Liquid Swords" which is definitely another one of the greatest albums of all time.

If there's one thing I've learned from the RZA and GZA, its that just because your first attempt flops (like their EP and album did) doesn't mean you're done for. Sometimes you just have to dust yourself off and try something different. As you can see from the successes of RZA and GZA and all of Wu-Tang from 93 all the way up to present day, trying something different worked extremely well for them.