The Game may have recently claimed the title, but GZA is currently Superman, of the Wu-Tang Clan that is. As much like his Wu brother, Ghostface Killah, did eight years ago with the release of Supreme Clientele - following a string of less than stellar solo projects in the late ‘90s that left the Clan on the brink of irrelevance - it appears to now be the crew’s lyrical godfather GZA’s turn to swoop in and help save his fam’s respected position in the game with his latest solo offering, Pro Tools.

Following the experimental stylings of the Clan’s 8 Diagrams, the more traditional “Wu sound” found on Pro Tools  is a welcomed return to the raw rhythms and intricate lyrics that defined Shaolin’s finest in the early to mid-90’s.

HipHopDX spoke with the Wu’s current solo superhero from his hotel in Seattle during a recent tour stop and were blessed with some shockingly candid acknowledgements from the GZA, including that Wu-nemesis 50 Cent’s Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ is a classic, but 8 Diagrams was in fact the paper plate. And that current “tension” within the Clan is more than just mumblings from a couple disgruntled members.

Genius also spoke frankly on why he thinks Rick Ross should have started his career as “C.O. Ross,” what the real nature of Wu-Tang’s relationship was with Tupac before his untimely death, and how young artists like Soulja Boy can fly to commercial heights while retaining their Clark Kent intellect.

HipHopDX: “If you wanna sleep when you awake, then make ya bed.” Do you think the majority of the Hip Hop community in 2008 are sleepwalking?
GZA: Yeah, I think so. If you wanna sleep - not be aware to things, ignorant to things - when you awake, then make ya bed. Like, clean that up. Now you awoke, do something about it.

DX: That track, “7 Pounds,” is probably my favorite on the new album primarily because it’s the most energetic production on the album, which helps keep the listeners attention, keeping them from sleeping on what you got to say. Do you think the barrier these days for a master wordsmith such as yourself to be heard is just in the production, in the beats?
GZA: Well, it’s a barrier that the individual puts up themselves. ‘Cause a lot of times people listen to the music, they don’t really listen to lyrics. And sometimes people listen to lyrics first - such as myself – and then beats. Or, a combination of both. So yeah, it’s a lot of people out there that don’t really hear the lyrics. They hear a track, they like it. They hear a beat they don’t like, then they don’t like the track.

DX: Someone in the forums of Wu-Tang Corp referred to your last release, Grandmasters with DJ Muggs [click to read], as “digital nyquil.” Can you understand why a listener, especially a younger one unfamiliar with Wu, would have trouble vibin’ with “0% Finance” and its rock-guitar chord beat without any changes and 104 bars of spittin’ without a chorus?
GZA: I don’t think that anyone would have a problem listening to that song, or even understanding it. It’s just a straight up story that climbs. It goes on and on. Of course it’s long, it’s 104 bars. But how many emcees can go 104 bars without being boring or corny? I mean, the story never gets boring, at any point. So, I don’t see why they would have a problem with that. Unless they saying, “Oh, he’s losing me. I don’t know where he’s at now. It’s too much going on.” I’m not that type of emcee. I don’t even write like that, so.

DX: You think your listeners need to make a commitment when they’re listening to GZA?
GZA: Oh yeah, you definitely have to do that, man. Some things you just have to…when you get albums, or you get movies, some things you know you have to [absorb] in your own zone, ya know? It’s like one of my cousins is doing a documentary on ODB. He’s been working on it for a minute. And he gave me this DVD two days ago. He wanted me to look at it. And he said, “Yo, I’m telling you, throw it on now.” We was on the [tour] bus [with] everybody. And I said, “Nah, this is the type of thing that I gotta zone in. I’m gonna go in, either in my bunk or take it up to the room, and zone out.” Some songs are like that. Some albums, depending on who you around, you wanna listen to by yourself, ya know?

DX: Yeah. And I can’t see how anyone, of any age, couldn’t dig a song like “Alphabets” [click to listen], but flippin’ the entire alphabet for a chorus doesn’t seem like an undertaking an emcee of this generation would attempt. Why do you think that is? Is it their youth, is it their laziness?
GZA: No, it’s the laziness of not [making an effort to be] creative enough, or original. They’ll look at it and say, “The alphabets?” Even though most rap that you hear now is A-B-C shit anyway. But, they would look at me like, “It’s no way I can put alphabets in the hook and make it sound fly.” Artists today don’t know how to do that. They don’t know how to be really, really hardcore and commercial at the same time. They don’t know how to combine the two. Either you gotta be so thug and gully, or you have to be so soft and commercial. They don’t know how to combine the two. Just to take a topic like “Alphabets,” I mean, it’s a simple topic. They would say, “Alright, alphabets, that’s the hook.” But they wouldn’t really know how to put it [together], a majority of ‘em. They wouldn’t get it. Continued on page 2 »