DX: With the less than stellar critical and commercial response to the album, and all the reported group turmoil during the construction of the record, will there ever be another Wu-Tang group album?
GZA: I don’t know, man. I can’t say. That’s hard to say. It’s a lot going on right now. There’s a lot of tension in the group, a lot of stuff in the air, so I can’t really say. The one thing I must say though, when we on stage you’d never know that is tension. I mean, you’ll have brothers that may not even speak to each other, [but] when they get on stage you would never know that because they be communicating with each other.

DX: Now Raekwon, he ended up being obviously the most vocal critic from within the crew of the more experimental sound on 8 Diagrams. I was just curious if you played Rae the RZA-produced “Life Is A Movie” from Pro Tools to make him eat his words about RZA’s beatmaking abilities? [Laughs].
GZA: [Laughs]. I don’t even know if Rae [click to read] heard Pro Tools yet. I don’t know if he’s heard that song. But I never wrote RZA [click to read] out. Never, and I still don’t. I still think he’s an incredible producer. You just have to bring the best out of each other. Sometimes you sharpen knives with knives or other sharp objects. RZA got it, [and] I know how to bring it out because I take time when I work, when I write. I take time, so if I hear a track and I know it has potential, I’m gonna bring something out of it.

DX: So Rae’s proposed RZA-less Wu-Tang album, it ain’t happening?
GZA: Um…probably not. I don’t know, [but] probably not. It all depends.

DX: While we’re talking about the group, I just gotta ask you about the recent reports regarding the album outlines Tupac had written in 1995 [click to read], shortly before he got out of prison, where he planned collabos with Meth and Rae and production from RZA. What was the relationship between Wu and ‘Pac like before he passed?
GZA: I think I seen ‘Pac one time. I met him once. I didn’t really know him like that, but he had ran into RZA, and maybe a few other Clan members on different occasions. But as far as what I heard him speak about on tape or interviews, he had love for Wu. Wu was like one, if not the only [crew from the east coast], that he didn’t even call out when he was talking about everybody else.

DX: Yeah, just y’all and Duck Down I think were the only two.
GZA: Yeah.

DX: Any doubts that ‘Pac was a real Wu fan, or just a skilled strategist who knew about the issues between Wu and Biggie and planned to capitalize on that friction?
GZA: Nah, hell no. I’d cancel that [thought] out. He was a true fan, man. I believe that in my heart. You can tell the way the guy spoke. Dude spoke what he felt and what he meant, and he spoke from his heart. And if he didn’t like shit, he would tell you he didn’t like it. So Tupac to me wasn’t the kind of person who gonna act like he love Wu and he’s gonna ride the bandwagon because Wu was saying this about [Notorious B.I.G.]. Nah, he was a straight up dude.

DX: Even with all those east vs. west issues, I know there are a lot of heads that would love for Hip Hop to be more like it was in that mid-‘90’s Big and ‘Pac era. Even Meth had a quote recently where he was saying that [click to read]. Is that love of Hip Hop from that time evident on your current tour where you’re just performing the Liquid Swords album?
GZA: Yeah, and the audience is still 16, 17, 18, 20’s. I ran a survey last night: “How many people in here are over 30?” May have been about 20 [hands went up]. I said, “How many people in here are over 25?” May have been about another 30. And then I said, “How many people in here are under 25?” And then [almost] all the hands went up.