Rza

Growing up in New York, there are a lot of tenement buildings and a lot of projects. You don't leave your projects too much. The laundry's there. The grocery store is there. Everything takes place right there. When I got knowledge of myself and thought about moving around the city, hip-hop was something that helped me.

I'm me, and the me that's me is me and is going to continue to be me, and it's always reaching and growing.

Being black in America - especially as I was growing up - the feeling of oppression, the feeling of being outcast, the feeling of not having a voice was part of my life.

The influence of the Shaw Brothers films on my work has been profound. In addition to the richness of Asian culture, we at Wu-Tang were fascinated with the struggles between the oppressed Chinese villagers and the repressive Manchu authority and how it mirrored our own experiences growing up as black kids in America's inner cities.

Growing up, all of my friends would set their schedules to the showing of kung fu movies on TV.

With '8 Diagrams,' I just skimmed the surface of musical exploration.

In the past, when Jay-Z did 'Best of Both Worlds' with R. Kelly, I thought it was a great album, but the campaign went south because of personalities.

An artist is made to entertain. That's their primary goal, to entertain you. But some artists record the moments of time. You wouldn't know what was happening in the '20s and '30s; you got to check the song or art.

I could never be a control freak. If Wu-Tang is a dictatorship, how does every Wu-Tang member have their own contract, their own career, and have put out more albums without me than they've done with me?

The Good Earth' is a great book.

We think it's a blessing that we were able to bring our music to the world. That our music has not only inspired our communities but other communities. That's one of the greatest things an artist in any field could know: that you've touched the mind of another artist.

The history of black America was from slavery, oppression, civil rights, and you felt kind of isolated as an entity in our country.