RZA with Stone Mecca (Full Live Band)

TASTEMAKER LIVE AND SEAN HEALY PRESENT

RZA with FULL LIVE BAND

On Thursday, August 16, the leader and architect of the Wu-Tang Clan hip-hop dynasty, the RZA, will take to Mezzanine’s live stage backed by his live band. RZA is a dynamic creative force, a prolific producer and songwriter, composer, MC, author, actor, director and screenwriter. His reach touches numerous creative disciplines blending a Far Eastern martial arts aesthetic with a concrete-bred street based form of New York Hip-Hop. About.com cited him as number three in their list of best hip hop producers of all time.

Since the Wu-Tang Clan released their debut album "Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)" in 1993, RZA has driven the Staten Island (also known as Shaolin) based group and their brand at a frenetic pace developing an industry powerhouse and hip-hop empire. Kris Ex of Rolling Stone called Wu-Tang Clan "the best rap group ever." A master of aliases, The RZA is also known as the Abbot, or as his alter ego, Bobby Digital, and as a founding member of horrorcore rap group, Tha Gravediggaz, RZA transforms into the RZArector.

RZA has maintained on iron grip on the production of Wu-Tang albums both as a beatmaker and in a greater sense with ultimate oversight on the direction and aesthetic of each LP. He was as involved in a number of the earlier releases from individual Wu-Tang members, easing his grip in later years. Recently, he has worked with some of the game's other heavy-hitters including Kanye West, Jay-Z, Nas, Talib Kweli and Busta Rhymes to name a few.

In 2007, RZA wrote the score for the movie "Afro Samurai" starring Samuel L. Jackson. He had a part in the action/adventure movie "Repo Men" starring Jude Law and Forest Whitaker. He has also appeared in a handful of other films including Coffee and Cigarettes, American Gangster, Gospel Hill, Life Is Hot in Cracktown, Ghost Dog and Funny People. This summer RZA has made headlines again with not only news of a tour, but with the announcement that he will be starring and directing a Quentin Tarantino-produced, kung-fu action movie, "Iron Fists" slated for release on Oct. 26, also staring Lucy Lui and Russell Crowe.

RZA was born in Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York, however, much of his childhood was spent between Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with his father and North Carolina with his uncle. His first stint in Hip-hop started in the late 1980s, when a young RZA and his cousins GZA (then called the Genius) and Ol’ Dirty Bastard (then called Ason Unique, the Specialist, and the Professor) started the rap group, the Force of the Imperial Master which eventually came to be known as the All in Together Now Crew after a single they released by the same name.

Once the group split up, both GZA and RZA sought and landed solo record deals, almost becoming casualties of the music industry. GZA signed with Cold Chillin’ and RZA with Tommy Boy. GZA dropped his LP, Words from the Genius which did not sell well and RZA released the EP, We Love You Rakeem and shortly after found himself in jail, undermining the release. Both artists struggled with creative control during their brief stints at their respective labels and swore they’d master the industry on their own terms. This sequence of events led to the eventual formation of the Wu-Tang Clan with the RZA at the helm.

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