Preview: RZA and Friends at City Winery 2/18/17
Although the last 10-15 days or so have felt as though everything around us has been collapsing before our eyes, we can’t forget that music and art are more necessary than ever in what may well be very dark days ahead. Now, unless you’ve been living in the cave over the past 25 years, you’re probably intimately familiar with one of hip-hop’s legendary and imitable producers and artists, RZA. Known as the de facto founder and leader of the Wu-Tang Clan, along with his cousins and founding members Ol’ Dirty Bastard and GZA, RZA has been responsible for the sound and aesthetic of the legendary act’s most beloved albums and songs, as well as many of the Wu-Tang solo, their affiliate projects and his own solo work under his alter-ego Bobby Digital and was a member of horrorcore hip-hop act Gravediggaz (in which he went by the moniker The RZArector). Along with his musical output, RZA has managed to be incredibly busy over the past few years as he has written the scores for Kill Bill, Vol 1. and Kill Bill, Vol. 2, the Japanese anime Afro Samurai starring Samuel L. Jackson, authored two books — 2005’s The Wu-Tang Manual and 2009’s The Tao of Wu, has acted in several movies including Coffee and Cigarettes, American Gangster, Gospel Hill, Life Is Hot in Cracktown, Ghost Dog, Funny People, Derailed, Due Date and Repo Men as well as the Showtime TV series Californication. He also co-wrote, starred in and produced the score for The Man with the Iron Fists, which co-starred Russell Crowe.
Bolstering his reputation as one of hip-hop’s most well-regarded, go-to producers and artists, the Wu-Tang founder and leader has collaborated with a variety of artists across a wide array of genres and styles. He’s collaborated with Kanye West on West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, as well as Kanye West’s and Jay-Z‘s Watch The Throne and has contributed an series of previously unreleased instrumental beat tracks to Nas, Busta Rhymes, Talib Kweli and Kanye West, and contributed vocals to John Fruscinate‘s 2012 EP Letur-Lefr, Kid Cudi‘s 2013 full-length effort Indicud and Earl Sweatshirt‘s Doris. And he managed to complete the Wu’s sixth full-length album 2014’s A Better Tomorrow, despite heated and public artistic and public disputes with Raekwon. Last year, RZA collaborated with Interpol‘s frontman Paul Banks in a project that the duo dubbed Banks and Steelz and their 2016 effort, Anything But Words featured guest spots from Kool Keith, Ghostface Killah, Method Man and Masta Killa.
The prolific and imitable producer, artist, actor, director and author will be stopping at the intimate City Winery downtown on February 18, 2017 — and he’ll be performing with a secretly kept list of friends and associates. As a Wu-Tang fan and as a RZA fan, it looks like it’ll be a legendary night.
Additional info and tickets here: http://www.citywinery.com/newyork/rzaseatedtickets02182017.html