Part of the myth of the Wu-Tang Clan, especially back in the day, was that the group had this vast, mysterious extended family. The core crew was nine members, which was already a lot, but then there were literal hundreds of Wu-Tang affiliates running around out there. Some of them would turn up with verses on group members' solo albums, or they'd come together in peripheral groups like Wu-Tang Killa Beez or Sunz Of Man. Now, Adam Friedland has done what many of us always wanted to do. He sat RZA down, and he asked about a bunch of these far-flung Wu-Tang affiliates who can't possibly be real.
As an interviewer, former Cum Town podcast Adam Friedland has a rare superpower: He is never, ever starstruck. If anything, it's the opposite. He approaches his famous interview subjects from the assumed perspective that they're full of shit and that he can just kind of chide them for an hour. If anything, he sometimes actively antagonizes them. The most recent Adam Friedland Show guest was the RZA, the man behind the entire Wu-Tang operation. From what I can tell, RZA had a great time with the Friedland interview. He loved it.
I haven't watched Friedland's full interview yet, but I had to tear myself away to write this blog post. I was having fun watching it! In one of the clipped highlights, Friedland mentioned getting a performance from Wu affiliate Remedy at his Jewish summer camp, something RZA seemed genuinely delighted to hear. He then mentioned a great many funny names pulled from a list of Wu affiliates: Dexter Wiggles, Cheesy Rat, Polite, Stomack "with a K," Mike Boston, Shorty Shitstain. Sometimes, RZA had no idea who these people are. Sometimes, he was like, "Yeah, that's my man." The clipped bit is funny, but the full exchange in the interview is even better. In the clip, for instance, you don't get RZA's story about Warcloud AKA Holocaust showing up to a studio session with a pet duck in his pocket.
Friedland also came to the interview with an MPC that was loaded up with samples taken from Christopher Cross' 1981 chart-topper "Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)" and challenged the Abbot to chop those samples into a beat on the spot. RZA didn't even hesitate.
I could be wrong, but I get the impression that RZA really likes this guy. Watch the full interview below.
