Wu-Tang Clan rap star RZA pivots to ballet: ‘People would call it leftfield – but it’s right in my alley’
He is one of hip-hop’s most influential voices, mastermind of the groundbreaking Wu-Tang Clan collective – as well as a solo star, producer, filmmaker and actor.
Now, US rapper RZA is turning his hand to classical with a symphonic ballet.
He began working on the record during the pandemic, inspired by the discovery of an old Tommy Hilfiger book bag stuffed with notebooks he had filled over five years from the age of 14; lyrics on life and love as a teenage Robert Diggs, who grew up in the housing projects of Brownsville, in Brooklyn, New York, and later Staten Island.
There was a story to be told, he felt. The obvious thing to do would be to turn the words into rap, the music he is best known for. But it evolved into something new.
RZA (left) and members of the Wu-Tang Clan in 2001. Pic: Adam Scull/PHOTOlink /MediaPunch /IPX/AP
“I started reading through these lyrics and I’m recalling all the young love, the young exploration. The first time you had a drink or smoke. All this is written in my lyrics, like a lyrical diary… at first I thought I should rap it, right. Because I’m known as a rapper. But then I said, no, I should just write music to it.”
Starting at his piano, the project became A Ballet Through Mud, a coming-of-age story told through music that delves into the complexities of love and the bonds of friendship – very different to the music most of RZA’s fans will know him for. It was performed to a standing ovation by the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and dancers from the Alvin Ailey dance theatre school on stage in Denver 2023. Now, RZA is releasing the score as his first classical album.
“I think I’ve definitely been a guy that’s pushing the boundaries and trying to surprise people,” he says. “Definitely, you know, people would call it leftfield for me. But it’s not, it’s right in my alley.” He describes the work as a “natural creative evolution” and says he has always been “fascinated” by classical music and composers, inspired by everyone from Mozart, Beethoven and Bach to Leonard Bernstein, Duke Ellington, Sergei Prokofiev – who wrote the children’s symphony Peter And The Wolf – and Quincy Jones’s collaborations with Frank Sinatra.
“Looking at Peter And The Wolf and knowing every character, every animal in that ballet or suite had an instrument to match to it – the flute was the bird, the trombone was the wolf… I started learning then that you can take instruments and give them characters,” he says. “As a movie composer, that philosophy got reinforced.”
RZA says he hopes his orchestral score will inspire young hopeful musicians to pick up instruments. Pic: Danny Hastings
The title, A Ballet Through Mud, is symbolic of his own life. He references his formative years in Staten Island, or Shaolin, as Wu-Tang rechristened it. “The mud is considered to be foul, dirty… you know, I’m RZA, I’m from the slums of Shaolin. But yet, out of the mud grows the lotus plant, considered pure, beautiful… so hopefully, you can go through the mud and come back up a lotus.”
It tells the story of six young people with a theme of “youthful exploration”, he says. “I thought about women in the sense of how men, that we are still kind of in the cave when it comes to our emotions, we’re like cavemen.” One of the characters isn’t sure how to communicate with the girl he likes, he says. “It was from one of my lyrics… as a high school guy, I fell in love with some girl and was scared to tell her.”
His fellow Wu-Tang Clan members are yet to hear the entire score, he says. “But we did a tour last year with Nas and if you came on my bus, you had to hear some [of this] music,” he laughs. “But everybody who heard it, they said it sounds beautiful.”
Of course, RZA isn’t the first hip-hop star to embrace classical music. In July, Cypress Hill made their debut at the Royal Albert Hall in London, performing hits from their seminal album Black Sunday alongside the London Symphony Orchestra. That show happened to be inspired by an almost 30-year-old joke in The Simpsons, famous predictor of the future, but rappers B-Real and Sen Dog have long had classical influences.
Cypress Hill performed with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall earlier this year. Pic: Andy Paradise
“We started off as hip-hop artists, this is what we love to do, the roots of our existence,” said B-Real ahead of the show. “But we’ve always challenged ourselves to be out of the box and do different things.”
In recent years, ravers have also embraced the genre at classical tours by the likes of club favourites Ministry Of Sound and the Hacienda. And there has also been a metal crossover with the likes of Metallica performing releasing albums with the San Francisco Symphony – and even a Black Sabbath ballet.
RZA says there are parallels between hip-hop and classical. “If you listen to some of the Wu-Tang production you hear I bring in strings. You’ll hear some of my production has incorporated classical samples.” He cites famous examples of hip-hop sampling classical scores, such as Beethoven’s Fur Elise in Nas’s I Can.
The rapper began studying more himself when he scored his first film, Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai, starring Forest Whitaker, released in 1999. He went on to score other films, including Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill. “These types of ideas have been evolving in me through my progression of work,” he says. “It’s like it’s in my blood now.”
As we speak, RZA is working in post-production on his latest project, the upcoming film One Spoon Of Chocolate, which he has directed. Across music and film, he has never wanted to tie himself down to one genre or medium of art. In September, the Wu-Tang Clan play shows in Las Vegas – extra dates added to a residency billed as “more than a concert… a tribute to their prolific careers as individuals and as the most storied group in hip-hop history”.
The most expensive album ever made
RZA pictured at A Wu-Tang Experience in New York in 2023. Pic: Charles Sykes/Invision/AP
And earlier this year, their famous unique and rarely-heard 2015 record Once Upon A Time In Shaolin, the most expensive album ever made, made headlines once again as it went on display briefly as a piece of fine art in Australia. The album exists in a sole physical CD copy, created at the time as a statement on the value of music as streaming started to take over, and comes with a legal stipulation that the owner cannot publicly release the tracks until 2103.
The record was bought at auction for $2m (£1.5m at the time) by pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli in 2015, but was sold again by the US government to clear debts after he was jailed for defrauding investors. Earlier this year, about 500 fans got to hear the music – complete with a reported Cher cameo – at secret listening sessions.
The Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA has composed a ballet score, A Ballet Through Mud. Pic: Danny Hastings
It has been a wild journey. “Some of its journey has taken me by surprise and I think rightfully so,” says RZA. “To me, that album has a life of its own and that’s something I wanted for it, in all reality. It was a statement that was supposed to breed conversation. You know, should music be devalued? Is there more value on it when you can’t have it? Is music really considered a serious form of art by today’s society?
“Because it was like that as I was growing up… to get up and save my coins and then get on a bus and go to a record store and get it and read it, the cover, and open it and put it on, and to hold it… so you don’t get fingerprints on it. It is something we value. And now it’s more like swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe. I always said that it was similar to an Egyptian sceptre, something that belongs in museums and art galleries. It ended up there this year and that had nothing to do with me, you know. I heard that people came from around the world, they flew in to hang out, you know. And I wasn’t even there. It’s like my son right now. He’s over in college right now, hanging out with his buddies, and I don’t know what’s going on, he’s just having his own life.”
There is a part of him that would love to still be involved in some way, he says. But that was never the point. “There’s always a piece of me on anything that I’ve created or been part of that, you know, you want it kind of for yourself – but it don’t belong to you. It’s created for the world. And whoever gets a chance to hear it and enjoy it and create their own memories with it… those memories won’t belong to me.”
For now, though, he is concentrating on his classical work. He hopes it will inspire young children to learn instruments and feel “it’s cool to grab that violin or oboe”.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
He continues: “It’s a certain type of brain stimulation that comes from this type of music creation. Hip-hop and rock music, or just say today’s music, has been able to be created on a computer, and that’s great, that’s the power of an orchestra in your hand.” But knowing how to play an instrument, he adds, enables you to be “more elaborate, more communicative – not cookie-cutter”.
And after A Ballet Through Mud, there is more to come, he promises. “I’m not going to stop here. I’ve already started writing something for the future that I’m also fascinated with.”
You heard it here first. RZA, the hip-hop legend – now adding another string to his bow.
Entertainment
Rapper charged with GBH – after singer Chris Brown remanded in custody over ‘bottle attack’
Entertainment
Cassie Ventura finishes her evidence after days describing alleged rape and ‘hundreds’ of freak offs
R&B star Cassie Ventura told Sean “Diddy” Combs “I’m not a rag doll, I’m someone’s child”, after he allegedly beat her outside a lift at the Intercontinental Hotel in Los Angeles in March 2016, a New York court has heard.
Footage of Combs appearing to drag and kick the R&B star in a corridor was initially released by CNN in May 2024. Combs subsequently apologised for his actions.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
CCTV footage shows Diddy ‘attacking’ Cassie in hotel
The footage of the incident, which Cassie says took place after she left a “freak off” sex session, has since been widely shared and has been shown to the jury in court as evidence for the prosecution.
Combs, 55, faces five criminal counts: one count of racketeering conspiracy; two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. He denies the allegations against him.
Cassie, whose full name is Casandra Ventura, alleges she was physically abused and degraded for years by the powerful hip-hop star and music executive, accusing him of violence, coercion, blackmail and rape.
The 38-year-old, who is the star witness for the prosecution, faced a fourth day on the stand, with the hip-hop mogul’s defence lawyers concluding their two-day cross-examination.
Heavily pregnant, she is expecting her third child in just a few weeks.
Prosecutors say Combs exploited and used his network of employees to facilitate illegal activities, while defence lawyers have been attempting to show jurors she consented to their highly charged “swingers lifestyle”.
The court also heard further details of Cassie’s allegation of rape against Combs, information around her stay at a trauma and addiction centre in Arizona and further messages appearing to show her enthusiasm for freak offs.
Sean Combs and Cassie in 2017. Pic: zz/XPX/STAR MAX/IPx 2017/AP
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial: Day 5 – As it happened
Cassie was asked about singer Chris Brown – who she denied dancing with – and tells the court Combs had form for taking her belongings, including her phone, car and watch, when he was angry with her.
An audio recording was also played to the court, appearing to show Cassie threatening a man she claimed to have a video of her at a freak off on his phone, screaming: “I will f*** you up and it won’t be my hand”.
It was not clear as to whether such a video ever existed.
Cassie was also asked about her use of drugs, and said she had struggled with opioid addiction since 2022.
She described a 45-day stay at a rehabilitation centre in Arizona in 2023, where she underwent EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) to help resolve trauma.
The centre specialises in treating “sex and intimacy issues”, but Cassie confirmed she was treated only for trauma.
The court also heard about Cassie’s allegation of rape against Combs in August or September 2018, by which time she says they had split up.
The pair were together, on and off, for about 11 years from 2007 to 2018.
A court sketch of Combs and Cassie. Pic: Reuters/Jane Rosenberg
‘I have love for the past, what it was’
Describing Combs taking her for dinner at an Italian restaurant in Malibu, she says he raped her after driving her home, after “acting strangely” during the meal.
When asked if she believed his behaviour was due to his “bipolar disorder”, Cassie answered “yes”.
The jury was then shown a text message which included a heart emoji, sent by Cassie to Combs the following day.
When asked if she still had love for him, she said: “I have love for the past, what it was.”
Cassie confirmed she saw Combs the following month, when she said she had consensual sex with him, during which her now-husband, personal trainer Alex Fine, attempted to FaceTime her.
She said she didn’t tell Fine she had been raped by Combs at the time, but that he “punched a wall” when she later told him.
Combs paid close attention to Cassie’s cross-examination, leaning in to read transcripts on the monitor in front of him and passing down notes to his lawyer. Cassie did not look at him throughout the trial.
Cassie’s husband, Alex Fine (left), outside court. Pic: Reuters/David ‘Dee’ Delgado
A ‘$10m’ settlement with the Intercontinental
Towards the end of her questioning by the defence, Cassie was read a message from Combs in September 2012, in which he asked “do you want to have our last FO [freak off] tonight?” – to which she responded, “I don’t want to freak off for the last time, I want it to be the first time for the rest of our lives”.
In a surprise turn, Cassie also confirmed that an expected settlement of $10m had been agreed with the Intercontinental Hotel in Los Angeles, where she was assaulted.
Following her time in court, she released a statement saying she hoped her testimony would help others “heal from the abuse and fear”.
“For me, the more I heal, the more I can remember,” she said. “And the more I can remember, the more I will never forget.”
The next witness, special agent Yasin Binda, detailed items found during a search of Combs’s Park Hyatt hotel room in 2004, following his arrest that year.
She showed the court images of exhibits including lubricant and baby oil, drugs and a bum bag containing $9,000 (£6,800) in cash.
Dawn Richard points at Combs during the trial. Pic: Reuters/Jane Rosenberg
‘Hit over the head with a skillet of eggs’
At the end of the day, Dawn Richard, a former member of girl group Danity Kane and trio Dirty Money, gave evidence, telling the court she observed Combs attacking Cassie, including a time he “hit her over the head with a skillet of eggs”.
She went on to say Combs “dragged” Cassie upstairs where she “heard glass breaking”, adding she had “never seen anything” like it before – “he was punching his girlfriend”.
Richard said she didn’t intervene or report the incident to the police as she was “scared”.
The singer sued Combs last year, accusing him of physical abuse, groping and psychological abuse during her time working with him.
Combs has been jailed since September and faces at least 15 years or possibly life in prison if convicted.
The trial is set to last for seven more weeks.
A man convicted of stabbing Salman Rushdie, leaving the author blind in one eye, has been jailed for 25 years.
Hadi Matar was found guilty of attempted murder and assault in February.
Prosecutors had been seeking the maximum sentence of 25 years for the attack in August 2022, along with an additional seven-year term for injuring a second man.
Hadi Matar. Pic: AP
During the trial, Sir Salman revealed he feared he was dying when the masked attacker plunged a knife into his head and body more than a dozen times.
The attack happened as the 77-year-old was introduced on stage at the Chautauqua Institution in New York for a discussion on writer safety.
Sir Salman was stabbed in the head, neck, torso and left hand and suffered damage to his liver and intestines.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
From 2024: Salman Rushdie recalls stabbing
The Midnight’s Children author spent 17 days at a hospital in Pennsylvania and more than three weeks at a rehabilitation facility in New York City, as he recovered from his injuries. He wrote about the attack and his recovery in his 2024 memoir Knife.
Matar will next face a trial on terrorism-related charges. Prosecutors allege the 27-year-old was trying to carry out a decades-old fatwa calling for the author’s death.
In 1989, Iran’s then leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued the fatwa in response to the publication of Sir Salman’s novel The Satanic Verses, which some Muslims consider blasphemous, causing the Indian born British-American author to go into hiding.
In 1998, Iran announced it would not enforce the decree, allowing Sir Salman to travel freely over the last quarter of a century.
Read more from Sky News:
Army unit charged with investigating sex crimes allowing abusers to ‘get away with it’
At least 93 killed in Gaza after Israeli strikes
MPs criticise Esther Rantzen’s assisted dying intervention
Matar pleaded not guilty to providing materials to terrorists, attempting to provide material support to Hezbollah and engaging in terrorism transcending national boundaries.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway