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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 backstage at the 2001 Source Hip Hop Awards. Pic: Adam Scull/PHOTOlink /MediaPunch /IPX/AP
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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 has composed his first classical score, A Ballet Through Mud. Pic: Danny Hastings
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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 performing with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Troy Miller, in July 2024. Pic: Andy Paradise
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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 attends A Wu-Tang Experience in New York in 2023. Pic: Charles Sykes/Invision/AP
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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
Image:
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”.

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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.

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BST Hyde Park’s final day cancelled as Jeff Lynne’s ELO pulls out of headline slot

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BST Hyde Park's final day cancelled as Jeff Lynne's ELO pulls out of headline slot

BST Hyde Park festival has cancelled its final night after Jeff Lynne’s Electric Light Orchestra pulled out of the headline slot.

Lynne, 77, was due to play alongside his band on Sunday but has been forced to withdraw from the event following a “systemic infection”.

The London show was supposed to be a “final goodbye” from ELO following their farewell US tour.

Organisers said on Saturday that Lynne was “heartbroken” at being unable to perform.

A statement read: “Jeff has been battling a systemic infection and is currently in the care of a team of doctors who have advised him that performing is simply not possible at this time nor will he be able to reschedule.

“The legacy of the band and his longtime fans are foremost in Jeff’s mind today – and while he is so sorry that he cannot perform, he knows that he must focus on his health and rehabilitation at this time.”

They later confirmed the whole of Sunday’s event would be cancelled.

“Ticket holders will be refunded and contacted directly by their ticket agent with further details,” another statement said.

Stevie Wonder played the festival on Saturday – now its final event of 2025.

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US rock band The Doobie Brothers and blues rock singer Steve Winwood were among those who had been due to perform to before ELO’s headline performance.

The cancellation comes after the band, best known for their hit Mr Blue Sky, pulled out of a performance due to take place at Manchester’s Co-Op Live Arena on Thursday.

ELO was formed in Birmingham in 1970 by Lynne, multi-instrumentalist Roy Wood and drummer Bev Bevan.

They first split in 1986, before frontman Lynne resurrected the band in 2014.

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Donald Trump threatens to revoke Rosie O’Donnell’s US citizenship

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Donald Trump threatens to revoke Rosie O'Donnell's US citizenship

Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.

In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”

He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.

O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.

“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.

“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”

Rosie O'Donnell arrives at the ELLE Women in Hollywood celebration on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
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Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP

O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.

She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.

O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.

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Will Trump address parliament on UK state visit?

This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.

But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.

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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.

“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.

“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”

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The Salt Path author Raynor Winn’s fourth book delayed

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The Salt Path author Raynor Winn's fourth book delayed

The Salt Path author Raynor Winn’s fourth book has been delayed by her publisher.

It comes amid claims that the author lied about her story in her hit first book. Winn previously described the claims as “highly misleading” and called suggestions that her husband had Moth made up his illness “utterly vile”.

In a statement, Penguin Michael Joseph, said it had delayed the publication of Winn’s latest book On Winter Hill – which had been set for release 23 October.

The publisher said the decision had been made in light of “recent events, in particular intrusive conjecture around Moth’s health”, which it said had caused “considerable distress” to the author and her family.

“It is our priority to support the author at this time,” the publisher said.

“With this in mind, Penguin Michael Joseph, together with the author, has made the decision to delay the publication of On Winter Hill from this October.”

A new release date will be announced in due course, the publisher added.

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Winn’s first book, released in 2018, detailed the journey she and husband took along the South West Coast Path – familiarly known as The Salt Path – after they lost their family farm and Moth received a terminal health diagnosis of Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD).

But a report in The Observer disputed key aspects of the 2018 “true” story – which was recently turned into a film starring Jason Isaacs and Gillian Anderson.

Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear
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Raynor and husband Moth (centre) with actors Jason Isaacs (L) and Gillian Anderson (R). Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear

Experts ‘sceptical of health claims’

As part of the article, published last weekend, The Observer claimed to have spoken to experts who were “sceptical” about elements of Moth’s terminal diagnosis, such as a “lack of acute symptoms and his apparent ability to reverse them”.

In the ensuing controversy, PSPA, a charity that supports people with CBD, cut ties with the couple.

The Observer article also claimed the portrayal of a failed investment in a friend’s business wasn’t true, but said the couple – whose names are Sally and Tim Walker – lost their home after Raynor Winn embezzled money from her employer and had to borrow to pay it back and avoid police action.

Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear
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Anderson played Winn in a movie about the couple’s journey. Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear

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It also said that, rather than being homeless, the couple had owned a house in France since 2007.

Winn’s statement said the dispute with her employer wasn’t the reason the couple lost their home – but admitted she may have made “mistakes” while in the job.

“For me it was a pressured time,” she wrote. “It was also a time when mistakes were being made in the business. Any mistakes I made during the years in that office, I deeply regret, and I am truly sorry.”

She admitted being questioned by police but said she wasn’t charged.

The author also said accusations that Moth lied about having CBD/CBS were false and had “emotionally devastated” him.

“I have charted Moth’s condition with such a level of honesty, that this is the most unbearable of the allegations,” Winn wrote on her website.

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