[NEW] GZA/GENIUS - "The Spark"

I rarely post singles these days when I do it's something that holds a lot of personal value to me. Since GZA's new single "The Spark" is the first full track on the subject of his "Dark Matter" album, this is incredible.. he's surgically on point with the rhyme scemes, concepts and listening to this first joint for the first time I was immedatiely flabbergasted by both the production and rhymes on "The Spark" which really compliment eachother. GZA is the most talented dude in the Clan, and one of the true pioneers and such, and his voice and energy (when it gets it right proves that he's an absolutely ecellent emcee - you don't get the nickname by accident. And as such he's often more of a genius now than he was during the Wu's beginnings.

 While fans complained immensely on 2008:s "Pro Tools", not because it was bad produced, badly written or held together like a weak project - but GZA's drowsy voice and  the feeling he wasn't really into it anymore (one exception was the excellent True Master laced "Alphabets"). With "Dark Matter" (as it is called, and will be released on BabyGrande) its clear that he has never before worked as hard on an album before lyrics wise.... So it might still be some time before we get it. But as long as we get quality I'm happy waiting. It's also clear that some of the lyrics he wrote for the album appeared on "A Better Tomorrow" which means he has written more verses that are better than what he started with, and his verses on tracks on there were fierce for the most part.

The song is produced by Paul Ryder of alternative rock band Happy Mondays but it does certainly not have a indie rock vibe to it - this is pure hip-hop. Fans on boards speculated it might be a DJ Muggs beats before the credits were revealed. The single is available on iTunes now but is originally a project for NASA's collaboration with Apple Music to curate a playlist for its Juno Mission who's unmanded probe is set to reach Jupiter's orbit today (July 4). Check out the YouTube stream up top and if you want to support for the cause you can head over to iTunes and purchase the song.

"THE SPARK" @ iTunes

GZA - "Labels" [RZA/GZA Demo]

This is a real monster here that I totally had missed out on that die hard Wu fans will go ape shit over if you too wasn't aware of its existence until now. Apparantly this rough mix of the GZA classic "Labels" from his unbelivably dope "Liquid Swords" LP made its round on a few Stretch & Bobbito mixtapes back in early '95 and features a vintage, dark, brooding RZA instrumental that resembles the album version though it's far from as well developed and perfect as what eventually turned up on the album but instead packs in a lot of exclusive sounds and vibes. Check it out above and thanks to the original uploader and Dark Matter who put me on to it. You can also download the mp3 below, so be sure to do that because as I said this is a real fucking GEM right here!

GZA - "LABELS" [DEMO]

[DVD RIP] GHOSTFACE KILLAH - "Live in NYC"

I saw Ghostface Killah perform live in Sweden back in 2008 and to this day it is one of the sickest, most energetic concerts I've attended. Backed up by his Theodore Unit mates he ripped through an unusally large chunk of his huge catalouge of classics, killing both Wu cuts as solo songs. A couple of years before I witnessed Starks mighty stage presence he released a concert from an undisclosed location in NYC on both CD, 2xLP and DVD through his own Stark Enterprises label. Recorded on October 9, 2005, the one hour set is a great watch and/or listen for any Ghostface fan - and if you're not into Ghost you're pretty damn suspect in my book. Ocassionally joined by GZA, Cappadonna, Killah Priest and his son Sun God, Ironman here works his way through classics such as "Holla", "Run", "Be This Way", "Mighty Healthy", "Criminology", "Nutmeg", "Apollo Kids", etc, etc. Many thanks goes out to BacoTV for making this available on YouTube for free streaming!

[Video] U-GOD Ft. GZA & SCOTTY WOTTY - "Heads Up"

After the failed adventure that was Soul Temple Records (RZA and Bob Power's label which signed and released dope artists and albums, but failed to ship them out for months) U-God is signing back to BabyGrande Records where he released his pretty damn sick "Dopium" LP. While currently working on his as of yet untitled fifth solo album, Babygrande is set to give his "Keynote Speaker" a more proper release. With that Uey and the label just dropped the official video for one of the LPs strongest cuts, "Heads Up" featuring GZA/Genius and Scotty Wotty. If you know you're Wu history it's a real special thing to hear the two latter on the same song. You can cop a digital copy from iTunes where you can also see the updated Babygrande cover art. Physical copies drop February 17.

[Classic Clips] '91 RZA & GZA Freestyle @ Video Music Box

This is a REAL gem right here that was originally posted on Facebook a few days ago. This short freestyle session was recorded for the Video Music Box way back in 1991, when GZA was with Cold Chillin', Prince Rakeem was on Tommy Boy and Ason Unique was the beatbox king. The group was called All in Together Now though Rakeem is missing from this video this is definitely a breah of fresh air that needs to be seen by any Wu-Tang fanatic out there!

[Album] J-FORCE Presents "Cadillac Respect"

When people think about The Future Flavas show they obviously  gonna think about the nr. #1 DJ:s Marley Marl and Pete Rock, and probably all of the incredible exclusive remixes and on-the-air songs that was played on air almost weekly. The Future Flavas remixes always stood for high quality, but the fact is that it wasn't Marley and Pete that was responsible for all these goodies though they often get that credit in the internet generation. Of course both of them put in a lot of work and created some still unreleased classics, but they also had lesser known but incredibly skilled beat wizards up there with them that was also responsible for some terrific remixes and exclusives. One of these guys were J-Force, who was down with Marley Marl for a long time, and released two now very rare self-released 12":s between 1995 and 1996 with "Bullseye" and "For All Thoze". Since then he has scored music for a lot of hip-hop films such as the "Beef" series, "Rock The Bells" and Bling" among others.

With his long brown hair, he looked almost more like a punk rock kid than a highly talented boom bap musician but looks can definitely deceive as both his work on Future Flavaz and his own records was more than proof off. Following him leaving Future Flavaz he kind of faded into the shadows, but as of last year the producing spitter has dug deep into his archives, releasing some previously unreleased solo tracks on a self-released 12" and even more exciting a 22 track remix compilation called "Cadillac Respect". It's the latter that I'm going to focus this post on, as it is an incredible listen that features several of his rare Future Flavas remixes that has never been released anywhere else, a long with some other exclusive mixes that is sure as hell going to make you respect this kid and his SP1200. There's also a few cuts featuring J. Force showing off his rhyme skills, and once again he's no joke on the microphone either, The remixes include revisits of classics by Kool G Rap, Inspectah Deck / Pete Rock / Kurupt, AZ, Nas, Ghostface, Nas/Prodigy, Black Moon, The UN, Mic Geronimo and more.

You can order a copy of "Cadillac Respect" a long with a T-Shirt @ Cadillac Respect.com where you can also read a whole lot more about J-Force, his past and his future endeavour. Below you can also stream the entire project for free, either via DatPiff or J-Force's official site mentioned above. You can also download the entire project for free via Hulkshare. Don't miss out on this sickness!

[Classic Clip] GZA, RZA & BILL MURAY in "Delirium"

Having just rewatched Jim Jarmusch's "Coffee & Cigarettes" for the first time since it came out in 2003, I wanted to take the opportunity to share that films classic RZA, GZA and Bill Murray skit. For those of you who didn't see the flick, it's basically a collection of 12 short films shot in beautiful black and white and sharing the main theme of coffee and cigarrettes. The various segments range from the straight to the bizarre, from the hilarious to the straight up boring, though there's definitely enough gems in there to make it a worthwhile watch. Many of the segments features famous actors or musicians playing fictionalized and often absurd versions of themeselves (as is the case with "Delirium" featuring hilarious performances from RZA, GZA and Murray). Other people featured in the movie include Steve Buscemi, Joie Lee & Clinque Lee (brother and sister of Spike Lee), Iggy Pop, Tom Waits, Cate Blanchett, Jack & Meg White (The White Stripes), and many others. It's a pretty fun, but indeed strange, movie that I liked a lot better at the age of 27 than I did at age 17.

In fact I'm currently going through Jarmusch filmography and more than "Coffee & Cigarettes" I'd strongly recommend checking out "Ghost Dog: Way Of The Samurai", "Dead Man", "Mystery Train" and "Broken Flowers". Very interesting director although he doesn't always hit the mark.

[Video] KILLAH PRIEST - "The P.W.O.W.R."

Killah Priest, The Iron Shiek from The Middle East, returned to the inner realms of the hip-hop landscape this April with his impeccable 2xCD album "The Psychic World Of Walter Reed". Despite limited distribution, the 41 track set is easily one of the best of the year; an album from a truly gifted lyricist and an extremely talented writer - with a great ear for beats nontheless. We already got videos for several tracks (including two of my favorties; "Ein Sof" and "The Document"), and now Priest unleashes a music video for the long CD2 intro (which is also the title track - "P.W.O.W.R.: The Tower"). Here Priest creates an hypnotic feeling by letting his thoughts loose in an almost stream-of-consciousness style over various ambient, often oriental, sounds, leaving any traditonal rhythm behind. Interestingly enough the song is a co-production between True Master and GZA/Genius so with these three maestros at work you can count on a quality product.

Unfortunately, "Psychic World of Walter Reed" is not yet available on vinyl (how dope would a 4xLP set of this masterwork be?) and the CD is only available through very limited distribiton. Still, it's a worthy addition to your collection by all means, and can be ordered from PWOWR.com. Used copies can be found at Amazon and if you just want to show your suppport, iTunes got it as well!

U-God Ft. The GZA & Scotty Wotty - "Heads Up"

U-God brings a semi-sequel to 2009:s "Train Trussle" with GZA and Scotty Wotty The Jackpot for the lead single from his upcoming fourth LP, "Keynote Speaker". Like its predecessor, it's a pretty rugged, ruthlessly forward moving track with standout verses from all three spitters. Of especial interest to me is the apperance of Scotty Wotty, a name that probably doesn't mean much outside of extreme Wu-Tang fanatics like myself. I first heard about him in an extensive interview with RZA published in Hip Hop Connection back in 2006... Apparantly, Scotty Wotty and GZA was the number one street rhymers that pretty much everybody in Shaolin's hip-hop circles worshipped and learned how to rhyme from. Unfortunately, Scotty was caught up in a lot of negativity in the which prevented his guaranteed spot in The Wu-Tang Clan. So it's great to hear that he's back on his feet and ready to get his rhyme on again, so mad props to U-God for bringing him back again and again.

And now on to some more depressing news; I have been informed that RZA and Bob Perry's Soul Temple Records, the newly started label behind most of the great Wu releases of the past two years, seem to be less than trustworthy in their dealings. In fact so much that a Facebook group, BoycottSoulTempleMusic, has been started and is quickly gaining members who are complaining about lack of receivements of orders. In fact, I myself ordered both LP sets of Ghost's "Twelve Reasons..." over a month ago, and have got a conformied PayPayl payment to Bob Perry's account but have yet to receiver neither. Until this matter is resolved I suggest you purchase these great releases from other retailers such as UGHH, or Fat Beats.

Mathematics Ft. GZA, Raekwon & Cappadonna - "Face The Problemz"

Mathematics brings forth more marvelous ish from the Wu camp with "Face The Problemzzz", the second single from his upcoming "The Answer" LP which hits stores April 16. Featuring verses from GZA, Raekwon and Cappachino and soul-drenched production from The Abbot himself, this cut should have you reaching for rewind before the fade.

[Mixtape] J. Period Presents: "#Rage is Back"

As I announced recently, J. Period has teamed up with acclaimed author Adam Mansbach in putting together a mixtape companion to his latest book "Rage is Back". We've previously heard two impressive leaks from the project, the Common joint "The Next Chapter (Still Love H.E.R.)" and Black Thought's title track freestyle. Now the complete mixtape has been made available for free via J. Period's official site, which is filled to the limit with slamming exclusives from the likes of Kweli, Homeboy Sandman, Blu, unreleased remixes of classic tracks from Nas, Q-Tip, Biggie, and more; plus audiobook narration by GZA and Danny Hooch. 

01. This Is the Story of… (Intro)
02. Rage Is Back (J.PERIOD Exclusive) f. Black Thought
03. New York State of Mind (Interlude) f. Alicia Keys & Nas
04.  Run New York (J.PERIOD ReFix) f. Nas & Angel Haze
05. Hard (J.Period Monumental ReFix) f. Styles P, Sean Price & General Steele
06. Borough Check f. Biz Markie
07. Style Was DNA (Audiobook) f. Danny Hoch
08. Wrong Side (J.PERIOD Exclusive) f. The Kid Daytona
09. Invocate Freestyle (J.PERIOD Exclusive) f. Blu
10. Herb Man Trafficking f. Welton Irie
11. Police In Helicopter Dub
12. Billy Rage Is Back (Audiobook) f. Danny Hoch
13. Sound Boy Killing (Remix) f. Mega Banton
14. Killing a Soundboy  (J.PERIOD ReFix) f. The Notorious B.I.G.
15. Toolz of the Trade f. Smif’N’Wessun
16. Teach the Youth (Interlude) f. GURU
17. Hip Hop (Interlude) f. Common
18. The Next Chapter (Still Love H.E.R.) f. Common [Produced by J.PERIOD]
19, The Traveller f. Talib Kweli [Produced by J.PERIOD]
20. What Makes An MC (Interlude) f. Q-Tip
21. 1Nce Again (J.PERIOD ReFix) f. A Tribe Called Quest
22. Street Dreams (J.PERIOD ReFix) f. Nas
23. One Love (J.PERIOD ReFix) f. Nas
24. The Lord Giveth (Audiobook) f. GZA
25. Wu-Banger (Mathematics Mix) f. Wu-Tang Clan
26. It’s Working (Interlude)
27. Raw Freestyle (J.PERIOD Exclusive) f. Shad
28. Coral Reefs (Exclusive) f. Homeboy Sandman
29. Trust the DJ (Audiobook) f. Danny Hoch
30. The Pizza Box Bandit (Interlude) f. KEO
31. Survival of the Fittest (J.PERIOD ReFix) f. Mobb Deep
32. Empire State (Interlude) f. Jay-Z
33. Epilogue: Hard Knock f. Joey Bada$$
34. Epilogue: Jay Reed f. A$AP Mob
45. Bonus: Sound Boy Burial (J.PERIOD Monumental ReFix) f. Smif’N’Wessun

J. PERIOD PRESENTS #RAGEisBACK" 

[Stream] RZA Presents "MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS"

About an hour ago, I posted the first video from above mentioned  soundtrack, Meth's, Gibb's and Street's "Built For This". Turns out, I got something a whole lot better for y'all today, something that I'm definitely gonna give a real through spin later tonight. I'm talking about a stream of the complete "Man With The Iron Fists" original soundtrack, not the score that is, but the 17-tracks exclusive joints version that drops on October 23. As I said before, the half I do have heard is nothing short of exceptional, so it will be real fascinating to see if the remaiing tracks lives up to the same standard; in that case, this is another absolutely amazing soundtrack directed by The RZA (see the trailer below). 
A lot of Frank Dukes production, a lot of live instrumentation by The Revelations, a RZA/Kanye production collaboration (that has wack lyrics but an exceptionally well produced backdrop), two new Wu-Tang Clan joints; one of them featuring Kool G Rap, a couple of RZA collaborations, the beautiful cover of "I Forgot to be Your Lover" by Tre Williams and The Revelations, a smooth but excellent Talib Kweli & RES collaboration, the final version of "Tick, Tock" with Danny Brown added, etc. For some reason the last song, Wu-Tang Clan's "Six Drections of Boxing" is not included in this set. Neither is the Wu-Block type of bonus joint which is good since that means there's still a suprise in store for us left once the album drops. If you're still not convinced by everything written abovfe, then this is clearly not for you. For us others, put on your favorite pair of headphones, click play below and let the 15 tracks play in full from front-to-back...And enjoy!

12" Throwback - J-Love Remixes (GZA / M.E.F.)

The connection between the impeccable DJ J-Love and The Wu-Tang Clan goes way back and is still as strong as ever. Even on Rae's masterpiece "....Cuban Linx Niggas", he received a shout out from The Chef himself ("Peace to the Paris crew in the avenue/ And my nigga J-Love, who carries switch blades on the red roof". Since then he's had official placements on various Wu-Tang Clan solo members' full-lengths and works as Ghostface Killah's tour DJ these days and is an official member of his Theoore Unit.

However, J-Love is of course best known for being one of the most prolific mixtape DJ's, releasing several classic masterpieces of tapes featuring loads of rare and unreleased material from the most legendary artists in the world of hip-hop. Besides Jay's Nas and Mobb Deep series, his most stunning mixes has to be his extended catalouge of Wu-Tang Clan related tapes and mix-CDs. Besides a whole load of never before heard "old-school" Wu tracks, they also includes several very dope remixes of various Wu cuts. J-Love is a great producer in his own right, having laced classics like Cormegas' "Fallen Soldiers", GURU's "Revolutionist", "King Of New York", Ghost's "Return of the Ironman" and many others.

Today's 12" Throwback focuses on a VLS featuring two superb J-Love remixes - GZA's "Fame" and Method Man's "Uh-Huh". A related and funny story concerning me, J-Love and Method Man seems in order here so take it or leave it. In the early 2000s I had more or less lost faith in The Clan, prior I had picked up every Wu-Tang release ASAP but after "Ironflag" and "Digital Bullet" I figured there were a lot more great hip-hop acts to add to my collection instead. Visiting a good friend, he gave me the J-Love/Method Man tape "Tical 0: The Pequel" which instantly blew me away - my confidence in the W were restored. The next day I went to the store and picked up the actual album,"Tical 0" and MY GOD what a dissapointment (save for maybe four songs). Needless to say I sure as hell wasn't impressed at all by the LP but at least it made me start to pick up all Wu-Tang releases again, including the ones i first missed out on, so mad thanks to the homie J-LOVE for all the dope tapes, incredible production wotk and restoring my faith in the greatest group of all time. 'Nuff talk, let's get down to business (sadly, the instrumentals and acapellas are missing but at least i can bring you both A- and B-side in 320 kbps). This rip was borrowed from DJ Step One so mad thanks to him. Aight, press play, enjoy and throw your "W"s up.... Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!

WUI-TANG CLAN - J-LOVE REMIXES [12"]

A: GZA/GENIUS - "Fame" [J-Love Remix]
B: METHOD MAN - "Uh Huh" [J-Love Remix]

 WU-TANG CLAN / J-LOVE - "REMIXES" 12"

[comp] GZA/GENIUS - "RAPABiLiTY"

It's been a while since  I blessed my readers with the pinnacle of this blog, The Lost Tapes' infamous (haha) super compilations. If you've been following this blog since the beginning or if you just follow it occassionally, you should be very aware that my two favorite crews in this game still to this day remains Wu-Tang Clan and the D.I.T.C. family. Growing up and hearing "36 Chambers" for the first time it straight up blew me away; made me a hip-hop fanatic and I've been a fan of the culture ever since. Over the years, there's been plenty of uninspired projects from the Wu camp as a whole, but almost each disc has at least a couple of incredible joints that in a small way almost make up for it. The GZA/Genius is a different case all together however if you ask me, He was of course around even before the Wu-Tang Clan, recording his 1991 debut album when getting signed to the, then iincredible Cold Chillin' Records that handled a lot of classic Juice Crew albums. It's far from his best album by no means, but it's nontheless essential listening for any serious Wu head and collector. His style was not just fully evolved here but despite this, the LP carried a lot of dope storytelling rhymes, clever metaphors and vintage sounding late '80s, early '90s golden era sound provided by some of the earliest productions ever released by legendary cousins Easy Mo Bee and The L.G. Experiment,. Although their work here here was hardly as essential as the respective beatmakers later works, it was a learning experience for all of three of them. While it's not the best album GZA ever recoded by far, in fact its arguably his weakest, that certainly doesn't mean it's by no means wack. In other words, if you're a fan of GZA, Mo Bee or L.G. and you still haven't heard this YOU BETTER WAKE THE FUCK UP!

After being dropped from Cold Chillin' after the album and and out-of-place single more or less flopped, the Brooklyn born and raised emcee recouped with his two cousins in their original All in Together Now crew (with cousins Prince Rakeem / RZA and Ason Unique; / ODB). It didn't take long before they decided to form the Wu-Tang Clan together with a bunch of talented emcees from around the way, formed like voltron ("and the GZA happens to be the head") and took over the game completely within a few years. Then when  The Genius' dropped his debut "Liquid Swords" in the autumn of 1995, you could hardly debate that the brilliant rapper had finally made his name justice while becoming one of the most interesting and clever rap artists of our time. This was much due to the impeccable combination of GZA's  mindblowing lyrical exercises filled with cinematic crime stories, well-thought out metaphors and similies and RZA's sinister and dark, yet heavily boom bap influenced production. The chemistry the two cousins displayed throughout the disc is what makes the album still live on as one of the true classics 17 years after its original release. The disc is a must known in any serious hip-hop collectors library (and I'm not talking about your media library) so if you still don't own this.... SHAME ON YOU!

 "Beneath the Surface" and later the DJ Muggs collaboration "Grandmasters" was released between 1999 and 2004 as well as (to a lesser extent) 2002's "Legend Of the Liquid Sword" are somewhat underrated but taken on their own merits they are all damn good album that showcases one of the best lyricists hip-hop has ever wittnessed. His latest offering "Pro Tools" had many great moments ("Alphabets", "Pencils", "Groundbreaking", "Firehouse" and "Columbian Ties") but as an album it sounded rushed and caught a lot of flack. But I am very confident in GZA's next album ("Dark Matter") will be straight back-to-basics; in other words a winner that will shut up any hater. It takes more than one weak album from such an amazing emcee to make me lose my faith in him because that's nothing short of crazy. Oh well, just a quick run down  of GZA and what he's about although you should of course already know this. But whatever, The Lost Tapes doesn't simply want to bring music to the forefront because I'm a writer as well.

But now let's get over to the main event - a slamming compilation of GZA's non-album tracks and features featuring, what I think came off as a good mix of classic GZA cameos and hard to find shit recorded between 1991 (one of the songs, a demo with ODB), then a jump from 1995 and up to 2009 and all in good sound quality so trust me when I say that this is something any GZA/Wu-Tang fan would not like to miss.

Featured here are rare stuff like an amazing alternative version of the Bink produced "Animal Planet" from "Legend of...", the difference is that rather than the brilliant Isaac Hayes sample, Bink has brought in a group of live musicians to reproduce it and the result is suprisingly stunning. Many thanks to the homie Brandon @ Crates of JR whcih is a blog I strongly recommend you checking out now and then. Other standout joints here are some of the true classics that I bumped the shit out of when they first dropped, like the DJ Tomekk track with GZA and P. Sunn, "Ich Leve Fur Hip-Hop"; the RZA produced "Jewelz" from Cilvaringz album; "Associated" by Wisemen, the two classic Soul Assassins track and some other. Then there's the more obscure joints like two tracks featuring Priest and GZA that was recorded for acid jazz artist Rodney Kendrick's rare album "No Dress Code" in 1998 but didn't see a release until 2000, the brilliant "Chasing Dreams", only released on a very limited sampler called "NFL Jams '98" (which has nothing to do with the original 1996 album), Folk & Stress' banging Bronze Nazareth produced "New York Ginseng" and lots of other gems including two incredible rare remixes by established artists. As an enorme GZA fanatic I think this comp came out extremely nice and I bet you'll feel the same way if you're a long-time fan of the man and his music. Aight, enough with the talk, lets get down to business and feel free to drop a comment after you listened through it and let me know what you think about it. TURN IT UP!!

01. "Animal Planet" [Alternative Live Interpolation Mix]
02. "Third World" [GZA / RZA / DJ Muggs]
03. "Jewelz" [GZA / Cilvaringz]
04. "Big Acts Little Acts" [DJ Premier Mix] [GZA / Afu-Ra]
05. "Head Rush" [GZA / RZA / Pete Rock]
06. "Ich Lebe Fur Hip-Hop" [GZA / P. Sunn / DJ Tomekk)
07. "New York Ginseng" [GZA / Folk & Stres]
08.  "The Feeling" [Marco Polo Mix] [GZA / Buckshot / Tabi Bonney]
09. "Knock Knock Pt. 2" [GZA / Buddha Monk / RZA on production]
10. "3rd Day" [GZA / Killah Priest / Hermetic Order]
11. "On the Eve Of War" [Stoupe's Meldrick Taylor Mix] [GZA / Jedi Mind Tricks]
12. "When the Fat Lady Sings" [GZA / DJ Muggs]
13. "Rush" [GZA / Method Man / Allah Mathematics]
14. "Just The Thought" [GZA / Masta Killa / Prefuse 73]
15.  "Chasing Dreams" [GZA / Esera Tualo / Rob Report]
16.  "Rapability" [GZA / Killah Priest / Rodney Kendrick]
17. "Associated" [GZA / Wisemen]
18. "Take it Back to Brooklyn" [GZA / Ol' Dirty Bastard ] ('91 Throwback)
19. "0% Finance" [Blue Sky Black Death Remix) [*]
20. "Lyrical Swords" [Soul Assassins Remix] [GZA / Ras Kass] [*]

GZA / GENIUS - "RAPABILIY"

Lost GZA/Genius Interview

In the early '90s, before there was a Wu-Tang Clan, Gary Grice was The Genius; a Cold Chillin' recording artist. By 1991 he released his Easy Mo Bee produced debut album "Words From The Genius" which featured the minor hit "Come Do Me" but the LP ended up being far from a commercial success. In the video clip above you'll see The Genius promoting the release of the album while talking about his influences and more. Always mad interesting to see interviews with Wu-Tang members before they even formed and this is definitely a rare clip. Thanks to Mr. Daryl Grant for the upload and Jammin for the find. As a bonus I uploaded the original Prince Rakeem remix of the title track for y'all below.

THE GENIUS - "WORDS FROM..." [PRINCE RAKEEM REMIX]