Oliver “Power” Grant, a key player behind the rise of the Wu-Tang Clan, has died aged 52.
The group confirmed the news on social media, writing: “Rest in power, Power.”
No cause of death has been disclosed.
Method Man paid tribute to his longtime collaborator on Instagram, posting: “Paradise my brother safe travels! I am not okay.”
Fellow members GZA and Raekwon also shared messages of remembrance. “Wu wouldn’t have come to fruition without Power,” GZA wrote.
“His passing is a profound loss to us all. My deepest condolences to the fam.” Raekwon posted a photograph of the collective alongside Grant, adding: “We been everywhere… now you everywhere. The most high is merciful love you.”
Born in Jamaica in 1973 and raised in Staten Island’s Park Hill projects, Grant grew up alongside several future members of the Clan.
It was during a chess game that he earned the nickname “Power”.
Grant played a pivotal role in the group’s earliest days, helping to secure funding for their debut single Protect Ya Neck and serving as executive producer on their seminal 1993 album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).
Beyond the studio, he was instrumental in shaping the group’s commercial empire.
In 1999, he produced the PlayStation game Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style, extending the collective’s mythology into gaming. He also oversaw the launch of Wu Wear, the group’s clothing line, in 1995.
Under his leadership as CEO, the brand expanded into major department stores and opened standalone outlets across the United States, reportedly generating $25 million annually at its height.
Reflecting on his business journey in a 2011 interview with music blog Passion of the Weiss, Grant described it as a “hard-knock life”.
“Wu Wear was pretty much like our entry in the fashion biz,” he said. “But before I was in Wu Wear, I was making and marketing the first Wu records with RZA.
“Everything that we learned was hard-knock life … A lot of it was trial and error. There were no models.”
The original Wu Wear label was discontinued in 2008 amid widespread counterfeiting, though Grant and RZA revived the brand in 2017 in partnership with Live Nation Merchandise.
Alongside his work in music and fashion, Grant also took on occasional acting roles.
He made his screen debut in Hype Williams’ 1998 crime drama Belly, and later appeared in the 1999 film Black and White with Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr, as well as the 2004 mob drama Coalition and the unreleased Wendy Williams biopic Queen of Media.
