It is noon in Los Angeles. RZA, a trim 52-year-old, sports a pair of aviator-style sunglasses, a customary accessory. “You cool with the shades and all that?” he asks, to which I answer in the affirmative. I thank him for his time. “My time is ready to be given,” he replies, Zen-like.
RZA is among the most significant figures in the history of rap music. His real name is Robert Diggs. Thirty years ago he founded arguably hip-hop’s greatest group, Wu-Tang Clan. Originally comprising nine rappers, including RZA, who also acted as their producer and impresario, their origins lie almost 2,500 miles away from his current Californian base — in New York City’s Staten Island borough.
