RZA Taught Kanye, The Truth About Kendrick vs. Drake, & ODB Used a Paper Towel Condom??? | Ep 702

TL;DR

RZA joins Flagrant to share untold Wu-Tang origin stories, his influence on Kanye's production style, and wild ODB memories from Rikers Island.

Key Points

• 1.RZA had a homeless Wu-Tang insider named Metal Mike on 4th Street in NYC. Mike would give detailed Wu-Tang updates to strangers for a few dollars, having gotten info directly from RZA during long conversations.
• 2.RZA had $10K and Ghostface had $10K to potentially buy a brick, but RZA walked away from the deal. After Ghostface got shot and RZA survived a trial, he chose music over drug dealing, giving Ghost his $10K back and going his own way.
• 3.RZA used his $10,000 to legally form Wu-Tang Productions. He visited Mr. Smith, a small-label founder, and lawyer Bill Warren to structure the company, using the Wu-Tang logo as his business card — which became the cover of 'Protect Ya Neck.'
• 4.Method Man was the first Wu-Tang member to sign RZA's record contract, earning the title 'Wu Brother Number One.' The entire roster was signed within about six months.
• 5.RZA's production style was shaped by borrowing an EPS keyboard sampler from a producer named RNS. Unlike the SP1200's 2.5-second-per-pad limit, the EPS allowed full 10-second samples spread across 61 keys, enabling Wu-Tang's longer two- and four-bar phrases.
• 6.Kanye West named RZA as his hero in an interview when asked directly. RZA confirmed the influence, saying Kanye called him when The Blueprint dropped and Jay-Z told RZA on Hot 97 that 'I got the whole blueprint from you.'
• 7.RZA learned the business model of running a label from home by visiting Marley Marl's 'House of Hits.' Marley had a $300,000 SSL mixing board, a 24-track recorder, and a live radio line broadcast directly from his house in the early '90s.
• 8.RZA dug for samples at Village Records on 6th and Bleecker in NYC, where the owner charged $100 for James Brown's Black Caesar LP. The owner knew producers would profit from the samples and priced accordingly.
• 9.RZA credits 5% Nation mathematics — specifically the first lesson — with giving him unshakeable confidence from age 11. The lesson teaching 'the original man is the maker, owner, cream of the planet Earth' formed the basis of his fearless approach to business and creativity.
• 10.Wu-Tang performed a live concert inside Rikers Island while ODB was incarcerated there. RZA noted it barely made sense in hindsight — the prison set up a stage, let prisoners attend, and ODB abandoned his veganism to eat two hamburgers upon their arrival.
• 11.The title's 'ODB paper towel condom' reference was not substantively covered in the transcript. The topic appears in the title but does not come up in the portion of the conversation captured here.
• 12.The title's 'Truth About Kendrick vs. Drake' was not addressed in the transcript provided. No discussion of the Kendrick-Drake beef appears in the captured conversation.
• 13.Wu-Tang's internal 'best rapper' title rotated over time. RZA named GZA first, then Killer Priest had a moment, then Ghostface took the crown — with Dirty himself declaring 'Ghost is the best now' — and RZA said as of this episode Meth is rapping at an elite level again.
• 14.RZA lived in 21 different locations before age 20, raised mostly by a single mother with 11 kids. The Wu-Tang members shared similarly unstable childhoods; Ghost was raised by a single mother, and ODB's parents were both city workers providing rare stability.
• 15.RZA sees shifting creative disciplines — not full rest — as his method of recharging. While promoting a film and unable to write scripts for 30 days, he carried a portable beat machine, keeping creativity flowing so lyrics would come naturally once he sat down.