{"id":229039,"date":"2019-09-01T21:00:02","date_gmt":"2019-09-02T01:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=229039"},"modified":"2019-09-01T21:00:02","modified_gmt":"2019-09-02T01:00:02","slug":"in-new-hulu-series-rza-dives-deep-into-the-wu-tang-saga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/09\/01\/in-new-hulu-series-rza-dives-deep-into-the-wu-tang-saga\/","title":{"rendered":"In new Hulu series, RZA dives deep into the Wu Tang &#8216;Saga&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B14H9nmgy6Z\/\" data-instgrm-version=\"12\" style=\" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\">\n<div style=\"padding:16px;\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B14H9nmgy6Z\/\" style=\" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;\" target=\"_blank\"> <\/p>\n<div style=\" display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;\">\n<div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;\">\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 19% 0;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display:block; height:50px; margin:0 auto 12px; width:50px;\"><svg width=\"50px\" height=\"50px\" viewBox=\"0 0 60 60\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" xmlns:xlink=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\"><g stroke=\"none\" stroke-width=\"1\" fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><g transform=\"translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)\" fill=\"#000000\"><g><path d=\"M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631\"><\/path><\/g><\/g><\/g><\/svg><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-top: 8px;\">\n<div style=\" color:#3897f0; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;\"> View this post on Instagram<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 12.5% 0;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;\">\n<div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-left: 8px;\">\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-left: auto;\">\n<div style=\" width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a> <\/p>\n<p style=\" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B14H9nmgy6Z\/\" style=\" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;\" target=\"_blank\">Wu-Tang: An American Saga on Hulu Sept. 4th &#34;Born in Shaolin, Made in America\u201d #wutang tearaways while supplies last #35thand8th #nyc #wutangonhulu<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;\">A post shared by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/rza\/\" style=\" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;\" target=\"_blank\"> RZA<\/a> (@rza) on <time style=\" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;\" datetime=\"2019-09-01T17:27:11+00:00\">Sep 1, 2019 at 10:27am PDT<\/time><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. \u2060\u2014\u00a0RZA could have created a Wu-Tang Clan biopic like the NWA-based &#8220;Straight Outta Compton&#8221;\u00a0film, but felt the nine-member rap group needed more room to tell their story. That meant heading to television and finding the right actors to reenact the influential group&#8217;s rise and rap as them.<\/p>\n<p>The Wu-Tang mastermind and producer dives deep into the maturation of the Clan in the upcoming Hulu drama series &#8220;Wu-Tang: An American Saga ,&#8221;\u00a0which will premiere the first three episodes Sept. 4. Seven more episodes will arrive in the weeks that follow.<\/p>\n<p>The series delves into how the New York-based collective straddled between the music and crime life during the crack cocaine epidemic in the 1990s.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Wu-Tang story is vast and you really couldn&#8217;t contain it in a two or three hour movie,&#8221;\u00a0said RZA, who created the series with screenwriter Alex Tse. &#8220;Now, in a serial form, we can take our time and tell our story. The high and low nuances of it. Hopefully, it&#8217;ll inform, entertain and inspire.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Wu-Tang went from being a group of local rappers in Staten Island, New York, to become one of the most prominent hip-hop troupes after releasing their critically-acclaimed 1993 debut album &#8220;Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).&#8221;\u00a0The group included RZA, GZA, Method Man, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, the late Ol&#8217; Dirty Bastard and longtime collaborator Cappadonna.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the members branched out into solo careers through Wu-Tang&#8217;s success. Raekwon, GZA, O.D.B., Ghostface Killah and Method Man released successful solo studio albums while RZA continued to make a name for himself as a producer, actor and director.<\/p>\n<p>The series stars Shameik Moore as Raekwon, Ashton Sanders as RZA and rappers Dave East and TJ Atoms as Method Man and O.D.B, respectively. It also stars newcomers Siddiq Saunderson as Ghostface Killah and Johnell Young as GZA.<\/p>\n<p>RZA said the template for the 10-episode series was inspired by the books he co-wrote, &#8220;The Wu-Tang Manual&#8221;\u00a0and &#8220;Tao of Wu.&#8221;\u00a0A four-part Showtime docuseries called &#8220;Wu-Tang: Of Mics and Men&#8221;\u00a0aired a few months ago, but he says the new Hulu series will highlight certain members&#8217; backstories before their collective rise to fame.<\/p>\n<p>Tse said Wu-Tang built a global brand that&#8217;s still relevant.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s one of the most unusual and unlikely American success stories, ever,&#8221;\u00a0said Tse, who co-wrote the superhero film &#8220;Watchmen&#8221;\u00a0and 2018&#8217;s &#8220;Superfly.&#8221;\u00a0&#8220;It couldn&#8217;t really happen anywhere else. I don&#8217;t think nine dudes from the U.K. could come together and call themselves Wu-Tang. That&#8217;s the only stuff that happens in America.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>RZA said he enjoyed watching the actors portray himself and his friends. He said the filming process took him down memory lane.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You really get to see the dynamics that really exists between us,&#8221;\u00a0RZA said. &#8220;It feels authentic. The best thing I could get out of this experience really is a chance to live it and do it again.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Moore said he didn&#8217;t know much about the group growing up except for their popular &#8220;W&#8221;\u00a0logo. He had other opportunities on the table, but his role was something he felt compelled to take on.<\/p>\n<p>The &#8220;Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse&#8221;\u00a0actor said he absorbed as much information as possible through RZA and Raekwon.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m like a sponge,&#8221;\u00a0Moore said. &#8220;I try to watch, learn and take everything in and then execute. &#8230; I want to strategically choose iconic roles or projects to be involved in. I want everything to top the last. Just when you think you&#8217;re not going to see anything new or better, we do it again. I don&#8217;t think there was a better project than Wu-Tang to do that for me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, East thought he knew everything about Wu-Tang as a longtime fan until he began preparations to play Method Man. The rapper said there&#8217;s an episode that will unveil some surprising news about Method Man&#8217;s interests.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He played lacrosse,&#8221;\u00a0East said, causing RZA to burst out laughing and add: &#8220;Spoiler alert.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;My bad,&#8221;\u00a0East said. &#8220;That was one of the things where I was like &#8216;What?&#8217; That threw me off. Even if it was information I just found out about him, it kind of fit the Meth I grew up on.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Like RZA, Method Man has branched out into acting, starring in several films including &#8220;How High.&#8221;\u00a0He&#8217;s one half of the rap duo Method Man &amp; Redman.<\/p>\n<p>Tse believes the series will do Wu-Tang justice and they&#8217;ll get to tell more of the group&#8217;s story.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;God willing, we&#8217;ll have more than one season,&#8221;\u00a0he said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>View this post on Instagram Wu-Tang: An American Saga on Hulu Sept. 4th &#34;Born in Shaolin, Made in America\u201d #wutang &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":229042,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106,54365],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-229039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","category-instagram","mauthors-jonathan-landrum-jr","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229039"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":229044,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229039\/revisions\/229044"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}