''Gary Eldridge Grice'' (born August 22, 1966), better known by his stage names GZA ( ) and The Genius, is an American rapper and songwriter. A founding member of the hip hop group

Wu-Tang Clan Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip hop group formed in Staten Island, New York City, in 1992. Its original members include RZA, GZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, and Masta Killa. Close affili ...

, GZA is the group's "spiritual head", being both the first member in the group to receive a record deal and being the oldest member. He has appeared on his fellow Wu-Tang members' solo projects, and has maintained a successful solo career starting with '' Liquid Swords'' (1995). His lyrical style often dismisses typical rap story lines in favor of science and wide-ranging philosophies and has been characterized as "armed with sharp metaphors and a smooth flow". An analysis of GZA's lyrics found that he has the second largest vocabulary in popular hip hop music. He teamed up with an education group to promote science education in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

through hip hop.

Early life

After he was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York City, on August 22, 1966, Gary Grice developed an interest in hip-hop by attending block parties as a child in the early 1970s. He was involved in

breakdance Breakdancing, also called breaking or b-boying/b-girling, is an athletic style of street dance originating from the African American and Puerto Rican communities in the United States. While diverse in the amount of variation available in ...

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

, and DJing. Early on he developed an interest in writing, studying Mother Goose and

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. From t ...

. In 1974–1976, before moving from

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

, he listened to The Last Poets; however, he was attracted by

profanity Profanity, also known as cursing, cussing, swearing, bad language, foul language, obscenities, expletives or vulgarism, is a socially offensive use of language. Accordingly, profanity is language use that is sometimes deemed impolite, rud ...

rather than content, and didn't understand the underlying messages until many years later. The Last Poets, as well as songs by The Isley Brothers, the Commodores, and the O'Jays had a big part in his early life, especially regarding the tone and cadence of speech. Later on, he began to listen to hip hop and R&B, for example by Secret Weapon and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. In 1982, Grice dropped out of high school in the tenth grade. He formed a three-man group with his cousins, Robert Diggs and Russell Jones, who would later be known as

RZA Robert Fitzgerald Diggs (born July 5, 1969), better known by his stage name the RZA ( ), is an American rapper, actor, filmmaker, and record producer. He is the ''de facto'' leader of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan, having produced most albums ...

and Ol' Dirty Bastard. At the time he didn't like the sound of his voice. The group, FOI: Force of the Imperial Master, and later All in Together, saw the three rapping and DJing, switching names and performing local shows; since they lived in different boroughs, GZA and Ol' Dirty would travel from

out to

to meet up with their cousin RZA, after which the three would travel across New York City and challenge other MCs to battles. He left school in the 10th grade, but nurtured his affection for science as he developed his skills as a lyricist. After some years of this, GZA was signed to Cold Chillin' Records as a solo artist under the name The Genius. He released his debut album, '' Words from the Genius'' (1991), produced mostly by Easy Mo Bee, but after it failed to sell, as the label didn't promote it, and his rocky experience on tour, Grice became fed up and asked to be released from the label. The album's beat selection is similar to the classic boom-bap sound of the early 1990s, while the lyricism subject is the everyday situations of an individual living in the parts of New York. At the time he worked as a bicycle messenger.

Wu-Tang Clan

In 1992, GZA joined the

, a group of nine, formed by his cousin

. GZA had some high-profile appearances on the group's debut album, '' Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)'' (1993), including a solo track, "Clan in da Front". This, combined with appearances on other Clan members' albums such as '' Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version'' (1995) and '' Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...'' (1995) brought him much recognition. According to

Method Man Clifford Smith, Jr. (born March 2, 1971), better known by his stage name Method Man, is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is known as a member of the East Coast hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. He is also half of t ...

, "we form like Voltron and GZA happens to be the head".

Solo career

1995–1999: ''Liquid Swords'', ''Beneath the Surface''

These guest appearances were followed up in 1995 with GZA's second studio album, '' Liquid Swords'', produced and recorded entirely in the basement studio by RZA, with the participation of all original Clan members. It was released on November 7 by Geffen Records. The album's complex composition included dialogue sampled from the film ''

Shogun Assassin ''Shogun Assassin'' is a 1980 ''jidaigeki'' film directed by Robert Houston. ''Shogun Assassin'' was edited and compiled from the first two films in the ''Lone Wolf and Cub'' series, using 12 minutes of the first film, '' Lone Wolf and Cub: Sw ...

''. The album was met with positive reviews and sold well. It is considered to be one of the best albums from the Wu-Tang camp. It peaked at the #9 spot on the Billboard 200 chart and #2 on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart. On October 8, 2015, the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

announced that the album had earned a

Platinum certification Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

for having sold more than 1 million copies. It became the first Wu-Tang-related album to get certified since 2004, when

and

Ghostface Killah Dennis Coles (born May 9, 1970), better known by his stage name Ghostface Killah, is an American rapper and a member of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan. After the group achieved breakthrough success in the aftermath of ''Enter the Wu-Tang (36 C ...

both earned plaques. In addition, he directed music videos for four album singles. After appearing on the Wu-Tang Clan's second album, '' Wu-Tang Forever'' (1997), his third studio album '' Beneath the Surface'' was released by

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wit ...

in 1999. The album and its singles "Crash Your Crew" and "Breaker, Breaker" met with critical acclaim. The album earned a

Gold certification Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by RIAA, peaked at #9 on the Billboard 200 chart, and topped the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart.

2000–2009: ''Legend of the Liquid Sword'', ''Pro Tools''

In 2000 the single Ich lebe für Hip Hop was released with DJ Tomekk and placed 11th in the German charts. In 2002, a sequel to his second solo album was released, ''

Legend of the Liquid Sword ''Legend of the Liquid Sword'' is a 1993 Hong Kong ''wuxia'' comedy film loosely based on Gu Long's ''Chu Liuxiang'' novel series. The film was written and directed by Wong Jing and stars Aaron Kwok as the titular protagonist. Plot The young C ...

''. It was well-received by critics, yet did not sell well and failed to go Gold. GZA spent 2004 touring, both solo and with the Clan, and made an appearance with RZA in

Jim Jarmusch James Robert Jarmusch (; born January 22, 1953) is an American film director and screenwriter. He has been a major proponent of independent cinema since the 1980s, directing films including '' Stranger Than Paradise'' (1984), '' Down by Law'' ( ...

's film ''

Coffee and Cigarettes ''Coffee and Cigarettes'' is the title of three short films and a 2003 feature-length anthology film by independent film director Jim Jarmusch. The feature film consists of 11 short stories which share coffee and cigarettes as a common thread ...

'', opposite Bill Murray. The two also appeared on the

Chappelle Show ''Chappelle's Show'' is an American sketch comedy television series created by comedians Dave Chappelle and Neal Brennan, with Chappelle hosting the show and starring in the majority of its sketches. Chappelle, Brennan, and Michele Armour were th ...

's skits "Wu Tang Financial" and "Racial Draft". In 2005, GZA and DJ Muggs (the producer for hip-hop group

Cypress Hill Cypress Hill is an American hip hop group from South Gate, California. They have sold over 20 million albums worldwide and have multi-platinum and platinum albums. They are considered to be among the main progenitors of West Coast and 1990 ...

) released collaboration album '' Grandmasters''. Muggs provided all the production for the album, which saw GZA using chess as a metaphor for the rap game, with most of the songs having a chess-themed title. GZA at Paid Dues 3

In the summer of 2008, his fifth solo studio album '' Pro Tools'' was released by Babygrande Records. It featured production from

Black Milk Curtis Eugene Cross (born August 14, 1983), better known by his stage name Black Milk, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Career In addition to Slum Village, Black Milk has worked with J Dilla, Elzhi, Phat Kat, Frank-N-Dan ...

and Jay "Waxxx" Garfield, RZA,

Mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and True Master. A very controversial song on the album was entitled "Paper Plates", a smooth flowing response aimed at rival rapper

50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and businessman. Born in the South Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 2000, when he produced ...

. After the release, GZA toured various parts of Europe on a "Liquid Swords Tour", where he performed songs from ''Liquid Swords'' as well as ''Pro Tools''. He later toured parts of the US.

2010–present: ''Dark Matter''

In 2010, he spoke at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, and since then has visited, among others, MIT,

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-United States Secretary of the Treasu ...

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

, where he met with scientists such as

David Kaiser David I. Kaiser is an American physicist and historian of science. He is Germeshausen Professor of the History of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), head of its Science, Technology, and Society program, and a full profess ...

and

Sallie W. Chisholm Sallie Watson "Penny" Chisholm (born 1947) is an American biological oceanographer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is an expert in the ecology and evolution of ocean microbes. Her research focuses particularly on the most abun ...

to seek inspiration. In 2012, he talked "hip-hop and science" with Neil deGrasse Tyson.Watch GZA talk hip-hop and science with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson

FACT A fact is a datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance, which, if accepted as true and proven true, allows a logical conclusion to be reached on a true–false evaluation. Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scient ...

, December 13, 2012 To improve science education in New York City and beyond in late 2012, with the assistance of

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

's professor

Christopher Emdin Christopher Emdin is the Robert Naslund Endowed Chair in Curriculum and Teaching at the University of Southern California. He is an American academic who was previously an Associate Professor of Science Education at the Teachers College, Columbia U ...

and website Rap Genius, he began work on a pilot program called Science Genius B.A.T.T.L.E.S. (Bringing Attention to Transforming, Teaching and Learning Science). This initiative motivates young high school students, especially African-American and Latino students, who together make up 70 percent of New York City's student body, to learn science through hip hop, creating scientific raps and engaging in a rap competition. In the meantime, he continued to work on a related, new studio album called ''Dark Matter'', which is based on a journey through

spacetime In physics, spacetime is a mathematical model that combines the three dimensions of space and one dimension of time into a single four-dimensional manifold. Spacetime diagrams can be used to visualize relativistic effects, such as why differen ...

universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. Acc ...

and

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

. In late 2015, GZA canceled European tour dates to focus on working on the album with composer

Vangelis Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou ( el, Ευάγγελος Οδυσσέας Παπαθανασίου ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis ( ; el, Βαγγέλης, links=no ), was a Greek composer and arranger of ...

. It is planned to be one in a series of albums related to

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

, with the following conceived around

oceans The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the worl ...

. GZA hinted that the albums will be without parental advisory, profanity and nudity. In February 2015, GZA released a single "The Mexican" (a cover of

Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

), featuring guitarist

Tom Morello Thomas Baptist Morello (born May 30, 1964) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and political activist. He is best known for his tenure with the rock band Rage Against the Machine and then with Audioslave. Between 2016 and 2019, Morello ...

and singer Kara Lane. They performed the song live along with

The Roots The Roots are an American hip hop band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy F ...

on ''

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jimmy Fallon that airs on NBC. The show premiered on February 17, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. It is the seventh incar ...

''. On June 30, 2016, he released a new space-themed track, "The Spark", produced by

Paul Ryder Paul Anthony Ryder (24 April 1964 – 15 July 2022) was an English musician. He was a bass player and a founding member of the Manchester band Happy Mondays with his brother Shaun Ryder. Early life Paul and Shaun are the two sons of Derek Ryd ...

, for

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

's project "Destination: Jupiter", in celebration of the agency's ongoing ''

Juno Mission ''Juno'' is a NASA space probe orbiting the planet Jupiter. It was built by Lockheed Martin and is operated by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on August 5, 2011 UTC, as part ...

''. In 2020, GZA provided a voice role in Netflix's ''

Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts ''Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts'' is an animated television series created by Radford Sechrist and developed by Bill Wolkoff, adapted from Rad's 2015 webcomic ''Kipo''. The series is produced by American company DreamWorks Animation Televisio ...

'' as Bad Billions, and contributed a song to the series.

Discography

Studio albums

* '' Words from the Genius'' (1991) * '' Liquid Swords'' (1995) * '' Beneath the Surface'' (1999) * ''

'' (2002) * '' Pro Tools'' (2008)

Collaboration albums

* '' GrandMasters'' with DJ Muggs (2005)

References

External links

GZA
on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

GZA
on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

GZA
on Genius * {{Authority control 1966 births 21st-century American rappers African-American male rappers Bicycle messengers Cold Chillin' Records artists East Coast hip hop musicians Geffen Records artists Living people MCA Records artists Five percenters People from Staten Island Rappers from Brooklyn Wu-Tang Clan members