"I’ll just say this last thing, I’ve got a buddy named John Frusciante [who is the lead guitarist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers], and he said something to me that changed my whole perspective. He said, “RZA, I don’t do music for money. I do music for music. And my music belongs to the world.”
It’s like, it’s so personal. I was doing it for fun at first, when I was young. Then I started doing it for money. I started getting paid for it. Then if you don’t pay me, you don’t get the beat. Yet, I’m still making them. If nobody’s buying them, now what’s happening? They’re accumulating and shit.
He freed my mind to be like, “Yo, it’s music, man. It belongs to the world, whether I get paid for it or not.” Of course, I prefer to get paid for it, because my equipment is expensive, and I’ve got bills and shit, but since he opened my mind that helped me give away all these beats. I didn’t ask nobody for nothing. I’ve got a manager that’ll probably go back and charge these brothers and shit, but as far as I’m concerned? Help yourself. "
-- The RZA