Supreme x GZA "Liquid Swords" Collab In The Works

Supreme unveiled a preview of their upcoming project with GZA today, which will serve as a nod to GZA’s debut album "Liquid Swords." 

In the video clip posted on the Supreme IG account today, GZA is shown wearing the collaborative "Liquid Swords" tee shirt while describing the meaning of the name.

"Liquid Swords - sharp tongue. Swift, sharp tongue. You know, the tongue is symbolic to the sword. When in motion, it produces wind. That's why you hear that 'Wu, wu, wu wu, wu' sound when you're swinging a sword. Your tongue is a sword. A double-edged sword. And wisdom is symbolic to water, because of its flowing capability. So words flow off the mouth as water flows down the banks and the rivers, so this is why it's called a liquid sword - a sharp tongue."

Supreme has not yet revealed when their latest Wu-Tang collaboration will be available, but we expect more details in the near future following up today's announcement.

[via HotNewHipHop]

GZA & The Soul Rebels - Tiny Desk Performance

GZA's performance at the Tiny Desk was a rare appearance for the legendary Wu-Tang Clan emcee, in part because he's notoriously introverted, and because he brought along The Soul Rebels, an eight-piece New Orleans brass ensemble. Once they stepped behind the desk they got right down to business, opening with the sparkling "Living In The World Today," from GZA's 1995 solo album Liquid Swords. These 23-year old lyrics and metaphors felt timeless.

GZA continued his onslaught of poetic precision with another beauty from Liquid Swords, "Duel of the Iron Mic." "I ain't particular," he spat, starting to break into a sweat behind the desk. "I bang like vehicular/Homicides on July 4th in Bed-Stuy." At one point, GZA even channeled his cousin, the late great Ol' Dirty Bastard, who provided the hook on the original version of the track.

>> READ MORE via NPR <<

GZA Once Sliced Apart A Dre Beat Using His Verbal Liquid Swords (Video)

In 2002, GZA was fast at work on his fourth solo album (the third since the ’93 sonic-boom of the Wu-Tang Clan). At the time, 1995’s Liquid Swords was well on its way to eventual platinum status, while 1999’s Beneath The Surface was his second consecutive Top 10 release, grabbing gold. The Genius’ label, MCA/Geffen Records was restructuring, and the lyrical shogun within the Clan followed Nas, as he did with Stillmatic, as one of the artists willing to re-visit his classic catalog in moving forward. The Legend Of The Liquid Sword is not a definitive sequel album per se. But in the minds of faithful Clan fans, it made a big wager, simply by using the hallowed name.

RZA, who put down some of his finest drum programming and filthiest sampling back in ’95, would contribute just “Rough Cut.” In his place, Cypress Hill’s DJ Muggs (who eventually collaborated with GZA at an album level), Roc-A-Fella’s Bink!, and Jay Z mentor Jaz-O stepped in. The Genius even slid behind the boards for a cut too.

[via Ambrosia For Heads]

The Faze - Liquid Swords (A Cover Album)

The Faze takes on a classic album by The GZA titled "Liquid Swords". (Prod. By RZA)

GZA To Perform "Liquid Swords" In Its Entirety For New York And Chicago Audiences

GZA will be performing "Liquid" swords for two dates in Chicago and an additional date in New York.

GZA's acclaimed solo album, Liquid Swords, is creeping up on its 21-year anniversary in November. With that anniversary on deck, theWu-Tang Clan rapper is preparing a couple of special performances for audiences in both New York City and Chicago. 

GZA will be performing the 1995 record in full for Chicago on October 30 and 31, at City Winery, and following that, he'll be hitting up New York's City Winery on November 2 for another album performance. Tickets aren't too steep either, running from $35 to $48 according to Complex.

GZA's album was finally certified platinum in 2015, which also happened to be the album's 20th anniversary, so that's not a bad way to celebrate.

Cop tickets for the Chicago dates here and New York here!

Wu-Art Thursday #202

GZA Gives Wu-Tang Clan First Platinum Album In More Than A Decade

(Photo by Fergus McDonald/Getty Images)

It may have taken nearly twenty years, but a heralded hip-hop classic has finally caught up saleswise to its platinum reputation. Yesterday, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced that Liquid Swords, the sophomore album from the New York City rapper and Wu-Tang Clan member GZA, had officially crossed the threshold of one million units sold as of September 15th.

As one of the best known and most respected hip-hop groups ever, the Wu-Tang Clan are no strangers to gold records and platinum plaques. Several of their albums, as well as the solo efforts of its multiple lyrically adept members, have sold at RIAA award levels. Yet the group’s last certifications came in 2004, with a gold nod to Method Man’s Tical 0: The Prequel and a platinum one for Ghostface Killah’s Ironman, thus making Liquid Swords the first Wu-Tang Clan project to reach RIAA platinum status in more than a decade.

Born Gary Grice, GZA’s rap career precedes his involvement in the Wu-Tang Clan. In 1991, he released an album for seminal rap label Cold Chillin’ Records under the moniker The Genius. While the album failed to catapult him into stardom, he retained that name in a hybridized form (Genius/GZA) for his next effort, released two years after the group’s platinum selling Loud Records debut Enter The Wu-Tang. First released in November of 1995, Liquid Swords peaked at #9 on the Billboard 200 album charts and was certified gold the following January. It capped off an impressive year of solo wins from his fellow Clansmen, including gold awards for Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s Return To The 36 Chambers and Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, as well as a platinum one for Method Man’s Tical.

GZA’s follow-up Beneath The Surface went gold in 1999. Like 1995, it was a banner year for Wu-Tang Clan in terms of RIAA awards, with gold status for new albums from Ol’ Dirty Bastard (N**** Please), Raekwon (Immobilarity), and RZA (Bobby Digital In Stereo) in addition to GZA. The certifications continued on the other side of the millennium, with platinum plaques for the group’s third full-length The W and Method Man’s collaborative Blackout album with New Jersey native Redman, both honored in 2000. That same year, Ghostface Killah’s Supreme Clientele went gold within a month of its release. The group’s fourth outing, 2001′s Iron Flag, did so as well.

Though it doesn’t match the Wu-Tang Clan’s sales king, the quadruple platinum Wu-Tang Forever, GZA’s Liquid Swords remains one a favorite among hip-hop fans and critics alike. Featuring a dozen beats from producer RZA, the album proved a logical extension of the group’s signature sound, blending samples from old kung fu movies and dusty records into gritty albeit robust instrumentals designed to support GZA’s dextrous wordplay. Arguably the Wu-Tang Clan’s most verbose emcee, GZA graciously shares the mic here with each of the group’s members, making for rap classics like “4th Chamber” and “Shadowboxin’.”

[via FORBES]

Wu-Art Thursday #87

Every Thursday we will be posting up pics of Wu-Tang artwork from fans, artists and aliens. If you have artwork you would like to share, please email us at: WuArtTats@gmail.com 

Wu-Art Thursday #30

Every Thursday we will be posting up pics of Wu-Tang artwork from fans, artists and aliens. If you have artwork you would like to share, please email us at: WuArtTats@gmail.com 

By Darcy Boyle

By David - ThisIceCreamKrew

By Derek Barnes - www.IrreguardlessDesign.com

By Gustavo Ocampo

Wu-Wednesday: GZA Recalls The Origins Of The Cover Art Of "Liquid Swords"

GZA Recalls The Origins Of The Cover Art Of "Liquid Swords"
by SEAN RYON

GZA recalls when he first came up with the idea for the cover of his seminal "Liquid Swords" LP.
Perhaps one of the most iconic pieces of Hip Hop art comes from the comic book cover art of GZA's seminal Liquid Swords. Now, in a recent interview with the Bishop Chronicles podcast, the Genius explains the origins of the artwork.

GZA explained that the image first came to his mind while playing a heated chess series against fellow Wu-Tang Clan alum Masta Killa. He said that the two had played upwards of 30 games while smoking weed when the vision of the chess pieces coming to life and battling one another first came to him. He added that he was thinking about propositioning it for the single art for "Da Mystery of Chessboxing," but decided to save it for Liquid Swords.

"That [cover art] was something that I came up with, that was in 1992 - that was three years before the album," recalled GZA. "I was actually playing Masta Killa in a game of chess, and around that time, he used to beat up on me a lot 'cus I had just started playing again. I learned how to play when I was younger, then I didn't start playing again until around that time [in] the early days of Wu. I would play with Killa, Jeru the Damaja, Afu-Ra, and all the brothers from East New York from Killa's neighborhood. We were playing a game, and we may have played like 30 games that night, and the game was still in a checkmate position…and I was smoking weed, and you know how you smoke weed, you start really get[ting] all these thoughts and you start analyzing shit, and I started drawing the pieces how they were on the board like in that position…then I just started imagining how, 'What if this night had a guillotine in his hand? What if this person had this sword swinging?' And I just thought of this whole war scene on the chessboard."
He added, "I actually thought about presenting it for the 'Chessboxing' [single] cover…and then I thought like it was bigger than a single, so we used it for [Liquid Swords]."

GZA Steps Into The Black in Philadelphia

Last night, GZA was at the famous Sigma Sound studios in Philadelphia, where both David Bowie and the O’Jays have recorded. A set from 107.9′s DJ Caesar kicked off the night while party-goers sampled Captain Morgan Black Spiced Rum and grilled cheese sandwiches from the Say Cheese food truck. GZA/Genius put on a unique performance with a fresh-from-Bonnaroo 8-piece band, Grupo Fantasma. Between tracks like “Triumph” and “Ain’t Nuthing Ta Fuck Wit,” GZA told stories about him and RZA on stage.

 

 

 

 

Source

First Look: GZA Liquid Swords "Chess Box" Reissue

In 1995, GZA dropped his classic Liquid Swords. With RZA behind the boards, the record is wildly considered the finest Wu-Tang solo album. Of course, that claim is subjective. What is indisputable is the impact of the release and its position in hip-hop history.

With all this in mind, Get On Down is preparing to release the GZA Liquid Swords "Chess Box" reissue. Complete with working chess set and 20-page liner notes, the box set includes both a remastered version of the original album and a never-before-released instrumental disk. GZA himself was interviewed by Chris Faraone for the notes, explaining the recording process and his relationship with RZA. In short, this is a true collectors item designed to satisfy all levels of rap nerdery.

Look for the box set on June 25, 2012. The release is part of Get On Down's deluxe "Master Series" collection, which kicked-off with a brilliant wallet/id card package for ODB's Return to the 36 Chambers in 2011.

Do You Want To Feature On GZA/Genius's Next Album?

In conjunction with the launch of his new website, hip-hop ninja GZA is inviting fans to “put their MC skills to the test” in a contest called “Duel of the Iron Mic”, named after his track of the same name. The contest winner, which is also judged by GZA, will appear on a future GZA album.

To enter the contest, entrants must rap the first verse of the track “Liquid Swords”, record it on video, upload it to Vimeo, and posting it on GZA’s website. More info about the contest will be announced when the website launches next week.

About the contest, GZA said, “This contest was inspired by my countless tours all over the world where I would see my fans, many of them non-English speakers, reciting every lyric of the song back to me. It’s become clear to me that my music is appealing to a whole new generation: I’ve had a bunch of people tell me that they first heard my album because their parents listened to it. That might make some artists feel old but I’m happy that my music is still relevant today. I am honored that Liquid Swords the song and album have been so widely embraced for so long. This contest is one way of giving back to my fans, of letting them share their take on the record.”

Source

The Genius is scheduled to take over London's Oxford University this weekend for a lecture.

Over the past few years, Hip Hop has been taking over the university scene with numerous rappers giving lectures and teaching classes. Now, the backbone of the Wu-Tang Clan the GZA/Genius is taking his lecture series to Oxford University in England.

Fresh off his lecture at Harvard University this past November, the Liquid Swordsman is heading overseas to a number of European institutions to talk about his craft as an MC, his career, the state of Hip Hop and his seminal solo LP Liquid Swords. The four week lecture tour will begin this weekend at Sheffield University and Oxford University in the UK, and will continue on through Germany, Switzerland, France and other countries.

The GZA is also currently working on his follow up to 2008's Pro Tools and is in talks to lecture at NYU and MIT this spring. The full list of lecture dates can be seen below.

TOUR DATES

1/27 Sheffield, UK @ O2 Academy
1/28 Oxford, UK @ O2 Academy
1/29 Liverpool, UK @ O2 Academy
1/30 Bournemouth, UK @ Old Fire Station
1/31 London, UK @ O2 Academy
2/1 Gent, BEL @ Vooruit
2/2 Poitiers, FR @ Confort Moderne
2/3 Montpelier, FR @ Rockstore
2/4 Cologne, GER @ Essigfabrik
2/5 Stuttgart, GER @ Die Röhre
2/6 Munich, GER @ Backstage
2/7 Berlin, GER @ Cassiopeia
2/8 Hamburg, GER @ Klubsen
2/9 Zurich, SWI @ Escherwyss
2/10 Neufchatel, SWI @ La Case a Chocs
2/11 Geneva, SWI @ Usine PTR
2/12 Paris, FR @ Le Bataclan
2/13 Glasgow, SCO @ The Arches
2/14 Tilburg, NET @ 5-Elementz
2/15 Amsterdam, NET @ 013
2/16 Birmingham, UK @ The Other Room
2/17 Laax, SWI @ Riders Palace
2/18 Bristol, UK @ O2
2/19 Bratislawa, SLO @ Majestik Music Club
2/20 Vienna, AUS @ Fluc Wanne



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GZA Announces Art Basel Performance of Liquid Swords at The Stage

GZA performing Liquid Swords, presented by Rebel Music and Major Event Marketing, with Lambsbread and DJ Klassic. Hosted by Herb Love. Saturday, December 3. The Stage, 120 NE 38th St, Miami. The show starts at 9 p.m. and tickets cost $20 viawantickets.com. Call 305-576-9577 or visit thestagemiami.com.