Nearly one month after the name of the couple's 1-year-old son was revealed, the Wu-Tang Clan rapper explains why he finds such tribute to be 'a great honor' for him.
- Jul 7, 2023
AceShowbiz - RZA has saluted Rihanna and A$AP Rocky. Having learned that the "Diamonds" songstress and the "Praise the Lord" rapper named their first son after him, the leader of hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan opened up in a new interview why he found the gesture "a great honor."
"RZA is only a name, it's a title. So it's an honor and I salute her and A$AP and their family," the 54-year-old artist and filmmaker shared his reaction when speaking to CNN. He additionally shared his well-wishes by saying, "All the blessings in the world from me."
Weighing in on the use of his name as inspiration, the Brooklyn-born artist further stated that "to know that there's another generation that's not even of my own household that feels the strength and the inspiration of that name" was "a great honor."
RZA's reaction to Rihanna and Rocky naming their son after him came nearly a month after Rocky himself publicly revealed the moniker. When celebrating his son's first birthday, Rocky wrote in an Instagram caption, " 'WU TANG IZ 4 DA CHUREN [palms up together emoji]' HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY TO MY 1st BORN . RZA."
Name inspiration aside, RZA also talked about his role as a movie director in the CNN interview. "I definitely didn't imagine me being a film director," he admitted. "It was something that as an artist, I had to see someone else do and realize that wow, I'm on that same wavelength."
RZA additionally shared his thoughts on the importance of turntables. He said, "When we go back and think about great DJs like Grandmaster Flash or Kool Herc who started with putting these vinyls on their turntables and playing it outside their windows so other people could gather around, or taking it to a city park and plug it up to the light pole and blasting it so that the community could gather together under the course of music. It's always been something beautiful about it. We lost it for a while and I’m glad that there’s a reemergence of it."
