Music Interview: RZA Talks The Tao of Wu, ODB & Knowledge of Self

It’s been a productive year for RZA. He had his usual place at the boards, executive-producing the critically acclaimed compilation Wu-Tang Chamber Music and Raekwon’s stunning OB4CL2, but added to that another underrated acting role in Judd Apatow’s Funny People and a second go-around as writer, dropping his spiritual mashup book, The Tao of Wu, earlier this month. And in the middle of all that, he took some time to sit down (with writer/musician Noah Rubin, who produced some of the tracks on Wu-Tang Chamber Music) and discuss everything from the stories behind The Tao of Wu to ODB to his continuing quest for enlightenment. Bong bong!

Music Director’s Commentary: Brett Ratner’s Music Video Classics

You know Brett Ratner: the big-budget guy who directed Rush Hour and X-Men 3 (next up: Beverly Hills Cop 4!). But before he broke into Hollywood in the late ’90s, this kid from Miami was one of the most sought-after music video directors in the biz. A new DVD that dropped yesterday called The Shooter Series Vol. 1: Brett Ratner collects most of the director’s videos for the first time, along with some of his commercial work, NYU student films, home movies, a behind the scenes documentary and more.

To give you a taste of his resume, we selected six of our favorite Ratner-directed videos—including bangers from Wu-Tang, D’Angelo, and Public Enemy—and asked the man himself to give a little commentary about how each classic came together. Believe us, the man’s got stories for days…

Wake N' Watch Wake N’ Watch: Raekwon f/ Ghostface Killah, Method Man, & Inspectah Deck “House Of Flying Daggers”

After endless delays, it looks like Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II is really happening. There’s a single with a music video and everything! Jokes aside, we couldn’t be happier about Raekwon’s follow-up to his 1995 classic finally seeing the light of day. In typical Wu fashion, Rae called upon a few members of the Clan for assistance on this “House Of Flying Daggers” joint. The animated video just hit the Internet and rest assured that there’s enough blood, guts, and violence to keep it off television networks and us entertained. We smell what The Chef is cooking and we like it.

Tune in to Complex.com every morning at 8 AM for your daily “Wake N’ Watch” video.

Music The Unauthorized History Of Rapper Threats Against The Media

So apparently a little blog we did ruffled the feathers of a few rappers who got mentioned therein. Some found it “100% disrespectful” and others just thought we weren’t funny. We didn’t feel we were shitting down anyone’s throat, and we are, in fact, fans of all the rappers mentioned. However some of the young rappers’ feelings got hurt, and for that we apologize. That said, we would hope these rappers accept that in their pursuit of being professional artists, they offer their work and persona up for public consumption, making opinions inevitable.

Unfortunately it seems KiD CuDi'a personal fav of Complex'is not yet comfortable with this. In an interview with rapradar.com CuDi proposes beating the ass of our writer as an appropriate response to our gentle ribbing (we felt like turning his blog Stans against us was enough, but whatever…). Thankfully, CuDi explains he’d never stoop to violence (phew!), though others would (uh oh!). While we appreciate the warning, CuDi should know that most of the Complex staff has been writing about hip hop since the pre-blogging days, when writers had to interact with their subjects in the flesh. So we’re well aware of what happens when rappers get frustrated at people who own both opinions and computers. For all those who aren’t, lets take a stroll down memory lane with a history of Rappers Who’ve Physically Threatened Violence On The Media…