ThaFormula.com - How do you view the skydive the industry seems to be taking at the moment?

Rza - (Laughs) It's the rise and the fall. It peaked out and all great things fall. It gives a lot of other people a chance to get into the game and make music more for music's sake and not for money's sake.

ThaFormula.com - Did you see this coming though?

Rza - Yeah, I mean everything went digital right? I said digital ten years ago homie so it's like it's funny and shit to me. At the same time it's gonna get a chance to rise again but the people who is gonna make it rise has got to be different. It's like the government, there is always gonna be a government. Man needs to be governed, but the people who is doing it is the fucked up thing. It ain't the system, it's the niggas who is holding the system. Society is gonna get like that regardless because niggas ain't gonna go for it forever. Music business, movie business, government, anything that is going on after a while even the young people grow up like "you know what I ain't with that shit no more." It's like people ain't gonna keep falling for the devil's trick.

ThaFormula.com - Why were the last two Wu-Tang albums not as hardcore as say "36 Chambers" or "Wu-Tang Forever?" It seemed like they were geared more towards the radio…

Rza - I never try to compete with the radio. But different fans feel this way and different fans feel that way, but as far as me as a producer and what I'm making, nah I just expanded. You expand. First you start off just sampling niggas shit, little noises, your sample time is ten seconds, then you got 2 minute sample times.

ThaFormula.com - Why do you think the last two albums weren't received that well then?

Rza - I don't know if they were received well or not. I think they wasn't marketed well. The more mathematics we put into it, the less it sold. When niggas is like "yo shoot that nigga in the fucking head and there is brains everywhere," it sold more. When we said "I'ma tie your asshole and keep feeding you," it sold more. (laughs) It's funny and shit. The more math a nigga put into it, the less a muthafucka was like "yo," and the less the media is gonna promote it. How you gonna promote mathematics when mathematics is talking about the destruction against civilization? So I don't think it was like that yo.

ThaFormula.com - Now the expectations for Raekwon's "Cuban Linx II" are getting ridiculous, what exactly are you doing for that album production wise?

Rza - That shit sounds raw. Listen when I made the first "Cuban Linx," me personally, my personal investment into it, like I told Raekwon and Ghost, "this album is gonna attract all the gangstas nigga, all the thugs and everybody is going to be listening to this shit." That was the meaning of it though. But I deal with mathematics. I deal with justice and equality. I ain't really trying to promote gangsterism because I don't need niggas to be repeating no bad history, having no consciousness of what the fuck we doing. But at the same time, you have to attract those niggas to the dinner table to. So that album was sent to attract them. GZA was sent to attract the college students. It was thought out. So right now it's like yo, we need more of these real niggas back in here again. We got different fans of all breeds, but now we got to bring some more of these real niggas back in too because that's the strength of it. When you see the real thug niggas out there, that keeps it thorough. Because the nerd niggas, they ain't made to fight, they made to teach. They need thug niggas to protect them. That's why you will see a wise man, somebody like Minister Farrakhan who is a wise man. He don't throw a punch or nothing, but the men he got around him don't play that shit.

ThaFormula.com - Are you and (Dr) Dre really actually working together on this "Cuban Linx II" album?

Rza - Yeah, we working together on that album. I mean I was in Dre's studio for months. The beats he got, I chose that beat like "yo, I want that one yo." He was like "you want that one? Bam! Here." It was like that yo, it was much respect between us man.

ThaFormula.com - So I have to ask what I ask everyone that messes with Dre, how do you feel about all the stories and accusations about Dre not being a real producer or having ghost producers?

Rza - Dr. Dre is a master homie, trust me! All that shit niggas try to say, "blah, blah, blah," that nigga is a master son. There is nobody who ever touched the board that made Hip-Hop sound as clear, heavy and strong as he did.

ThaFormula.com - Not even you?

Rza - Nah nigga, his shit is clear nigga. You put his CD in, his shit fills your whole car up. My shit make you wanna drive fast and crash and fuck a nigga up, but it ain't clear like that. You got to hear my shit 20 times to hear what the fuck we said sometimes. You hear his shit on the first listen. You know that, I know that and I told him that. That's why if you look at Jay-Z's album it says "mixed by Dr. Dre" nigga and you never heard Just Blaze music sound so good. He's a master man.

ThaFormula.com - So is that how it's going down with "Cuban Linx II?"

Rza - Nah, we are going both ways with it. I'm not gonna talk about it too much because it's something that's got to be sold, but I will say the Dr (Dre) loves what I do. He hears my shit and it's like "god damn nigga!" I hear his shit like "damn nigga!" It's like ying and yang and shit. My shit make a nigga frown and his shit make a nigga smile and that's all it is man.

ThaFormula.com - As far as the "Afro Samurai" soundtrack, how did you feel that turned out for you?

Rza - I was happy with it. The only thing I wasn't happy with was the mix because the Japanese brothers got their way of mixing music and America's got theirs. I didn't do the mix. Like I did it, handed it to them and they had to do what they had to do. It's a studio, it's a big production and they just got different views. Even the people from FUNimation in America was like "we're not so happy with the Japanese mix." But with the DVD, I think the FUNimation guys from America are gonna mix it and it will even sound better.

ThaFormula.com - How deep are you into the new Wu Tang album now?

Rza - I'm gonna leave it right there because your asking the F.B.I. questions and shit!

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