Musician

Wu-Tang is looked at like the Rolling Stones of hip-hop.

I wasn't raised a vegetarian. I wish I was, though. I mean, that's really the best way to go. I just learned at a young age and stopped eating some things.

I'm constantly writing.

I don't like to just be simple. Even though some of my stuff can seem simple at times, I like to write in a way that, when you listen to it over and over again, you hear something new, and it requires you to think.

I get inspired by many different things.

A song is composed of music and lyrics: 50 percent is the producer, 50 percent is the artist. So, I'm responsible for 50 percent. All I know is that I have to do my job, and I have to do it well. And he has to do the same.

I could write about a pencil if I wanted to. You just take it back deep enough, all the way back to the tree it came from.

I would go to an aunt's house, and she would let me play music, and she had 'The Last Poets' album. At that time, albums didn't have explicit stickers on them, so some of the songs had profanity on them, and I was moved by that. I would listen to those songs, to the flow, and I'd balance it back and forth with the nursery stuff I had.

I love nature, and I love information.

Hip-hop started with street poets with great lyrical skills, and that's what hip-hop has always been about for me.

I think, as an artist, the overall goal is to teach and educate no matter what the song is about. Somewhere where a listener can get something out of it, something that can give them help to move forward, help them learn something, analyze something in a different way, or think about something.

I never really thought I had an extensive vocabulary like that, and I'm not an avid reader. I didn't read a lot growing up - at all.

I'm not a sports person, but every now and then, I incorporate sports in my rhymes because I'm always grabbing from certain things and getting inspired by something whether I'm totally involved in it or not.

One of the basic principles when you dealing with mathematics and Islam: Seek knowledge.

Documentaries sometimes can be shot over 10 years. You plan to stop in two, but you still gotta catch more.

Writing, for me, really started in the '70s as a young child. I used to read a lot of nursery rhymes, and I learned a lot of those rhymes word for word.

I like broccoli. I like rice. I like carrots. I like vegetable juices. Y'know? I mean, I'm with all that.

I am honored that 'Liquid Swords,' the song and album, have been so widely embraced for so long.

I had a few DJs in my neighbourhood that would play music in the streets. There was no hip-hop yet; there were just DJs that were playing disco, funk, and pop music, and we would gather round, go to the parks, and dance and enjoy ourselves.

Like MCs, each chess player has his own style: how he likes to open, when he likes to attack. Just like we face off with each other lyrically, we challenge each other's minds on the chessboard. Sharpen each other's swords.