Wu Tang Clan‘s RZA has revealed he is working on an album with Interpol‘s Paul Banks.
The rapper, producer and director says the duo have spent the last six months working on the record, which will not be released for a while yet.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, he said: “My manager came to me and said, ‘Who do you want to do an album with?’ I said, “Well, Paul just has an energy about him. I think if we put our sandwich together it will be great.” Me and Paul, we play chess together and just hang out. We went to the studio and we started writing songs and they sound very, very different than what I do, but very unique and very peculiar. But it won’t be out for a while. It may take us a year to finish this album. That’s where my heart is at musically.”
RZA also spoke about letting Drake use a Wu-Tang Clan sample for his track ‘Wu Tang Forever’ for free. “[Drake] sent me song because they couldn’t clear the sample. So I did it myself, personally, for free. Free of charge. Because to me, that’s what we meant when we said Wu-Tang is forever. We didn’t think we were going to live forever. We meant that the energy of what we do would spread on in culture, generation by generation. And by Drake absorbing it and having that influence in his life and having it be a part of him, it proves what I’m saying. And I’m really proud that he chose that rap.”
Working with Paul Banks is the latest musical collaboration for RZA, who recently partnered with Yoko Ono to release a set of limited edition live recordings. He also recently remixed Alt-J ‘s track ‘Breezeblocks’ (which you can listen to below) and appears on Earl Sweatshirt‘s new album ‘Doris’, guesting on the track ‘Molasses’.