Tell your story walking

When the Wu-Tang Clan first announced that all the surviving original members were reuniting along with Cappadonna, Street Life, and Mathematics for a short East Coast tour, I wrote a blog post that was probably a lot more critical than it had to be. Bottom line, I'm amped for these guys to get back together, and I'm even more excited about the prospect of more group stuff happening as a result. I've been working on a big piece for the print edition on the reunion, talking to members and associates of the group, and everyone seems to really want this thing to succeed.

This morning, I managed to get Cappadonna on the phone, and he reports that he might not actually be on the tour, which is a shame. The tour starts next Tuesday in Connecticut, and I'm not entirely certain that it'll be complete without Cappa. Cappa, a Wu-Tang affiliate since 1995, went through some hard times a couple of years ago; this interview established that he'd been driving a gypsy cab in Baltimore, and this one made it look like he was losing his mind, so it was truly heartening to see him return to the stage last year. He's one of those guys where you don't realize you like him until you see him for the first time in a while. At the October Ghostface show I keep writing about, he was a revelation, a towering column of rage and bravado. His presence is powerful, and I'm hoping he'll end up on the tour. Here's the full interview.

You gave a couple of interviews a couple of years ago about you and the Clan, RZA in particular, weren't seeing eye to eye. How did it come about that you're participating in this reunion tour?

I feel good about it. I feel like that's what we needed, to make the transition into this new millennium. You got to have that communication. I feel like this is giving us the opportunity to communicate again, and perhaps something bigger could come out of it than just this one little tour.

Have you smoothed over any issues you had with the rest of the group?

The rest of the group, everybody's just laying low right now, not too much of a big fuss going on. The biggest fuss that's going on right now is me. They're trying to get a meeting together to determine whether or not I'm going to be on the tour and how much am I going to get paid.

Really?

Yeah, they're having a group discussion about that.

Are you going to be a part of that discussion?

Perhaps. Maybe, maybe not.

How do you feel about that?

I feel like, it's like I don't specialize in playing games, you know? It's like, either we going to do it or we not. I'm not going to make a big project out of it. Put me up, do the right thing, you know?

It seems like the tour wouldn't really be complete without you on it.

Yeah, that's a continual ongoing process that everybody is acknowledging. It's only a matter of time until they figure it out that I belong to the team, but I also should be respected as an individual.

You live in Baltimore now, right?

Baltimore and New York.

For a little while, you were driving a hack, right?

Yeah.

How did that come to pass?

You know, survival. When it's time to survive, you do what you got to do. It might not meet your standards, but as long as it's putting food on the table or putting a couple of dollars in your pocket and something that is not too negative, then go ahead and go for yours, man.

Do you feel any resentment that that was something that you had to do?

It's like, I suffered a lot in life, but it was a necessary process for me to bring me to where I'm at right now in my life, and I feel like I'm at a point where my mind is made up. I know what I want out of life, I know what I got to do to get it, and I'm still striving for perfection. I know I can't do it by myself. It helps me to grow. I'm grateful for those trials and tribulations, although at the time it seemed like my whole world was falling apart.

I was there at the New York show on the Ghostface tour when you came out. You have an unbelievable stage presence. Do you feel like this tour isn't going to be right unless you're there?

It's still going to manifest, but it won't be complete unless I'm there. Now, I'm the ODB of this shit.

How do you mean?

I'm the most controversial member of the Clan. Every time you hear my name, you don't even know if I'm part of the Clan or not. When you hear my name, it's something that come up. I'm not even industry like that; I'm in the streets. But like I said, I'm grateful for still being able to connect the dots and deliver that message and keep the music going for as long as we could. We able to do something positive and be successful at it.

Where in Baltimore do you stay at when you're down there?

In the hood. Everywhere I go at, I stay in the hood. I could relate to those people. I could relate to everybody, but it's like I'm more familiar with the hood. Everywhere I go, I go to the hood, and I get along just fine with the people.

Good luck with getting on this tour; I hope it happens.

Tell everybody that I could see past they faults because I could see they needs. That's my ending word.