Before they were teenagers, a young RZA was telling a young Ol’ Dirty Bastard that they were “here for a special reason.” This early memory is documented in a recent article in the Pittsburgh City Paper. The article also discusses RZA’s generosity for a fellow producer, Sam Sneed.
“I definitely had a confidence that my talent level was amongst the greatest,” RZA told the paper of his early recollections. “By the time we was 11 or 12, definitely by that age, I would talk to [Ol’ Dirty Bastard] like, ‘We’re here for something. We’re here for a special reason, I can feel it. We’re gonna do something great.’ We kind of had that feeling and belief in both of us.”
RZA’s giving spirit was also documented in the article, shown through his assistance of Sam Sneed, a fellow producer who was struggling financially after a falling out with Death Row Records.
“After the Death Row thing fell apart, I was still in touch with RZA and I was telling him how I was having a situation where I was trying to get a drum machine,” Sneed shared. “So I’m talking to RZA about it … and he’s like, ‘Man, you should’ve been told me about that.’…The next day he sent me 10 grand to get a drum machine and a keyboard, an MPC-3000 and a Triton keyboard.”
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RZA explained his thoughts on the situation by saying he was just trying to help a fellow artist.
“I gave him some money and gave him a chance,” RZA said. “I thought he was a good dude and shit.”
Sam Sneed’s time at Death Row was short lived but he managed to co-produce such songs as “Keep Their Heads Ringin'” and “Natural Born Killaz” with Dr. Dre beside him. Sneed shared much about his experience at Death Row with HipHopDX’s Paul W. Arnold in a revealing two-part interview in 2010. In the piece, he explained his falling out with Dr. Dre. “He started Aftermath with all my people: all my producers, all my artists. So you would think that he would [be] like, ‘Yo, let’s check with Sam, keep Sam still working with us.’ It wasn’t like that,” Sneed explained. “So I had to get up outta there. That’s when I went [back] to Pittsburgh.”
RZA recently revealed that two biopics are in the works about Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s life. “I’m involved with both,” he said. “Anything about his life, I want to help out with any capacity. His mother told me I should come in and help.”
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Read about RZA’s time in the Midwest in the new Pittsburgh City Paper.
RELATED: Sam Sneed Talks Dr. Dre’s Abandonment And “That Crazy Meeting” With Tupac
