My opponent tonight is the Wu-Tang Clan's
Lamont "U-God" Hawkins.
His new book is called Raw,
and that's exactly how I'll conduct this interview-- raw.
I'm gonna give it to him with no trivia,
raw like cocaine straight from Bolivia.
Lamont "U-God" Hawkins, everybody.
-Lamont, Welcome. -Thank you, brother. Thank you.
(applause and cheering)
All right, U-God, golden arms? The four-bar killer?
-Yeah, yes, yes, yes. -You have many nicknames?
-Many nicknames. -Did you ever want to be the five-bar killer?
Why are you the four-bar killer?
I don't know. They gave that name to me.
They just branded me with the name.
'Cause you get, like... You get four bars in a song, you know?
It's a count... it's a character count thing.
25 years ago, Enter the 36 Chambers came out.
Yes, yes, yes.
When you look back on that, what-what jumps out?
Uh, what jumps out?
The travel, the amount of work we put in, you know,
just meeting a lot of new people
-and different people than we come from. -Mm-hmm.
You know, just... just being universal.
Going from small to being universal-minded, that's all.
-Yeah. -Yeah. Like, looking back on that,
uh, is it... is it all sunny?
Do you see it in all a positive light, or is it...?
Yes, yes, I do, 'cause I could have dead in the streets.
-You know. -Yeah. Well, you talk a little bit about that with...
-in your new book here. -Yes.
That your journey to... Like, what do you see?
If you didn't find the Wu-Tang Clan,
where did you see your life headed?
Uh... I probably would have been a statistic maybe, you know.
-Mm-hmm. -Like, you know, like so many of my people,
-probably would have been in jail. -Mm-hmm.
-Just trying to figure things out and all that. -Yeah.
And then, then somehow I know that I'd probably
get tired of jail and got me a regular job or found...
I would have found a way. Some way, I'd have found a way.
You said that even before finding rap,
you were trying out a bunch of different professions,
and you even studied becoming an embalmer?
-Yes. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. -Really? And you're
a high schooler thinking about becoming an embalmer.
Well, it wasn't... in high school, it was in college.
-Uh-huh. -'Cause, um, I was real good in science.
That was... that was always my thing.
I mean, so... I was doing business management at BMCC.
That got boring, so I was like, you know, let me transfer over
to LaGuardia to do... try...
you know, try something different.
That's a job that's always gonna be around.
-That's a smart thought. -Yes. -(laughter)
-You're touring right now with the Wu-Tang Clan. -Yes.
What's it like getting back together with everybody?
Well, it's... it's like clockwork, you know.
I've been with my brothers, literally,
I've been with my brothers
-since I was, like, five, six years old. -Mm-hmm.
So, I don't know how many people can say they're still around
the people they literally grew up with.
You know what I mean? So it's just like...
you know, getting back together with your family.
You say you've gone through a lot of different phases
with the Wu-Tang Clan.
Uh, you've said at times it felt like a group,
but at times it started to feel like a dictatorship.
Which is something I'm sure
Americans don't understand whatsoever.
(laughter)
How was that experience?
Well, you know, you grow
and you learn and you live,
and, you know, the people that are in charge, you know,
they grow, too, also, and, you know, hopefully,
through trial and tribulation, you know, it softens the heart
a little bit, you know, and that's basically what it is.
-You know... -Now, you're performing...
you're bringing 36 Chambers back out.
-It's a different time, 25 years later. -Yes. Yes.
You're playing giant festivals, tens of thousands of people,
they're singing along to songs you guys wrote 25 years ago
about life on the streets, your own personal experiences,
and you're having young kids chant them in stadiums.
-Yes, yes. -Is that how you...
did you ever envision it that way?
Is that how the Wu-Tang is meant to be experienced?
Know what, we get asked that question all the time.
Well, sorry, they're not all original. I'm sorry.
(laughter)
-Come on, Golden Arms, come on, give me... -I'm just saying
-we get asked that question all the time. -give me a few bars.
Give me four bars leeway here.
Nah, we didn't know it was gonna be like this,
but we just put a lot of work in.
You don't realize how much work you put in...
into a project or into a... you put your life's work...
you know, just travel, you just travel and do shows
and do shows, and then... and somewhere along the line,
it just clicks, you know, it just, that's what happened,
you know, and America just embraced us.
Do you think the youth, do they understand the Wu-Tang?
Oh, I think they go to us to get the foundation
of what they want to rhyme with, you know what I mean?
I really think we're, like, the core of hip-hop.
-Yeah. The core. -Yeah. The hard core.
-The hard core. -That's right.
-Give it to you raw. -That's right.
(cheering, applause)
What I found interesting about your book,
uh, you talk about, uh, you showed some vulnerability
-in this book. -Not that vulnerable.
Not a ton, no, no. But a...
I'll give you a smidge, I'll give you a smidge.
But there's a little bit of vulnerability,
talking about, like, performing and finding your voice,
uh, and coming in rusty-- it's showing vulnerability.
I thought that was a weakness for a rapper.
Well... they won't say certain things,
and, um, as you grow older, you know,
you find out those things is really not that big of a deal.
You know. Before, I ain't never smiled in pictures.
I'd be like this.
(laughter)
All the time. Every picture would be like this.
That's it. But now I'm like this.
(laughter)
(whooping, applause)
You know? So... you grow.
So, you know, you grow.
-That's the evolution. -That's the evolution.
(laughter)
U-God, tell me something I already know.
"Wu-Tang" stands for Witty Unpredictable...
BOTH: Talent And Natural Game.
-That's right, so... -Yeah, I already knew that.
That's right, that's right.
Lamont U-God Hawkins, everybody.
-Give me a "W," give me a "W." -Oh, the "W." Right there.
Everybody. His book, Raw, is out now,
along with his new album, Venom.
Lamont U-God Hawkins.
The fight continues.