RZA Recalls Being Called Out For “Sampling”

RZA sat down with MTV and talked about the first time he’d caught backlash for Sampling.

“The first thing happened was that I was at a music store buying equipment, “I went platinum, I became a millionaire, I was probably feeling myself egotistically, going to Sam Ash to buy a whole bunch of equipment, and a regular musician stopped me because people were giving me attention, ‘That’s RZA, that’s RZA.’ And this guy said, ‘You’re ruining music.’ ”



“He’s a musician, but because of sampling, he can’t get a job. Because of drum machines, his drummer can’t get no work. He said, ‘You’re not a real musician.’ I said, ‘What you mean I’m not a real musician? I got a platinum album.’ He said, ‘You’re not a real musician. You don’t know nothing about music.’ ”


“He was right. I couldn’t tell him what a C note was. So he challenged me, basically,” he said.