Over the course of his nearly-four decade career, Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA has had a career full of awards, accomplishments, and hit tracks. However, it is a recent unexpected tribute that had the Hip-Hop icon feeling super special.
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That would of course be having Rihanna and A$AP Rocky name their first born son after him. As the original RZA told CNN during a recent interview, he found it to be “a great honor to know that there’s another generation that’s not even of my own household that feels the strength and the inspiration of that name."
Officially announcing their baby boy’s name back in May, Rocky posted a series of photos and a video of the couple’s son on Instagram, featuring a caption that included his name RZA and a Wu-Tang shout-out. Writing, “‘WU TANG IZ 4 DA CHUREN’ HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY TO MY 1st BORN . RZA.”
“RZA is only a name, it’s a title,” the rapper, born Robert Fitzgerald Diggs told CNN. “So it’s an honor and I salute her and A$AP and their family. All the blessings in the world from me.”
For a bit of backstory on the how RZA came up with the moniker. According to Hip Hop in America: A Regional Guide Vol. 1, RZA began to delve into Islam and learned about the significance of the letter Z, which refers to the highest level of human consciousness. Noting that the name stands for “Ruler, Zi-Zag-Zig, Allah,” which translates into “Ruler, Knowledge-Wisdom-Understanding, Allah” — aka RZA.
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