The Making Of Liquid Swords
by David Ma
I represent from midnight to high noon / I don’t waste ink, nigga I think / I drop megaton bombs more faster than you blink.” —GZA, Liquid Swords.
“It was clear. It was fresh,” replied GZA, when asked how his head was while making Liquid Swords. “We were on a roll, and it was the perfect time to get in the studio and just do it.”
The year was ‘95 and the first generation of Wu-Tang solo projects was gripping fans globally. And for his part, GZA never did waste ink and has shown a penchant for writing since Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) and his debut, Words From The Genius. Even in a year of memorable releases, Liquid Swords’ rhymes coupled with RZA’s cinematic beats stood tall, furthering Wu-Tang’s dominance to this day.
Thirteen years later, Liquid Swords continues to age well and is a stellar case of quality ’90s hip-hop. Here for the first time ever, GZA talks about the making of the heralded classic, breaking down the album track-by-track and allowing insight into vital era in which it was made.
What was your writing process like at the time?
Real slow. I don’t say slow in the sense that it necessarily took me a long time to finish what I’m writing. I mean, Raekwon and Ghostface can step in and record a song in about forty-five minutes. I on the other hand, would often go back and finish rhymes that I started. I would say I pieced things together [more] slowly then. Songs generally take me two to three days to write. Sometimes I take different sentences and put them together.
For a few tracks on the album I remember, the beat would be running and it’d be four o’clock in the afternoon. We’d be smoking and you know how weed takes its toll on you. I’d just get tired and sit in the same spot all day. I’d take a nap, hang out, nap later, woke up and finish a track. RZA would leave and go to the city to handle business. He’d come home hours later and I’d still be writing same shit I started when he left [laughs].
What did you think of RZA’s beats for Liquid Swords when he first showed them to you?
I loved them. A lot of them had a grimey, rock-like feel to them. The majority of the album was done at RZA’s house, in the basement. It was [a] small, two-bedroom apartment where he showed me all the beats he had made. We did a lot of stuff there, including Tical I think, so it’s hard to remember the exact moment, or time, he showed me which beat. I just remember absolutely loving them.
The album heavily samples the film Shogun Assassin and keeps a dark atmosphere throughout its course. Were you trying to stick to a theme for the album?
It’s the story of a shogun told through different narratives and scenarios. It’s not a theme, but more like a thread throughout the album.
Had you seen Shogun Assassin by then?
No, I hadn’t actually. While we were mastering the album, RZA asked the engineer to go out and get it and bring it back to us. That’s when I watched it. I loved it immediately and thought it fit with the album well.
Did you feel like you made a classic after it was done?
Its hard to say something is gonna be classic or not. But I can say that I felt the magic with that one. I actually saw it grow and come together, and felt that it was special as we were doing it.
You’ve never talked real in-depth about Liquid Swords before. Are you down to talk about each track on the album?
Sure, let’s do it.
“Liquid Swords”—This track is just braggadocios. It isn’t meant to stand for anything. I’m talking about my skills and how I’m better than the rest. Usually I take a beat home and write to it for a few days, but it wasn’t like that with this track. I think RZA played the beat for me and I just spit to it right there. The hook was actually a routine from around ‘84 that me RZA and Ol’ Dirty would do: [sings "When the emcees came, to live out the name." Just like that.
"Duel Of The Iron Mic"—This might be my favorite track on the album. I like how I delivered on this one, and I love RZA's beat. I remember writing to it and that it took me a while because I was trying different things. I remember being so happy after Ol' Dirty [Bastard] blessed the track like he did. I love how the recording sounds too. When we perform this song live, the music gets real low for Deck’s part, and then it comes in real loud and it still always gets me hype. I also love the skit at the beginning. I just love that shit.
“Living In The World Today”—I just remember sitting in the basement for hours and writing it over and over. I don’t know what actually transpired during the making of this. But as far as the song itself, it was another old-school hook taken from a crew we knew from the Bronx. They used to say something like: “And if you listen to me rap today, you be hearing the sounds that my crew will say. And we know you wish you can write them, we’ll don’t bite them, well okay…”. So I flipped it and said: “Well if you’re living in the world today, you’ll be listening to the slang that the Wu-Tang say…” and so on. It’s just another old-school hook we took and had some fun with.
“Gold”—This is a great track. I really love the beat a lot. It has sorta has a rock vibe to it, and Meth helped with the hook. The whole song is on a street-hustling-vibe tip. The whole song is talking about hustling and stuff like that, but I don’t say it plainly. It’s a street tale, not a let’s-get-your-grind-on song. And the hook is actually kind of taken from the Diana Ross and the Supremes song, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” In the ’80s we’d used to harmonize a lot and we sang a similar hook: [sings] “No neighborhood is rough enough, there is no clip that’s full enough… See? Like that. We used to sing the chorus and harmonize with each other. That’s how that one came bout.
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