“Grits” by RZA
RZA
By Natalie Silver
Will Ferrell once told Rolling Stone that the “dinner scene” is incredibly advantageous to comedy because it forces a natural halt in the narrative, giving the writers space to let the characters truly play out. In comedy, the dinner scene is a tame, daily, and universally experienced setting that serves as the perfect neutral for outrageous behavior to be juxtaposed against; in literature, poetry, music, and cinematic dramas, the dinner scene is equally important for a similar reason—it’s a window into the truths of individual existences. It’s a chance to look in, slow down, come together, and disrobe the day. At dinner, everything is exposed.
RZA’s “Grits” from his 2003 studio album “Birth of a Prince” is, quite literally, a song about eating grits for dinner, and RZA manages to use the imagery of this meal as a vehicle to convey an entire memoir of his upbringing.
“Grits” is RZA’s most popular solo track, but certainly not his claim to fame. Founder, leader and mastermind behind the Wu-Tang Clan, RZA changed the hip hop world forever and influenced the next generation of its genre’s leaders. Perhaps more significant and special than his lyrical charm, offbeat flow, business savviness and messianic instinct, however, is his uncanny and freakish talent in music production.
RZA and GZA of the Wu-Tang Clan
We all know this from his work in the Wu-Tang Clan, his soundtrack and film production, his time with Gravediggaz and beyond. But his solo projects are more understated, and what he exhibits in them is something different altogether.
Of course, “Grits” still has Prince Rakeem’s magic touch in production. Sampling the classic soul piece by Jones & Blumenberg, “I Forgot to Remember,” RZA has Allah Real come in and sing the hook, which is mixed so seamlessly that it sounds like it was written with the sample itself, perfectly setting the tone of soulful retrospection.
But this nostalgic song is a double-edged sword. It’s a sweet tale of a humble and bonded existence, but it is also one that exposes an incredibly limited livelihood. RZA, somehow, through as few words as possible, beautifully conveys the impossibility of poverty, its social entrapments, and its natural liaison into crime and self-destruction. Though not explicitly referenced, RZA himself was acquitted of an attempted murder charge in the early ‘90s. This song is an ode to his roots, and a testimony to the intensity of their conditions.
“Four seeds in the bed, eight seeds in the room
Afternoon cartoon, we would fight for the spoon
Old Earth in the kitchen, yell ‘it’s time to eat’
Across the foyer, ya hear the gather of stampeding feet”
The first verse is about innocence and youth, and the second, performed by Masta Killa, is laced with introspection from the weathered perspective of the young adult, conveying the thrills and tragedies of the inevitable mortality of innocence.
“Your Old Earth can't afford what ya friends got
So you roll up to the spot, with ya thing ‘pon cock
And it seems worth the takin’, stomach achin’”
The song ends by going back to the refrain—the truth that has remained constant, be it retrospective or indicative of the present. Either way, eating grits for dinner every night represents the brutal stagnancy of low-income urban realities, and still the sweet, hearty comfort that it is not necessarily something experienced alone.
It’s another stroke of brilliance from RZA. This time, however, it is through the song of lived experience—an echo of the past that ages into fervent doctrine.
Natalie Silver is a native Californian who recently graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Media Studies. She believes that the critical millennial voice is the most prolific threat to contemporary systems of oppression, and she would rather die than work in tech. Alas, she fell into independent journalism.
