Today we will talk about RZA, who is a popular American rapper and record producer. He is a winner of Grammy awards and his career is very rich.
It is important to know that RZA is not only a rapper, but he is also a singer and an actor. There are a couple of movies in which you will recognize this rapper. It is interesting to say that he is also an author and we will mention his books in this article as well.
If you would like to find out who RZA is and why he has been so popular, then you should read this article. You will see all about his both professional and private life and we hope that you will find many interesting things here.
We will start from his early years and childhood.
Early Years
Robert Fitzgerald Diggs was born on July 5, 1969. His birth place was Brownsville, Brooklyn that is located in New York City.
First we will tell you where his name comes from. It is known that the mother of RZA was delighted with the life and work of an American politician Robert Kennedy and she also admired a politician John Fitzgerald Kennedy. That’s how the mother of RZA chose the name for her son.
It is also important to say that RZA has a brother and he is also popular in the music world. He is known by his stage name 9th Prince, but his real name is Terrance Hamlin.
It is interesting to know that RZA lived with his uncle in North Carolina for a couple of years, until RZA was 7 years old. The uncle of RZA gave him motivation to go to school and to study. RZA started listening to hip hop music when he was only 9 years old and at the age of 11 he participated in many rap battles.
In the year 1990 RZA moved to Steubenville in Ohio and he was living with his mother at that time.
However, at weekends he was going to Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, in order to spend some time with his father as well.
As very young RZA was dealing drugs and he was even charged of having tried to kill someone while he was in Steubenville. However, he was given the second chance and he was not in jail for a longer period of time.
Now you are going to see many interesting things about the career of RZA and his most popular singles and albums.
Career
The first thing we have to tell you about the career of RZA is that he is not only a rapper and musician, but he is also a record producer, actor and author. The list of his occupations is very long and we can say that he is very successful in everything he is doing.
However, we will start from his music career.
At the beginning of his career RZA created a group together with Gary Grice and Russell Jones, who are his cousins. This group had the name All in Together Now.
However, this group was never very successful and they had their performances in local areas only. In the year 1991 RZA released his EP called Ooh I Love You Rakeem and he used his stage name Prince Rakeem. It was the beginning of a solo career of this popular American rapper.
However, in the next year (1992) he decided again to form a group with his cousins that we have already mentioned. This group included his 5 friends from childhood as well. This way the group had 8 members.
This group had a name Wu-Tang Clan and it is interesting to say that each member from this group chose a nickname that he is going to use from that moment. This way Robert Diggs also chose his nickname RZA. The first and one of the most popular singles from the group Wu-Tang Clan was Protect Ya Neck. It was released in the year 1992. At the end of this year this group got a new member as well.
The ninth member of this group was an American rapper Masta Killa. In 1993 The Wu-Tang Clan released their album under the name Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). The second album of this group was released in 1997 and its name was Wu-Tang Forever.
When we talk about the career of RZA, we have to mention that he was composing the scores for different films. We will mention his work on a crime film Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai that was released in 1999. In 2007 he made a film score for Japanese series called Afro Samurai. This series was very popular because Samuel L. Jackson was acting there.
The year 2007 was also important for the career of RZA because in this year he released his instrumental album that had a name The RZA-Instrumental Experience. Later RZA collaborated with an American rapper Kanye West and he helped him on his album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
The acting career of RZA is also important and we are going to mention a couple of the films in which he starred. Those are Duo Date, Ghost Dog, Funny People, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping. He also appeared in an American crime film American Gangster.
Also, he had a role in a science fiction movie called Repo Men. It is also important to say that he is a lover of martial arts movies and he played in one of those movies. Its name was Tom Yum Goong 2.
One of the most important roles that RZA had in his acting career was a role in martial arts film The Man with the Iron Fists that was released in the year 2012. Another movie in the acting career of RZA was a zombie comedy film The Dead Don’t Die that was released in 2019.
We have also to mention that RZA is an author and he has written following books: The Tao of Wu (2009), The Wu-Tang Manual (2004), etc.
Now you will see the most relevant facts about the personal life of this popular American rapper. We will reveal you his marital status, but also many other interesting things.
Personal Life
First we will tell you something about the current love situation of RZA. This rapper is married to an actress and a former model Talani Rabb since August 2009. Before he married her, he was in a marriage with Eboni Mills. It is said that he has 2 children from his marriage with Eboni Mills and a son from his marriage with Talani Rabb. There are also rumours that he has two children with two other women but their names are not known.
RZA is a member of the movement called Five-Percent Nation and he is very devoted to religion. In his books he wrote about it, so if you read his books, you can see that his religion is actually the mix of Taoism, Buddhism, Islam, Confucianism and Christianity. The most important books that he wrote related to religion are The Tao of Wu and The Wu-Tang Manual. When it comes to his favourite books, we have to mention The Bible, as well as The Quran. Also, he likes to read a book Lotus Sutra.
We can also mention the hobbies of RZA. This popular American rapper enjoys watching films, especially martial arts movies and some of the movies that he likes most are Ninja Scroll, Five Deadly Venoms, Fist of the North Star, etc.
Another hobby that RZA has is chess, so it is useful to mention that he is the champion of the so called Hip-Hop Federation for Chess.
Another important detail from the personal life of RZA is that he is a vegan and he is also a member of PETA organization that is known as the biggest animal rights organization in America.
Even though RZA was born in Brownsville, Brooklyn, nowadays he lives in Millstone Township in New Jersey.
Biography
Full name: Robert Fitzgerald Diggs
Nickname: RZA, Prince Delight, Prince Rakeem, Bobby Steels
Date of Birth: July 5, 1969
Age: 50
Birth-sign: Cancer
Birth place: Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, U.S.
Residence: Millstone Township, New Jersey, U.S.
Education: Curtis High School
Occupation: Rapper, record producer, musician, author, actor
Personal Life and Family
Nationality: American
Ethnicity: African-American (Black)
Siblings: RZA has 10 siblings and some of them are his younger brother 9th Prince, a sister Sophia Diggs, a brother Mitchell Diggs, etc. Not all names of his siblings are known to the public.
Marital status: Married
Wife: Talani Rabb
Children: 5
Hobbies: Playing chess, watching martial arts movies
Personal Look and Measurements
Height: 188 cm (6’ 2”)
Weight: 84 kg (185.19 lbs)
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Dark Brown
Distinctive Features: Around his neck he is wearing the flag of Islam in the form of a pendant
He has a very long face
Net Worth and Salary
Net worth: $18 million
The estimated net worth of this American rapper is about 18 million dollars. Undoubtedly he is among the richest rappers and singers in general.
The most important source of his wealth is music, but he is also earning money from acting and appearing on television.
Below you will see links that may help you join RZA on social networks and find out more details from his life.
Social Networks
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RZA (764K followers)
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rza/ (672K followers)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RZAWU/
Quick Summary
RZA, whose full name is Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, is one of the most popular American rappers today.
He was born in Brownsville, Brooklyn, in the year 1969. A part of his childhood he spent in North Carolina with his uncle.
After that RZA moved to Ohio and he lived with his mother there, but he also visited his father in Pittsburgh.
Since 2009 he is in a marriage with Talani Rabb, but he was also married before her. His ex wife was Eboni Mills.
As we have already said RZA has 5 children and two of them are with the women whose identities are not known. His hobbies are playing chess and watching movies, particularly martial arts movies.
To sum up, we can say that Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, known as RZA, is among the most popular celebrities in the U.S. If you love rap music, then you will certainly enjoy in his songs, as well as in watching some of his movies.