- The leader of the Wu-Tang Clan Prince Rakeem has released a couple of singles and albums under his alias, Bobby Digital. He has other names which he has used at different times in his musical career.
- The 55-year-old rapper has composed quite a couple of original soundtracks for movies and has built his career as an actor and a director. Some of the movies he has credit for include Gang Related and Californication.
- RZA has been married to the beautiful former model, Talani Rabb-Diggs for 15 years and they share a son together. However, the rapper has six other children from his previous relationships.
Prince Rakeem has used multiple aliases over the years. These names are said to suit his different lyrical styles and personalities. Aside from RZA, the American rapper has used names such as The Abbot, Bobby Digital, Bobby Steels, The Scientist, Prince Delight, Prince dynamite, and Ruler Zig-Zag-Zig Allah.
Working now as a filmmaker, the rapper is said to be the de facto leader of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan. He is also related to two other original wu-tang clan members, GZA and Ol’Dirty Bastard. Also, Rakeem later became a founding member of the horrorcore group Gravediggaz before he ventured into filmmaking.
His music style is reportedly highly influential and has made him one of the greatest hip-hop producers of all time.
The Rapper Was Not Born A “Prince”
On July 5, 1969, the rapper was born in Brownsville, Brooklyn. Due to the way his mother admired the Kennedy brothers Robert and Fitzgerald, he was named Robert Fitzgerald Diggs after them.
He was raised alongside his older brother Mitchell divine Diggs and Terrance Hamlin(9th rapper). At the age of three, he moved to his uncle’s place in North Carolina before he later relocated to Steubenville Ohio in 1990 to live with his mother.
He Started Competing In Rap Battles At The Age Of Eleven
At the age of nine, Prince Hakeem was introduced to the hip-hop music scene and by the time he was eleven, he was engaging in rap battles. Later on, he formed a rap group with his cousin Gary Grice in 1985.
In 1989, the rapper got signed by Tommy Boy as a solo artist and he went under the name Prince Rakeem. Unfortunately, he didn’t do quite well so he was dropped.
After going through a few challenges, he came together with two of his cousins and five of his childhood friends to form Wu-Tang Clan. The group was named after the 1993 kung fu movie Shaolin and Wu-Tang. All the group members decided to choose new names and Prince Rakeem chose RZA.
The name, RZA according to the rapper meant Ruler, Zig Zag Zig, Allah. The group released its first single, protect ya neck in 1992, and in November 1993, they released their debut album Enter the Wu-Tang(36 chambers).
A couple of years passed and all the group members went solo. However, Rakeem continued to produce everything the group had earlier recorded between 1944 to 1996. As a solo artist, he was known as “Bobby Digital”.
He continued to work with some of his former group members to work on some of the group’s projects as the years pass by. A few of the singles he produced gained so much recognition and topped some music charts.
Between 1998 to 2000, the American rapper stopped producing Wu-Tang albums. and in his measure to focus more on his movie directing career, he released his final solo album The Cure.
The Brookly native later became known as Rzarector and formed another group called Gravediggaz together with Prince Paul, Frukwan, and Poetic.
However, even on the verge of ending his musical career, he had offers from Bad boy records, Aftermath Records, Interscope, and Def Jam to produce Wu-Tang Clan’s music.
Prince Rakeem’s Acting And Directing Career
The rapper started making his moves into composing film scores in 1999. He made a brief cameo in his first work, Ghost Dog: The Way of The Samurai(1999). Later on, in 2004, he co-scored David S. Goyer’s Blade: Trinity.
In 2007, he produced the soundtrack of the Japanese anime Afro Samurai and that same year, he also released the instrumental, The RZA-Instrumental experience. And from 2005 to 2008, he worked with the bassist Shavo Odadjian on the Project Achozen. Prince Rakeem worked n several projects and that includes writing and directing films such as The Man with the Iron Fists.
Aside from that, he has as well acted in quite a number of films and TV series such as American Gangster and Brick Mansions, Gang Related, and Californication.
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Is He Married?
Based on reports from different sources, RZA has been married twice. He married his first wife Eboni Mills in 2000. During their marriage, the couple had four children, Shaquasia, Melchizedek, Understanding, and Eternity Diggs.
The rapper had a child(Prana Supreme Diggs) outside his marriage with the lead vocalist of Wu-Tang, Tekitha Washington. There is yet another child who has been identified as Raindia Diggs.
The marriage between Mills and RZA ended in divorce in 2006 and barely after three years, he found love in the arms of a former model called Talani Rabb-Diggs.
The exchange of marital vows of the couple took place in Santa Barbar in the presence of their guest and family on 29 August 2009.
The couple has been married for 15 years and they share a child together.
Here Are Some Other Facts About The Co-Founder of The Wu-Tang Clan
1. The rapper believes chess is an integral part of his creative process
While growing up, RZA reportedly played the game of chess. In 2007, he and his cousin GZA competed in the 2007 Hip Hop Chess Federation Kings Invitational Tournament. He also revealed that he keeps a chessboard in the studio and it helps him focus his mind on one thing at a time.
2. The 55-year-old rapper turned actor is a Vegan and an advocate for PETA
The rapper revealed during an interview that there is no animal in this world that would not want to live and he would not want to have the flesh of a dead animal in his own body.
On behalf of PETA, RZA has promoted the vegan lifestyle and compassion for animals. According to reports, he was a pescetarian until 1997.
3. His wife started modeling at the age of 16
Talani Rabb began her modeling career and acting on stage at the tender age of 10. By the time she was 16, she was signed to Ford Model Agency. She has worked in different parts of the world and has featured in different magazines’ covers from Europe down to Africa.
4 Prince Rakeem shared his reason for using different names and identities during his musical career
According to an interview with hip hop core, Prince Rakeem likened his many names to the different names of Allah. He added that each name has its attribute and to him, the names reflect his personality being that he does not act the same way with all the people in his life.
5. He has embraced a few belief systems
The Wu-Tang clan rapper has reportedly embraced belief systems such as Taoism, Buddhism, Islam, and also Christianity. Also, he is a major advocate of an Islam-influenced Black Movement called the Five-Percent Nation.
6. RZA and his wife created a lipstick line
The American rapper is said to be equally business inclined. As a way of expanding the Wu-Tang Clan businesses, he announced in 2018 that he was going to partner with Alamo Drafthouse to open a kung-fu themed bar. Also, a new lipstick line called Wu-Tang x Milk Makeup was created by RZA and his wife.
The Wu-Tang clan has other notable lines of business which iknclude the Wu Wear clothing line and martial arts-infused video games.
7. What is his net worth?
The primetime emmy awards nominee has received numerous nominations and a few wins thus far. He has excelled not just as a rapper but also a director, actor and a businessman.
At the moment, Prince Rakeem is said tohave a net worth of about $18 million. He has reportedly amassed this huge wealth over the years in his career and businesses.
As a way of giving back, the rapper and his clan launched their own brand of hand sanitiser, “Protect Ya Hands” in 2020. Also, being the leader of Wu-Tang, RZA has donated the proceeds from Wu-Tang’s Once Upon A Time In Shaolin to the HIp-Hop Chess Federeation.
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