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By Shauna Stuart | For the Birmingham Times
The Wu-Tang Clan experience doesn’t stop at the stage. For more than 30 years, the legendary hip hop group has ensured its mantra “Wu-Tang is for the children” extends far beyond ODB’s famous 1998 Grammy’s statement to a living connection between the music, the movement, and the people.
The Wu-Tang Forever: The Final Chamber Tour kicked off last summer. Now on its final leg, the tour has included pop-up community experiences in Kansas City and Memphis where fans can connect with Wu-Tang culture and legacy.
On Saturday, Wu-Tang brought that philosophy to Birmingham. Hours before the Wu-Tang Clan took the stage at Coca-Cola Amphitheater, Wu-Tang Management’s John “Mook” Gibbons and Ray Acosta hosted a candid conversation with Birmingham youth at High Dive HiFi Lounge.
The morning talk was one of two Wu-Tang Clan celebration events in Lakeview Marina, including a merchandise pop-up and DJ set at Seasick Records. After digging in the crates at Seasick, attendees, including youth participants in Birmingham’s RESTORE Juvenile Reentry Program lined the seats in the listening lounge for an intimate talk on life lessons and the music industry.
John DiJayuice Paulhill of Wu-Tang Radio, John “Mook” Gibbons, CEO of Wu-Tang Management, and Ray Acosta, CMO of Wu-Tang Management, sit on the steps of 16th Street Baptist Church. (Marika N. Johnson, For The Birmingham Times)Planting Roots
“We’re literally in the presence of greatness and history,” said Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin. “But what I love about the Wu is that they’re intentional about community impact. And when they come into a community that they descend upon, they decide to plant real roots. I’m glad the roots they’re planting today are in front of our youth, particularly our Black boys and our young Black men.”
The event started on a solemn note as Gibbons and Acosta shared personal accounts of friends and family who were incarcerated.
During the question-and-answer portion of the event, the conversation shifted to the music business as both men discussed their early careers and rise in the industry. To segue into the discussion, Gibbons and Acosta asked the youth attendees to name career paths they wanted to pursue. Some named creative arts fields, including filmmaking and music. Others named trades, cybersecurity, or the Marine Corps.
Gibbons noted that all of those professions could lead to careers in the music industry, from videographers to engineers who monitor sound.
“You got to find your lane,” Gibbons said. “We’ve got HVAC workers hooking up the equipment, whatever needs to be done. It runs throughout the whole system. There’s enough room and enough things in this business that everyone can be a part of. You don’t have to be a singer or a rapper. There’s plenty of other jobs that can just make you wealthy.”
Elijah Rhynes listens to a talk by John “Mook” Gibbons and Ray Acosta of Wu-Tang Management at High Dive HiFi Lounge. (Marika N. Johnson, For The Birmingham Times)Marketing, Branding and Building
Twenty-year-old Elijah Rhynes, a hip hop artist who also works closely with the Restore program, asked Gibbons and Acosta how they stayed motivated to build their craft as the music industry changed over the decades.
Acosta’s advice: learn the difference between marketing and branding. He said marketing focuses on promoting an image and building relationships, while a brand is an identity.
“You have to become a brand among your peers, in your school, in your surroundings. Let people know what you’re doing. And the best thing you can do when you create a song is to tell your crew and get them involved.”
Artists marketing a brand need to think beyond simply releasing a song. Marketing, Acosta said, involves building a personal network and seeking honest feedback. But today, with the help of smartphones, YouTube, and streaming services, building a personal brand is more accessible, and one of the best courses budding artists can take is to post consistently on social media.
“It’s just about you promoting your music on your own. Wherever you go, you got to tell people what you’re doing,” said Acosta.
Acosta went back to school to take marketing and branding courses early in his career. Later, he started a design agency. He met Wu-Tang Clan leader RZA, who recruited him to work with members of the Wu-Tang team, including the late Oliver ‘Power” Grant.
One of Acosta’s projects was to fine-tune the Wu-Tang logo, originally hand-drawn by DJ Mathematics.
“Ray tightened it up,” Gibbons said. “He sharpened it up and did what he had to do to make it look more business-like.”
Over the years, Acosta built a roster of clients, including FUBU and Sony.
Ray Acosta, CMO of Wu-Tang Management, talks to youth and young adults from Birmingham’s RESTORE program at High Dive HiFi Lounge. (Marika N. Johnson, For The Birmingham Times)“Believe In Your Product”
Initially, Gibbons didn’t know anything about the music industry. But he had street smarts and a keen business sense.
“I took my entrepreneur skills, and I said to my brothers, ‘This is just another product. We sell sodas, beers, and waters on the beach in Coney Island. This is just another product to sell. How are we going to sell it?’”
He tapped into his skills for one of Wu-Tang’s earliest success stories: selling 40,000 Wu-Tang records.
“We sold 40,000 units out of the trunk of our cars. You ever heard that story?” Gibbons asked attendees. “I was the only one that had a car at the time, and I’m the one that sold the 40,000 units.”
It was the early 90s and Gibbons’ conversations with record stores kept stalling. Doors were slammed in his face, and DJs wouldn’t meet with him because they didn’t know who he was. And if any DJs did take one of Wu-Tang’s tapes, they wouldn’t play it.
So Gibbons came up with another plan. He took the track to the hottest record store in New York City, Rock and Soul. After some persistence, he eventually got one of the shop’s DJs to play the tape. Then, he sent one of his cousins into the shop to request the track.
The ploy worked, said Gibbons.
Wu-Tang’s music was already being played on underground radio stations, and when other people showed up to the record shop, they started requesting the tape. One of the staffers at Rock and Soul ended up buying two cases of the tape.
By the time Gibbons got home, the shop was paging him — they wanted more tapes. So, Gibbons brought over six cases.
“We utilized that method from New York City all the way to Florida. We even came here (to Birmingham),” said Gibbons. “And that’s how we got popular because everybody loved the record at that point.”
“You have to take the time out to let your music be heard. That’s the most important,” Gibbons continued. “You got to believe in your product.”
Suaze spins a set at the Wu-Tang Clan merchandise pop at at Seasick Records on Saturday. (Marika N. Johnson, For The Birmingham Times)The Full Experience
Attendees left Gibbons and Acosta’s talk ready to put their advice into practice.
For Rhynes, who goes by the artist name Jackboi Fetti, the conversation motivated him to start releasing his music more consistently.
“I only have a couple songs out right now,” said Rhynes. “They kind of made me feel like I need to put more out there. I’m trying my best to work on some more.”
Shakir Raoof, also known as rap artist Luh Blac, doesn’t know much of Wu-Tang’s music catalogue but he is a fan of “Watch Wu-Tang: An American Saga,” the Hulu drama series created by RZA and Alex Tse that chronicles the formation and rise of the group in the early 90s.
Raoof, who has been rapping for two years, says he’s learned lessons about the music industry from watching the show, including how record labels try to change an artist.
“Even once you become established, people can deter your ideas,” said Raoof. “I don’t want to never get burnt out on that type and that stigma. I don’t want to go that far. I want to get enough money out of (the industry) so I can go make my own label so I can go get underground artists. I want to go build a lot of artists because I feel like there’s a lot of people out here in the world that’s good. They just don’t get the chance.”
Tim Wormly and Yamika Foy of the Birmingham Housing Authority have worked with youth for decades. They teamed up with youth safety organizer Jacobi Williams to put together a group of youth and young adults, including Raoof, to attend Saturday’s talk.
“We’ve got to keep all of our children exposed to different things that are going on through Birmingham because a lot of times they sometimes get the short end of the stick,” said Foy. “So, we’ve got to make sure that we keep them exposed. We’ll transport them to make sure they get the full experience of what’s going on.”
Advocating for a city’s youth is central to Wu-Tang’s values. For Wu-Tang, the phrase “Wu Tang is for the children,” starts with teaching and listening.
“That’s what we do. We make it our business to attempt every stop we make to share our love and to express our history so that the young can know it’s reachable. Because we basically came from the same place all these young people came from,” said Gibbons. “From the hoods of Brooklyn, hoods of Manhattan, New York City hoods. We had our troubles in the past too, but we made it out and we showed everyone else it’s definitely possible that you can make it out.”
Shamika Bottom, John DiJayuice Paulhill, and Leroy Brown of Wu-Tang Radio pose for a photograph at the Wu-Tang Clan merchandise pop at at Seasick Records on Saturday. (Shauna Stuart, For The Birmingham Times)
