RZA, the iconic Wu-Tang producer, collaborated with Brooklyn’s finest, Flatbush Zombies, on a new Tarantino-inspired song and video, “Plug Addicts.” The old school and new school of New York rap collided in this gritty, hard-mouthed collaboration. 

The video to “Plug Addicts” pays homage to Quentin Tarantino’s classic movies. RZA assumes the role of executioner, reimagining Mr. Blonde’s iconic cop-torture scene, while the Zombies find themselves trapped in a giant birdcage. Shot in an abandoned theater in Downtown LA, RZA and the Zombies are clad in Reservoir Dogs-style black-and-white suits. 

Not only are the visuals top notch, RZA’s beat is hauntingly menacing yet also beautifully cinematic. Falling under the spooky boom-bap style that has been making a resurgence, RZA layers a lush symphony of violins over a vinyl-crackled kick and snare drum beat that feels nothing other than classic. Erick The Architect starts off the song with a verse that picks every pocket of the beat. His flow is calculated yet not slow. He gives a shout out to RZA with the bar, “Rather unique RZA craft, this immaculate beat.” RZA hops on next with a short verse hyping up every member of Flatbush Zombies to glue the song together. Meechy Darko follows with his unmistakable gravelly-voice, wandering flow and murderous lyrics: “Piss on your grave, suck your mudda, I give two shits.” Zombie Juice closes out the song describing a murder scene with lines like, “I got a body in the trunk, had to check for cameras” and “We can hack him into pieces, burn them up, buried in feces.” Every member of Zombies slides perfectly on the track. 

RZA said about working with Zombies, “I’ve had my eyes on the Flatbush Zombies for sometime now. Their style of Dark hip hop lyricism is reminiscent of my days in the Gravediggaz. This type of collaboration was overdue.” Erick Arc Elliott (Erick The Architect) further elaborated, “In a lot of ways I saw RZA in myself, as a fellow producer/artist. We are making history together at this very moment. The music he’s made over the course of his career had a lot to do with why I wanted to make music in the first place, it’s beautiful to see these things come full circle.”

Back in June, RZA released a single called “Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater,” which paid homage to classic Kung-Fu movies. 

Photo Credit: Owen Ela