The Wu-Tang Clan revealed a darker, more mature sound on their new album, 8 Diagrams, and it’s not the only way the Staten Island rappers have grown up. GZA, the group’s oldest member at 41, has given up pot. “I’m done with that,” he says. It’s part of an effort to become more productive; GZA hasn’t produced a solid solo effort since 1995’s Liquid Swords. “I could have done so much more in the past,” he says. “I’d get up, roll a blunt at seven in the morning. If I played chess online, I wanted a blunt. If I read a book, I would smoke a blunt, and then I’m reading the same page like five times.” He stopped smoking two years ago, but then the Clan went on tour this summer, and he relapsed. “I don’t know one Clan member that doesn’t smoke weed,” he says. “In certain towns, people would just hand you weed.” He quit again when he realized his car smelled; now he makes guests smoke before they ride with him. As for increased productivity, he’s had another realization. “I’m just really, really laid-back-slash-lazy,” he says. “Last minute with everything. And now I can’t blame the weed.”
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