📍Park Hill, Staten Island, NY 10304, USA
1978 – 1993“Robert Fitzgerald Diggs was born in Brownsville, Brooklyn, in July 1969, and spent part of his early childhood with an uncle in North Carolina, who encouraged him to read and study. Back in New York, he grew up in crowded apartments in Brooklyn and in the projects of Staten Island, at one point sharing a two-bedroom apartment with eighteen relatives. His cousins Gary Grice and Russell Jones, later known as GZA and Ol' Dirty Bastard, were his closest companions, and the three were obsessed with music. At nine, he heard rap for the first time at a block party, and within two years he was battling other MCs. He loved martial arts films and would skip school to watch kung fu movies in the theatres of 42nd Street, absorbing their ideas of discipline, loyalty and brotherhood, and he became fascinated by chess and by the teachings of the Nation of Gods and Earths. With his cousins he formed a group called All in Together Now, which became well known locally. He also spent time living with his mother in Steubenville, Ohio, and with his father in Pittsburgh. After an early solo record failed, he returned to Staten Island, which he and his friends called Shaolin, and in 1992 he brought together the Wu-Tang Clan, nine rappers from Staten Island and Brooklyn, named after the kung fu film Shaolin and Wu Tang. Their debut, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), produced by RZA, changed hip-hop. He went on to compose film scores and direct films, and created an online chess community for hip-hop fans. Staten Island renamed a street Wu-Tang Clan District in honour of the group.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today