Hulu has ordered a scripted drama series based on the true stories of the Wu-Tang Clan. This may very well be the streaming service’s answer to Netflix’s hip-hop content push. With ten episodes on deck, it will draw inspiration from the philosophical books The Wu-Tang Manual and Tao Of Wu, both written by de-facto leader RZA.
Titled Wu-Tang: An American Saga, this project will see Alex Tse (Watchmen, SuperFly) collaborate with RZA himself behind the cameras and in the writing room. RZA and Tse will also serve as an executive producer alongside Method Man and Brian Grazer (Empire, Genius). GZA, Ghostface Killah, Masta Killa, Inspectah Deck, as well as the Estate of Ol’ Dirty Bastard are also on-board as consulting producers.
The first episodes will be set in New York during the 1990s “… at the height of the crack cocaine epidemic…”. We can expect to witness the formation of the Clan from the vision of a one Bobby Digs (aka RZA). Digs/RZA will “… [strive] to unite a dozen young black men who are torn between music and crime…”, before their eventual and meteoric rise in becoming “… the unlikeliest of American success stories…”.
“Wu-Tang, through our music, has always strove to inspire as we entertain,” says RZA.
“This opportunity to continue the Wu saga in a ten-episode series will exponentially increase our inspirational style of entertainment. In the immortal words of [Ol’ Dirty Bastard], ‘Wu-Tang is for the Children.’”
“Imagine: Hulu and Wu-Tang — I’m thrilled with this collaboration,” says Method Man.
“This is a major win for hip-hop.”
Wu-Tang: An American Saga marks the second on-screen project RZA has helmed behind the cameras and in the writing room. The first being the 2011 highly-stylised martial arts film, The Man with the Iron Fist, of which he penned and directed with the help of Quentin Tarantino and Eli Roth.
To date, Wu-Tang has released five gold and platinum albums, sold forty million albums internationally, and irrevocably changed the course of modern hip-hop.
More to come on this.
