With his ineffable lyricism and insatiable intellectual curiosity, rapper and Wu-Tang Clan cofounder GZA is one of hip-hop’s all-time greatest MCs and thinkers. • In his youth, GZA performed alongside his cousins RZA and Ol’ Dirty Bastard in the rap trio Force of the Imperial Master, which later became All In Together Now. • GZA dropped out of high school to focus on music and eventually signed to Cold Chillin’ Records, through which he released his 1991 debut album, Words from the Genius, under the stage name The Genius. • The following year, GZA reunited with his cousins to form what soon became the nine-man Wu-Tang Clan. In 1993, they delivered their landmark debut album, Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). • In 1995, GZA released his most renowned body of work, Liquid Swords. The platinum-certified album is regarded as a hip-hop classic. • His 1999 album Beneath the Surface reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. • In 2010, GZA began lecturing at universities on physics, space and hip-hop, appearing at Harvard, MIT and NYU. In 2012, he partnered with Columbia University and Genius to create a hip-hop–themed science program for students of colour. • GZA collaborated with NASA to release his 2016 space-themed single “The Spark”, a rhapsodic narration of the creation of the universe.