Post-Hamilton, we’re all used to the idea of a hip-hop musical. So why not a hip-hop ballet?
Well, that’s exactly what Wu-Tang Clan man RZA has written. He’s teamed up with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra to record a ‘classical ballet album’ called A Ballet Through Mud, which is set to land in late August.
The soundtrack made its debut last autumn when it was first performed with the orchestra in Denver.
It’s 11 tracks long and apparently soundtracks "a poignant coming-of-age story that delves into the complexities of love, the bonds of friendship, and personal growth".
The project is a leftover from Covid when RZA found himself thumbing through old lyrical notebooks dating back decades. Inspired by what he’d written back then, he revisited the ideas and set about writing what will be his first classical record.
In a statement, the Wu-Tang Clan rapper and producer said: "I have been composing my whole life, although I didn't know initially that was what I was doing.
"The inspiration for A Ballet Through Mud comes from my earliest creative output as a teenager, but its themes are universal – love, exploration and adventure.
"I hope people use it to score their own lives, to transform a drive to the grocery store or sharing a meal with loved ones into something magical, to be inspired and let their imaginations take them into a different chamber, if only for a moment."
It’s not the first time RZA has dabbled in classical music. Indeed he seems to be acquiring something of a taste for it. Last November he staged an orchestral re-interpretation of the Wu-Tang’s classic 1993 36 Chambers album at the Gramercy Theatre in New York. And at the first performance of A Ballet Through Mud, the producer also live-scored a condensed version of The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin, the kung fu film that inspired that album and indeed the whole Wu-Tang project.
A Ballet Through Mud will be released on August 30 through Platoon.
