Timeline : Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan rapper GZA (aka The Genius) is born Gary Grice. Outside of music, he's a science guy, with Neil deGrasse Tyson among his contacts.
Wu-Tang Clan rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard is born Russell Jones in Brooklyn, New York.
Wu-Tang Clan leader RZA is born Robert Fitzgerald Diggs in Brownsville, New York. A movie buff, he does a lot of acting (American Gangster, G.I. Joe: Retaliation) and works on many soundtracks, notably Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill films.
Raekwon, aka "The Chef" of Wu-Tang Clan, is born Corey Quontrell Wood in Staten Island, New York.
Method Man is born Clifford Smith Jr. in Hempstead, New York. A member of Wu-Tang Clan, he's also a popular solo artist and often collaborates with Redman, most famously in the 2001 movie How High.
The first Wu-Tang Clan album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), is released. It becomes a hardcore rap landmark and proof that a 9-man hip-hop collective can succeed.More
Wu-Tang Clan rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard takes an MTV news crew along for a ride in a stretch limo, where he stops to pick up food stamps, proving that the ID card on the cover of his solo album is real.More
Wu-Tang Clan rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard releases his first solo album, Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version. His food stamp ID card is on the cover.
Fugees headline the "Hoodshock" festival in Harlem, which the group organized as a free event to encourage voter registration. The Notorious B.I.G., Sean "Puffy" Combs and Wu-Tang Clan also perform, but the event makes headlines for a panic set off at the end of the festival when a man fires gunshots into the air. In the chaos, about 30 people are injured.
Wu-Tang Forever, the second album by the 9-man rap group, is released. Fans were wondering if we'd hear from them again after their 1993 debut, since five members released solo albums in the interim, but Forever affirms their commitment and goes to #1.
It's a dampener for stage diving when a fan files suit after Method Man lands on her and knocks her unconscious during a Wu-Tang Clan concert in Pennsylvania. Fearing similar lawsuits, many bands cut back on the practice.
Strange things are afoot at the Grammy Awards. A shirtless dude with "Soy Bomb" written on his chest intrudes on Bob Dylan's performance, and when Shawn Colvin wins Song Of The Year (for "Sunny Came Home"), Ol' Dirty Bastard of Wu-Tang Clan rushes the stage, commandeering the microphone and talking about how his group should have won the Best Rap Album award over Puff Daddy because "Wu-Tang is for the children."More
Wu-Tang Clan rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard, on the lam after escaping from a drug-rehabilitation center on October 17, is arrested at a Philadelphia McDonald's when a policewoman recognizes him in the drive-thru lane.
The Wu-Tang Name Generator goes online. The app turns your real name into one suited for the rap collective; the Songfacts Calendar Wu name is Drunken Desperado. Donald Glover gets his stage name from the generator, becoming Childish Gambino.
Wyclef Jean is one of ten people arrested for disorderly conduct in a New York rally protesting cuts to education. Jean is arrested and led away in handcuffs following an attempt to perform, which was forbidden by the event's permit. Puff Daddy, Alicia Keys, Jay-Z, LL Cool J, Erykah Badu, Foxy Brown and Wu-Tang Clan were also at the rally to show their support and protest a proposed $1.2 billion cut to New York's public education system.
Ol' Dirty Bastard (of Wu-Tang Clan), real name Russell Tyrone Jones, dies of a drug overdose at age 35.
Originally due in the summer of 2005, the last album from late Wu-Tang Clan rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard finally arrives. The release date for A Son Unique coincides with the two-year anniversary of ODB's death at a New York recording studio.
Rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard's FBI file is released. The report details nine arrests for the rapper, and says his group Wu-Tang Clan is "heavily involved in the sale of drugs, illegal guns, weapons possession, murder, carjacking and other types of violent crime."
The only copy of Wu-Tang Clan's new double album Once Upon A Time In Shaolin is sold at auction. The buyer is not Wu-Tang obsessive Quentin Tarantino as many hoped, but Martin Shkreli, a 32-year-old pharmaceutical executive notorious for buying a drug company and raising the price of their AIDS drug Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 per pill.More
Rihanna and her boyfriend A$AP Rocky have their first child, a boy named RZA, named after the leader of the Wu-Tang Clan. Rocky's real name is Rakim Mayers, named after the rapper Rakim of Eric B. & Rakim.
With the Knicks down by 27 points at Game 4 of the 2026 NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden, Wu-Tang Clan take the court for a rousing halftime concert. The Knicks go on to win, making the biggest comeback in Finals history. One of the many celebrities on hand is Taylor Swift, who wears a T-shirt reading "Stevie Knicks."
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