GZA recently sat for an interview with FADER to discuss the game of chess and its importance. Discussing his earliest days of chess boxing, GZA laments the fact that he did not stick with the game when he first began to learn at nine years old. He got back into chess in his twenties, encouraged by friends who were playing - Pharaohe Monch, Jeru the Damaja and Afu-Ra included. When he isn't studying at the Brooklyn Chess Forum, The Genius spends time in the studio where he is wrapping up his latest LP Dark Matter - ostensibly an ode to physics and sound inspired by a curiosity about the universe and extensive independent study, including conversations with Neil DeGrasse Tyson and other noted scientists.
Props to FDR
