The RZA sat against the long padded couch in the back room of the Trousdale Lounge in West Hollywood. This is the kind of venue without a sign on the wall and requires registration to see the photos of last night’s debauchery. Expensive cases of vodka and imported beer fill the bar area while the pre-lavish venue gets all dolled up for what should be a great performance between the Wu-Tang leader and fellow emcee Talib Kweli. Before the glitz, however, the star of the evening has something to say about music, Eli Roth (“His mom makes the best mushroom soup”), and headphones. The cans in question are the Chambers, designed by RZA himself to embody both flash and function. That ability to strike a balance has been the key to RZA’s success, going from music to film over his now 20-year career.
WeSC is the company providing the production while RZA is the man in charge of the audiotastic bells and whistles. WeSC treats their headphones like fancy sneakers, but instead of an athlete only posing with their new kicks, the producers and DJs they collaborate with have near carte blanche with the technical aspects. But before RZA agreed to work with the Swedish design company, he had a dinner meeting and felt a kindred energy.
“That energy comes from people that go through similar situations, one way or another. Being that Gregor (Hagelin, WeSC CEO) was a skateboarder, which in his day was looked upon as something stupid to do…at least they made it to extreme sports and we have games and TV. But before, it was like ‘What the f**k are these kids doin?’ It’s the same thing with hip-hop. My own mother told me to ‘Turn it down.’”
The topic of premium headphones is something that usually only discussed between the tweed-jacket wearing purists in the back corner of a Guitar Center. Price and quality are at the forefront of the argument but RZA swears that the price is just right. But to him, these are fashion accessories as well as consumption utilities so price matters when talking about well researched and designed products. He understands that price can be a barrier, but compares it to other products and the differences between mediums.
“These are not a cheap pair of headphones, but if you paid $400 for your iPhone, you going to listen to $30 headphones? At the same time, iPhones are cool gadgets. iPods and iPads are cool gadgets. You going to dumb down that cool gadget with some ugly headphones?
“Some people can’t afford to go to the movies, so they watch movies on TV. It says ‘This movie has been formatted to fit your screen’ and your experience. Some movies don’t even work on TV. If I don’t see it in the movies, I’m not watching it. Some movies don’t need to be in the movies. Even when a kid watches a movie on an iPad, I appreciate it that they get to see the movie but some movies you have to hear the right way. As a director, I know how much goes into this s**t. It’s best to take it in the medium it was made for.”
Sound quality is key for RZA, who spends more time behind the glass with headphones on either producing or DJing, but admitted that creating a pair of headphones just for his taste would be a selfish waste.
“My music has more mids and highs, whereas the South has more bass. I did a test with these and said ‘It sounds good to me. But add another dB of bass for the other mother**kers.’ When you put these headphones on, you get the studio experience, in a way.”
This is where RZA gets eager to share easily the best feature of the Chambers: the daisy-chain. By hooking up the headphones into each other, you can run multiple sets into the same device without loss of sound quality. I tested the feature by introducing RZA to Wugzai, something born of a massive love for Wu-Tang Clan and punk icons Fugazi. After explaining the genius behind the transmogrification that is Wugazi, we plugged in the black-on-black Chambers into a phone and experienced the sonic mashup of DC-based Fugazi and the a capella tracks from Wu-Tang’s 36 Chambers. When the opener “Sleep Rules Everything Around Me” kicked on, his response of “Oh s**t” said it all. He wrapped up our session with a genuine smile and certainly flattered demeanor.
“It’s so cool to see the fun they are having.”
Note: The Chambers are available for pre-order in various colors. The different pairs offer various benefits, but both have the music sharing feature.
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