Late last week, a judge found that RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan owed Ghostface Killah $158,000 in back royalties, as Ghost argued that RZA's claim to half of the group's back royalties wasn't fair. But RZA has announced he has no plans to pay out (at least right now), saying that because he was the group's producer, he is entitled to half of the royalties.

"The case between Ghost and RZA is not closed yet," RZA told All Hip Hop. "The judgment has not been entered yet, and we are appealing the case. I'm not appealing because I don't want to pay Ghost something that I owe him. Anything I owe him I would give him ... But he's with a group of people who to me have a misunderstanding of hip-hop and contracts."

 

However, RZA argues that a 50% share for a producer is standard in hip-hop, not just on Wu-Tang albums. "When it comes to the beats of hip-hop, how it carries on to this day is that the producer gets 50% of the composition, and the lyricist[s], no matter how many, gets the other 50%," he said.

 

"If I wasn't the producer and it was just a contract thing, maybe I'd feel more compassion. But trust me, when it comes to doing these records, I'm in the studio hundreds of days where they're here for 20-30 days," RZA explains. "The beats are made on my own time then brought to the studio, tracked down with me and the engineer, and then you're brought in to do your 16 bars. Songs like Bring Da Ruckus, I made two years before they even rapped on it. Songs like Can It Be So Simple, anybody could have got on that. It had the hook, beat, and the lift from the beginning. They threw their verses on it ... They've made millions based on my beats."

I think he's got a point in that all the clansmen made money based on RZA's beats, which are as vital a part of the Wu's sonic fabric as the voices on the albums. It seems that this is just the latest in a long stretch of conflicts between RZA and the rest of the Wu, which means that another reunion album is incredibly unlikely. [Guardian]