“Wu-Tang: An American Saga,” is an eight-part series that serves as an origin story of the Staten Island crew that was talented and stick together to create music and changed hip-hop forever. In this documentary, RZA teamed up with creator Alex Tse, which looks like a TV show about inner-city gangs in the opening scene. The story starts with low-level drug dealer Sha, who shoots up a rival’s apartment and runs to hide the gun in the basement of Bobby’s house, an emerging hip-hop artist. The story revolved around the late 1980s.
Later we can see that Sha becomes Raekwon, and Bobby becomes RZA, and they together perform the Wu-Tang Clan’s “7th Chamber.” It’s an original story of one of the most heralded and influential rap groups of all time, Wu-Tang Clan. It premiered its first three episodes on Wednesday on Hulu. Next episodes will be released each week after that.
The cast has Ashton Sanders playing Bobby, who wants to be in the work of Music, but the world of crime was something he belongs to. The crime was the source of income to his family, but Music was something which inspired him. Julian Elijah Martinez plays the role of his older brother Divine, who is telling him that Music will not fulfill the need of the family, but the crime which he is into does will. So, when his older brother is imprisoned, Bobby has to take over Divine’s drug operation.
Most likely, the first few episodes of the show will focus on the ns and outs of that drug operation, which would be no different than any other show, however Bobby’s inner conflicts make him an interesting character, and it would be different experience to see how Bobby works out of the drug industry to build himself as a musician.
Gradually, you can see the rise of RZA from Bobby Diggs; Dennis Coles who became Ghostface Killah; Gary Grice became GZA; Corey Woods as Raekwon; Method Man as Clifford Smith, aka “Shotgun”; and Russell Jones as Ol’ Dirty Bastard.
Ashton Sanders, as Diggs/RZA, is the center of the series, who is yet another clear-eyed and compassionate performer, who has captured the young dreamer’s internal struggle beautifully. It would be heartwarming to see Bobby following his passion for music and providing for his family at the same time and shape his life into a better life.