Rebirth of the RZA

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At ODB's funeral, the RZA delivered a short and powerful eulogy, admonishing the packed Canarsie, Brooklyn, church to watch over one another. ''The abuse of alcohol, drugs, and sex will take any of us outta here,'' he warned. The RZA still shoulders a cruel amount of the blame for his cousin's death. ''You can't neglect love, yo,'' he says today. ''And that's all it was. ODB's life was basically neglect. He had the wrong people hanging around. Man, I should have just pushed everybody away from him. I had a whole plan for him. 'Come home. That's the first thing you're going to do. I have an apartment on 34th Street and we're going to live together. No more of this bulls---. All we're going to do is exercise and train. Yan Ming's going to come over and help us. We're going to play our music, get your rhythm back. Don't worry about money — you're going to have a couple hundred grand to take care of yourself and your family. Let's just relax, man. Let's just really get back to our mission.'''

There is no use making vague protests that in the end we cannot save grown men from themselves, slaying their dragons of addiction and madness for them. The RZA holds tight to his guilt. ''I didn't give him the chances that I should have,'' he insists. ''Because one thing about him and me is that if I put my foot down in a fierce way, he'll bow down and say, 'Okay, man, okay, I'm sorry, man.' What's so sad is that night we talked, he was actually listening and saying, 'You're right, you're right, you're right.' And that was it.'' He pauses, still confused that he couldn't will his cousin right. ''Imagine if he would have converted to the more positive side?'' the RZA says softly. ''I had a plan,'' he repeats, looking down at his limp hands in his lap.

Life goes on. And the RZA has found a way to bear his twin burdens of guilt and grief with grace. In February, he accompanied Tarantino to the Grammys, where Kill Bill — Vol. 2 was nominated for best soundtrack. During the evening, the ceremony took a moment to pay tribute to the artists who died in the past year. When the screen showed an image of ODB, Tarantino tapped him on the shoulder and they rose to applaud his cousin's memory. The RZA looked around, touched by the display of warmth and respect. Then he sagged back into his chair, and tried to catch his breath.