The critically acclaimed Staten Island, New York American, hip-hop and rap group known Wu-Tang Clan for their crazy nicknames and sound has finally released a series on Hulu called Wu-Tang Clan: An American Saga. Although it set up from the viewpoint of Bobby Diggs (RZA) the series incorporates the backstories and past of each characters: RZA, Ghostface Killah, Method Man, Raekwon, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, GZA, U-God, Inspectah Deck, Cappadonna, Masta Killah. 

Many questioned the clan’s unique name and the meaning behind it, but the series illustrates how the group came up with the name and how it influenced their sound and passion for music. The way the show is constructed purposely does not make the Wu-Tang Clan name the main idea of the show. In a way the Wu-Tang Clan reference shows how it was the basis of the group uniting in the midst of all the current events, and world problems. 

The series is shot from the perspective of Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, notorious for his name RZA (played by Ashton Sanders), who’s main representation in the show is the “leader.” Director Sacha Jenkins, depicts RZA in the show as the one who convinced everyone to make music with him and also build an industry together, so they could finally escape their harmful ways of living. 

Set in the late 1980’s, rap and hip-hop played a big culture especially in the African American culture, but so was drugs, crime, and racial inequality. Especially for RZA, the show embodies how his family and lifestyle was influenced by drugs. RZA is shown to be selling drugs to make rent, and help out his family with money even though it does he knows that his actions don’t resemble his character. 

Director Jenkins also shows how racial inequality/police brutality, and many forms of violence played an issue in their childhoods, starting from the very first episode of the season. Displaying the flaws of the American culture and stigmas African Americans face is a mandatory piece of the show because it gives the audience the visulas to understand how the members were raised in Staten Island during this time. 

Although the series is set to be in a “man’s world” played by the actors, many females play an important role in their lives, especially since many of them are a part of RZA’s family members. 

Sherri (played by Zolee Griggs) is shown to be the “back-bone” of the family; but she also envisions the new generation of women who sees education and knowledge to be her ticket out of her living conditions and refuses to conform to the societal views of a woman in that era. 

Wu-Tang Clan: An American Saga presents the underlying issues of the American culture in the late 1980’s and also illustrates the creative ways the group formed their music and how they were influenced to make it. The series has now already been streaming on Hulu and is still streaming every Wednesday; it is definitely worth the view.