RZA has joined forces with the Flatbush Zombies to mint a punishing new single titled ‘Plug Addicts’, marking the Wu-Tang leader’s first collaboration with the New York-native trailblazers.

In a statement shared with the track, RZA noted that ‘Plug Addicts’ was a long time coming for him and the trio. “I’ve had my eyes on the Flatbush Zombies for some time now,” he said. “Their style of Dark hip-hop lyricism is reminiscent of my days in the Gravediggaz. This type of collaboration was overdue.”

The track itself is a gritty, retro-tinted hip-hop rager, with the four voices each adding a unique shade of grey to the overall menacing track. At the core of the track’s soundscape is piercing chord progression played on a violin, evocative of the scores that soundtracked old-school horror movies.

It arrives alongside a video inspired by Reservoir Dogs, wherein RZA and the Flatbush Zombies spit their bars from a grimy warehouse replete with flickering lights and furniture draped in plastic. Meanwhile, a mysterious interrogator brutalises an old man, before dousing him in gasoline and setting him alight.

Have a look at the video for ‘Plug Addicts’ below:

Echoing the sentiments RZA expressed on the collab, Flatbush Zombies member Erick The Architect added: “In a lot of ways I saw RZA in myself, as a fellow producer/artist. We are making history together at this very moment. The music he’s made over the course of his career had a lot to do with why I wanted to make music in the first place, it’s beautiful to see these things come full circle.”

Though ‘Plug Addicts’ comes as the first collab between RZA and the Flatbush Zombies, it won’t be their last – another joint single, titled ‘Quentin Tarantino’, is set for release next Friday (December 17). 

The new project comes amid a stacked year for RZA, including the long-awaited return to his Bobby Digital persona. April came with the announcement of a new album titled ‘RZA vs Bobby Digital’ (albeit then under the working title ‘Digital Potions’), although he’s yet to lock in a release date. In June, he released the single ‘Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater’.

Also this year, RZA premiered the second season of the Wu-Tang Clan: An American Saga series (on which he serves as an executive producer), linked up with The Prodigy for a new version of their track ‘Breathe’, and appeared on the soundtrack for Fast & Furious 9.

Last October, he announced the revival of Banks & Steelz, his collaborative project with Interpol frontman Paul Banks. “We got a song that we just finished right before this movie campaign, called ‘The Pains Of Love’,” RZA told NME. “And I think in COVID, the song is funny, because the pains of love is something that we’re willing to endure.