The Wu-Tang Clan conquered the hip-hop world – also with the help of a German. Manager Eva Ries reports in the star-Interview of her wild 21 years in the inner circle of the clan.
In the early 1990s, a New York City hip-hop group emerged: the Wu-Tang Clan, nine rappers who became stars in the United States and then Europe. What few people know: a German made an important contribution to this success story. The Mannheimerin Eva Ries, 60, was the manager of the clan and took care of the marketing. In the book “Wu-Tang is forever” she tells her story.
in the starinterview, Eva Ries talks about her 21 years with the Wu-Tang Clan, the strangest experiences with the rappers – and tells why she burst into tears when she heard the music for the first time.
Wu-Tang Clan manager: ‘They compared me to Princess Diana’
Ms. Ries, you and the Wu Tang clan – that’s an unusual connection. How come?
Eva Ries: It was total coincidence. I actually came from the rock area, I neither thought anything of hip hop nor understood anything about it. When I came to New York, I was presented with a fait accompli. My record company bosses said: All hip hop and black music, you do it.
Accordingly, you were not at all enthusiastic at the beginning.
I was actually quite shocked. When I heard the first tones from the Wu-Tang Clan on my honeymoon in Hawaii with a Walkman, I even cried. They have some Torture Skits made, which dealt with the best methods of torture. I thought I made the biggest mistake of my life.
Eva Ries
Wu-Tang is forever: In the inner circle of the biggest band in the world
240 pages
28 euros
Benevento
© Benevento
How did it go, then, meeting these nine rappers face-to-face—all black, criminal, and from the slums of New York?
Personally, they weren’t as bad as what I heard on the tape. If you have normal conversations alone with one or two of them, you realize that they are normal people. First I tried to hide the background a bit.
How long did it take to gain the clan’s trust?
That was difficult because the boys were very paranoid. In the beginning they spread rumors that I wanted to infiltrate the clan and sell secret information to the government. So I had to say to them: You guys are megalomaniacs, you take yourselves way too seriously. It took me about four weeks to crack the first one.
Which of the nine was that?
That was Method Man. He was the first to say: “Eva, you are my N***.” That means we are friends. Then he told the others that I’m not that bad after all.
So you got very close to the Wu-Tang Clan. Were there still areas that remained closed to you?
They tell you everything whether you want to hear it or not – from their relationships and children to their wife’s breast cancer and drugs. Most don’t even have a filter.
What role did it play that they are white and a woman? Did that make your job even more difficult?
No, I think easier. In any other constellation I would have been brutally beaten. A black man would have become a rivalry, they might have shot a white man, and as a black woman I would have been even less respected.
In the early days, they even compared me to Princess Diana, even though I had nothing in common with her – apart from a short hairstyle. I came from a middle-class German family and that was something royal compared to the social hotspots and slums the band came from.
Many have failed to work with the Wu-Tang Clan any longer. Why did you do it?
I guess because I don’t tolerate nonsense and I can be pretty rude if someone gets too close to me. Many around the band were simply yes-men because they were afraid of losing their jobs. On the other hand, I could dare to tell the truth because I wasn’t dependent on the band. That goes down well with rappers.
How would you describe your role in the Wu-Tang Clan? At some point it was more than just a manager.
I’ve also been an arbitrator, mediator, therapist – all sorts of things. I’ve often been called upon to say who’s right when the band got into another big fight: who’s the best rapper, or when it came to money. I really didn’t want to be in the role. I actually wanted to be as neutral as possible.
Are you friends with the rappers now?
I never wanted to be the girlfriend. For me, it has always been a professional relationship. It’s nice when they like you, but I was never looking to make friends for life. The fact that it happened anyway is a side effect. But I never set out to do that.
What was the strangest experience you had with the band?
Almost everything was actually strange, some of it sad. When we wanted to go to Europe for the first time, I first had to get the boys passports, some of which were still on probation. When we finally got there, it was a huge culture shock for the band – and unfortunately they fulfilled exactly the prejudices that people have in Europe about a black gang from the ghetto.
After an autograph session in a record store, 40 CDs were missing. And wherever they went, they immediately ran to the phones to call the US – and then the label had to pay the phone bills. The police had to come two or three times because they didn’t want to pay the bills in the hotel.
Actually, wherever we went, there was just stress. Of course, that was always incredibly embarrassing for me. Basically, the clan did it mainly out of insecurity: They felt uncomfortable and wrongly rejected in this white environment. It was kind of an aggressive backlash.