Artist: RZA (Ft. Erica Bryant & Ghostface Killah)
Song: Fast Cars
Album: Birth of a Prince (2003)
Lyric: “Used to break days smokin’ coke and digi/ Til I bulk up to the Incredible Hulk like Bill Bixby/ Face green, knuckles burst out like Wolverine.”
Character Reference/Meaning:
Don’t make RZA angry. You wouldn’t like him when he’s angry. Based on this line, it could possibly be due to drugs or fast cars or whatever. Coming out of RZA’s third studio album, Birth of a Prince, he brings us this hard-hitting song Fast Cars. Reading this lyric, I can guess two things about RZA. 1: Drugs – RZA use to like them and knows a lot about them. 2: He is a nerd because not only does he use a very famous superhero rivalry reference in this song, but he also use to watch the Incredible Hulk TV show back when he was just a wee lad. Now I’m not going to spend much more time speaking on coke or digi or the alcoholic drink named after my favorite hero, simply because I don’t know anything about that mess. However, what I do know is the Hulk and the Wolverine. Looks like it’s time to flex my nerdy-ness.
Picture, if you will, a young RZA at 8 years old sitting on the floor watching a scrawny man named Bruce Banner (played by Bill Bixby) become an enraged massive man monster deemed “The Hulk” (Played by Lou Ferrigno). Lou Ferrigno actually made an appearance in Hulk movie which coincidentally was released the same year as this album, 2003. Young RZA continued this tradition of his for 5 years, until the show ended. Now my guess is that this void of no Hulk is what sent him spiraling down the drug hole, but it’s just a hypothesis. Now this line by RZA could mean that when he drinks it makes him go a little crazy, he flexes out, balls his fists and is ready to go off. However, it could also mean that he dropped the drugs and decided to become a man-powerhouse such as the Incredible Hulk just as Bill Bixby did as Bruce Banner. And When RZA finally decided to do that, he got up and decided to puff out his chest and fight off the world like Wolverine. I prefer the latter theory. I appreciate this line because whether RZA realized it or not he put a classic rivalry together with the Hulk and Wolverine.
This fight has been immortalized in several comic series. Such as Ultimate Wolverine VS. Hulk, Incredible Hulk #181 (first appearance of the Wolverine), The Incredible Hulk #454, #340, Hulk #8. This feud is also shown in Marvel Fanfare, the Infinity Gauntlet, and various Wolverine and X-Men comics. Seriously people, this rivalry is even in cartoon shows such as Hulk VS and a Marvel Knights motion-comics adaptations. So when Bruce Banner is Hulked out with his face green and filled with rage, what else is Wolverine to do but tighten up his knuckles and burst out his adamantium claws, engaging in what is always an epic battle? Similar to how RZA battles on the mic. It’s only nature, bub.
Written by Evan Lowe
Hush Comics 