Episode #149 | 10.17.23

Masta Killa (Wu-Tang Clan Chapter 9): A Mafia Hit, an Alleged Assault, and the Student Becomes the Master

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In this episode

Masta Killa grew up in a city shaped and run by organized crime. A city where the most powerful underworld boss could be gunned down on a busy street in the middle of the day. But despite his menacing stage name, Masta Killa was not a killer. He was, however, a master. A master of subtlety and of life lived discreetly. He kept his family history – and his relationship to soul legend Marvin Gaye – a secret for decades. When drug dealers and gang members flipped for the feds and spilled dirt on Wu-Tang Clan, Masta Killa’s name was kept out of their testimony. When a music journalist accused him of assault, he denied it. And when he finally released his solo debut, more than a decade after Wu-Tang’s debut, it happened at the same time that the feds were deciding whether or not his musical group was also a group of criminals.

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