Film Screening – A Wu-Tang Experience: Live at Red Rocks Amphitheatre

The GRAMMY Museum is thrilled to present a special screening of A Wu-Tang Experience: Live at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in the Museum’s Clive Davis Theater, followed by a discussion with the film’s directors, legendary Wu-Tang Clan Founder RZA and Gerald K. Barclay (Gee-Bee), and moderated by Raqiyah Mays. The post-screening discussion will also spotlight RZA’s new classical music album, A Ballet Through Mud. 

This free program will be hosted by Schyler O’Neal, Senior Manager of Education & Community Engagement at the GRAMMY Museum, and is presented in partnership with the Hip-Hop Education Center.

To tour the museum before the program, including our Hip-Hop America; The Mixtape Exhibit, buy tickets here.

Check-in: 4:00PM

About the Film:

36 Chambers presents A Wu-Tang Experience: Live at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Combining performances and revealing interviews with group members and associates, classical musicians, and concertgoers, the film documents the extraordinary concert at the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheatre where the Wu-Tang Clan, backed by the 60-piece Colorado Symphony Orchestra, weaved together songs from their vast discography of group and solo albums. Their setlist created a live score to a real-time screening of the seminal martial arts film The 36th Chamber of Shaolin—the movie that largely inspired the Clan’s aesthetic and the title of their groundbreaking debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).

The documentary deconstructs stereotypes that limit classical music and Hip-Hop as mutually exclusive musical genres, dismantles these imposed limitations, and collapses boundaries and artistic mediums to amplify the ways classical music, Hip-Hop, and film can coalesce in beautiful, innovative union. The film will have its streaming premiere on PBS on Nov. 11.

About A Ballet Through Mud:

A Ballet Through Mud is RZA’s first original composition and orchestration. Originally performed by the Colorado Symphony, A Ballet Through Mud is a poignant coming-of-age story that delves into the complexities of love, the bonds of friendship, and personal growth. Featuring characters named for Greek musical scales, the piece echoes RZA’s journey from Staten Island project housing to refined concert halls – weaving in tales of love, loss, exploration, Buddhist monks, and a journey “through mud.” The full album is available on all streaming platforms and was released in partnership with Platoon and 36 Chambers.

About RZA:

Wu-Tang Clan mastermind Robert Diggs, best known as the RZA among several other pseudonyms, is one of hip-hop’s most revered, influential producers. With the group’s classic 1993 debut, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), he established their widely imitated core sound, consisting of stark, booming beats and chilling samples (heavily drawing from vintage soul records as well as kung fu movies), setting the backdrop for the crew’s gritty, violent narratives. 

Following the album’s trailblazing success, Diggs participated in the pioneering horrorcore group the Gravediggaz, and produced the first wave of solo releases by his fellow Wu-Tang members. Starting with 1997’s Wu-Tang Forever, he concentrated less on producing Wu-Tang releases and devoted more time to his solo career, with the gold-selling debut by his alter ego Bobby Digital arriving in 1998. 

He also successfully ventured into film and television work, beginning with his highly acclaimed score for Jim Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999) and continuing with a lengthy string of soundtracks (Kill Bill Volume 1 & 2) and acting roles (American Gangster, Californication, Brick Mansions, The Dead Don’t Die). He made his directorial debut with 2012’s The Man with the Iron Fists, and has also directed Love Beats Rhymes (2017) and Cut Throat City (2020). He stars in the upcoming comedy film Problemista written, directed and produced by Julio Torres which just premiered at SXSW. RZA executive produced the Hulu original series Wu-Tang: An American Saga, which recently wrapped its 3rd and final season. RZA Directed 2 episodes in the final season. He’s also written two books: The Wu-Tang Manual (2005) and The Tao Of Wu (2009). 

A touring juggernaut, Wu-Tang Clan have performed at the world’s most iconic festivals and stages for decades. RZA, Wu-Tang Clan and Nas recently wrapped the return of their joint NY State of Mind. RZA and the Wu-Tang are currently celebrating the 30th anniversary of their seminal debut album Enter The 36 Chambers. In 2024, Wu-Tang Clan held the first ever Hip-Hop residency in Las Vegas at the Virgin Hotels.

In 2022, RZA, along with Legendary multi-platinum and GRAMMY-winning producer DJ Scratch, released their full-length album, Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater via 36 Chambers ALC/MNRK Music Group. In 2024 RZA debuted an all classical album and ballet, that he composed, entitled A Ballet Through Mud.

About Gerald K. Barclay:

Gerald K. Barclay, professionally known as Gee-Bee, is a Liberian-born, director, producer, writer, cinematographer, and author. Gee-Bee began his filmmaking career in 1990 by working on Spike Lee’s Jungle Fever and King of New York.

Gee-Bee has directed hundreds of music videos for artists such as Wu-Tang Clan, Master P., Snoop Dogg, Bounty Killa, Mystikal, Big Pun, Ill & Al Skratch, and The Gap Band. 

Besides music videos, Gee-Bee produced and directed “LIBERIA: THE LOVE OF LIBERTY BROUGHT US HERE”, “Wu: The Story Of The Wu-tang Clan”, BLOODY STREETZ, The Bully, and the critically acclaimed Fatima’s Revenge. Gee-Bee’s latest endeavors include the concert film, “A Wu-Tang Experience: Live At Red Rocks Amphitheater”, “Life or Death: The Silky Slim Story” along with civil rights attorney, Benjamin Crump. 

Gerald’s latest projects are “No Not Me” a feature film on female circumcision in Liberia, and “Killa Hill”, a 10-part docuseries about devestating effects of the crack epidemic on Park Hill, the notorious projects that have birth to the Wu-Tang Clan. 

About Raqiyah Mays:

Author, TV writer, and podcaster Raqiyah Mays has consulted and developed for HBO and staffed on an untitled show in Showtime’s Dexter universe. 

After launching an exciting career at VIBE, she became a freelance journalist reporting on the intersection of her passions — social issues, hip-hop, film, and TV. Her bylines have appeared in The Associated Press, Essence, Billboard, Black Enterprise, The Source, Complex, XXL, and more. As a former radio personality, Raqiyah graced the airwaves on New York’s world-renowned hip-hop station Hot 97, 107.5 WBLS, and the morning show on the late 98.7 Kiss FM. After launching her podcast “Real Black News,” it was named one of the top 50 podcasts and one of the top Black podcasts in the country. “Real Black News,” currently in its sixth season, is among the top 3% of podcasts in the world.

Consistently engaged in the non-profit world, Raqiyah was the Internal Communications Specialist for Amnesty International. She went on to write nationally and globally televised speeches for The Women’s March and Black empowerment activists like Tamika Mallory, co-founder of Until Freedom.

Known for supporting fellow authors, Mays contributed a chapter to Where Did Our Love Go: Love & Relationships in the African American Community, an anthology written by African American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) President, Gil Robertson. She was reporter-at-large for Unbelievable: The Life, Death, and Afterlife of The Notorious B.I.G. by showrunner and Luke Cage creator Cheo Hodari Coker.

In addition to winning multiple awards, she’s appeared on ABC, BET, TV One, Fox, and Fuse.