Gary Grice, better known by his stage names GZA and The Genius, is an American rapper and songwriter. A founding member of the hip hop group the Wu-Tang Clan, GZA is known as the group’s “spiritual head”, being both the oldest and the first within the group to receive a record deal. He has appeared on his fellow Clan members’ solo projects, and since the release of his critically acclaimed solo album Liquid Swords (1995), he has maintained a successful solo career.
In 2012, The Source placed him on their list of the Top 50 Lyricists of All Time.
An analysis of GZA’s lyrics found that he has the second largest vocabulary in hip hop music, behind Aesop Rock, in a sample of 75 rappers. The Wu-Tang Clan, as a collective, and several of its individual members were also in the top 10.