Gary Eldridge Grice[2] (born August 22, 1966), better known by his stage names GZA (/ˈdʒɪzə/JIZ-ə) and The Genius,[3] is an American rapper. A founding member of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan, GZA is the group's "spiritual head", being both the first member in the group to receive a record deal and being the oldest member.[4] He has appeared on his fellow Wu-Tang members' solo projects, and has maintained a successful solo career starting with his second album Liquid Swords (1995).
His lyrical style often dismisses typical rap story lines in favor of science and wide-ranging philosophies and has been characterized as "armed with sharp metaphors and a smooth flow".[5][6][7][8] An analysis of GZA's lyrics found that he has the second largest vocabulary in popular hip hop music.[9][10] He teamed up with an education group to promote science education in New York City through hip hop.[11]