Only on a remote island can something like the hydra reach its full strength. For me and for all my Wu-Tang brothers, Staten was that island, AKA Shaolin, Parkhill Projects, Stapleton. We grew up there. It was a place of isolation. But that isolation was our greatest gift. Without isolation, we would've sounded like everybody else. But on the island, me and my brothers were cut off from the mainland. The mainstream. We had to find our own sound. We had to assemble our own influences, and we did just that. Scientists have laboratories. Craftsmen, they have tool sheds. My chamber was inside my basement. That's where I spent many hours of my formative years, surrounded by comic books, VHS tapes, kung fu movies, and gadgets, my turntables and equipment. And with that, trained my music. That was all I had. It was that understood habitat that allowed for deeper exploration that allowed me to reach my full potential. Now I'm not there physically anymore, but I can mentally summon the island whenever I need inspiration. I can picture it in my head. It's crystal clear. And all the feelings I felt, all the influence, everything I had myself surrounded with, it comes to me again. The lessons I've learned. They still center me to this day.