(CNN)  -- The Wu-Tang Clan -- the New York hip-hop supergroup that spawned millions of album sales, nine solo acts and a few acting careers -- almost never was. If RZA, left, had been jailed or Method Man killed, Wu-Tang may have never formed, RZA says. Method Man, the group's most recognizable voice, was nearly killed before the band formed, Wu-Tang's chief producer, RZA, writes in his forthcoming memoir. Meth was walking to buy marijuana at 160 Park Hill Avenue in Staten Island -- the house in Wu-Tang's "Protect Ya Neck" video -- when RZA saw him across the street, he writes in the book.
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Wu-Tang producer: Attempted murder conviction also could have derailed band
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Rapper/producer/actor RZA talks of forming Wu-Tang Clan in upcoming memoir
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RZA: Ol' Dirty Bastard made son watch him do drugs before 2004 fatal overdose
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Book cites lessons from Christianity, Islam, numerology, kung fu, chess
One, if I would've lost that, yeah, @placeholder wouldn't have happened, but also it's the victory of it that inspired me and gave me the drive also to go and really get serious about Wu-Tang and the things I was dealing with.