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Oliver \u201cPower\u201d Grant, the business mastermind behind the Wu-Tang Clan<\/a>, has died at the age of 52.<\/p>\n News of Grant\u2019s passing was made public on Tuesday (February 24), although a cause of death is currently unknown.<\/p>\n Tributes have poured in from various Wu-Tang members as well as the wider hip-hop community, with Method Man<\/a> sharing a photo of him and Power on Instagram along with a heartfelt message.<\/p>\n \u201cParadise my Brother safe Travels!! [broken heart emojis] [angry face emoji] #pookie #power Bruh I am not ok .. [raincloud emoji],\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n RZA<\/a> expressed his grief by posting a black square soundtracked by Boyz II Men<\/a>\u2018s \u201cIt\u2019s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday\u201d and accompanied by the caption \u201c5\u201d \u2014 a nod to the Five-Percent Nation\u2019s Supreme mathematics which inspired Power\u2019s nickname.<\/p>\n \u201cPOWER we been everywhere \u2026. now you everywhere ! [crying face emoji] [prayer emoji] the most high is merciful love you,\u201d Raekwon<\/a> added.<\/p>\n A childhood friend of RZA\u2019s, Oliver Grant helped build the infrastructure that turned the Wu-Tang Clan into a global cultural phenomenon.<\/p>\n Alongside RZA\u2019s brother Mitchell \u201cDivine\u201d Diggs, Grant heavily invested in the Staten Island rap collective during their early days, helping to fund and market classic releases like \u201cProtect Ya Neck\u201d and \u201cMethod Man.\u201d<\/p>\n Grant\u2019s biggest and most famous contribution to the group\u2019s success was creating Wu Wear, which was not only one of hip-hop\u2019s first artist-owned streetwear brands but became a hugely lucrative and influential venture.<\/p>\n Understanding the value of merging music with fashion, multimedia and ownership, Power laid the blueprint for countless others to follow and helped redefine the business of hip-hop.<\/p>\n \u201cWu Wear was pretty much like our entry in the fashion biz, but before I was in Wu Wear, I was making and marketing the first Wu records with RZA,\u201d he told Passion of the Weiss<\/em><\/a> in 2011. \u201cEverything that we learned was hard knock life. You figure it out as you go along and take cues from those that are actively doing things.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cA lot of it was trial and error. There were no models.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n
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