{"id":500666,"date":"2026-02-26T11:10:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T11:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/500666\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T11:10:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T11:10:07","slug":"rest-in-power-power-wu-tang-clan-collaborator-oliver-power-grant-dead-at-52-wu-tang-clan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/500666\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Rest in power, Power\u2019: Wu-Tang Clan collaborator Oliver \u2018Power\u2019 Grant dead at 52 | Wu-Tang Clan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oliver \u201cPower\u201d Grant, a close affiliate and early backer of the hip-hop collective Wu-Tang Clan<\/a> who had a hand in many of the group\u2019s albums and business ventures, has died aged 52.<\/p>\n

The death was confirmed by Wu-Tang Clan. \u201cRest in power, Power,\u201d the collective wrote on social media<\/a>. A cause of death was not revealed.<\/p>\n

Wu-Tang Clan member Method Man shared his own tribute to his long-time collaborator. \u201cParadise my brother safe travels!\u201d he said on Instagram. \u201cI am not okay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fellow Wu-Tang rappers GZA and Raekwon also paid tribute to Grant on social media. \u201cWu wouldn\u2019t have come to fruition without Power,\u201d GZA wrote on Instagram<\/a>. \u201cHis passing is a profound loss to us all. My deepest condolences to the fam.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raekwon shared a photo of the group with Power. \u201cWe been everywhere \u2026 now you everywhere,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThe most high is merciful love you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grant was born in 1973 in Jamaica and raised in New York\u2019s Staten Island, where he grew up in the Park Hill projects. There, he met the members of Wu-Tang Clan, who gave him the nickname \u201cPower\u201d over a game of chess.<\/p>\n

Soon he became the group\u2019s backer, garnering the funds for them to produce their debut single Protect Ya Neck and executive producing their first album \u2013 1993\u2019s Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).<\/p>\n

Two years later, Grant oversaw the launch of Wu Wear, Wu-Tang Clan\u2019s clothing line, which cemented the collective\u2019s influence in music and popular culture more broadly. With Grant as CEO, soon the line was carried in department stores, with the business opening four of its own retail stores across the US, grossing US$25m annually during its peak.<\/p>\n

Wu-Tang Clan pictured in New York in 1997. Photograph: Bob Berg\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

In 1999, Grant also produced the PlayStation video game Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style, a fighting game that featured the collective\u2019s members as playable characters and furthered the group\u2019s lore.<\/p>\n

In a 2011 interview with the music blog Passion of the Weiss<\/a>, Grant described his business forays as a \u201chard-knock life\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWu Wear was pretty much like our entry in the fashion biz,\u201d he said. \u201cBut before I was in Wu Wear, I was making and marketing the first Wu records with RZA. Everything that we learned was hard-knock life \u2026 A lot of it was trial and error. There were no models.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2008, Grant renamed the clothing line Wu-Tang Brand and discontinued the original brand, which was being widely counterfeited \u2013 though later in 2017, Grant and RZA relaunched Wu Wear with Live Nation Merchandise.<\/p>\n

Throughout his career, Grant also dipped into occasional acting roles, making his on-screen debut in Hype Williams\u2019 1998 crime drama Belly. He also acted alongside Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr in the 1999 drama Black and White, set in the world of hip-hop, and had roles in the 2004 mob drama Coalition and the unreleased Wendy Williams biopic Queen of Media.<\/p>\n