Oliver ‘Power’ Grant has died at the age of 52 (Picture: John Lamparski/WireImage)

Oliver ‘Power’ Grant, the business strategist and early architect behind the rise of the Wu-Tang Clan, has died at the age of 52.

News of his passing was confirmed on Tuesday, but the cause of death has not yet been revealed.

Grant, a close childhood friend of Wu-Tang founder RZA, played a pivotal role in transforming the Staten Island collective from a loose assembly of fiercely talented MCs into one of the most influential and commercially savvy groups in hip-hop history.

While rarely in the spotlight himself, his influence was felt in every business move that reshaped the rap industry in the 1990s.

Often referred to simply as ‘Power,’ Grant’s nickname was rooted in the teachings of the Five-Percent Nation, specifically Supreme Mathematics, where the number five represents power.

Grant was not an official performing member, but he was widely regarded as the group’s business backbone during its formative years.


Power was extremely influential in the group’s early days (Picture: Lars Niki/Getty Images for Hulu)

Tributes from Wu-Tang members and the wider hip-hop community poured in within hours of the announcement.

Method Man shared a photograph of himself with Grant on Instagram, writing: “Paradise my Brother safe Travels!! #pookie #power Bruh I am not ok … .”

RZA marked the loss with a stark black square, soundtracked by Boyz II Men’s song It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday. His caption — a solitary ‘5’— referenced the Supreme Mathematics principle that inspired Grant’s moniker.

Raekwon added his own tribute: ‘POWER we been everywhere …. now you everywhere ! the most high is merciful love you.’


Grant’s nickname was rooted in the teachings of the Five-Percent Nation, specifically Supreme Mathematics (Picture: Getty Images)

NEW YORK - APRIL 1997: (L-R) RZA, U-God, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Masta Killa, GZA and Method Man of the American rap group Wu-Tang Clan pose for a portrait circa April, 1997 in New York, New York. (Photo by Bob Berg/Getty Images)
The rap group went on to become one of the most impactful in the history of the genre (Picture: Bob Berg/Getty Images)

Born and raised in Staten Island, New York, Grant grew up alongside RZA in the Park Hill projects, an environment that would become mythologised in Wu-Tang lore.

In the early 1990s, as Wu-Tang Clan prepared to release their landmark debut, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), Grant encouraged a then-unorthodox strategy: allow individual members to sign solo deals with different record labels while remaining united as a group.

That move, perhaps more than any other of the era, definitively shaped hip-hop’s future.

Wu-Tang’s eventual domination — from platinum solo releases by Method Man, Raekwon and Ol’ Dirty Bastard, to the group’s cultural expansion into fashion, film and merchandising — bore the imprint of Grant’s foresight.

He also served as an executive producer on several Wu-affiliated projects and helped broker key deals that expanded the Clan’s reach beyond music.

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