The music world is mourning the loss of Oliver “Power” Grant, a founding member of the Staten Island-based hip-hop collective Wu-Tang Clan, who passed away at 52. Grant died on Monday, February 23, with the tragic news shared by Wu-Tang Clan on social media on Tuesday, February 24. His cause of death has not been announced.
After his death, several Wu-Tang Clan members paid tribute. “Paradise my Brother safe Travels!!” Grammy-winning rapper Method Man, also a founding member of the group, posted on Instagram. Wu-Tang legend GZA shared a photo of them together, writing, “We couldn’t have done it without him. Wu wouldn’t have come to fruition without Power. His passing is a profound loss to us all. My deepest condolences to the fam.”
Born on November 3, 1973, in Jamaica, Oliver Grant grew up in the Park Hill Projects in Staten Island alongside his childhood friends who would later launch Wu-Tang Clan. While not a performer, Grant was a vital part of the group’s success, guiding the nine founding members in their vision and growth, helping to establish the hip-hop collective as a household name.
Their influence extended beyond music, shaping fashion and culture. In a clip the group once shared, Oliver “Power” Grant reflected on what drives success, saying, “Either you’re inspired, or you’re desperate. Everybody was hustling. Our main money maker was the music, then the touring, then the brand.”
Beyond his work with Wu-Tang Clan, Grant established himself as a successful businessman. In 1995, he founded Wu Wear, a streetwear clothing brand that achieved significant success with stores in major cities like Los Angeles and Atlanta, and later sold nationwide through Macy’s. Reflecting on his journey in a 2001 interview with Passion of the Weiss, Grant stated, “Wu 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. Everything 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 … A lot of it was trial and error. There were no models,” he said, as reported by Billboard.
Grant’s passing comes at a poignant time for the group. On Wednesday, Wu-Tang Clan earned its first Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nomination for the Class of 2026. If inducted, they would join hip-hop legends such as The Notorious B.I.G. and Outkast.
