What is it with Hip-Hop and Kung Fu anyway?
It’s pretty impressive that a 1500 year old combative art form — Shaolin Kung Fu — retains relevance in the modern Western world that is: Kendrick Lamar’s Kung Fu Coachella performance, Wu Tang Clan albums oozing with Kung Fu inspired lyricism, and even Migos’s Stir Fry.
As someone who a.) loves exploring the meanings behind music and b.) is half Chinese and grew up around Kung Fu films, I found myself asking this:
What is it with hip-hop artists and Kung Fu?
How could this ancient facet of Chinese culture just seep its way into, of all things, such a distinct hip-hop culture on the other side of the planet?
So I began my research (Google) and compiled a short answer so you don’t have to look for it :) Moreover, this will hopefully make for an interesting ‘cocktail’ conversation or some knowledge to woo your grandma with over dinner!
Without further ado...
How did Kung Fu films make their way into America?
Short answer: They were cheap.
Ok, it’s a little more than that!
Around 1970, cinemas in the New York area — notably The Deuce on 42nd street- began showing cheap Kung Fu movies to reduce screening costs. This simple financial savings trick sparked the propulsion of two cultures to a crossroad. Cheap tickets attracted masses of youngsters to cinemas, who got their first taste of films like The Hammer of God (1970) and Five Fingers of Death (1972).
These films were a hit amongst audiences, but more specifically with American people of colour. Kung Fu films impacted minorities in a way that few Western films could, as they filled a gaping hole in the entertainment industry which truly spoke to the experiences and allegories of American minorities. As one facet of Chinese culture grew in New York, another facet of street culture was burgeoning too — Hip-hop.
Not too far from 42nd street, the underground culture of Hip-hop began emerging from the streets of Brooklyn.
“Hip-hop was born from the ashes of a community devastated by a capitalist economic system and racist government officials.” — Derek Ide from Hampton Institute
The point to note from the above quote is the birthplace of this fascinating culture. The five pillars of hip-hop — rapping/MCing, DJing, breakdancing, graffiti art (according to Afrika Bambaata) — were built on a rocky foundation of oppression and underrepresentation of people of colour in America, having recently emerged from the Civil Rights era. There was a deep desire amongst minorities to develop an identity. If you see where I’m going with this: Kung Fu films came at the right place and the right time (at the right cost!). This timely overlap saw two cultures growing alongside each other. Not quite parallel, but instead, they were intertwined. Now that we understand a little bit about how it started, we’re going to dive into just why they were intertwined. How did Kung Fu become so influential in hip-hop culture to this very day? Here are four reasons.
1 - The Aesthetic
I’m starting with the point that required no research whatsoever. Kung Fu films may have been dismissed as just ‘cheap flics’ but you can’t deny their visual and acrobatic aesthetic.
For the average American child in a Bronx movie theatre, the never before seen elements of Kung Fu films culminated a departure from their typical 60’s drive-in movies.
Nunchakus, traditional Wing Chun attire, set designs…
It’s not everyday that American kids get to see these right?
… And it’s most definitely not everyday that they see Kung Fu.
From martial artists’ physiques to beautifully choreographed combative moves, the acrobatic allure is simply mesmerising, to the degree that moviegoers took their on-screen moves with them back to the streets.
Low spinning sweep kicks began making their way from Shaw Brother films to break dancing floors as spinning sweeps (or just sweeps). Names such as Grandmaster Flash and, of course, Wu Tang Clan started popping up. Lyrics started to integrate Kung Fu references:
“Murder, taste the flame of the Wu-Tang RAHH! Here comes the Tiger verse Crane! Ow, be like wild with my style.” — Shame on a N**ga by Wu Tang Clan.
Tiger Vs. Crane is a 1976 kung-fu movie, starring Hong Kong star Jimmy Wang Yu.
Kung Fu films were more than just films. They were a goldmine for inspiration and a gateway to a new world.
Besides… Who could possibly resist Bruce Lee’s swagger?
2 — The hero
Kung Fu films placed a non-white hero at the top of the cinematic pedestal. Most notably — Bruce Lee.
FINALLY. A non-white protagonist dominating Western screens. Bruce Lee’s aura, both on-screen and off-screen, was dominating yet humble, a stark contrast from the ‘timid’ stereotypes bestowed upon Asians.
“Film producers in Hollywood thought they could make use of my martial art and hoped that I would act in their films. The Green Hornet is one of the examples that I was being made use of. I discovered at that time acting in that kind of film was meaningless because the roles didn’t fit me. That didn’t mean that I could not play such roles, the situation was only because of my yellow face.”
— Bruce Lee during a TV interview
Whoohoo, that’s some shade.
Unwilling to settle for supporting roles in Hollywood, he returned to Hong Kong to work with Shaw Brothers studio, churning out hits such as The Big Boss and Fist of Fury. Ultimately, Lee made Hollywood come to him. A pretty extraordinary feat for anyone, let alone an Asian actor.
Kung Fu films were a confidence boost for not just Asian Americans, but American people of colour, especially when Jim Kelly co-starred in Enter The Dragon alongside Lee. Two non-white martial arts film stars? A force to be reckoned with indeed.
I want to delve a little further into this point. Sure, actors like Bruce Lee are cool but what really turned him and Kung Fu into a trans-pacific icons that retain influence to this day? I dug a little more and found a pretty interesting answer.
3 — Decolonisation
What was the ‘à la mode’ global political trend of the 60’s? Decolonisation.
To understand the thematic overlap of civil rights between Hip-hop and Kung Fu, we need to understand the context in East and West during the 60’s.
The West emerged limping from the struggles of the African American civil rights era between 1954 and 1968.
Peep the timeline on the left.
The East (specifically Hong Kong) emerged from the Japanese imperialist occupation era (1945).
Both worlds experienced watershed moments in history. To generalise/simplify: (Non-white) Average joes standing up for themselves and defeating an unjust authority. Sound like a typical Kung Fu film plot?
“Non-white protagonists enacting righteously justified violence against white or colonialist foes.”- film scholar David Desser
In Fist of Fury, protagonist Bruce Lee faces off Japanese dojo master Hiroshi Suzuki.
To someone in the 21st century, the plot is plain and simple: Protagonist beats antagonist.
To audience members in the 60’s, we instead subconsciously see the forces of good and evil; the colonised and coloniser; average folk hero and imperialist, reminiscent of a colonial past in both Hong Kong and America. It was the narrative lens of decolonisation that fostered a cinematic alliance between American people of colour and Kung Fu heroes, bonded by a colonial past, but more importantly, enlightened by a hero’s liberation.
As a result of context, parallels were drawn between colonial struggles in Hong Kong and African-American civil rights movements, rendering Kung Fu films as symbolic narratives that were superimposable to audiences’ personal narratives. Bruce Lee, Jet Li, and Cheng Pei Pei etc. were more than just actors. They were mythical heroes and challengers of society.
4 - Philosophy
“What martial arts really did for hip-hop was to provide a model for an apprenticeship system that showed how you could respect a teacher or a mentor without diminishing your own self-respect.” — Dr. Joseph Schloss.
I couldn’t find a better way to put this myself. Stripping down Kung Fu films reveals a common plot:
- Young male outcast practices relentlessly under the guidance of a master
- He develops his own style
- He defeats an antagonist authority
- Liberation
Just as a martial artist perfects their Lop Sao backfist under the guidance of a master, or shifu, a rapper/MC perfects their flow religiously; a DJ cultivates his style under the mentorship of a superior; a b-boy challenges the preconceived boundaries of breakdancing with new moves in a dance battle.
Whether it’s honour, practice, or mentorship, Kung Fu movies preached philosophies that resonated with a burgeoning hip-hop culture.
Bruce Lee’s spotlight was tragically short-lived. But his brief four-year on-screen stardom between 1969 to 1973 was enough to amass a fortune’s worth in cultural influence. Those kids who sat starry eyed in front of scores of Kung Fu films absorbed its philosophical, aesthetic, and cultural influence, integrating these qualities into their own developing ‘third’ culture: Hip-hop.
“We would watch them [Kung Fu films] every weekend. That was around the age of nine. By the time I was twelve or thirteen I started getting fascinated. I would go into Chinatown buying everything. Kung-fu books, slippers. You name it, I was on a mission.” — RZA, Wu Tang Clan member
What followed?
Of course, the latest from Kendrick Lamar…
And the rest, as they say, was history.
