Kung Fu is NOT Hip-Hop!!!


I HATE HATE HATE how all the so called "Gangsta's" (I ain't talking OG's here, but the "new school") have tried to Hip-Hop'ize the Kung Fu genre. It is sickening and an outright insult to the art, culture, practitioners and the heritage of this ancient and spiritual way of life.

RZA may have done extensive research and study into the history and traditions of Kung Fu but he has clearly missed every single important teaching and aspect in bastardising it with Hip-Hop buffoonary and hubris. RZA is not on the path to enlightenment but actually heading in the exact opposite direction.

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Right, because before RZA there was no "buffoonery and hubris" in the Kung Fu genre. The same genre that only has one character motivation: revenge. Sorry his handling of the delicate subject matter of fighting to get even crossed your oh-so-refined sensibilities of this high-brow art form.

I disagree, hiphop by its nature is derivative of many cultural inputs, its a fusion that is literally composed from just about every other genre through sampling. Look up that word in the musical context; SAMPLING. Kung Fu has been a part of hiphop since the Wu Tang Clan made it part of hiphop 22 years ago. Right now, you come across like the angry old jazz musician trying to tell new jazz makers what they are doing is not jazz because its not like what they were doing 50 years ago. Kung Fu might not be hiphop, but hiphop has damned sure digested Kung Fu. Get over yourself and have a nice day.

But seriously, who doesn't love a gun-knife?

I still believe. Do you still believe? - Earl Hickey

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I'm sorry, I don't recall saying that there was not buffoonery and hubris prior to RZA.

You fail to comprehend my point here, Kung Fu is not music, it is an extension of the original Buddhist teachings and does not have origins in combat nor conflict. Fighting to get "even" is about as far as possible from the teachings and philosophy which strive to avoid conflict and seek enlightenment.

Wu Tang Clan were cinema centric and had hardly any understanding of the philosophy of Kung Fu, they just thought the HK cinema was cool and stylised themselves from it.

This movie could have been quite good if not for the myriad of blunders made from conception to release.

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You must have stopped watching before the 55 minute mark.

I still believe. Do you still believe? - Earl Hickey

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Kung Fu is not music, it is an extension of the original Buddhist teachings and does not have origins in combat nor conflict

This is some laughably bad history. The origins of kung fu predate Buddhism in China. The oldest records of Buddhists using kung fu are of them using it in self defense.

Death to shakeycam directors!

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Kung fu was born from exercises developed by Bhodi Dharmma based on animal movements for the monks to do in order to prevent their muscles wasting away from their prolonged meditations. Sorry but you're incorrect.

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Indeed, you're correct. 'Monkey', 'Tiger', 'Snake', 'Mantis', 'Dragon', 'Eagle' are some of the names given to the animalistic movements involved in Kung Fu.

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I think you're confusing Gung-Fu and HK action movies of the 70s, they are not the same thing. Gung-fu itself, many schools, had evolved through the 18th and 19th centuries especially to be much more acrobatic and ascetically pleasing to watch (e.g. the low fighting stance, the high stretching kicks) contrary to functionality and true martial reasons as the performers would attract bigger crowds and bigger purses during their expositions this way. It has not been a pure martial art for centuries, it is you who is not so familiar with the correct history!

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Kung Fu is any practice that takes time, energy and patience to master. Music can be Kung Fu.

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As a fan of both Hip-Hop and Kung-Fu......I have to say I was not felling the score in this film. Some of those scenes would have been better w/o the rapping in the back ground.

Overall the movie was entertaining which is all I was looking for.

Some posters must have gone in thinking this was supposed to be an Oscar winner or something?





"And what was it last time? Didn't know what the box was?" - The Female Cenobite in Hellbound

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[deleted]

Loved this answer!!

"Your Life is now mine,prepare for your demise!!...Oh!Look a Twinky!!!" BANG! Bang Bang Bang!!

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Same thoughts, i watched the trailer and heard hiphop...wtf ?
Nice effects and characters, but too much Hollywood, im not watching this

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Have you ever seen Afro Samurai ?

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Couldn't agree more. The music did not, in any way, mix with this type of movie. It killed it.

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kung fu is a lion roar sound effect though. for rizzle


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Have a heart. Please spay and neuter your pets.

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kinda like kung fu is NOT classical music or rock music... so what? That means those forms of music can't be used in soundtracks of kung-fu action sequences? Hell, for that matter movie kung fu is NOT kung fu. So I guess none of us can watch kung fu movies because they aren't real kung fu.

i mean really, the first people in hip hop to get into kung fu and use it as a major inspiration was the wu-tang clan, of which rza is the leader, so he certainly isn't copying anyone or encouraging a trend. I can't really think of anyone outside of the wu-tang clan that are into mixing kung fu with hip hop, but then again i'm not that into rap music. point is, it's not like a very popular combination - it's just rza's main influence, so it makes sense he'd do an homage like this.

you can't accuse rza of bastardizing the traditions and history of kung-fu while completely ignoring that everything he's done in this movie has been done a million times already - the films that did it first are what he's making an homage to, not the far less entertaining "traditional history" of kung fu. If you've missed that point completely, then this movie was really never for you anyway.

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You're missing the point. The point being about how all these twits think Kung Fu is Gangsta and they have no real clue about anything.

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YOUR point is ridiculous, that's the real point. You could just as easily be complaining that kids think they're gangta and have no real clue about anything. Live and let live.

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Ah but these are Adults not kids .. and there in lies the rub.

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Not really. the point you're trying to make is that these people *think* they are kung fu and they aren't. It's silly. I could just as easily say you *think* you know kung fu but don't. What's it matter? Why let it bother you on a personal level so much? It's a movie.

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Actually, you're the one missing the point. zerofinnigan obviously knows what he's talking about, while you have no clue. It's funny how a guy that obviously has no idea about kung fu or hip-hop can be so offended about mixing them up. Get your head out of your ass, stop thinking hip-hop is limited to gangsta rap and kung fu flicks have anything to do with buddhism. Or just continue being an ignorant with an attitude over the web :)

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I actually am a Buddhist (Mahayana Chán) and have devoted more than a decade to the study of traditional Hung Gar Kuen. Your comments are not what I was having a rant about at all!

In fact I object to the misrepresentation by individuals as authorities when in reality they have little true knowledge or spiritual understanding and the only knowledge they actually have has been gleaned from watching Kung Fu Cult Cinema films, which are primarily based on legend and myth.

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The Boxer Rebellion was as gangsta as gangsta gets; whatever the roots of Kung Fu, it hardly has a history linked with pacifism IMHO.

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Hate to get off the topic of the movie but I respectfully disagree. Have you ever listened to a Wu-tang CD! Some of the best music ever made lyrics and production included. Music or not they are absolutely right for a Kung Fu flick.

Can you really listen to "Da Mystery of Chessboxin" and tell me you HATE the song but like Kung-Fu flicks?

Lyrics & Meaning translated:

http://rapgenius.com/Wu-tang-clan-da-mystery-of-chessboxin-lyrics

Do you really want to party?

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That doesn't make any sense. Just because someone likes J.R.R. Tolkien or other fantasy writers, doesn't mean he or she would automatically like Led Zeppelin, Blind Guardian, Manowar or other fantasy influenced hard rock or heavy metal.

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Generalizing is retarded. You obviously don't know *beep* about hip hop.



I'm the grim reaper, lardass, and you're my next customer.

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Are you ignorant of wu-tang from which RZA comes? In '93 they came out with an album (36 chambers) that perfectly fused hip hop and kung fu and backed it up with several other amazing fusions. The over the top elements of both as well as their greatest elements (combat) put together in flow. How well the movie captures it is another thing but don't think the two can't be mixed.

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