«"Your technique is superb... They say that when you strike someone on the neck, it makes a sound like the howling of a winter wind. I've always dreamed of hitting someone like that someday, of hearing that sound. But the fact that it happened to my own neck is just ridiculous." «"Shogun Assassin"»
« The energy is palpable as soon as the cards are dealt / With the power of black belt roundhouse kicks / That attack the microphones like cyclones or typhoons / I present you from midnight to noon »" - The GZA, "Liquid Swords"«
Any kid who grew up in a major city in the '70s and '80s probably remembers their own versions of seedy dive bars showing kung fu movies nonstop. In Chicago, where I grew up, you could watch them all day long at, ugh, the Oriental Cinema, a name that apparently existed long before political correctness was even a thing.
But my love of Asian cinema and television began at home, thanks to local UHF stations that broadcast Hong Kong action films, Japanese monster movies, and syndicated screenings of Speed Racer, Spectreman, and Space Giants during weekend daytime hours. These were vastly different cinematic visions, born in vastly different cultures, which broadcasters and film distributors conflated on the cultural fringes.
Now compare these distant memories with the Wu-Tang Clan's national triumph in 2025, when their so-called swan tour, "Wu-Tang Forever: The Final Chamber," became one of the most popular summer events celebrating their legacy. RZA, GZA, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Method Man, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, and Cappadonna represent hip-hop's greatest crew and one of the last remaining groups from the genre's golden era of the 1990s. Each is a respected solo artist. RZA and Method Man are also movie stars.
My most memorable performance was in Seattle during "The Final Chamber" tour, which was structured like a movie marathon from years past. There were intermissions during which Wu-Tang merchandise was shown on big screens. The trailer promoted "One Spoon of Chocolate," RZA's recently released blaxploitation revenge thriller, but the show also promoted other official Wu-Tang merchandise, including a video game.
Art and commerce are inseparable partners, and the Wu-Tang Clan not only understand this but also use it to their advantage. Billboard Boxscore estimates for August 2025 that "The Final Chamber" tour will gross $30.6 million across 27 shows scheduled for June and July, with an average gross of $1.2 million per show.
You can be cynical about this shameless promotion, but you can also appreciate it as a sign of the band's profound influence on popular culture. Fans love to quote lines from kung fu films, shouting "Tiger Style!" from "Shaolin Executioners," or the famous line about Shaolin boxing fused with Wu-Tang fencing: "It can be dangerous! And profitable!"«
But let's remember where RZA and his late cousin, Ol' Dirty Bastard, along with the rest of their band, first encountered these films. As children, this crew from Staten Island, New York, sought them out in the theaters on Manhattan's 42nd Street, a hub of low culture immortalized as The Deuce. Today, the spirit and dialogue of these films take center stage at the world's largest venues. "The Final Chamber" tour recently concluded its European and Australian legs. On Sunday, May 24, it's Japan's turn, following RZA's scheduled appearance at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards.
(Crunchyroll)
«"Our tongue is like a sword," RZA once told Vanity Fair. "If you think you're the best lyricist, you have to use the Wu-Tang sword, and that's why we're the Wu-Tang Clan. We thought we were the best lyricists in hip-hop.".
GZA is currently touring North America to celebrate the 30th anniversary of his album "Liquid Swords," considered one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time. Digital journalist Matt Daniels once calculated that GZA's lyrics, in general, place him among the best artists in terms of unique use of vocabulary—a key reason why "Liquid Swords" is an early example of how RZA, who produced the album, incorporated themes and samples from the genre's drama. jidaigeki «"Shogun Assassin" in his work.
«"In Japanese samurai movies, one hit kills," RZA said. He chose the song "Shogun Assassin" to introduce GZA because, he said, "his lyrics are straightforward.".
But no matter who's behind the mic, every Wu-Tang Clan track is intended to be the sonic equivalent of a movie.
Just as critics often praise Quentin Tarantino for creating films about films, the Wu-Tang Clan deserve credit for popularizing Asian martial arts cinema. Today, you can find exhaustive lists of classic Asian martial arts films, either sampled on their albums or referenced in song lyrics. YouTube playlists dedicated to this topic are sure to keep you glued to the couch for days.
But even if you've never attended an Asian film festival or other event, you've likely benefited from the expanded market reach this group has helped provide.
«"I argue that RZA is single-handedly responsible for the worldwide resurgence of interest in kung fu films," writes Sophia Chang, author of The Coolest Girl in the Room, in a 2012 essay for the Asian American Writers' Workshop. "Without the Wu-Tang Clan, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero would not have been as successful.".
We take for granted that these films occupy a place of honor in American popular culture, alongside hip-hop's influence on Asia. But it wasn't always that way. Long before RZA and GZA became musical legends—when their friends called them Robert Diggs and Gary Grice—martial arts films were relegated to the background.
Jeff Chang, author of "Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation" (and no relation to Sophia), puts it more bluntly in a 2023 KEXP-FM podcast episode.
He said the reason RZA or any other non-white American fans of these films encountered them was racism. Films from the Shaw Brothers catalog and other Hong Kong studios were shown in dilapidated theaters, often in the city center, where tickets cost around a dollar and anyone could sit comfortably in the cool air conditioning.
«"So fans of films that exploit racial discrimination watch kung fu films and see the same connections between... these Confucian, Taoist, and Zen-like principles and values and these ideas of loyalty and brotherhood," he explained.
Thus, amid the discriminatory early marketing of the cinematic genre, we ultimately reap the fruits of the encounter and fusion of concepts from two non-white cultures. Hip-hop artistry is shaped and honed through lyrical battles. Martial arts films portray competition as a means of pushing opponents to improve, to achieve greater things. Then comes the release of the Wu-Tang Clan's first album, "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)," and, as Jeff Chang describes it, "competition turns into beautiful cultural creation.".
Megan Thee Stallion
(Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Live Nation) Megan Thee Stallion performs on stage during her Hot Girl Summer Tour at Crypto.com Arena on June 21, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.
Part of this building inspired the next generation of rappers to incorporate their love of other aspects of Asian pop culture, such as anime, into their performance style and prose. Perhaps the most famous anime ambassador in hip-hop today is Megan Thee Stallion, who created an entire alter ego, Todoroki Tina, around her favorite character from My Hero Academia. And her explanation for her love of anime is very similar to the philosophy that drew RZA to kung fu films, and later to Asian philosophy and martial arts.
«"I love how the character evolves with you, how you see all the trials and tribulations they go through, and then you see them meet new people who really help them become the hero they're destined to be," she told Crunchyroll. "So I feel like I apply that to my own life a lot.".
These connections made the incorporation of anime and martial arts films into hip-hop, an art form based on collaboration and sound collage, somewhat inevitable. Whether it's the films favored by Wu-Tang or the animated sagas favored by Megan, the characters struggle not just for survival but also for mastery. "It was through these films that I was able to see and experience the world from a non-Western perspective," RZA once said. "Some of the dialogue struck a chord with me. It was Buddhism and psychology. 'Without wisdom, there is no gain.' There's beauty in that.".
This article originally appeared in The Swell, Salon's cultural newsletter. Subscribe to get early access to articles like this one and learn more about the culture that's here to stay.
The article "If What We Say Is True, Shaolin and Wu-Tang Are Invincible" first appeared on Salon.com.