Indigenization and Hip Hop

Hong Kong cinema’s impact on Hip Hop illustrates the often surprising outcomes of indigenization.

These films definitely resonate a lot in the Black community. It’s the underdog thing, it’s the brotherly thing, and also I think it’s escapism, because you can go over there and watch these movies, and it’s not even America. It’s like a whole other world. (The RZA Interview)

Objectives

After completing this assignment, students should be able to

• Summarize the ideas presented in the quote above.
• Identify other points made in the interview that elaborate on the points made in the quote above (e.g. when the RZA states that 36th Chamber was “the first film I had seen that was outside the scope of American history….”
• Summarize the reasons that the RZA compares 36th Chamber to Rocky
• Summarize the ways that martial arts films impacted the practices and social structures of b-boying in relation to
  • discipline
  • mentoring
  • crews
  • attitude
  • moves
• Identify the artists discussed in class and in the lecture slides

Reading

• Lecture Slides: Indigenization and Hip Hop
• Jason Gross, RZA’s Edge – The RZA’s Guide to Kung-Fu Films (FilmComment.org)

Listening/Viewing

• Training Scenes, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (Liu Chia-liang 1978)
• The RZA Interview (youtube.com)

Quiz

• Wu Tang Clan