Kung Fu Films

Steve Spence
Updated: 30 March 2018

Hong Kong Cinema, in theaters and on TV

In addition to Blaxploitation films, in the 1970s urban audiences flocked to see imported martial arts films.

This was true throughout the country, but probably nowhere more so than in New York City, in the same neighborhoods where the art forms that became known as hip hop were taking shape.

Joseph Schloss on Hong Kong Cinema in 1970s New York

"...Hong Kong action movies that depicted martial arts training were a mainstay of youth culture in New York in the '70s and '80s. Many theaters in Times Square showed kung fu movies at that time, and one of New York's independent television stations, WNEW (now Fox affiliate WNYW), had a long-standing policy of playing these films as a regular feature on its Saturday afternoon Drive In Movie programming, which ran from 1981 through 1988" (52).

"This television show may well be the single most significant unacknowledged influence on New York hip-hop culture. Films like Five Deadly Venoms (1978) became touchstones for future generations of hip-hop artists, in terms of attitude, physical movement, social organization, and—particularly in the case of Wu-tang Clan—lyrical references."

Joseph G. Schloss, Foundation: B-boys, B-girls, and Hip-hop Culture in New York (141, no. 4).

Blaxploitation + Kung Fu

Many films—including Dolemite—blended the two genres.

But the most accomplished crossovers starred actor/martial artist Jim Kelly.

Jim Kelly

Three the Hard Way (Gordon Parks, Jr., 1974) [Watch 31:39 through 37:44]

Bruce Lee, Hip-Hop Icon

It's not hard today to find images that celebrate the connection of hip hop and kung fu cinema. The painting on the right is by artist Fred Brathwaite, an early graffiti writer from New York who, among other things, produced Wild Style. The image on the left is Gung Fu Scratch, by BNA78.

Wu Tang Clan

Wu Tang Clan logo

The Wu Tang Clan is the most obvious example of Hong Kong cinema's influence on early hip hop, but they are a special case that we will cover later.

"Every Ghetto, Every City"

A bag of Bontons, twenty cents and a nickel
Springfield Ave. had the best popsicles
Saturday morning cartoons and Kung-Fu
Main street roots tonic with the dreds
A beef patty and some coco bread
Move the patch from my Lees to the tongue of my shoe

Lauryn Hill, 1998

Afini Shakur

My son Tupac was greatly influenced by the films of the seventies. He actually, by the time he died, had amassed a collection of all those films. He watched them as a kid, and he watched them over and over again. What he watched as a kid was [Blaxploitation] films and Bruce Lee's films and all of the martial arts films, and that was his basic culture [Laughs].

BaadAsssss Cinema 2002

Kendrick Lamar

I like real karate movies. Not just Bruce Lee. I'm talking about Five Deadly Venoms. Only shit that Wu-tang Clan would know about. I could have full conversations with them. [Laughs]

Ebony magazine, June 2015, page 88

Kendrick Lamar continued

My pops was raised on karate movies, so I grew up looking at them as well as a lot of old flicks like Dolemite and The Mack. I still watch them to this day.

Ebony magazine, June 2015, page 88

Kendrick Lamar intro video - Coachella 2017