RZA’s Kung Fu Movie Fulfills Its Primary Duty: Having a Rad Soundtrack

RZABack in July, Grantland Trailerologists Dan Silver and Rembert Browne broke down RZA’s Russell Crowe–starring kung fu opus The Man With the Iron Fists: “There have been rumors of RZA’s directorial debut for years, but I never believed this film was real. Well, consider me a believer … if the blood splatter on the lens wasn’t enough, then the eyeball flying toward the camera [see here, but only after you’ve had your breakfast] should be.” So that’s what we’re dealing with here: At one point, just the fact it actually came to fruition would have been enough; now, though, this thing is barreling into theaters (it’s out November 2) with some steam. Now here’s some more good news for Bobby Digital’s first flick: The track list for the soundtrack has been released, and it pretty much slays.

Via Pitchfork:

01 The Black Keys and RZA: “The Baddest Man Alive”
02 Ghostface Killah, M.O.P, and Pharoahe Monch: “Black Out”
03 Kanye West: “White Dress”
04 The Revelations: “I Forgot to Be Your Lover” [ft. Tre Williams]
05 Talib Kweli and RES: “Get Your Way (Sex as a Weapon)”
06 Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, and Kool G. Rap: “Rivers of Blood”
07 Method Man, Freddie Gibbs, and StreetLife: “Built for This”
08 24 Carat Black: “Poverty’s Paradise”
09 Killa Sin: “The Archer”
10 RZA and Flatbush Zombies: “Just Blowin’ in the Wind”
12 Corrine Bailey Rae: “Chains”
13 Pusha T and Raekwon: “Tick Tock”
14 Frances Yip: “Green is the Mountain”
15 The Wu-Tang Clan: “Six Directions of Boxing”
16 Mabel John: “Your Good Thing Is About to End”

RZA and the “Thug Waffle” guys! Rae, Ghost, and Kool G. Rap! What is, I hope, the first full-clan Wu-Tang track since 2008’s sickly underrated 8 Diagrams! A new solo ‘Ye song that may well be about some garment of Kim’s he really likes! And best of all, not a single track from 30 Odd Foot of Grunts.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about Iron Fists, RZA explained that, exhausted after writing and directing the project, he had hoped to drop the duties for the score on someone else. When the producers asked him to do it, RZA, aghast at their chutzpah, went to big brother Quentin Tarantino to complain, who then calmly pointed out, “Bob, who else is gonna score it?” The point here being that, unless RZA somehow rips off a long string of cinematic marvels, it’ll always be the tunes he’s known for. Therefore, his primary duty on Iron Fists, above all else, was to make sure that music, whether it’s for the soundtrack or the score, was truly bong-bong. So far, so good.

Filed Under: Movie News, Russell Crowe, RZA, The Man With The Iron Fists, Wu-Tang Clan

Amos Barshad has written for New York Magazine, Spin, GQ, XXL, and the Arkansas Times. He is a staff writer for Grantland.

Archive @ AmosBarshad