Wu-Tang Clan - Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing ta Fuck Wit - (The 36th Chamber of Shaolin)

“I saw it when I was nine years old on Channel 5, and then again when I was 13 or 14 on 42nd St.,” RZA said, noting that the film’s story of the struggle between oppressed Chinese villagers and repressive Manchu authorities resonated particularly strongly. “Beyond the kung-fu, it was the reality of the situation that hit me. Growing up as a black kid in America, I didn’t know that that kind of story had existed anywhere else.”

Inspired by the film, RZA would eventually conceive an elaborate mythology for his own environs, recasting his Staten Island neighborhood as Shaolin, modeling his persona on that of the film’s sage Abbot (Tung-Kua Ai), finding musical parallels between the five-note Chinese scale and the minor pentatonic, and recruiting a cadre of fellow travelers with kung-fu-inspired stage-names to form Wu-Tang.

When asked to name his favorite fight scene from the film, RZA – who had endured a failed solo rap career and legal trouble before recording “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)” – curiously picked protagonist San Te’s battle with an antagonistic monk (Hoi Sang Lee), which he loses. “San Te had a plan to beat him, but he countered every move. A lot of times in our lives, we don’t really invest in loss, but San Te meditates on his defeat, and finds a solution.”

https://variety.com/2014/scene/vpage/rza-wu-tang-clan-36th-chamber-of-shaolin-lacma-film-independent-1201313141/