Welcome to Hip Hop Movie Club, the show that harmonizes the rhythm of hip hop with the
magic of movies.
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Today we're discussing episode one of the 2019 Wu-Tang Clan documentary of Mics and Men.
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We're three old heads who put their old heads together to vibe on these films for you.
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I'm Dyno Wright, podcaster, filmmaker, longtime hip hop fan, and I'm going to the first
show of their farewell tour in Baltimore.
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I'm JB, and 90s nostalgia junkie, longtime hip hop fan.
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And I'm also attending the Wu Tang Farewell Tour, but in Boogie's hometown of Newark, New
Jersey, AKA Brick City.
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Nork.
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I’m BooGie, a DJ, longtime hip hop fan, and
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and while PE is my favorite rap group, I feel like
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Wu-Tang may be the greatest one.
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In this episode we'll answer the question, what is the origin story of the Wu-Tang Clan?
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Robert Diggs, RZA, and the other members of the Wu-Tang Clan are introduced as survivors
of difficult circumstances who found solace in hip-hop, kung-fu cinema, and the 5 %
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nation.
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Here are five things you need to know about episode one of Mics and Men.
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Really the five things that formed the Wu-Tang Clan.
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Number one, the economic conditions and racial tensions in Staten Island made them want
more from life.
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Number two, family ties and bonds forged in Park Hill gave them glue and togetherness.
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The five percent nation's teachings gave them self-esteem and an important organizing
principle.
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Number four.
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RZA almost going to jail for eight years.
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After that, he walked straight, gave them a second chance at life.
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And number five, Kung Fu and the martial arts aesthetic gave them their other important
organizing principles.
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Yeah, let's dig in of Mics and Men episode one.
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This is a great documentary and I can't wait to dig into the other episodes coming up.
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But first takeaway, as you mentioned, Dyno Wright.
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The economic conditions, racial tension of Staten Island.
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So they kind of like converted Staten Island to the slums of Shaolin.
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And that was like their spiritual, physical foundation for Wu-Tang Clan, all about the
upbringing.
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difficult times that they had to face and trials and tribulations.
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Boogie, want to talk a little bit more about what they were facing with on a day-to-day
basis?
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Yeah, know, Staten Island, you know, is often looked at as one of the forgotten borough.
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I mean, most people talk about, you know, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, but yeah, Staten
Island kind of gets left behind a little bit.
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People talk about, what's going on in New York City as a geographic, you know,
location.
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But they had a lot of, know, same things they dealt with other boroughs, you know.
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poor conditions, crime, people having to resort to selling drugs to make a way for
themselves.
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That was the same kind of opposition and tension in dealing with the police officers in
the area.
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There were several stories.
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know specifically Method Man mentioned one when he was 16 years old on his way out and the
cops kind of grabbed him up and frisked him down.
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Luckily somebody came by and said, oh, you know, that's not the person we're looking for,
but you know, let them go, but you know, no apology or anything.
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It was just like, you know, hey, you know, go, you know, beat it kid, get out of here.
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And he's kind of like, thought that, you know, thought that was normal to get treated that
way as a child.
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And, you know, then they mentioned the story young man who was killed in Staten
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Ernest Sayon, who actually was killed by police in the neighborhood.
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They didn't really get much into it, but you could tell there was a lot of discrepancy
surrounding the story of what happened to him.
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People were protesting in the area.
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They had mayor at the time, Rudy Giuliani, speaking to the crowd, and they weren't really
trying to hear what he was saying because it seemed like he was more so making excuses for
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what happened instead of listening to what the people were saying.
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I think these hardships that the young men had to deal with coming up, like any other
group that you can think of that comes out of the city, it made them want more, made them
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hungry for wanting more.
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CappaDonna said it best, this is a culture created from expression, it was a way of life,
hip hop, that's what happens.
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And these guys were no different.
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Yeah, well, well, stated of Boogie, they were poor.
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They say we were broke.
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We're living the projects and projects literally were built like a prison.
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It's like a combine where they're enclosed and it's like metaphor for like, there's really
no way out.
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So we're like, kind of looking for a way out.
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And they, they leaned on their hip hop.
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Like the timing was like hip hop was taking off and they thought if we could master this
craft, all of us together, those conditions galvanized them.
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They faced a lot of racism, called the n-word chased, bottles thrown at them, riots,
fights.
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And again, just by diving into the hip hop culture, they were strengthened that, strength
in numbers and strength in their talents.
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For sure.
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Dyno Wright, anything at about like Staten Island as the foundation.
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the Shaolin, as they like to call it, the Park Hill projects, like you said, they were set
up like a prison and all the other amenities that you would need in a neighborhood were
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all there.
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so I think Method Man talked about this, like some people never left because they made it
so you didn't have to.
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But metaphysically, he wanted a way out.
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Like he saw that there was hope within all of this mess that that you could get out or you
could
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You can rise from your situation.
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They do use this as a theme, this rising later on.
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so, yeah, out of really difficult circumstances, it really fueled their art.
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Yeah, I think a lot of people, when they tend to think of the North, they think, the North
is free of racism, it's free of segregation.
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But in a lot of these cities, you'll see that there are clear cut lines with neighborhoods
where you don't cross the lines.
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there's the projects, JB said, they're made for you not to not leave.
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you're in those lines and most people tend to stay in those lines.
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We saw the same thing when we talked about time is Illmatic, know, that's their way of
life.
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Some people never leave, you know, but thank God that these guys had a vision and a fuel
to, you know, to want more.
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Yeah, so most of the Wu-Tang Clan grew up in Staten Island, but I know they said gza was
from Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, and so was Old Dirty Bastard.
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But everybody else, I think, was from Staten Island.
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If you look at this documentary, episode one, this is great because it kind of just again
lays the foundation.
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A lot of them went to school together.
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They said that their mothers knew each other for the most part.
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And I guess that's kind of a good
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segue to our next takeaway, which is family ties and bonds that were forged in Park Hill
gave them that glue and togetherness.
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So having those actual true family ties where it was built on existing closeness,
neighborhood bonds and family ties in terms of like literally ODB, GZA and RZA were
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cousins.
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And it started with that brotherhood and camaraderie.
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They talk about they were
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They were like little rascals.
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were playing kickball and floating on makeshift rafts in the one pond.
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And then they had all the different personalities.
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And so they all brought some other different element to the group.
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again, usually a lot of people like, you know, they would met with some challenges like
you have nine, got so many guys, how's it gonna work?
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But they were like, we're not worried about that.
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You know, we're family.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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Yeah.
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lot of them mentioned they came from broken homes, but like it was that unshakable loyalty
among the members because they had that bond and it started with the bond and it wasn't
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like, you know, it wasn't like a group that was put together by the producer or record
company.
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It's like, we're going to, know, like you see these boy bands and other things like that.
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It's like that this was formed organically and that was just, yeah, that was beautiful to
see.
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And not that they don't have their own conflicts, but they were really tight.
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Yeah, I remember Divine was saying that him and RaeKwon were best friends before the Wu
that they grew up as best friends.
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You U-God got, you know, hey, you know, we've been playing together since we were five
years old.
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It's like, wow.
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Yeah, I learned a lot about their different personalities.
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Like, I got to be honest, like I didn't know that much about the unique qualities of each
individual.
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I know I think that Method Man gets a lot of the face time and ODB became a, know, mega
star because of his solo career in his collaborations.
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like you said, folks like UGod and
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I know Ghostface Killa had his own solo and Rae Kwon and Inspectah Deck is like, I loved
hearing about, you U- God and they said beautiful violence, right?
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And Ghostface Killah got his name from the martial arts and he was a break dancer and
stuff like that.
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So I really liked seeing those unique aspects of each individual.
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Rae Kwon the chef has street elegance, said with a great voice.
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Inspectah Deck had seen everything.
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I mean.
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Yeah.
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where he lives, he could see the street and everything happening in front of him.
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So he had those types of experiences and Capadonna, they said, was a slang master.
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And even like you see a lot of all the different elements that we always talk about with
hip-hop and Method Man and RaeKwon would they would do tags with graffiti So, yeah, it was
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kind of cool to see behind the scenes of these guys
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Absolutely, absolutely.
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I like that Sacha Jenkins, the director, brought them to the St.
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George's Theater in Staten Island to have them watch their own archival clips and film
their reactions.
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I that was really nice.
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This is a kind of like summation of their career and that was really neat.
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I like what he did there.
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It looked really nice to have them sitting there, you reunited.
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It had a really good look to it.
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Yeah.
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definitely nice touch.
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And they can see that, you know, even the that, you know, the stuff that was difficult to
watch, they can kind of see how they could move past it, you know, by seeing how they were
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acting and, you know, understanding that they got that far because they worked together.
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And, that's the reason why they all became successful because they did it together.
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It wasn't like one person went out on their own and did it.
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And you know, they went out together and got, became who they were.
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Yeah, for sure.
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I mean, I RZA had that vision and was like, these are all my friends and these are like
the dopest rappers I know and we're the Wu-Tang Clan.
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You know, he'd say Wu-Tang slang first and then, you know, Wu-Tang Clan.
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And there's a lot of meaning behind that, which we'll get to.
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RZA was also inspired by the 5 % Nations teachings and they gave the group, gave him
self-esteem and among the other members as well.
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And that was an important organizing principle among the Wu-Tang Clan.
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Dyno Wright, you want to you want to talk a little bit more about what you saw here with
the five percent nation?
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Yeah
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So RZA comes across these teachings from the 5 % nation and they go through the supreme
mathematics, they go through the Asiatic black man being the original man and so that made
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its way into their rhymes too.
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So it gave them a sense of like importance and self-esteem like,
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human race originated with the Asiatic black man they talk about.
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And so, you know, when you're faced with this racism from other groups and like just
rivalries with other ethnic groups in Park Hill, to have that kind of boost to their
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self-esteem really propelled them.
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there's a lot to the supreme mathematics and self-determination and knowledge of self.
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I don't really know it well enough to really talk about it, but it was influential for
them.
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and it gave them confidence to pursue their craft too.
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Yeah, definitely.
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That was huge.
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Good point.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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Yeah.
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So RZA brought that philosophy.
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RZA was kind of like the visionary behind the group, as I mentioned, and galvanized this
group with those philosophies.
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And you said it right.
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I'll repeat, propelled them to success in newer heights.
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And RZA himself interesting because he, you know, I think his family moved to Ohio and he
was still fairly young in his early 20s, maybe his around 20 or so, early 20s, 22.
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And he was, you know,
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Someone got shot and he was part of this feud, I guess, and he almost went to jail for
eight years, but that kind of scared him straight.
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And he had a new lease on life when he was released.
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or like when the charges, when he, he, you know, beat the charges exactly.
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That's what I was trying to say.
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Yeah.
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So yeah, he's like, listen, I could go one way.
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I can go the other.
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You see so many people from.
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Um, where he grew up not making it.
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And he said, man, I have an opportunity here.
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Um, I'm going to try to follow the, I think his mother said, you can follow the straight
and narrow path.
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You got to stay straight and narrow.
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And, and he did that and he made the most of that opportunity.
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He goes back to New York, reconnects with the other Wu-Tang Clan members and they go from
there.
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Yeah.
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I mean, a lot of these guys and Boogie mentioned like because it was so hard to get by
because the society, you know, there was, there's a lot of obstacles.
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A lot of them resorted to selling drugs and U- God even Method Man had sold drugs.
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U-God got locked up at one point.
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You had mentioned already Boogie Divine, which was RZA's older brother.
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He hustled a lot and he was actually really influential and kind of helping these guys.
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with the monetary, with profits, you know, building equipment, buying equipment, all this
stuff, which was kind of from the sales of the drugs and stuff like that.
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Inspectah deck got locked up.
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mean, divine got locked up for a long time, you know, and.
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Inspectah deck got locked up CappaDonna as well.
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So.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, these guys were hustling because that's what they needed to do to get by.
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fortunately, they grew both musically and intellectually and they kind of started
following a more straight and narrow path like RZA and eventually would hit it big,
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thankfully.
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GZA was the first one to kind of come out with a record, right, as the genius.
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Yeah, the genius, right?
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That song, Come Do Me, and that was played on MTV, I think.
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Someone's early video, early interview footage was really neat to see.
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him and old dirty bastard being interviewed.
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ODB was in that video, I believe.
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Yep.
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Yeah.
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But then, I mean, the final takeaway, we got to talk about the Kung Fu and martial arts
aesthetic and that influence.
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And that's makes these guys so unique.
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I love the story behind, you know, the Wu Tang Clan and like, it's kind of like
metaphorical for the group itself.
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In the very beginning, you see Wu Tang is like, Wu Tang is the most powerful sword style,
right?
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That they saw in martial arts.
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And Amber, you want to talk a little bit more about the meaning behind Wu Tang?
206
00:15:57,250 --> 00:16:17,708
Yeah, Wu is the foundation of the universe, and Wu Chi, actually went to Wutang in China
and actually saw how they carried themselves there.
207
00:16:17,708 --> 00:16:20,083
it's probably the most powerful...
208
00:16:20,083 --> 00:16:23,750
forcing the universe and it brings everything together and it keeps everything intact.
209
00:16:24,291 --> 00:16:27,125
And that's, kind of what the group was.
210
00:16:27,125 --> 00:16:39,708
It was a combination of, you know, each individual MC having their own skills, bringing it
to the table and then as a collective forming a super group, if you will, based off of
211
00:16:39,708 --> 00:16:43,083
these teachings and, moving forward and making themselves better.
212
00:16:43,083 --> 00:16:44,041
It was just,
213
00:16:44,041 --> 00:16:45,125
always thought they were so cool.
214
00:16:45,125 --> 00:16:48,333
I remember hearing Protect Ya Neck.
215
00:16:48,333 --> 00:16:49,291
And I'm like, what are these guys?
216
00:16:49,291 --> 00:16:50,916
Who are these guys?
217
00:16:50,916 --> 00:16:56,916
You hear the Saturday morning Kung Fu sound effects going on.
218
00:16:56,916 --> 00:16:58,000
It's like, what is this?
219
00:16:58,000 --> 00:16:59,541
What is this?
220
00:17:00,250 --> 00:17:03,791
And then the video, it was very low grade.
221
00:17:03,791 --> 00:17:05,750
They filmed it with a camcorder.
222
00:17:06,625 --> 00:17:07,875
And it's like, wow.
223
00:17:08,291 --> 00:17:14,375
But one thing you couldn't deny was like when they each one stepped in front of the
camera, their skills were on front.
224
00:17:14,375 --> 00:17:16,625
Like, wow, these guys are nice.
225
00:17:16,958 --> 00:17:22,125
And think just hearing the the the kung fu element sound effects was just so cool.
226
00:17:22,125 --> 00:17:24,333
Like they were like they brought it out.
227
00:17:24,333 --> 00:17:26,375
Like they were like the originators of that.
228
00:17:26,375 --> 00:17:27,708
Nobody was doing that.
229
00:17:27,708 --> 00:17:37,458
Everybody was either speaking about, going back to the motherland or, you what was going
on in the hood, like as far as, you know, the violence that was going on or, you know,
230
00:17:37,458 --> 00:17:38,250
being Afrocentric.
231
00:17:38,250 --> 00:17:41,791
But these guys were like, nah, we're just, doing our own thing.
232
00:17:43,458 --> 00:17:49,458
But even though it was based off of, the 5 % of teachings, it's just, it was just so
different.
233
00:17:49,666 --> 00:17:50,916
what, and I think that's what
234
00:17:50,916 --> 00:17:59,291
took the world by storm and that's what made them as big as they were because they were so
different and they completely embraced it.
235
00:17:59,333 --> 00:18:00,208
Yeah, for sure.
236
00:18:00,208 --> 00:18:09,458
mean, Wu Tang, again, it's also a metaphor for like the sword style, as we said, and like
they said that their tongues are the swords.
237
00:18:09,458 --> 00:18:11,875
And it's funny when you said, what is that?
238
00:18:11,875 --> 00:18:15,458
That's exactly what some of these folks were saying in the documentary.
239
00:18:15,458 --> 00:18:21,916
Like they showed Seth Rogen for a clip or two, and he was like blown away and even Nas was
in it, I think for a little bit.
240
00:18:21,916 --> 00:18:22,708
And like,
241
00:18:23,208 --> 00:18:28,666
Stretch and Bobbito, we keep talking about them almost every episode now, because they
were so influential in getting the stuff on the air.
242
00:18:28,666 --> 00:18:33,541
And these guys would come like this whole crew came into the studio, like, yo, we got to
put this on.
243
00:18:33,541 --> 00:18:43,875
Because they knew that if you get Airplay there, going to get a lot of listeners and
people are going to want to get that music and be able to buy it in the record stores.
244
00:18:43,875 --> 00:18:44,541
Yeah.
245
00:18:44,541 --> 00:18:47,125
And Wu Tang itself, like that phrase.
246
00:18:47,125 --> 00:18:49,291
which translates to he who is deserving of God.
247
00:18:49,291 --> 00:18:51,666
And I think RZA said that toward the very end.
248
00:18:51,791 --> 00:18:54,458
So yeah, it's a beautiful marriage between the martial arts.
249
00:18:54,458 --> 00:19:03,583
You hear the swords, and then, you know, and they're powerful, the cadence that they have
and how they featured so many different members and their different styles.
250
00:19:03,583 --> 00:19:06,250
This is a marriage made in heaven between.
251
00:19:06,625 --> 00:19:18,250
It's like I'm sitting here, I'm like looking at the cassette single and it looks like if
you look at it, it looks like there's a what might be like some kind of a Bible of some
252
00:19:18,250 --> 00:19:21,500
sort or, you know, religious book.
253
00:19:21,666 --> 00:19:23,833
And then there's a sword underneath.
254
00:19:23,833 --> 00:19:29,416
Like we mentioned, you mentioned that the sword, the sword player, know, Wu-Tang being the
sword style.
255
00:19:29,708 --> 00:19:36,250
But like, look at it, it's so raw that everybody, know, everybody else's, you know,
cassettes at the time had
256
00:19:36,250 --> 00:19:40,250
you know, these flashy pictures and images and things on the front.
257
00:19:40,250 --> 00:19:43,583
I look like somebody drew it with a, you know, somebody hand drew that.
258
00:19:43,625 --> 00:19:45,666
It was so raw.
259
00:19:47,291 --> 00:19:48,250
Yeah.
260
00:19:48,750 --> 00:19:50,625
Maybe it was mathematics.
261
00:19:53,833 --> 00:20:04,166
Speaking of mathematics, you know, that's crazy how, you know, he hand drew that logo and,
know, RZA paid him $400 for it.
262
00:20:04,166 --> 00:20:04,833
Man.
263
00:20:04,833 --> 00:20:05,208
No.
264
00:20:05,208 --> 00:20:08,208
That logo is worth millions now.
265
00:20:08,208 --> 00:20:14,916
was going say that the shirt that Dyno Wright has, that is such an iconic logo, the yellow
W, right?
266
00:20:15,125 --> 00:20:21,416
That's more recognizable than, I don't know, that's probably like a top 100 brand in the
world.
267
00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:25,416
If someone just put that without the name Wu Tang, you'd like, what is this symbol?
268
00:20:25,416 --> 00:20:33,500
You recognize it just like you do with the McDonald's, the Golden Arches, and the FedEx
logo, and the Prudential Rock, and all this stuff.
269
00:20:33,500 --> 00:20:35,500
It's like, you recognize this stuff.
270
00:20:35,500 --> 00:20:36,750
It's Wu Tangs everywhere.
271
00:20:36,750 --> 00:20:37,875
internationally.
272
00:20:38,291 --> 00:20:48,875
From a graphic design standpoint too, they've remixed this and moved it around and twisted
it and rotated it and it turns into a lot of different logos for the other members and you
273
00:20:48,875 --> 00:20:52,125
really know you got something here when it's that extendable.
274
00:20:52,125 --> 00:20:52,708
That's true.
275
00:20:52,708 --> 00:20:57,958
One story that made me crack up is Mook the manager.
276
00:20:58,041 --> 00:21:04,416
I love his marketing technique, how he planted his cousin in the one record store.
277
00:21:04,875 --> 00:21:09,416
When the song was first played, on Stretch and Bobbito and they wanted to drum up sales.
278
00:21:09,750 --> 00:21:18,208
I think he bought a box of the records that they had produced, and he'd go in the record
store, and there's hardly anybody in there but his cousin's there, and his cousin's
279
00:21:18,208 --> 00:21:19,125
sounded like...
280
00:21:19,125 --> 00:21:20,416
Yo, what's that song?
281
00:21:20,416 --> 00:21:21,666
Was Wu-Tang Clan?
282
00:21:21,666 --> 00:21:26,583
I heard it on Stretch and Bobbito Oh, yeah, yeah, you want to hear it?
283
00:21:26,583 --> 00:21:29,125
And like, yeah, I want to hear that.
284
00:21:29,125 --> 00:21:31,291
And all of sudden he's talking about it too.
285
00:21:31,291 --> 00:21:35,708
And then lo and behold, other people come in the store and they catch on and they're like,
yeah, I did hear that.
286
00:21:35,708 --> 00:21:36,500
I did hear that.
287
00:21:36,500 --> 00:21:38,791
And it just dropped and he said, we did that in New York.
288
00:21:38,791 --> 00:21:39,833
We went down to North Carolina.
289
00:21:39,833 --> 00:21:40,375
We did that.
290
00:21:40,375 --> 00:21:45,625
We went all up and down the East coast and the same trick helped.
291
00:21:45,625 --> 00:21:47,958
was genius marketing campaign.
292
00:21:47,958 --> 00:21:49,250
He made his own luck.
293
00:21:49,291 --> 00:21:50,041
Exactly.
294
00:21:50,041 --> 00:21:51,208
Yeah, for sure.
295
00:21:51,208 --> 00:21:55,750
Pounding the pavement and that was awesome.
296
00:21:55,750 --> 00:21:56,250
I love that.
297
00:21:56,250 --> 00:21:57,791
Amazing, yeah,
298
00:21:59,375 --> 00:22:10,541
about why they picked Protect Your Neck as their first single, if any footage existed of
them recording it, because their first single was amazing.
299
00:22:11,125 --> 00:22:13,708
But it sort of popped out of nowhere.
300
00:22:14,416 --> 00:22:18,708
So maybe that footage doesn't exist, or maybe we see more of it later.
301
00:22:18,708 --> 00:22:19,875
I don't know.
302
00:22:20,333 --> 00:22:22,791
Not to spoil anything, but.
303
00:22:23,625 --> 00:22:26,708
It's a choice and I'm curious about this choice.
304
00:22:27,333 --> 00:22:28,125
Interesting,
305
00:22:28,125 --> 00:22:35,083
There's another amazing part of this documentary was when, know, Method Man goes back to
the Statue of Liberty.
306
00:22:35,083 --> 00:22:37,458
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that.
307
00:22:37,458 --> 00:22:42,458
He used to work for several years and he goes back and he's his former manager.
308
00:22:42,625 --> 00:22:49,166
And I just love how he's so humble and he's just, know, Method Man out there and he's like
sweeping underneath, excuse me, I still got this.
309
00:22:49,166 --> 00:22:53,000
And then he sees his former manager, he sees the one woman that worked at the restaurant
there and...
310
00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:53,708
I'm what are you up to?
311
00:22:53,708 --> 00:22:55,500
I'm still Staten Island.
312
00:22:55,708 --> 00:22:57,708
So this was film, this was 2019, right?
313
00:22:57,708 --> 00:22:59,750
And so he's just like, yeah, yeah.
314
00:22:59,750 --> 00:23:02,166
So you guys doing, you you still live in the same area?
315
00:23:02,166 --> 00:23:05,666
I well, I'm still in Staten Island, but yeah, I a nicer house now.
316
00:23:06,958 --> 00:23:14,875
You know, my kids don't have to, you know, go through what I went through, but yeah, I'm
still out here, you know, doing things with the group, you It's just like, you gotta be
317
00:23:14,875 --> 00:23:15,375
kidding me.
318
00:23:15,375 --> 00:23:17,708
Like regular guy.
319
00:23:18,375 --> 00:23:21,625
man, I actually saw Method Man walk by a couple of times.
320
00:23:21,791 --> 00:23:22,583
in person.
321
00:23:22,583 --> 00:23:30,833
I was at a Jets game and I got like a suite and he's a big Jets fan and he's narrated
certain Jets documentaries and like he just walked right past hanging out.
322
00:23:30,833 --> 00:23:32,708
I'm like that was method man.
323
00:23:32,708 --> 00:23:43,166
Yeah then when I went to Rock the Bells festival he just walked right past he was like
filming a commercial and I was like oh my goodness and everybody's just like just
324
00:23:43,166 --> 00:23:43,875
chilling.
325
00:23:44,291 --> 00:23:46,666
You and Clifford Smith breathing the same air.
326
00:23:46,666 --> 00:23:49,125
Yeah, Yeah, seriously.
327
00:23:49,125 --> 00:23:52,958
I I had a close encounters with him.
328
00:23:53,416 --> 00:23:54,500
He seems like a great dude.
329
00:23:54,500 --> 00:23:55,458
Very, very.
330
00:23:55,458 --> 00:23:59,333
You could see when he went back to the Statue of Liberty, he was very gracious.
331
00:23:59,333 --> 00:24:01,458
And he actually said, this is one of the best times of my life.
332
00:24:01,458 --> 00:24:03,708
You know, it gave him that purpose.
333
00:24:03,708 --> 00:24:06,000
The best job he has the best job I ever had.
334
00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:08,708
I mean, that's really cool.
335
00:24:08,708 --> 00:24:09,666
Really cool to see that.
336
00:24:09,666 --> 00:24:17,583
You often see like these big time celebrities that hit big go back to these, what some
people would call menial jobs or like blue collar jobs.
337
00:24:17,583 --> 00:24:21,333
People probably like, I'm never going back, man.
338
00:24:21,333 --> 00:24:22,166
This was life, man.
339
00:24:22,166 --> 00:24:24,166
I made some money.
340
00:24:24,166 --> 00:24:27,625
It gave me a sense of purpose and I enjoyed it, right?
341
00:24:27,958 --> 00:24:29,208
It's good people that work there.
342
00:24:29,208 --> 00:24:32,041
keeping your feet grounded and never forgetting where you came from.
343
00:24:32,041 --> 00:24:32,958
Exactly.
344
00:24:32,958 --> 00:24:35,458
It is talking about couple of other guys that were working with New Jersey.
345
00:24:35,458 --> 00:24:38,666
Wait, was it New Jersey tranist or they're working with the trains?
346
00:24:38,666 --> 00:24:39,916
And Mook was a bus driver.
347
00:24:39,916 --> 00:24:42,833
He's like, that was funny when Mook was like, I've been driving the bus.
348
00:24:42,833 --> 00:24:44,416
You really want me to manage your group?
349
00:24:44,416 --> 00:24:46,375
Like, okay, I'll manage your group.
350
00:24:46,916 --> 00:24:47,166
Sure.
351
00:24:47,166 --> 00:24:48,708
I'll manage the Wu-Tang Clan.
352
00:24:48,708 --> 00:24:50,708
It could turn into something.
353
00:24:52,208 --> 00:24:53,291
man.
354
00:24:53,291 --> 00:24:58,291
That's what I love about these documentaries is like these little snippets, like behind
the scenes is like.
355
00:25:01,166 --> 00:25:02,375
Kind like the sliding doors thing.
356
00:25:02,375 --> 00:25:06,166
If he said no, that concept, nah, I'm good.
357
00:25:06,916 --> 00:25:11,750
Yeah, all these little things turn into this big thing.
358
00:25:11,750 --> 00:25:12,291
exactly.
359
00:25:12,291 --> 00:25:13,083
Yeah.
360
00:25:13,083 --> 00:25:20,250
I like seeing ODB's family too, his mother, Cherry Jones, and then his brother was more of
like a rock and roll guy.
361
00:25:20,250 --> 00:25:23,708
See some of his background.
362
00:25:23,708 --> 00:25:24,000
Yeah.
363
00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:25,833
ODB was character.
364
00:25:25,833 --> 00:25:26,750
Yeah.
365
00:25:29,500 --> 00:25:31,666
most eccentric one out of the group.
366
00:25:31,666 --> 00:25:32,375
yeah.
367
00:25:35,625 --> 00:25:36,541
Yeah.
368
00:25:36,625 --> 00:25:38,125
They always knew he was different, right?
369
00:25:38,125 --> 00:25:41,041
And like he always had something to say and he was always like singing.
370
00:25:41,041 --> 00:25:43,583
And it was funny because he was not into hip hop.
371
00:25:43,583 --> 00:25:46,166
Remember they were like, he didn't really like hip hop.
372
00:25:46,166 --> 00:25:47,875
We listened a little bit of hip He didn't really like it.
373
00:25:47,875 --> 00:25:56,583
He liked, he liked some of the classics or I know if he into R &B or some soul.
374
00:25:56,583 --> 00:25:58,708
Like he wasn't really into it.
375
00:25:59,208 --> 00:26:00,791
They kind of forced him.
376
00:26:00,958 --> 00:26:03,916
Like RZA was like, yeah, do this.
377
00:26:04,166 --> 00:26:10,416
I want you to rap on this track and then with his personality and his over the top.
378
00:26:10,416 --> 00:26:12,541
Charisma was insane.
379
00:26:12,750 --> 00:26:15,625
He had a completely different style and delivery.
380
00:26:15,625 --> 00:26:18,416
His cadence, everything was just completely different.
381
00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:21,750
I remember the first time I heard him I was like, whoa, what was guy?
382
00:26:21,750 --> 00:26:23,000
It's like completely different.
383
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:25,458
It's like came from left field, like what?
384
00:26:26,041 --> 00:26:26,916
Yeah.
385
00:26:28,625 --> 00:26:29,958
He fit right in.
386
00:26:30,791 --> 00:26:35,750
Yeah, it was both unique and fit in nicely with the rest of the crew.
387
00:26:35,750 --> 00:26:36,083
I know.
388
00:26:36,083 --> 00:26:39,791
So anything else to add about episode one of Mics and Men?
389
00:26:39,791 --> 00:26:40,625
Can't wait for the rest.
390
00:26:40,625 --> 00:26:42,416
Yeah, right on.
391
00:26:42,416 --> 00:26:43,208
Yeah.
392
00:26:43,708 --> 00:26:45,166
stuff right here.
393
00:26:46,166 --> 00:26:46,666
All right.
394
00:26:46,666 --> 00:26:47,875
Stay tuned for part two!
395
00:26:47,875 --> 00:26:53,416
Okay, Hip Hop Movie Club is produced by your HHMC's JB, Boogie, and DYno Wright.
396
00:26:53,416 --> 00:26:55,166
Theme music by Boogie.
397
00:26:55,250 --> 00:27:00,583
Join us on April 24th at the Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas at SteelStacks in Bethlehem, PA.
398
00:27:00,583 --> 00:27:05,000
For a screening of Hustle and Flow in 4K starring Terrence Howard and Ludacris.
399
00:27:05,125 --> 00:27:07,708
Tickets at SteelStacks.org.
400
00:27:07,791 --> 00:27:12,375
As always, check out our full live event schedule on our website, hiphopmovieclub.com.
401
00:27:12,875 --> 00:27:15,291
Thanks for listening to the Hip Hop Movie Club Podcast.
402
00:27:15,291 --> 00:27:17,750
If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend.
403
00:27:17,750 --> 00:27:19,208
It's a real power up for us.
404
00:27:19,916 --> 00:27:23,208
And remember, don't hate, percolate.
405
00:27:24,750 --> 00:27:26,791
It's time, guys, it's time.
406
00:27:30,541 --> 00:27:32,041
Ha ha ha ha ha!
407
00:27:32,041 --> 00:27:33,583
Time for the percolator.
408
00:27:34,875 --> 00:27:36,833
Oh man.
409
00:27:37,083 --> 00:27:40,958
my my my default theme song
410
00:27:43,166 --> 00:27:43,666
Love it.
411
00:27:43,666 --> 00:27:44,541
Yep.
412
00:27:44,916 --> 00:27:47,000
man, I don't even know how that happened.
413
00:27:49,125 --> 00:27:59,750
And I always think of our dear friend, the late, great Tony Whalen He loved the percolator
dance too, with his hair flopping around like insane.
414
00:27:59,750 --> 00:28:02,666
that was his jam.
415
00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:06,291
man, good times back in our college days with the percolator.
416
00:28:06,291 --> 00:28:07,250
times.