RZA has shared a new song, titled “Be Like Water”, which pays tribute to late martial artist Bruce Lee. The Wu-Tang Clan rapper’s song was inspired by the 30 for 30 documentary about Lee, Be Water, premiering Sunday on ESPN.
RZA, born Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, has a history of idolizing Lee, going all the way back to Wu-Tang’s debut album Enter The Wu (36 Chambers). The title is a nod to Lee’s 1973 film Enter The Dragon, his last before his death that same year, as well as fellow kung fu classic, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin.
Along with accompanying imagery and sound bytes of Lee, “Be Like Water” tackles Lee’s iconic quote, “Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless — like water.” Whereas Lee was a man of few words who chose them with extreme care, RZA is much more willing to expound on Lee’s statement of focus and oneness. Through the hip-hop lens, RZA examines what it means to be “boundless” and embody the properties of water that Lee alludes to with lines like, “Boundless, yet when it’s surrounded it appears to be bounded/It takes the shape of that which bounded it,” and so on until one can finally achieve the Zen potential of the central mantra. RZA said of the song,
His quote ‘Be Water my friend’ is profound and multi-tiered in definition. It inspires the idea that in adapting to life situations, sometimes we have to flow smoothly as a stream, while other times we have to crash like a Tsunami.
Listen to the new RZA song, “Be Like Water”, inspired by Bruce Lee.
RZA — “Be Like Water”
[Video: ESPN]
Watch Be Water via ESPN on Sunday, June 7th at 9 p.m. ET.
[H/T Rolling Stone]