The Tao of Wu

by The RZA

By 1989, everyone at the projects was into kung-fu films, and a lot of us had VCRs. So one day, when a bunch of dudes came over to my crib to get high and watch flicks, I pulled out a tape of Eight-Diagram. Before we were an hour into it, something strange happened in that crib. People got real quiet, some niggas even started crying. Because that movie is real—it’s a reflection of the reality we were all living. A general betrays a family. A father gets killed. All his sons are killed except for two. One goes crazy. The other shaves his head, becomes a monk. You see this kind of thing happening in the hood every day. We were living in a place torn apart by wars—neighborhood against neighborhood, dealer against dealer—a place where you see people get killed or go crazy every week, a place where the bonds you make are almost stronger than blood. When someone has your back in a situation like that, it’s a life-or-death thing—a real brotherhood. I