RZA on Joe Rogan: How Qigong Clears Mental Noise Before Noon

1. 0:00 – 0:02

   Intro

   1. JRJoe Rogan0:00

      [upbeat music]

2. 0:02 – 1:03

   Flying Guillotine merch, bar design connections, and catching up

   1. JRJoe Rogan0:02

      Joe Rogan Podcast, check it out.

   2. SPSpeaker0:04

      The Joe Rogan Experience.

   3. JRJoe Rogan0:06

      Train by day, Joe Rogan Podcast by night. All day. [upbeat music] We're up. So the guy that did your bar, uh, Flying Guillotine-

   4. RZRZA0:17

      Uh-huh

   5. JRJoe Rogan0:17

      ... is the same guy that did The Mothership.

   6. RZRZA0:20

      Oh, wow. Wow.

   7. JRJoe Rogan0:20

      Richard Weiss.

   8. RZRZA0:21

      Yeah, Richard. Yeah, yeah.

   9. JRJoe Rogan0:21

      Yeah, Richard, the same designer-

   10. RZRZA0:24

       Designer, yeah

   11. JRJoe Rogan0:24

       ... architect who did your bar. I have a Flying Guillotine T-shirt that I wear t- sometimes. I did, I c- was trying to find it this morning.

   12. RZRZA0:29

       [laughs]

   13. JRJoe Rogan0:29

       I couldn't fucking find it.

   14. RZRZA0:31

       I wore mine yesterday. I, w- I went to the Alamo Drafthouse and did a screening of, of the film and, uh, I said, "Would, would it be appropriate to wear my Staten Island [laughs] -

   15. JRJoe Rogan0:40

       Yeah

   16. RZRZA0:40

       ... Alamo Drafthouse to them?" And the guy there, he was like, he thought he, he, he wanted to wear his but, 'cause he t- he, he stole a stack [laughs] from Staten Island, but he couldn't find no more. But, uh-

   17. JRJoe Rogan0:51

       I've got it somewhere

   18. RZRZA0:51

       ... the Flying Guillotines.

   19. JRJoe Rogan0:52

       I've got it somewhere in my house, and I, I was scrambling this morning looking for it, looking for that T-shirt, couldn't find it.

   20. RZRZA0:57

       Well, we gotta send you some more. [laughs]

   21. JRJoe Rogan0:59

       Definitely. Definitely. So, uh, it's great to see you again, man.

3. 1:03 – 9:01

   Staying centered: exercise, tai chi, and not drifting from your foundations

   1. RZRZA1:03

      Back at you, man. Back at you. Just, uh, I, I, it's like I got questions for you. [laughs]

   2. JRJoe Rogan1:08

      Shit. What do you got?

   3. RZRZA1:09

      Well, I was think, like, like, well, uh, remember you had the, this place in Woodland Hills?

   4. JRJoe Rogan1:14

      Yes.

   5. RZRZA1:14

      That was what, eight years now?

   6. JRJoe Rogan1:16

      Uh, we've been out here for six, six years.

   7. RZRZA1:18

      It's about six years ago.

   8. JRJoe Rogan1:19

      Yeah, you were there, like, eight years ago, I think.

   9. RZRZA1:21

      Yeah.

   10. JRJoe Rogan1:21

       Yeah.

   11. RZRZA1:21

       Um, and I just remember you having, uh, the, like, the hyperbolic-

   12. JRJoe Rogan1:27

       Hyperbaric chamber?

   13. RZRZA1:28

       Yeah, the hyperbolic chamber.

   14. JRJoe Rogan1:29

       Yeah.

   15. RZRZA1:29

       Do you still, are you still doing that?

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:31

       Yeah. Was that what it was, or was it the sensory deprivation tank?

   17. RZRZA1:35

       Oh, the one where you float?

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:36

       Yeah. Is it that? 'Cause we had that at the studio.

   19. RZRZA1:39

       Okay.

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:39

       We, that, we didn't have a hyperbaric at the studio.

   21. RZRZA1:41

       Okay, so, so-

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:42

       But I do have a hyperbaric.

   23. RZRZA1:43

       You have that now here?

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:44

       Yeah. Not here. I have it at my house. Yeah.

   25. RZRZA1:46

       Yeah, I just was always impressed at, um, just your consciousness on things that's, are unique, right? And, and, uh, I just, you know, and as time goes on, sometime, you know, as we e- evolve, whether we evolving physically, mentally, spiritually, or economically, sometime we leave certain things behind.

   26. JRJoe Rogan2:05

       Right.

   27. RZRZA2:05

       And I was, I said, "I, I wonder if Joe keep moving his chi in the same direction."

   28. JRJoe Rogan2:11

       [laughs]

   29. RZRZA2:11

       So that, that's my question to you. [laughs]

   30. JRJoe Rogan2:14

       Well, sometimes it gets caught up in momentum, and you gotta step back and just realign yourself. That's, that's definitely a factor. Like, sometimes I'm too busy, and I get too caught up in momentum of things, and you kinda, like, lose, like, "Why am I doing this?" Like, what is the-
4. 9:01 – 13:36

   Cold plunge mindset: discomfort as training and dopamine as reward

   1. JRJoe Rogan9:01

      "Get up, get going." That's why I like to get in the cold first thing. That's my, my morning routine is cold plunge before I work out.

   2. RZRZA9:09

      Ooh, that's deep.

   3. JRJoe Rogan9:09

      Yeah.

   4. RZRZA9:10

      I can't do that. Now, that, that is, that's kinda extreme for me. Um, [laughs] you know, 'cause I'm not fucking with the cold like that, you know? [laughs] I mean-

   5. JRJoe Rogan9:17

      You get used to it, I'm telling you.

   6. RZRZA9:18

      Damn.

   7. JRJoe Rogan9:18

      You get used to it.

   8. RZRZA9:19

      That's-

   9. JRJoe Rogan9:19

      It becomes, like, a normal thing.

   10. RZRZA9:21

       How long, how long you stay in the cold?

   11. JRJoe Rogan9:22

       Three minutes.

   12. RZRZA9:23

       Wow.

   13. JRJoe Rogan9:24

       It sucks, but, uh, every time I do it, I almost don't do it.

   14. RZRZA9:27

       Mm.

   15. JRJoe Rogan9:27

       Every time I do it, I'm almost like, "Don't do this. I don't wanna do this. Fuck this."

   16. RZRZA9:31

       Right.

   17. JRJoe Rogan9:31

       And then I get in, I'm like, "Oh, we're doing it. We're doing it."

   18. RZRZA9:34

       Ah, shit. [laughs]

   19. JRJoe Rogan9:34

       And then I, I f- I take my phone and I set, I got a little kickstand on the back of my phone, you know. So I put the timer on there, and I look at it, and it's at like a, it's at a minute. So I'm like, "All right, we're good. We're past the minute."

   20. RZRZA9:45

       Once you get past the minute...

   21. JRJoe Rogan9:46

       Yeah, the minute mark is the tough part. Once you're past the minute, it's pretty easy to get to three minutes. You just relax.

   22. RZRZA9:51

       I only did one ice bath, uh, and it was, um, they had brought this, uh, Tibetan lama to, uh, to New York, and it was me, I forgot the brother name. We was doing this, uh, TV show thing, and they was trying to find out, they like, they was scanning our brains and see what would happen if we got in the cold bath before meditating, then meditated, and then get back in. Like, so whatever. It was some, some science s- shit, and I said, "Yeah, I'll do it." I don't know why I agreed to it, but I did it, right? But, uh, I got in that motherfucker, bro, and when I got in there, I was like, "This is not the shit," right? [laughs]

   23. JRJoe Rogan10:30

       [laughs]

   24. RZRZA10:31

       I'm like this. And the host, he got in too. Now, I don't know if that was his first time or not, but he was younger than me, skinnier than me, you know what I mean? And when I couldn't take it no more, around one minute and whatever, it's, it was past the minute mark.

   25. JRJoe Rogan10:51

       Mm-hmm.

   26. RZRZA10:51

       I got the fuck out, but he was still in there. And I was like, "I can't have this motherfucker beat me." [laughs]

   27. JRJoe Rogan10:59

       [laughs]

   28. RZRZA10:59

       And yo, I got back in.

   29. JRJoe Rogan11:00

       Nice.

   30. RZRZA11:01

       You know what I mean? Um, and I d- um, they got some footage of that. I think I stayed in, I don't think it was three minutes, but I think I really impressed myself because I'm super anti-cold. [laughs]
5. 13:36 – 20:22

   Martial arts as mind training: willpower, awareness, and “planes of energy”

   1. JRJoe Rogan13:36

      But yeah, I know you are, you're a longtime martial arts student, and I think anybody that does martial arts for a long time realizes that it is as much for your mind as it is for anything else.

   2. RZRZA13:47

      Yes.

   3. JRJoe Rogan13:47

      Like, it's not just a workout. It's a workout, but it's also, like, there's something about going through the motions of, of martial arts and training in martial arts. It's so... it's, it's so, it requires so much concentration and it requires so much of your focus that the rest of the world just kinda fades away-

   4. RZRZA14:06

      Right

   5. JRJoe Rogan14:06

      ... and r- and the impact of it is relaxed-

   6. RZRZA14:08

      Right

   7. JRJoe Rogan14:09

      ... because of that.

   8. RZRZA14:10

      I mean, it's mental, physical, and spiritual.

   9. JRJoe Rogan14:12

      Yeah.

   10. RZRZA14:13

       Uh, it's emotional.

   11. JRJoe Rogan14:14

       Yeah.

   12. RZRZA14:15

       Um, it's will. You know, there's a, there's a esoteric thing, um, you know, seven planes of energies or five stages of consciousness. I don't know if you ever came across these type of, uh, terms but... probably have. But, but sometimes we, we get stuck on, uh, on just the three dimensions. You know what I mean?

   13. JRJoe Rogan14:34

       Mm-hmm.

   14. RZRZA14:34

       Just three planes, you know, and, and you don't get to the emotional. You don't get to the will part of it. You don't get to the realization, the control, right? If you could get to realization, then you can control what's going on because you realize what it is. It's almost like you can now f- have the foresight of what it is. Um, and then, then if you could get to that type of, uh, plane of energy, then the possibilities become infinite because you realize that y- that you... like it's, you know, they say we all have a free will, right? But then you realize that the will can be controlled, right? You also realize that with a strong will, you can control others as well.

   15. JRJoe Rogan15:17

       Yeah.

   16. RZRZA15:17

       Because some people are walking around with weak wills. Um-

   17. JRJoe Rogan15:21

       That's how you start a cult. [laughs]

   18. RZRZA15:25

       [laughs] Oh, by, by having the strongest will.

   19. JRJoe Rogan15:27

       [laughs]

   20. RZRZA15:27

       And then, "Yo, come here." I, yeah, hold on. You made me... Uh, I have a, a, I have a, I do have a film and shit, right, um, um, called One Spoon of Chocolate, and-

   21. JRJoe Rogan15:39

       I watched half of it.

   22. RZRZA15:40

       Oh, it's cool.

   23. JRJoe Rogan15:40

       I had a problem to... there was a problem with the, the early screener. I was mirroring it on my television-

   24. RZRZA15:46

       Mm-hmm

   25. JRJoe Rogan15:46

       ... and it kept breaking up. It kept fucking up where, like, the sound would cut in and cut out.

   26. RZRZA15:51

       Okay.

   27. JRJoe Rogan15:51

       And I did it a couple of times, and then the screener ran out 'cause I guess you can only watch it a few times.

   28. RZRZA15:56

       [laughs] Yeah, the time on, yeah, yeah.

   29. JRJoe Rogan15:57

       So then I had to contact your people, and then they gave me another one, but then they gave me one on Vimeo, and I watched that in the gym today. So I watched the first half of the movie-

   30. RZRZA16:05

       Okay
6. 20:22 – 26:41

   Tai Chi vs real fights: rules, survival instincts, and why street fights are dumb

   1. RZRZA20:22

      Well, the crazy thing about Tai Chi, um, um, give you a little, uh, information about it, uh, that you may or may not know, but the idea with Tai Chi is that if you master it or if you have that control over it, you should be able to move 1,000 pounds with just four ounces of energy. So the idea of them pushing constantly means if something ever came to them, th- that's, they'd push that aside without even thinking about it.

   2. JRJoe Rogan20:48

      Mm.

   3. RZRZA20:49

      Right? Because just four ounces of energy can divert... It's almost like tripping a giant.

   4. JRJoe Rogan20:55

      I think it's great on paper. [laughs]

   5. RZRZA20:57

      [laughs]

   6. JRJoe Rogan20:58

      An actual giant, I don't care how much Tai Chi you know, a, a dude who's, like, a 300-pound All-American wrestler-

   7. RZRZA21:05

      Right

   8. JRJoe Rogan21:05

      ... he comes charging at you, you ain't gonna use four ounces of energy and divert him.

   9. RZRZA21:08

      Well, I'm gonna argue that, right?

   10. JRJoe Rogan21:09

       Okay.

   11. RZRZA21:10

       The four ounces you use is just step to the side. [laughs]

   12. JRJoe Rogan21:13

       Yeah, everybody says that, step to the side.

   13. RZRZA21:14

       I mean, it, it, it ain't easy, of course.

   14. JRJoe Rogan21:15

       That shit doesn't work.

   15. RZRZA21:16

       Right. [laughs]

   16. JRJoe Rogan21:16

       It doesn't work. They grab you.

   17. RZRZA21:19

       Right.

   18. JRJoe Rogan21:19

       You're not getting up.

   19. RZRZA21:21

       [laughs] But then, then another, a- and... Well, I mean, a fight is a fight.

   20. JRJoe Rogan21:24

       Yeah.

   21. RZRZA21:25

       That's a, that's a, that's a difference between a martial art and a fight, right?

   22. JRJoe Rogan21:28

       Well, it's also just the, the reality of physics.

   23. RZRZA21:30

       Right.

   24. JRJoe Rogan21:30

       You know, I mean, it's, it's one thing if you're doing that to an unskilled person, but to a skilled person, really you need to know the skill that they're applying. Like, you know what I mean?

   25. RZRZA21:42

       Of course.

   26. JRJoe Rogan21:42

       Like, that's the difference between, like, someone who's practicing something that is great in theory, but I mean, it's not, it's not just in theory. Like, physically and mentally, it's great for you, but it's just, it's not the right application in terms of actual hand-to-hand combat.

   27. RZRZA21:59

       Yeah. I mean, a fight is a fight. I don't care, um... I mean, m- in my opinion, a fight is a fight. I don't care which... I don't care, you know, if you the best boxer in the world that knock motherfuckers out, like, like, like one of our greatest fighters, Mike Tyson, who it wasn't just that he was a fighter, he was a fighter, right?

   28. JRJoe Rogan22:23

       Mm-hmm.

   29. RZRZA22:23

       Of course, he had a skill set, and he was, uh, well trained, but it, but in the peak of his fights, I don't care how much somebody else trained, when he got in the ring to fight, there weren't better fighters. They could've been better boxers, better athletes, better whatever. So I think a fight, and this is my opinion-

   30. JRJoe Rogan22:43

       Mm-hmm
7. 26:41 – 31:27

   Art as a pressure valve: RZA’s anger, creativity, and the meaning of ‘One Spoon of Chocolate’

   1. RZRZA26:41

      And, uh, and for me, I put all my aggression and all my energy into my art. You know, you think about, um, some of my early songs, you know, "Bring the motherfucking ruckus," bro.

   2. JRJoe Rogan26:52

      Yeah.

   3. RZRZA26:53

      That was, that was like... I used to had a, I had a, um, I had, like, a, a, a problem of, uh, I don't know if it was anger management maybe, uh. But I, but I would just, like, like, I don't know, like I needed to hear the sound of breaking glass. I used to scream. Like, GZA was like, "Yo, this dude." Like, 'cause I, 'cause I was... And I realized that I had so much, uh, anger in me that, you know, I couldn't really get it out. I was kinda Hulk-ish in a way, like, like, B- Bruce Banner or some shit, right?

   4. JRJoe Rogan27:24

      [laughs]

   5. RZRZA27:25

      Uh, but then through music it started to come out, and it started to come out. And so by the time I got to, um, um, Wu-Tang Forever, a lot of my anger was in the song. "If you want beef then bring the ruckus," wh- And, like, all that stage and all that energy, so it really helped me. And then I realized, going to s- to bringing up to date to my, to my new film, I'm watching it and I'm just like, "Okay, once again, I took all the anger and I put it into the art."

   6. JRJoe Rogan27:58

      Mm-hmm.

   7. RZRZA27:58

      You know what I mean? There's actually a, a character in the, in the film, uh, name, his name is Unique. Did, uh, did you catch that when you saw the piece? Unique is the, is the name of Ol' Dirty Bastard. His original name was Ason Unique.

   8. JRJoe Rogan28:14

      Ah.

   9. RZRZA28:14

      And so that was my way of, uh, of giving homage to him by naming the, the lead character of my new film Unique. And, and, and, and he's... And it says in the film, he says, uh, "You got a problem with anger, anger management," [laughs] right?

   10. JRJoe Rogan28:30

       Yeah.

   11. RZRZA28:30

       Right? He says, he says, "Yeah, I'm working on that." And, um, and it, what I, what I love about, uh, the art of it is that the problem that he had with anger management was his reaction. Like, a lot of us, we just react too much. We react before we think.

   12. JRJoe Rogan28:47

       Mm-hmm.

   13. RZRZA28:47

       Right? Um, 'cause they say a man could think seven times before he reacts. That's how fast your mind can move. But we go on that first impulse. But this, this character, he keeps, uh, he holds the anger until one morning he's, uh, he's at, he's at a veteran home, right? And he's sitting there, and he's having breakfast, and he has this can, right? [laughs]

   14. JRJoe Rogan29:09

       Yeah.

   15. RZRZA29:09

       You, you seen this thing, right?

   16. JRJoe Rogan29:10

       Yeah. I saw the scene.

   17. RZRZA29:10

       And he's like, he digs the spoon in there, and it's like, fucking, there's nothing in it. Like, it's, it's not even... It's like one spoon of chocolate in it. And he gets, what? Angry.

   18. JRJoe Rogan29:18

       Right.

   19. RZRZA29:18

       And he bangs it. Boom. "Who the fuck left one spoon of chocolate in the can?"

   20. JRJoe Rogan29:22

       Yeah.

   21. RZRZA29:22

       But then it took a old man that was settled to tell him, "One spoon of chocolate-"

   22. JRJoe Rogan29:29

       Change a whole glass of milk

   23. RZRZA29:30

       ... "changes a whole glass of milk." [laughs] And then you notice that character-

   24. JRJoe Rogan29:33

       Yeah

   25. RZRZA29:34

       ... from that, then he calmed down.

   26. JRJoe Rogan29:35

       Mm-hmm.

   27. RZRZA29:35

       He started reading to the kids.

   28. JRJoe Rogan29:36

       Yeah.

   29. RZRZA29:37

       He start- So... And that was kinda me taking some of my personality, some of U- some of Ol' Dirty's personality, some of personalities that I see in my community, and putting it into this character, this, uh, this, say like, "Yo, sometime, yo, calm down. Listen to the wisdom of your elders," right? Have you ever, have you ever, um, in your life, I'ma ask you, have you ever, like, come across some old person, whether it's a homeless guy, a veteran, a guy, your uncle, somebody, that you kinda didn't look up to in no way, just kinda they was... But then they say something to you that's profound and changed your life?

   30. JRJoe Rogan30:13

       Oh, man. I'm, I'd try to find an example. I mean, I've, I've definitely gotten, gotten a lot of advice from old-timers. But definitely people, especially people that have done a lot of things, you know, people that have accomplished things and made mistakes and-... recovered from their mistakes.
8. 31:27 – 42:18

   Opioids, pharma incentives, and a dark side of medicine (chemo fraud)

   1. JRJoe Rogan31:27

      Whoa. What was he on? What, what was the drug of choice?

   2. RZRZA31:29

      He was on... Fucking, he, he shot that shit up.

   3. JRJoe Rogan31:32

      Heroin?

   4. RZRZA31:32

      Yeah.

   5. JRJoe Rogan31:33

      Yeah.

   6. RZRZA31:33

      He was on heroin.

   7. JRJoe Rogan31:33

      That's the old days, back when they shoot it.

   8. RZRZA31:35

      Yeah.

   9. JRJoe Rogan31:36

      Now everybody's on pills.

   10. RZRZA31:38

       Right. [laughs]

   11. JRJoe Rogan31:38

       Yeah. I mean, now-

   12. RZRZA31:39

       I never, I never, I don't know about that drug

   13. JRJoe Rogan31:40

       ... I don't know about it either, but I mean, I don't know about it personally, but that's, it's essentially what oxycodone is.

   14. RZRZA31:46

       Hmm.

   15. JRJoe Rogan31:46

       All those pain pills that you see all these people dying of.

   16. RZRZA31:49

       Right, opioids, right?

   17. JRJoe Rogan31:49

       Yeah, opioids. Yeah. The number-one problem, I mean, the, I think the, the deaths in America, it's, it's upwards of 70,000 a year. I know it's crazy.

   18. RZRZA32:00

       That's crazy, bro.

   19. JRJoe Rogan32:01

       Yeah.

   20. RZRZA32:02

       Just from the, just from overdosing on pills.

   21. JRJoe Rogan32:04

       Yeah, and most of it happened because of the Sackler family.

   22. RZRZA32:07

       The what?

   23. JRJoe Rogan32:08

       The Sackler family, this one family that convinced people that taking these incredibly potent opioids... Uh, did you ever see, see that Netflix, um, docuseries, Painkiller?

   24. RZRZA32:20

       I didn't see that one.

   25. JRJoe Rogan32:21

       It's really good.

   26. RZRZA32:22

       Okay.

   27. JRJoe Rogan32:22

       It's all about the Sackler family. It's, uh, Peter Berg made it.

   28. RZRZA32:26

       Oh.

   29. JRJoe Rogan32:26

       Um, same guy who made-

   30. RZRZA32:27

       I know, I know it
9. 42:18 – 1:02:58

   Modern slavery for modern tech: Congo cobalt, conflict minerals, and RZA’s prophetic lyric

   1. RZRZA42:18

      You, you're gonna need that. There ain't nothing given here. But, but it doesn't surprise me, you know, that that's the motivation for insidious behavior, you know? I was, um, I'ma go back a little history here. Um, it's, um... We're working on another project-Where we tap into, uh, this kind of fantasy. I'll, I'll, I'll just write off my imagination. But, but I, I had the, the... This family, uh, they are, they are ances- their, their ancestors are from Congo. And in the Congo, they trace their ancestry back to the Leopold days. And you think about the Leopold days, millions of Africans were mined, chopped off their arms and shit, all because the gag was they wanted them to work and to get the rubber from the rubber tree. So the rubber at one point became the main gold of the world, right? And, and King Leopold went over to Congo, and you get Tarzan out of this shit, all right? That's the, that's the, the fictional story. But he goes over, and I think they said at minimum two million people, but I think it's five million, that were just mined or killed just for the economic profit of what those rubber trees was offering to, uh, Western civilization.

   2. JRJoe Rogan43:51

      You know that's happening right now with cobalt. I had this guy, Siddharth Kara, on the podcast. Uh, he wrote a book. Jimmy, do you remember what the name of that book was? His, uh, book on cobalt mining in the Congo. So cobalt is a critical mineral that's used in cellphone batteries-

   3. RZRZA44:07

      Yeah

   4. JRJoe Rogan44:08

      ... and many electronics. And, uh, that is Cobalt Red: The Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives. It's a very disturbing conversation. And he had... He snuck in, uh, cameras and got some footage of these people doing what... You know, you think that this stuff is mined in some sort of industrial process. Look at this. This is how these people are mining.

   5. RZRZA44:32

      Ooh.

   6. JRJoe Rogan44:32

      And you've got women who are, uh, have babies on their backs, and all this cobalt that they're knocking out of the ground is completely toxic. Some of them ha- just have, like, a bandana over their mouth that they're using to protect themselves from it. But look how deep that is with human beings that are just pulling cobalt. They live on dirt floors. They a- they live at the lowest level of poverty imaginable. They don't have clean water. They don't have good food. And they are pulling out a mineral that's essential to the most technologically sophisticated aspect of our society, which is our connectivity through the internet-

   7. RZRZA45:09

      Ooh

   8. JRJoe Rogan45:09

      ... through cellphones. And this is at the... Which is kind of crazy if you think of, like, the most technologically sophisticated aspect of our society, if you follow it all the way down to the very bottom of the food chain, you've got slave labor.

   9. RZRZA45:24

      That's-

   10. JRJoe Rogan45:24

       And that's a giant percentage of the cobalt that's in our cellphones and our, our electronics is coming out of this place.

   11. RZRZA45:32

       You know, it's so... I never seen that before, bro.

   12. JRJoe Rogan45:34

       A lot of them are run by China. Yeah, and it's, it's very scary, man. It's-

   13. RZRZA45:39

       I never seen it, but, but I wrote a lyric that touches upon it. I never, I never seen those images before.

   14. JRJoe Rogan45:44

       He's got video. See if you can find the video. The video's dark, dude.

   15. RZRZA45:47

       I think my lyric said, uh... Let's see if I can remember my lyric. It was a song I wrote called The Fate Of The World Is In Your Hand. It was me and DJ Scratch. And, uh, what I s- I knew that, I knew that cobalt, or I knew that they was getting the mineral from Congo, um, but I didn't know it like that. It was something like, you know, as a artist, your fucking antenna, right? You get shit.

   16. JRJoe Rogan46:13

       Right.

   17. RZRZA46:13

       But I said something, uh, I said... I'm trying to remember the lyric I said. It was like, uh, um... Hey, could you pull up the lyrics to [laughs] , to RZA's song-

   18. JRJoe Rogan46:24

       Here's the, here's the video

   19. RZRZA46:25

       ... The Fate Of The World as well?

   20. JRJoe Rogan46:25

       Play that.

   21. RZRZA46:26

       Can you do this?

   22. JRJoe Rogan46:27

       Yeah, play that video real quick, please. Look at this. How crazy is this? By the way, all this scene, almost biblical toil, the prize is cobalt. And here's the thing, all this shit is super toxic, so all these people are breathing in this insanely-

   23. RZRZA46:43

       Right

   24. JRJoe Rogan46:43

       ... toxic dust, and they're knocking it out of the ground with hammers and carrying it off in bags.

   25. RZRZA46:47

       Look at this shit, yo.

   26. JRJoe Rogan46:48

       Yeah.

   27. RZRZA46:49

       This is, this is... This looks biblical, bro.

   28. JRJoe Rogan46:51

       Right, and imagine how fucking heavy these bags are, and they're doing this all day long. Look at these guys struggling to pick those bags up. And they're carrying this shit all day long, and they're just knocking it into the ground trying to pull out this cobalt. And the thing is, is like this is what we need to power our phones, which is so crazy. If you think about all these people that are virtue signaling about how wonderful and ethical and moral they are, they're doing it on a phone that is literally powered by slave labor.

   29. RZRZA47:21

       That's crazy.

   30. JRJoe Rogan47:22

       It's crazy.
10. 1:02:58 – 1:10:48

    Film rollout stories: screenings, crowd reactions, and the Donnell Rawlings theme-beat fiasco

    1. RZRZA1:02:58

       You're gonna have a good time. But still, once again, the art of it, um, it has a, a, it... I've, I'm realizing as I'm watching with different audiences, like when I watched it in, uh, New York, I had motherfuckers yelling at the screen, "Fuck that..."

    2. JRJoe Rogan1:03:13

       [laughs]

    3. RZRZA1:03:14

       [laughs] I'm serious. They was on some shit. When I watched it in LA, the audience was like, it, it was a, like a sense of nervousness was in the room.

    4. JRJoe Rogan1:03:24

       Mm.

    5. RZRZA1:03:24

       When I watched it in Chicago, it was standing ovation. You know what I mean? I watched it in San Francisco, and the, the Q&A was very intellectual. So I'm, I'm realizing now, okay, this is touching. Then when I watched it this other place, The Girl, uh, with Dave, actually. I watched it with Dave Chappelle. He said that, uh, "You got bars in this motherfucker." [laughs] I said, "What you mean by bars?" He said, "Well, the guy says, uh, the girl says, um..." First the girl... This, this come... You haven't seen this scene yet, but Paris Jackson is telling him that everybody in this town goes to church on Sunday except for Jimmy and his gang of degenerates. They party all night Saturday, and they sleep all day Sunday. She said, "And I guess they're not afraid to go to hell." And then the hero says, "But where I come from, they say heaven is what you make it, and hell is what you gotta go through to get it." And she was like, "Uh, sounds right." And Dave was like, "That's a fucking bar."

    6. JRJoe Rogan1:04:28

       [laughs]

    7. RZRZA1:04:29

       [laughs] And yo, hold on. So last time I was here it was Donnell Rawlings was here, right?

    8. JRJoe Rogan1:04:33

       [laughs]

    9. RZRZA1:04:33

       So check it out, bro. I was showing the film to Dave, right, and we gonna do a Q&A. I'm, I'm in, I went to Yellow Spring, Ohio, bro.

    10. JRJoe Rogan1:04:40

        Was Donnell there?

    11. RZRZA1:04:41

        Bro.

    12. JRJoe Rogan1:04:42

        [laughs]

    13. RZRZA1:04:43

        [laughs] He was there, yo.

    14. JRJoe Rogan1:04:45

        [laughs]

    15. RZRZA1:04:45

        And then he got up, and he asked a question. And he started, uh, he, he, he, he interrupted. He talked about the day we was here, and he, and, and 'cause you inspired him to do a podcast. I remember you said, "Yo-

    16. JRJoe Rogan1:04:58

        Yeah

    17. RZRZA1:04:58

        ... start a podcast. Boy, you might even help them." Right? And then he said, uh, then I said, "Yo, yeah, if you need something, hit me." So he hit me up, said, "Yo, l- let me get a, a, a opening theme track." And so I got like a, a bunch of beats that's on my little thumb drive. I sent him like five of them, right? And he chose one.

    18. JRJoe Rogan1:05:16

        Yeah, you told me about this.

    19. RZRZA1:05:17

        Yeah.

    20. JRJoe Rogan1:05:18

        [laughs]

    21. RZRZA1:05:18

        So now he choose one, and that becomes his theme. And it's, it's, it was a nice fucking... But that same five tracks, uh, my manager is sending it to other people too [laughs] and shit. So it w- I, and I did give it to Donnell. I gave it to him gratis. But he comes up in the middle of my Q&A with Dave about my film, and he starts talking about the beat. And he says, "RZA is a Indian giver." [laughs]

    22. JRJoe Rogan1:05:42

        [laughs]

    23. RZRZA1:05:42

        He said, he said, "I was-"

    24. JRJoe Rogan1:05:44

        Oh.

    25. RZRZA1:05:44

        He said, "It's, I was playing," he said, "I had it on my podcast for almost two years, and then one day it said flag license," uh, whatever they do and shit, uh, when you can't use it-

    26. JRJoe Rogan1:05:56

        Yeah

    27. RZRZA1:05:56

        ... use a motherfucker's shit. And I was like, um, I said, "Oh, yeah, bro, yeah. The, the, the people from the Minions, they had got, um, those five tracks as well, and, and, and they chose it-

    28. JRJoe Rogan1:06:08

        Oh, no

    29. RZRZA1:06:08

        ... and they put it, and they put it, and they paid us a lot of money."

    30. JRJoe Rogan1:06:11

        Oh. [laughs]
11. 1:10:48 – 1:18:16

    Music deep cuts: Isley Brothers, 90s hip-hop tunnel vision, and Joe’s green room playlist

    1. RZRZA1:10:48

       Isley. Now, I never met him before. I'm like the big fan, I love his music. I got two of his songs in my movie, and I'm like, and I'm going to show, and I look over, I'm like, my mind's like, "Yeah, that's Ron Isley." And I was like, I got a chance to get up and thank him, uh, for, you know, for his work and for even allowing, uh, his music to be in my film because, um, that was, that's special.

    2. JRJoe Rogan1:11:09

       Oh, that's cool.

    3. RZRZA1:11:10

       Are, are you a Ron Isley fan?

    4. JRJoe Rogan1:11:12

       Not really.

    5. RZRZA1:11:13

       You're not a Isley Brothers bro? Listen, bro, you gotta, let me, I'm, I gotta put you on some Isley Brothers, bro.

    6. JRJoe Rogan1:11:17

       Please.

    7. RZRZA1:11:18

       Because if, you know, I'm quite sure your love life is good, all right? [laughs]

    8. JRJoe Rogan1:11:24

       [laughs]

    9. RZRZA1:11:24

       I'm quite sure you got a good love life, bro. But if you ever get into any love life trouble, okay, put on the Isley Brothers, it will smooth it out.

    10. JRJoe Rogan1:11:33

        Tell me what to get.

    11. RZRZA1:11:34

        I'm gonna say to- Sensual.

    12. JRJoe Rogan1:11:36

        Sensual?

    13. RZRZA1:11:37

        Yeah. Put that one on. And, um, and, uh, yeah, I'm gonna just give you that one because-

    14. JRJoe Rogan1:11:44

        All right

    15. RZRZA1:11:45

        ... when that, the way that comes on, bro, your shoulders are gonna start moving and shit. [laughs]

    16. JRJoe Rogan1:11:50

        [laughs] Okay. All right.

    17. RZRZA1:11:52

        You, you come in with two glasses of wine.

    18. JRJoe Rogan1:11:53

        Ah.

    19. RZRZA1:11:54

        And I'm telling you, bro, it's, the, the, the, you gonna be good. [laughs]

    20. JRJoe Rogan1:11:59

        Yeah. I'll check it out.

    21. RZRZA1:12:00

        Who, who's your f- who is your, uh, um, w- who's your fa- favorite musician?

    22. JRJoe Rogan1:12:05

        Oh, boy. I don't think I have a favorite musician. I don't even have a favorite genre.

    23. RZRZA1:12:10

        Mm.

    24. JRJoe Rogan1:12:11

        You know? I d- I like all ki- I mean, if you look at my Spotify green room playlist, it's all over the place. It goes from Nina Simone to Bill Withers to Wu-Tang to Lynyrd Skynyrd to Led Zeppelin.

    25. RZRZA1:12:26

        Mm. Mm.

    26. JRJoe Rogan1:12:26

        It's all over the place. To Gary Clark Jr. To... It's everywhere. I, I, I move around.

    27. RZRZA1:12:32

        You naming some dope shit. Okay.

    28. JRJoe Rogan1:12:34

        I like to move around. I like all kinds of shit. I'll listen to Dwight Yoakam and I'll, I'll follow it up with, um, you know, Cool G Rap.

    29. RZRZA1:12:43

        [laughs]

    30. JRJoe Rogan1:12:44

        I like, uh, you know, one of my favorite albums ever is when, um, The Brand New Heavies. Did you ever listen to Brand New Heavies when they got-
12. 1:18:16 – 1:29:19

    Weed, legality, and the ‘tool vs abuse’ framework (plus obesity stats)

    1. JRJoe Rogan1:18:16

       What happened where you stopped?

    2. RZRZA1:18:19

       I just, I, I don't function good in public on weed, bro.

    3. JRJoe Rogan1:18:22

       [laughs]

    4. RZRZA1:18:22

       Straight up.

    5. JRJoe Rogan1:18:23

       Who does?

    6. RZRZA1:18:24

       Well-

    7. JRJoe Rogan1:18:24

       Who does?

    8. RZRZA1:18:25

       I g- yeah, well... [laughs]

    9. JRJoe Rogan1:18:26

       [laughs]

    10. RZRZA1:18:27

        Okay.

    11. JRJoe Rogan1:18:27

        People think they do.

    12. RZRZA1:18:29

        Exactly, but I-

    13. JRJoe Rogan1:18:30

        [laughs]

    14. RZRZA1:18:30

        ... I don't wanna see that photo. I don't wanna, I don't-

    15. JRJoe Rogan1:18:33

        That photo. [laughs]

    16. RZRZA1:18:34

        Yeah, I don't wanna be that guy no more. It's like, if I'm home... Also, to be honest with you, if I smoke weed, bro, I start doing kung fu, bro.

    17. JRJoe Rogan1:18:42

        Really?

    18. RZRZA1:18:42

        Yeah, I'm either gonna sit quiet and, like, be a total-

    19. JRJoe Rogan1:18:46

        Oh, you start, "Wah."

    20. RZRZA1:18:47

        Yeah, and motherfucker's like, "Yo, what's this..."

    21. JRJoe Rogan1:18:49

        [exhales]

    22. RZRZA1:18:49

        Yeah, exactly.

    23. JRJoe Rogan1:18:50

        Wow.

    24. RZRZA1:18:50

        I'll start doing shit like that.

    25. JRJoe Rogan1:18:52

        Yeah.

    26. RZRZA1:18:52

        And then with a fucking suit on or some shit. [laughs]

    27. JRJoe Rogan1:18:55

        Yeah.

    28. RZRZA1:18:55

        So, so-

    29. JRJoe Rogan1:18:56

        That sounds fun.

    30. RZRZA1:18:57

        Yeah, well-
13. 1:29:19 – 2:02:14

    Vegan protein, pumpkin seeds, backyard chickens, and the weirdness of food culture

    1. RZRZA1:29:19

       I'm still, I'm still living a vegan lifestyle.

    2. JRJoe Rogan1:29:21

       Still?

    3. RZRZA1:29:21

       Yeah.

    4. JRJoe Rogan1:29:22

       Yeah?

    5. RZRZA1:29:22

       Yeah.

    6. JRJoe Rogan1:29:22

       What do you get mostly for your protein?

    7. RZRZA1:29:25

       Mostly beans. Um, I probably do c- consume a little bit too much soy, I think, 'cause I do eat tofu.

    8. JRJoe Rogan1:29:31

       Shout out to our friend CK.

    9. RZRZA1:29:32

       Hey, in the building. Oh, yeah, yeah.

    10. JRJoe Rogan1:29:34

        He, he bought in.

    11. RZRZA1:29:35

        Yeah.

    12. JRJoe Rogan1:29:36

        I couldn't wait to eat something. I said-

    13. RZRZA1:29:36

        Wu Chow.

    14. JRJoe Rogan1:29:36

        Wu Chow. That-

    15. RZRZA1:29:37

        That place rules

    16. JRJoe Rogan1:29:38

        ... yes. He, he, he bought us lunch-

    17. RZRZA1:29:40

        Rules

    18. JRJoe Rogan1:29:40

        ... which we will eat after we finish this.

    19. RZRZA1:29:42

        Phenomenal Chinese restaurant here in Austin. Phenomenal.

    20. JRJoe Rogan1:29:45

        You know what he got that, that I realized?

    21. RZRZA1:29:47

        What?

    22. JRJoe Rogan1:29:48

        He has those Sichuan peppers.

    23. RZRZA1:29:50

        Oh, yeah.

    24. JRJoe Rogan1:29:51

        That shit is crack, bro.

    25. RZRZA1:29:52

        They kick.

    26. JRJoe Rogan1:29:53

        [laughs]

    27. RZRZA1:29:53

        Yeah. They kick. They make my, my bald head sweat.

    28. JRJoe Rogan1:29:56

        Yes. [laughs] No, it's... [laughs]

    29. RZRZA1:29:57

        I start dripping.

    30. JRJoe Rogan1:29:58

        Yeah, that's what happens.
14. 2:02:14 – 2:24:55

    Future of movies: 35mm nostalgia, theater windows, AR/VR viewing, and immersive venues

    1. RZRZA2:02:14

       Okay, hold on. Uh, it's like a, we gotta take a, uh, uh, a sponsor break. This is the RZA live on the Joe Rogan podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience. I have a new movie coming out.

    2. JRJoe Rogan2:02:23

       May 1st.

    3. RZRZA2:02:24

       May 1st. It's called One Spoon of Chocolate, starring Shameik Moore, Paris Jackson, Blair Underwood. It follows a ex-military convict who comes home and is trying to find a better life for himself, ends up in a small town where everything goes fucking bananas. In theaters everywhere May 1st.

    4. JRJoe Rogan2:02:44

       When is it gonna be available on streaming?

    5. RZRZA2:02:47

       I don't know. Soon, right?

    6. JRJoe Rogan2:02:49

       How do you usually do that?

    7. RZRZA2:02:50

       Well, to be honest, I'm like, um-

    8. JRJoe Rogan2:02:53

       Like, Iron Fist was, what year was that out?

    9. RZRZA2:02:55

       That was 2011, 2012.

    10. JRJoe Rogan2:02:57

        And it was a different atmosphere back then.

    11. RZRZA2:02:58

        Different atmosphere, yeah.

    12. JRJoe Rogan2:02:58

        Pre-COVID. COVID changed a lot of, like, movie-going habits, right?

    13. RZRZA2:03:02

        Changed everything, yeah. I want the movie-going experience to come back, though.

    14. JRJoe Rogan2:03:06

        Uh, yeah, I do, too. Yeah. I mean, there's something about going to see a great movie with a bunch of people that's a real experience.

    15. RZRZA2:03:12

        Yeah. I, I, I think... I, I, I'm so mu- I mean, my c- my art, my career is based on sneaking into a fucking movie theater and watching three kung fu movies.

    16. JRJoe Rogan2:03:23

        Yeah.

    17. RZRZA2:03:23

        So, so I'm, I'm a big into cinema. I think what we did... So, so, so this, so this particular film is actually coming through my own distribution company called 36 Cinema, and I think we did a deal with the, uh, theaters that they could have at least 30 days. A lot of people were doing 17 days in the theaters or 21 days.

    18. JRJoe Rogan2:03:42

        Mm-hmm.

    19. RZRZA2:03:43

        Uh, and cinema is suffering because of that because why would... go to the theater if I got it at home? You know what I mean? And I, and, and home is, of course, a great place to watch a movie, but when you making a movie, right, you're making it for the theater. We haven't... TV is made for home, but cinema is made for cinema. Like, we haven't, um, what can I say, like the sound, the color, the framing. Like, I use anamorphic lenses, right?

    20. JRJoe Rogan2:04:09

        What does that mean?

    21. RZRZA2:04:10

        Anamorphic, like the lenses of the '50s where you fucking get this whole fucking scope. You know what I mean? And so, yeah, you could watch it on your phone.

    22. JRJoe Rogan2:04:19

        What is the difference with an anamorphic lens and a regular lens?

    23. RZRZA2:04:21

        A regular lens would be, uh, the way, the, the way, the way it bends the light in all reality.

    24. JRJoe Rogan2:04:26

        Uh-huh.

    25. RZRZA2:04:26

        So, so, like, you could have, like, a 16.9. Okay, see, that's... So that's... Most lenses are s- are spherical now. That's that, right, which is cool, right? But look at anamorphic. It's the way, it's the w- it's, it's the way it controls the light, way the subject is happening, and so it kinda gives you more of a, a cinematic feel.

    26. JRJoe Rogan2:04:46

        Well, your focus, it's certainly, like, a little more blurry in the background.

    27. RZRZA2:04:50

        Yep.

    28. JRJoe Rogan2:04:51

        Yeah. Okay.

    29. RZRZA2:04:54

        And it kinda s- it c- it, it's the way it's compressing that light differently.

    30. JRJoe Rogan2:04:58

        And so you, with this lens, do you do everything on film, or is it digital?

Episode duration: 2:51:58