RZA: Wu-Tang Clan, Kung Fu, Chess, God, Life, and Death | Lex Fridman Podcast #228

The following is a conversation with RZA, the rapper, record producer, filmmaker, actor, writer, philosopher, kung fu scholar, and the mastermind of the legendary hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan. This is the Lex Fridman Podcast. To support it, please check out our sponsors in the description, and now here's my conversation with RZA. In The Tao of Wu, you write, "When my mother left the physical world, I lost one of my main links to the universe. They say that you have an umbilical cord and an etheric cord, which is the invisible cord that attaches you to your soul, your mother's soul, and all other souls. When one passes away, you really lose something. It's physical and mental. It's real. Part of you dies." What have you learned about life from your mother?

I mean, I learned life itself from my mother. You know, being one of 11 children and seeing the sacrifice that she gave to us, therefore given to life, uh, is really the greatest lesson of life. The thing that, uh, shook me as I wrote those words was, coming up young with arrogance, confidence, knowledge of myself, they called me the scientist. We was taught, "You're the supreme being. In order to be the supreme being, you gotta be supreme amongst other beings."

Mm-hmm.

Um, I understand that more now than I did then, because then, uh, it was so literal. You know, the word God derived basically from the Greek language as they say, and it meant wisdom, strength, and beauty. And yeah, we could have that, but the power to control life and death is something that you would assume is a God trait. So now, here you are saying that you're a God, right? And you'll read in the Bible how Jesus brought back Lazarus, and, you know, now here's your turn to do something. And when my mother was laying there in the hospital bed t- and air was no longer coming out of her lungs and going into her lungs, where's my power to bring her back to life?

So, you can't truly be God. You're powerless.

Yeah, or God is not the definition that we need to use to describe it because it's a translation d- of wisdom, strength, and beauty. So, you could be that, but, uh, so I'm answering your question, what did my mother teach me about life. I learnt that day on her physical passing, okay, you know what I mean? There's a physical me.

Do you think about her? Do you miss her?

Of course. I keep my mother in my prayer every day, and the thing I pray the most, uh, beyond giving thanks, is I pray that her name is honored and remembered by my family. I don't know if the world's gonna (laughs) remember her, right? Even though if you watched my movie Love Beats Rhymes, I named the school in that movie (laughs) -