Progress: 6 down, 15 to go! (list)
Which: The Tao of Wu, The RZA
What I knew about the Wu-Tang Clan before this book couldn’t fill a thimble. Rappers, Shaolin something-something, and a few of My People dig ‘em. Not that I’m an expert, now, but learning about their (okay, mostly RZA’s) history as a backdrop to RZA’s own philosophies worked for me.
He manages to tell his story and explain what he’s learned without falling down the preachy rabbit hole. Mostly¹. Except even the moments where he teeters on the edge of that descent, he sounds more earnest, fervent, than judgmental.
For all the work his hard work on his path to enlightenment, it’s not until the loss of his mom and later his cousin (ODB) that RZA’s sense of perspective starts to square with my own and I begin to relate to him. That kind of loss has shaped my entire life, observing its effect on someone else is a bizarre and heart-breaking thing.
¹ In a 20-year-old letter he uses to close the book, there’s 1 line that hints at homophobia; it doesn’t ruin the book, but I did think “Come on. 1989, but dude. Sigh.”
