Bleep

The soundtrack for Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai, which RZA produced for Jim Jarmusch’s 1999 movie of the same name, represents the Wu-Tang Clan leader’s first foray into the world of film scoring. It proved to be an inspired move - RZA’s gritty, Gothic brand of hardcore hip-hop production was already cinematic enough without any on-screen action, but he elevates his practice to new heights here, laying the foundations for his subsequent scoring triumphs like Kill Bill and The Man With The Iron Fists in the process

On Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai things come full-circle for RZA. Whereas his early beats were full of shadowy samples and snippets of audio from kung-fu movies, here we find him writing for a hitman flick which was conceived somewhat in his artistic image. It’s an environment that allows RZA to flourish and deliver some of his most stylish work, from the hard-headed boom-bap beats of the opening theme to slick, funky shuffles. The rest of Wu-Tang Clan get in on the action as well, spitting game on a trio of tracks here to crown a decade in which they had risen from the streets of Shaolin to the very apex of the rap game.

The shadowboxing hip-hop of Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai represents a pivotal moment in the career of Wu-Tang Clan’s commander-in-chief RZA.