I really like martial arts and have practice traditional Wing Chun Kung Fu for over a decade now (I also have discovered it is hard as heck finding a partner of any sort, including total noob, that is female or trans).

This also means I like martial arts media. Why, the only magazines I ever really kept up on the most was Black Belt Magazine and Kung Fu Insider.  (I kinda stopped reading because the articles got boring and how many White guys in gis are you going to shove on the cover?)

Lupe Fiasco went on a journey to China to the various birthplaces of Kung Fu. It is an introspective trip that is full of history, outstanding visuals and demonstrations of Chinese martial arts.

What I like most is that it’s not a version of “Eat, Pray, Love”, Lupe actually is a trained martial artist, has been since he was a kid. So that means he genuinely does appreciate what he gets to see and experience. Martial arts is presented as part of a historical culture, not “a way to beat people up and look cool”. The camera angles aren’t something out of National Geographic or BBC where we feel like we are experiencing the world of the Other through a heavy, orientalist gaze. Nor is it, “Rapper sees martial artists, says a lot of stupid stuff because they treat the experience like it is an extended VR feature of a Wu Tang flick.” It also isn’t depicted as Ip Man 5.

I really like the episodes, I recommend giving it a watch:

Beat’n Path (site)