East meets West with the melodic marriage of hip hop and ancient Chinese martial arts. Clashing samurai swords straight from classic kung-fu flicks seamlessly spliced with the lyrical genius of hip hop group the Wu Tang Clan, NPR has paid homage to the group and its de facto leader/music producer the RZA.
Before I delve into the NPR podcast, it's a must to discuss the musical group.The Wu Tang Clan has been creating surreal beats since 1993. This nine member group consists of : the RZA, GZA, Method Man, Ghostface, Raekwon, U-God, Masta Killa, Inspectah Deck, and Ol' Dirty Bastard (O.D.B). Since the death of O.D.B, the Wu Tang Clan hasn't made a group album since 2007 but has successfully pursued their own careers.
The hip-hop storyteller, the RZA, was interviewed by Neda Ulaby for NPR. The titled podcast, The RZA, Soundtrack Wizard is well-crafted and enjoyable to listen to. I was lucky to find this podcast about one of my favorite artist and innovative music groups.
The podcast is seamless with music and film clips underlying the clear voice of interviewer Neda Ulaby. The conversation between Ulaby and the RZA is relaxed and natural. The report is more of a conversation, unlike a restrictive and impersonal interview. This is represented by the questions asked and answered throughout.
The RZA, a Staten Island native has written, produced, and conducted the musical scores for indie film maker Jim Jarmusch and epic movie maker Quentin Tarentino. His lyrical inventiveness is martial arts inspired and based. You may ask, how a rapper can relate to 
ancient Chinese culture and martial arts, well you must listen to the podcast for that. Stop and please enjoy this snippet of the RZA's production with the Wu-Tang Clan for Tarentino's flick, Kill Bill: Volume 1
ancient Chinese culture and martial arts, well you must listen to the podcast for that. Stop and please enjoy this snippet of the RZA's production with the Wu-Tang Clan for Tarentino's flick, Kill Bill: Volume 1Interviewer Neda Ulaby is obviously not a novice at her job because she spoke clearly and loud enough to hear- not overwhelming too loud for listeners. It was easy to access and the loading time was not annoyingly long. The content was well-developed as well as concise. Overall the podcast was successful in capturing the creative essence and genius of the RZA while also being informative to a style of music that you may never heard.
Hey Kristin you did a great job with placing the pictures for this blog! I also wanted to let you know that I thought your final project sounded interesting.
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