WATCH: Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA Reveals Bruce Lee Tribute “Be Like Water”

The track was inspired by ESPN’s new “30 for 30” doc on the martial arts icon.
WATCH: Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA Reveals Bruce Lee Tribute “Be Like Water”

The track was inspired by ESPN’s new “30 for 30” doc on the martial arts icon.

Words: Scott T. Sterling

photo by Rozette Rago

June 05, 2020

RZA (Banks and Steelz) at FYF / photo by Rozette Rago

“Don’t get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water,” goes one of martial arts and cinema legend Bruce Lee’s most famous quotes. “Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”

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This is where Wu-Tang Clan emcee RZA got the title of his new track. It was recorded for the new ESPN 30 for 30 documentary Be Water, and it was written about the late icon. “Bruce Lee’s Teachings extended beyond physical martial arts,” RZA said in a press statement. “He was full of philosophy and Mindfulness. His quote ‘Be Water my friend’ is profound and multi-tiered in definition. It inspires the idea that in adapting to life situations, sometimes we have to flow smoothly as a stream, while other times we have to crash like a Tsunami.”

Listen to “Be Like Water” below. Be Water debuts June 7 at 6 p.m. PT on ESPN—watch the trailer here.