The RZA has been contracted
to score an animated martial arts series to be broadcast on Spike TV in the fall.
The acclaimed Wu
Tang producer will craft the score of Afro Samurai, an animated series
that stars actor Samuel L. Jackson. Jackson’s voice will be used for the
protagonist of the series, an unorthodox hero based on Takashi Okazaki’s
graphic novel of the same name.
Afro Samurai
is a tale of a Black samurai seeking vengeance on the killers of his father.
The series also melds Hip-Hop with martial arts, a combination that RZA is very
familiar with.
"Afro Samurai
offers me the opportunity to mix the innovational world of Hip-Hop with the
visual imagination of Japanese animation,” RZA said in a statement. “The
vibe of Afro Samurai is so soulful and cool, that when I was asked to
compose the series my creative juices immediately reacted. I felt it was something
meant for me to do; in many ways Afro and myself share the same spirit."
As a producer,
RZA has scored marital arts-themed films like Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill
movies, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai and Blade: Trinity.
As an actor, the Staten Island native has also appeared in Derailed,
Coffee and Cigarettes, Scary Movie 3 and the aforementioned Ghost
Dog.
Continuing, RZA
said, “As a fan of martial art and old Japanese Samurai movies, I have
always wanted to be a part of such creativity and to have my own spice added
is even better. Many Hip-Hop artists and musicians from the late 80’s to now
have been inspired by this form of entertainment, and today’s animators have
been stimulated by Hip-Hop. But, usually these two forms of expression never
meet in the same realm of artistry.”
Afro Samurai
is a product of FUNimation Entertainment and GDH K.K. and it will be available
on DVD in the Spring of 2007.
Aside from Hip-Hop,
the Wu Tang Clan’s original nine members were inspired by a love of martial
arts and incorporate Far Eastern discipline in their organizational bylines
and their thought provoking musicianship.