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David Carradine’s Impact on the Hip-Hop Generation
The tragic, and still very mysterious, death of actor David Carradine in Thailand sent shockwaves throughout the entertainment community. Younger fans know him best as the cold and vindictive “Bill” of Quentin Tarantino’s immensely popular Kill Bill series. But the older heads amongst us remember him first and foremost as Kwai Chang Caine, the wandering half-Chinese, fugitive Shaolin monk protagonist of the 1970s martial arts TV show, “Kung Fu.” Fans can recount each episode of the show that made him a star and helped to spawn a whole generation of kung fu crazed inner-city kids who were just giving birth to a new, cultural phenomenon called hip-hop.
The originator of the Kung Fu show concept was none other than martial arts demigod Bruce Lee himself. The show was even supposed to star Lee, however, studio execs just weren’t ready for a Chinese hero in an Old West setting. Carradine was cast in the lead role instead to ease racial worries. In the show, Caine was described as being the orphaned son of a white American father and Chinese mother.
A flurry of unsolicited stories from ex-wives about Carradine’s sexual practices have contributed to a freaky cloud of deviancy surrounding the 72-year-old Carradine’s death. He was found hanging with a rope around his neck, hands and genitals in the closet of a Bangkok hotel. A Thai forensic pathologist has asserted that this is consistent with autoerotic asphyxiation, an extremely dangerous fetish practice requiring participants to deprive themselves of oxygen to heighten their sexual satisfaction. Former INXS front man Michael Hutchence died under similar circumstances in 1995.
His sensationalized death notwithstanding, Carradine was a beloved entertainer for many — including many African Americans. “Kung Fu” was one of the first weekly television shows focused on martial arts, and helped kick-start a fascination with the art form that is evident in the music and popular culture created by artists raised during the 1970s. Many break dance moves have their genesis in kung fu and references to the art form in hip-hop music are rampant. The popular hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan borrowed its very concept from kung fu and sampled liberally from audio tracks from kung fu films for its music. For this reason, Wu-Tang Clan front man-producer RZA helmed the soundtrack Quentin Tarrentino’s Kill Bill films starring Carradine.
David Carradine was one of Hollywood’s most mysterious figures, but his body of work should be honored, his legacy respected, and his death acknowledged as an unfortunate tragedy and Grasshopper’s final lesson to us all — sometime sexual gratification can be even more deadly than kung fu. –todd williams
