The Way of the Blade

A look at one of the most underrated hip-hop/samurai crossovers.

Hip-hop’s obsession with Asian culture goes way beyond Lil Uzi Vert’s Eternal Atake and the existence of the Wu-Tang Clan (famously parodied in the Chappelle’s Show “Racial Draft” sketch). One specifically off-beat example is the 1999 Jim Jarmusch film Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, an under-appreciated gem starring Forest Whitaker as the titular character.