Not a list of songs from martial arts movies, rather they are songs ABOUT martial arts. They are not a list of the BEST martial arts songs – instead, they’re the ones I wanted to share. Some good, some bad, some strange. You’ve been warned.
1. Funniest: Ralek Gracie – G in a Gi
The inspiration for this post. SL inflicted it on me, and now I do the same to you. Watch it, then laugh along with Bullshido and the 10 pages on Sherdog for a rollicking good time. This is the song equivalent of a bad B movie–so bad it’s worth listening to. This shit could get heavy like tons of broccoli. What does it mean? Ralek’s words, not mine. Every single time I listen to this song I laugh uncontrollably.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B_hck0pE98]
2. Best lyrics: Warhead’s Jiu Jitsu Rap
This should help wash out the bad taste that Ralek left in your ears. The sound quality isn’t the best, but the lyrics make sense, unlike “Shakespeare” above. “Leave your neck exposed and the penalty is guillotine.” The more I listen to it, the more I really like it.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-79-pvNYas]
3. Cheesiest: Karate Rap
A huge shout out to Stephy for turning me on to this amazing video. “We’ve got a parakeet – he’s a karate bird. When he chirps a tweet, around the block he’s heard.” It feels like Physical‘s Olivia Newton John had a video baby with the head coach from Karate Kid – SWEEP THE LEG, JOHNNY! “Karate – train your body. In time, it’ll train your mind.”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJSZ1TwjcsQ]
4. Coolest video: No More Kings’s Sweep the Leg
A fun video and song about Johnny’s life post-Karate Kid. From start to finish this is a great video. It even stars the original actors from the movie. It’s not TECHNICALLY about a martial art, but dang it – it’s about KARATE KID’S JOHNNY!!!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFlQNtL8F9s]
5. Catchiest: Carl Douglas’s Kung Fu Fighting
Does ANYONE dislike this song? Whenever I hear the song I think of Hong Kong Phooey.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhUkGIsKvn0]
6. Best parody: Tae Kwon Do (parody of Lady Gaga’s Alejandro)
The singing is terrible, but the song made me laugh and the lyrics worked.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kC1AFcrpg6c]
7. Most random: City Boy’s Hapkido Kid
The last song was about tae kwon do, a martial art from Korea. The other Korean martial art – hapkido. Now, I get songs about karate. Jiu Jitsu – definitely more abstract, but thanks to Ralek I think it’ll go mainstream. But hapkido? Really?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkhSYQszR_c]
8. Hardest: The Wanderer’s Jiu Jitsu
If I needed a soundtrack while I murdered someone, this would be included.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxv2Iqs5Ps4]
9. Most Rockin’: Ash’s Kung Fu
Reminds me of Green Day or the Alyson Hannigan song.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWqY8qrBBSI]
10. Most makes me want to dance: Kennedy’s Karate
The song is funkalicious, catchy, he says, “I know karate, I know jiu jitsu…”, it makes me move my body when I listen to it, and I will DEFINITELY be singing this next week. “I know karate, I know jiu jitsu.” Oh wait – I said that already – it’s just stuck in my head.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exrLylxFGUk]
Bonus! Most hardcore: Julie Brown’s Girl Fight Tonight
Not about martial arts, but it’s about a chick fight! – that’s like martial arts without the training! 😉 I used to watch Just Say Julie when I was younger – she just rocks.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVie2K-mMtc]
Which other martial arts videos are out there? Which video did you like most? Least? I leave you with this parting question: do you think Ralek’s song was intended as a joke, or more a result of what happens when you take several heavy blows to the head?
You got through 10 songs without including Eddie Bravo’s Jiu Jitsu song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8Y_m0wZxsw). I think it totally would have taken the “Most likely to have been written under the influence of absurd amounts of weed” category….
Yes. I intentionally didn’t include his song, as I mentioned in the article. I don’t want to link to his stuff here, as I don’t wish to promote his music, as I disagree fully with his philosophy and with how much he pushes weed.
Jedi Mind Tricks and Dilated Peoples have members who’ve trained jiu jitsu for something like 10 years now.
Rakaa trains at the Torrance academy, but I’m not sure about Vinnie Paz.
Hmm. I can’t think of any I particularly like that are directly martial arts related, so I’d have to cheat. Maybe the little known ‘I Want You(r) Back’ by the Jackson 5? ;p
If it wasn’t a joke, then I would have to assume Ralek’s song was a result of nobody daring to give him constructive critical feedback, or if they did, he ignored it. Still, he deserves a certain amount of respect for being willing to put something out there to face the arena of public opinion. I’ve never even sung in karaoke, so there’s no way I’d have the self-confidence to sing on YouTube.
Oh, come to think of it, there are some cool theme tunes from martial arts films, if that counts? E.g., [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APTdjG6Xo9A] which I’ve linked before. Lalo Schifrin’s work on Enter the Dragon was pretty cool too.
Here’s the song I was talking about last night with my instructor. Lyrics are dead on…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHrYM1Kci9g
I love Ash, used to see them play live and have all their albums – back from albums were things you could physically buy from shops and hold and read sleeve notes. Ah those were the days.
I love the Black Belt Jones intro.
Also, who doesn’t love “Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting?”
A super classic.
🙂 I agree. That song makes me want to dance.