Soul Brotha, February 2006: Bruce Lee

Yeah, I think I'm gonna make this a new routine. Soul Brotha of the month or somethin...

If you know what Soul is, this'll make sense to ya; if it's a Black thang to u, how elementary... I consider Bruce Lee to be a soul brotha. No, he's not Black; no he doesn't sing. But soul is self-expression, and when it comes to self expression, Bruce Lee is an elite.

"But he's just a martial artist..."

lol... Listen to yourself: "martial ARTIST". Fighting is an art form, another means of self-expression. Bruce Lee had a style that was very self-expressive; everything from his movements to his trademark "whaaaa..." I'll tell you what... lemme translate it in a way yah cats can understand: Bruce Lee's "whaaa..." is equivalent to James Brown's "Hey hey!" "Ow!" and "Hit me!" His shouts erupt from his inner parts when he fights. That's SOUL, brothas and sistas.

His "art", which he doesn't actually consider a "style", is Jeet Kune Do. The entire style is based on learning other styles, but then being willing to release them to create something better suited to yourself. Bruce Lee speaks against "crystalization"; i.e. practicing a style and becoming so engulfed in it that you lose yourself and only react the way you are taught to. That's SOUL, brothas and sistas.

I could explain further, but I think Bruce can exlain himself much better than I can. This is some good reading here peeps:

On Creating Your Personal Way of Fighting

I chose this passage as my premise, but read the whole page if you really wanna see the soul of this brotha.

Bruce Lee's Most Famous Quotes

That's my nomination, my second, my I, and my I's-have it...

Welcome to the traditionally-exclusively-Afro-American Soul Brotha Hall of Fame, Brotha Bruce Lee.