The guest
RZA: Rapper, producer, and de facto leader of the Wu-Tang Clan, and a writer-director whose fourth feature film, One Spoon of Chocolate, is produced by Quentin Tarantino.
What this episode covers
Joe Rogan and RZA open with a long conversation about martial arts, tai chi, Shaolin philosophy, exercise routines and cold plunges as tools for mental as well as physical health. They pivot into dark economics: the Sackler family and the opioid crisis, doctors financially incentivized to over-prescribe, and slave-labor cobalt mining in the Congo that powers our phones, which RZA connects to his own lyrics and a film project tracing King Leopold's rubber atrocities. RZA promotes his new film One Spoon of Chocolate repeatedly, discussing its anamorphic look, 35mm prints, his 36 Cinema distribution company, and his passion for the theatrical experience. The back half drifts into music recommendations, veganism and pumpkin seeds, AI as a creative tool, immersive cinema tech (Sphere, Cosm, Vision Pro), and an extended riff on lab-grown diamonds versus mined ones and Chinese super-clone Rolexes.
Recommended on this episode
MediaRecommended
Painkiller
Peter Berg
“It's really good”
“Did you ever see that Netflix docu-series Painkiller? It's really good. It's all about the Sackler family. Peter Berg made it.”— Joe Rogan
MediaRecommended
Heavy Rhyme Experience
The Brand New Heavies
“one of my favorite albums ever”
“one of my favorite albums ever is when the Brand New Heavies got Heavy Rhyme Experience. Oh my god, you got to listen to some of this.”— Joe Rogan
MediaRecommended
Sensuous Sensuous (Isley Brothers)
The Isley Brothers
“I got to put you on”
“I got to put you on some Isley Brothers... I'm going to say Sensuous. Put that one on... your shoulders going to start moving.”— RZA
MediaRecommended
Baddest Man Alive
The RZA & Black Keys
“one of my favorite songs”
“one of my favorite songs from that first soundtrack is Baddest Man Alive that you did with Black Sheep. That song killed it.”— Joe Rogan
MediaRecommended
Ill Street Blues
Kool G Rap
“Ill Street Blues is amazing”
“Ill Street Blues is amazing. And Kool G Rap, I just think in mainstream just doesn't get the respect he deserves”— Joe Rogan
The guest's own work
MediaBy the guest
One Spoon of Chocolate
RZA
“This is the RZA. I'm sitting here with Joe Rogan. I have a new film coming out May 1st. It's called One Spoon of Chocolate.”— RZA
MediaBy the guest
The Man with the Iron Fists
RZA
“So, I wrote my first film and with the IFS. Which was a Quentin Tarantino present as well. And then it was a kung fu movie.”— RZA
MediaBy the guest
Love Beats Rhymes
RZA
“My second film I didn't write. It was called Love Beats Rhymes. It was a movie about poetry and a female lead.”— RZA
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
MediaReferenced
Lone Survivor
Peter Berg
“Peter Berg made it. Lone Survivor he made it. A bunch of excellent movies. He's great.”— Joe Rogan
BookReferencedISBN verified
Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives
Siddharth Kara
“I had this guy Siddharth Kara on the podcast. He wrote a book... that is cobalt red. The blood of the Congo powers our lives.”— Joe Rogan
MediaReferenced
American Gangster
Ridley Scott
“my imagery in my head was that scene in American Gangster when it was like Thanksgiving and they showed Frank Lucas at the table”— RZA
MediaReferenced
Supersize Me
Morgan Spurlock
“Wasn't there a documentary with a guy... Supersize Me. He was eating McDonald's all day every day for every meal.”— Joe Rogan
MediaReferenced
The Revenant
Alejandro G. Inarritu
“What movie was that? The Revenant. That was a good one. That was Leonardo.”— Joe Rogan
MediaReferenced
Contact
Carl Sagan
“Carl Sagan, one of the most famous astronomers of all time, he had and wrote that great movie Contact, that great book Contact.”— Joe Rogan
ProductReferenced
Shazam
Apple
“So, I Shazam it. Right? So, anyway, I Shazam it and then I get the song. I got two Spanish songs now in my playlist.”— RZA
ProductReferenced
Tesla (Full Self-Driving)
Tesla
“I do have a Tesla that'll drive me. I've had it drive me all the way home. It'll stop at stop signs and stop lights.”— Joe Rogan
ProductReferenced
Apple Vision Pro
Apple
“Have you ever tried using those Apple AR goggles? Apple Vision Pro. I heard watching movies on those is phenomenal.”— Joe Rogan
ProductReferenced
Oppo (smartphone)
Oppo
“What is like Oppo? There's a bunch of these new Chinese companies that have cell phones that have much more battery”— Joe Rogan
ProductReferenced
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra
Samsung
“a Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra has a 5,000 milliamp battery in it. I think these Oppo phones have 7,000 plus”— Joe Rogan
ProductReferenced
OnePlus 13
OnePlus
“A lot of these OnePlus 13, a lot of these Chinese-made Android phones are using much more advanced battery technology.”— Joe Rogan
ProductReferenced
Honor Magic 5 Pro
Honor
“So these Chinese phones are Yeah, here it is. Honor Magic 5 Pro.”— Jamie
MediaReferenced
The Wizard of Oz (Sphere)
Sphere Entertainment
“The Wizard of Oz Yeah, I heard that's nuts. Yeah, I seen that there. There's all sorts of crazy new effects”— RZA
ProductReferenced
Rolex Daytona
Rolex
“Right there, the Daytona. That's the classic. Black dial Daytona. So it's like 30 grand.”— Joe Rogan
ProductReferenced
Rolex Explorer II (orange hand)
Rolex
“Rolex Explorer II, the primary model featuring a single bright orange 24-hour hand. Often found at Hall of Time in Brussels.”— RZA
ProductReferenced
Richard Mille
Richard Mille
“go to Richard Mille cuz those watches are like a million bucks. Those watches are insanely expensive.”— Joe Rogan
ProductReferenced
Omega (automatic watch)
Omega
“this is an Omega and this watch is automatic, too. So this is moving on my movement. So my movement winds it.”— Joe Rogan
Big reveals from this episode
- RZA says a heroin-addicted boyfriend of his aunt telling him 'you got to get knowledge' is what made him start reading as a kid.
- Joe recounts a deviated-septum surgery where a doctor pushed two opioid prescriptions on him though he wasn't in pain.
- RZA realizes his own song 'The Great Fisherman' described Congo cobalt mining before he had ever seen footage of it.
- RZA admits being called an 'Indian giver' by D'Angelo for licensing a podcast theme beat to the Minions movie out from under him.
- RZA reveals April 22nd, the day his film premieres on 35mm, is the anniversary of his 1992 acquittal that birthed 'RZA' from 'Prince Rakim.'
- Joe and RZA explore Chinese 'super clone' Rolexes that mirror real watches for ~$1,400 versus $30,000 retail.
Worth remembering
- Opioid overdoses kill upwards of 70,000 people a year in America.
- Chemotherapy runs roughly $30,000 to $60,000 a dose, one of the most profitable medications doctors prescribe.
- A huge share of the cobalt in phones and electronics is hand-mined in the Congo under slave-labor conditions.
- RZA frames the Quran's prophecy of 'abundant wells' as fulfilled by Middle Eastern oil wells.
- Pumpkin seeds (pepitas) are protein- and mineral-rich; RZA keeps roasted ones in his car as a vegan protein source.
- Hemp protein is one of the few plant proteins containing all amino acids and is highly bioavailable.
- RZA hasn't driven a car since 2012 after near-daily near-accidents filming in China.
- Lab-grown and natural diamonds are physically identical; even jewelers need microscopes and UV to find subtle hints of origin.
- Saab went bankrupt in 2011 and no longer makes cars; RZA used a Saab in his film to obscure the era.
- Joe credits the Alamo Drafthouse with pioneering the food-in-theaters concept; his comedy club, the Mothership, sits in the old Ritz on 6th Street.
More from Joe Rogan
All 6342 recommended