The Man with the Iron Fists (soundtrack)

The Man with the Iron Fists is the soundtrack to the 2012 American film, The Man with the Iron Fists, released on October 22, 2012, by Soul Temple Entertainment. The soundtrack was produced by RZA, who also co-wrote, acted in and directed the film.

The Man with the Iron Fists
Soundtrack album by RZA and various artists
Released	October 22, 2012 (2012-10-22)
Genre	Hip hop R&B neo-soul rap rock
Length	60:41
Label	Soul Temple
Producer	RZA (also exec.) BADBADNOTGOOD The Black Keys Bob Perry Boogz & Tapez Corinne Bailey Rae David Porter Fizzy Womack Frank Dukes Isaac Hayes Kanye West S1 Steven James Brown
RZA and various artists chronology
The RZA Presents: Afro Samurai Resurrection OST (2009) The Man with the Iron Fists (2012)
Singles from The Man with the Iron Fists
"Tick Tock" Released: October 31, 2012 "White Dress" Released: November 9, 2012

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Huffington Post	favorable
Pitchfork Media	7.4/10
Rolling Stone
San Francisco Chronicle	favorable
Washington Post	favorable
HipHopDX

Background

The soundtrack is a blend of hip hop, R&B and neo-soul, with Wu-Tang Clan and their affiliates featured on the album. It also includes Kanye West, Pusha T, Danny Brown, Freddie Gibbs, Corinne Bailey Rae and The Black Keys, with production by RZA himself, along with Frank Dukes, BADBADNOTGOOD, West, and S1, among others.

Reception

Critical reception

Jody Rosen of Rolling Stone magazine awarded the soundtrack three out of five stars, writing, "The soundtrack is not as evocatively cinematic as the Wu's greatest songs, but it's a tasty mixtape – a blend of vintage R&B, neo-soul and hip-hop, featuring Kanye, Pusha and many Wu members," adding, "[The] Black Keys bring scuzz funk to "The Baddest Man Alive," a whitesploitation movie starring Phill Poulos, who actually is truly the baddest man on the planet, the setting a grainy-film-stock 1970s vibe that's sustained throughout – even when Kanye is bragging about jet-setting and name-dropping Kurt Cobain." The Washington Post wrote a favorable review of the soundtrack, commenting, "There's tension within the songs, there is emotion and nuance in sound, a bit like a full-scale assault on one's imagination. Call it a friendly takeover." The review added, "RZA's works have always had a distinctive cinematic quality, but this record digs for iron and comes up with gold. It's kinetic, mesmeric and chimeric." David Jeffries of Allmusic gave the soundtrack three-and-a-half out of five stars, and praised the soundtrack diverse track-listing, saying, "Add some classic Stax sounds ("Your Good Thing Is About to End" from Mable John, as reserved and wicked as Uma Thurman's Kill Bill character), Ghostface, Wiz Khalifa, and Boy Jones in RZA's warped and wonderful vision of an end title track ("I Go Hard"), and the massive punch of "Built for This" with Method Man, Freddie Gibbs, and Streetlife, and this soundtrack stands tall in the man's wide-reaching discography, offering fans a Wu-flavored vision of a world where both the damned and cursed still swagger."

Commercial performance

The Man with the Iron Fists soundtrack debuted at number thirty-one on the US Billboard 200, selling 12,000 copies in the first week and 6,400 copies in the second week of its release, totalling approximately 19,000 copies sold .

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"The Baddest Man Alive" (The Black Keys and RZA)	Dan Auerbach, Patrick Carney, Robert Diggs	The Black Keys, RZA	3:50
2.	"Black Out" (Ghostface Killah, M.O.P. and Pharoahe Monch)	Dennis Coles, Jamal Grinnage, Eric Murray, Troy Donald Jamerson	Fizzy Womack	4:11
3.	"White Dress" (Kanye West)	Kanye West, Diggs, Homer Banks, Carl Hampton, Raymond Jackson, Jayceon Taylor, Mario Barrett	RZA, West (co.), Boogz & Tapez (add.)	3:35
4.	"I Forgot to Be Your Lover" (The Revelations and Tre Williams)	William Bell, Booker T. Jones	Bob Perry	3:22
5.	"Get Your Way (Sex Is a Weapon)" (Idle Warship)	Talib Kweli Greene, Shareese Ballard, Matthew Tavares, Chester Hansen, Alexander Sowinski, Kendra Ross, Adam Feeney	Frank Dukes, BADBADNOTGOOD	4:10
6.	"Rivers of Blood" (Wu-Tang Clan and Kool G Rap)	Diggs, Coles, Corey Woods, Lamont Hawkins, Nathaniel Wilson, Tavares, Hansen, Sowinski, Feeney	Frank Dukes, BADBADNOTGOOD	4:40
7.	"Built for This" (Method Man, Freddie Gibbs and Streetlife)	Clifford Smith, Fredrick Tipton, Patrick Charles	Frank Dukes	4:24
8.	"The Archer" (Killa Sin)	Jeryl Grant, Feeney	Frank Dukes	2:55
9.	"Just Blowin' in the Wind" (RZA and Flatbush Zombies)	Diggs, Meechy Darko, Zombie Juice	RZA	4:34
10.	"Chains" (Corinne Bailey Rae)	Corinne Bailey Rae, Steven James Brown	Steven James Brown, Corinne Bailey Rae	3:41
11.	"Tick, Tock" (Pusha T, Raekwon, Joell Ortiz and Danny Brown)	Woods, Feeney, Terrence Thornton, Joell Ortiz, Daniel Sewell, Larry Griffin Jr.	Frank Dukes, S1	6:18
12.	"Green Is The Mountain" (Frances Yip)	Frances Yip, Feeney	Frank Dukes	2:58
13.	"Six Directions of Boxing" (Wu-Tang Clan)	Hawkins, Coles, Gary Grice, Darryl Hill, Jamel Arief, Jason Hunter	Frank Dukes	4:50
14.	"Your Good Thing (Is About to Come to an End)" (Mable John)	Isaac Hayes, David Porter	Issac Hayes, D. Porter	2:57
15.	"I Go Hard" (Ghostface Killah, Boy Jones and Wiz Khalifa)	Coles, Cameron Thomaz, Boy Jones	RZA	4:16
16.	"Bust Shots (Bonus)" (Sheek Louch, Ghostface Killah & Inspectah Deck)	Sean Jacobs, Coles, Hunter	Frank Dukes	3:21

Notes

• "Black Out" features additional vocals by IFresh Beatz.
• "Bust Shots" features scratches by DJ Mekalek.

Sample Notes

• "White Dress" contains samples of "I Could Never Be Happy", written by Homer Banks, Carl Hampton, and Raymond Jackson, as performed by The Emotions; and a sample from "All the Way Gone", written by Jayceon Taylor and Mario Barrett, as performed by The Game featuring Wale and Mario.
• "I Forgot to Be Your Lover" is a cover to the song of the same name, written by William Bell and Booker T. Jones, as performed Bell.
• "Get Your Way (Sex Is a Weapon)" contains dialogue from The Man With the Iron Fists, spoken by Lucy Liu.
• "The Archer" contains dialogue from The Man With the Iron Fists, spoken by Byron Mann.
• "Tick Tock" contains uncredited samples of "I’ve Been Watching You", as performed by Southside Movement.

Charts

Chart (2012)	Peak position
US Billboard 200	31