The marketing maven and Grammy Award-winning rapper create an exciting new documentary
American rapper Lupe Fiasco and Hong Kong marketing maven Bonnie Chan-Woo are building cultural bridges in Beat N Path, a new martial arts docu-series that premiered online on Monday.
Growing up, Lupe was an avid martial arts fan, and the nine-episode collection follows his journey across China to learn about different forms of martial arts from Kung Fu gurus along with exploring the country’s growing hip hop scene. The series was produced by Studio SV, which was co-founded by Lupe and Bonnie in 2017.
While each episode is a breezy, vibrant viewing experience, creating it wasn’t easy. In an Instagram post on Thursday, Bonnie described the production process as an “extreme sport.”
“Crossing cultures is hard work, it takes patience, humility and passion for [open-mindedness],” Bonnie wrote. “From corporate to hip hop, music to Kung Fu, Black to Asian, Hollywood to Shaolin, Hong Kong to the south side of Chicago, we glided across unfamiliar spaces, connecting people and experimenting ideas like we were in a flow, because we believe cross-cultural friendships, partnerships and collaborations help develop shared platforms that build bridges, close gaps and bring people together.”
In an interview with Vice, Lupe describes the experience as an important learning opportunity about China. He confesses that he’s only visited the country “superficially” and wanted to culturally immerse himself there.
“I was genuinely being astonished, being in these places, feeling these feelings for real,” Lupe said. “I almost didn't want the cameras to be there in certain instances, to be honest, because it feels so special and it feels so real.”
You can watch the series premiere of Beat N Path here.