Testimony: Stic.man of Dead Prez
Finding Faith in Martial Arts

I’m still discovering my definition of faith. My mom is probably the best example I have of faith in action, in just watching her deal with kids on drugs and a lot of stuff like that.

I grew up a skeptic in all that kind of religious stuff, because all the prayers weren’t really changing the conditions. My mother would always say, "I rather see a sermon, than hear one."

The only thing my mother had, it wasn’t even a plan, it was just a matter of believing that at the right time we’ll be able to figure out what we need to do. I guess that’s faith too – knowing that it’s going to work out eventually if we stay vigilant about it.

My concept of faith is a plan.

I was around 21 years-old when my strength was tested and I had to rely on my faith. I woke up and I was dealing with so many things - being in New York coming from Florida. It seems like that day my rent was overdue, I was beefing with my girl all the time, and my brother was on drugs, in and out of prison. It was just a lot on my mind and I woke up with my leg swollen. I tried to stand up and I fell down. I didn’t know what happened. Long story short, I had to go to the doctor. The doctor started asking me, "What I eat, do I drink, do I smoke?" I’m like, "yeah." He was like "You have gout."

I’m 21 and I can’t use my leg. I’m thinking the worst. It made me start thinking about my uncles and different people around me and I was like ‘Here I go, I’m about to be one of those whino dudes limping.’

I didn’t start drinking until I got about 17, something like that. I mean I had a sip, but just going to get some brew to get tore up for the weekend and all that, this was later in my life. I grew in a household that was like that. My household was crushed because of alcohol and cocaine, it screwed up everything. I was like I’m never going to do nothing, as far as no drugs. But then you’re growing up, my parents divorced, I’m in the streets – pressure, stress, things of life coming at you. You hanging out, you want socialize, next thing you know you drinking. And I start drinking more and more. I start drinking everyday and throwing the Blunts back, and one day after about five years of that, I woke up and I had gout in my left leg. People say that’s an old-folks disease. But I had it. And like I said, I hadn’t been drinking since I was 10.

Gout was probably the best thing that could have happened to me that early, because most people drink until they get diabetes or something. I happened to be in Brooklyn, which is a place of a lot of international culture, as opposed to being in the country where I grew up in Florida. I was able to be around people like the Rastas and the different Africans who would be like, "Get this herb." They put me on a lot of internal cleansing type of things.

I was talking to my girl and different people and I told them I wanted to bring my leg back. I was like, "I’m going to heal this."

I had always been a fan of Bruce Lee and martial arts, so I made a 180 degree transformation. I became a vegan. I became a martial artist, 6 days a week in training. I stopped drinking and smoking. I went to Queen Afua and went on an 84-day live food fast. I took my health into my own hands and decided I didn’t want to go out with the normal procedures.

I was practicing what they call Jeet Kune Do, which is an art that was developed by Bruce Lee. It’s not really an art, but a concept of how he approached martial arts and I was able to study with Sifu Ralph Mitchell.

Jeet Kune Do means the art of the interceptive fish. The difference between Jeet Kune Do and other classical martial arts is kinda like the difference between hip-hop and other classical music. Hip-hop samples from everything, but it ain’t bound to none of those rules. Jeet Kune Do is a philosophy of martial arts and of life that says, "I’m not going to be prejudice here. I’m not going to just follow a tradition for tradition sake. I’m going to test the principle and see if it works for me, and if it don’t I’m going to adjust it." That’s how we train in the arts.

So instead of us standing there with a big Gi or a uniform on, with a different color belt, saying "My belt will beat yours," everything is simple and that fits who I am as a person. That’s my spirit. And I apply this to business. I apply that to my rhymes. I apply that to my general philosophy of politics. I already had it in me, but the training helped me see it in a physical way.

As they say, religion means rely on. And religion is what you do everyday. So that would have to be my religion. I’m looking at the world from that philosophy. Bruce Lee said it, “Having no way as the way.”

I guess in all practical purposes Jeet Kune Do is my faith, but I stray away from even calling it a faith because I believe it’s not about people having to believe in something outside of themselves. I look at it as an understanding that I have and that I’m cultivating. And it works in my life. So if that’s faith, then yeah that’s my faith.