The Baddest Man Alive

Album: The Man with the Iron Fists (2012)
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Songfacts®:

  • The Black Keys teamed up with RZA for this cut from The Man with the Iron Fists soundtrack in which Dan Auerbach and RZA go head-to head in the braggadocio stakes. The Wu-Tang Clan leader also directed the martial arts movie. "That was great," he recalled of their collaboration during an interview with Billboard magazine. "Dan (Auerbach) and Pat (Carney) are just two cool guys from Ohio. We actually wrote the song and recorded it before I started filming, and when the film was done we were looking for songs for certain scenes. This song came across our radar and we contacted Dan and Pat to see if they could give me a stronger mix for the film and the found time to do it."
  • The song's tongue-in-cheek video sees The Black Keys pair and RZA engaged in slapstick violence in a Chinese restaurant over a fortune cookie. It was directed by Chris Marrs Piliero, who also helmed the Black Keys' "Howlin' For You" — another ode to Z-Grade films of old.

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