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Cobra Kai Season 4 introduced Dallas Dupree Young as Kenny. Now he’s a regular in Cobra Kai Season 5. Kenny already fought for Cobra Kai in the All-Valley Karate Tournament but he’s got more fight scenes in season 5. Young said he listens to one song to pump himself up for his fight scenes. 

'Cobra Kai' Season 5: Dallas Dupree Young stands in the center of a karate class
L-R: Joe Seo and Dallas Dupree Young | Curtis Bonds Baker/Netflix

Showbiz Cheat Sheet participated in roundtable interviews with the cast of Cobra Kai. In Young’s, he spoke about his karate prep. Cobra Kai Season 5 premieres Sept. 9 on Netflix and we’ll have more with the cast and creators of the show this month. 

‘Remember the Name’ pumps Dallas Dupree Young up for ‘Cobra Kai’ Season 5

Some martial artists stretch and spar. Young listens to the Fort Minor song before his Cobra Kai Season 5 fights. If you give it a spin it’s sure to pump you up too.

“My preparation is I try to listen to pump up music,” Young said. “For me, it’s a song called ‘Remember the Name.’ Every time I need to get excited and get pumped up, especially if I’m in a down mood, I listen to that song and I’m ready. I stay focused and I stay in my own head, I just figure out where my character is and where his mindset is at that time with the scene.”

The soundtracks to the Karate Kid movies were integral. To this day, Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) still listens to ‘80s music. The original film had songs like “You’re the Best” and “Moment of Truth.” Karate Kid Part II slowed it down with “Glory of Love.” “Remember the Name” was created independently of Cobra Kai but it sure sounds like it fits in the show’s musical legacy. 

Dallas Dupree Young had a karate background a long time ago

Young is 15 now. He said he practiced karate when he was a child and it mostly came back when training for Cobra Kai.

“I do have a little martial arts background but the last time I did martial arts before this show was when I was 5 years old,” Young said. “So I didn’t really remember it back then but it was just muscle memory for me once I started to get back into that mode.”

The Cobra Kai Season 5 fights were not just physically challenging for Young. They informed Kenny’s character, too.

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“I believe the best moment would definitely have to be his fight sequence that really happens,” Young said. “It shapes who Kenny is as a leader and it also just transforms his mentality as well with Cobra Kai because of course he’s not listening to Tanner [Buchanan], who plays Robby of course. It’s pretty much starting to shape himself and find his own identity as a leader.”

There’s a ‘Karate Kid’ reference in 1 fight scene 

Young wasn’t born yet when The Karate Kid came out. But, when Kenny learns Cobra Kai moves from Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith), Young pointed out a reference to the original trilogy. 

“It is definitely the scene between Terry Silver and Kenny whenever he’s training before his fight,” Young said. “It’s a direct homage to The Karate Kid. I don’t know if anybody picked this up but it’s whenever he says Kenny goes about the silver bullet, he says, ‘Oh, that was really cool.’ And Terry Silver goes, ‘You like that, huh?’ because that’s one of the lines from back in Karate Kids.”

Cobra Kai Season 5 tests whether Kenny can see Terry for who he really is or not. 

“I believe in Terry’s mind he wants what’s best for Kenny through and through,” Young said. “I believe he trusts Kenny’s instincts at all times. That relationship between the two was so complex but it was very special and it meant a lot to Kenny’s future and the identity of Kenny and who Kenny was. I just think their relationship was strong and it was powerful. That’s why Kenny was the way he was in season 5 in the evolution of Kenny.”

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