Thursday, April 24, 2008

Wu Review



Okay, I'm damn sick of writing about the Wu Tang Clan now. Still and all, I posted like a mahf about this show so I know I gotta run it down for my people.

The Habs and the good people at Boreale warmed up the crowd - well, me and my crowd - so I got to the venue in time to take a leak and walk down to the bar, at which point the DJ on stage was yammering on about something or other. I guess he was introducing the show, because within about 15 seconds all these cats swarmed the stage and the opening bars of Nuthing Ta Fuk Wit kicked in on the speakers.

K...there's 4,5,6....wait...5 again...4. Hardly a Clan. Who we got up here? There's Rae...GZA I see you...U-God, I know you're in the building...is that Deck? Nah wait. Masta Killa. Hmm. But...

Shit was ill from the get-go. For once the sound people at Metropolis got it right. Hip hop has a bad habit of not making it past the monitors in that place so whoever was on the boards that night, let's get him/her back next time.

The half of Wu Tang that bothered showing up at least brought their B + game. Genius looked a little beat, and Masta Killa barely did shit, but they all delivered on their respective times to shine. U-God stole the show as far as solo material was concerned, playing a ton of new joints and getting a great reaction. GZA was the man of the hour with all the solo clasics you coulda wanted (at least, the ones from Liquid Swords).

I gotta say, the high points of the show for me were when Raekwon decided to spit a bunch of inflammatory comments at the crowd, and then again later when he totally contradicted himself. Apparently if you have a family and a home you should own a gun and use it - but of course the Wu only preach peace. So..yeah. Amazing.

Also - and someone put this up on YouTube so see for yourself - Rae was the bearer of bad news: that Ghostface, Deck, etc., couldn't make it. Evidently customs are just awful. I don't buy that shit for a second, but you know, the four of them pulled it off. The show was tight, crazy hype, the crowd went off, and if you divide the cost of a $55 ticket you know you'd pay roughly $13.75 to see any of these guys live, so all things considered, they brought the muthafuckin ruckus.



An interesting contrast in expectations that evening: Montreal hockey fans, having just watched their team win game 7 of the first playoff round, rioted and set cop cars on fire on the west side of town. Meanwhile, Montreal Wu Tang fans (not that these are two mutually exclusive groups), having just been bilked of a couple of key members, went home happy and caused no bullshit whatsoever - although I did see the riot cops gearing up to go bust up the peaceful playoff celebration that was going on outside Metropolis.

So from now on I propose we blame society's ills on hockey and not hip hop, eh?

4 comments:

~ george said...

Lol at the guy who keeps yelling "Fuck You" during that second video...

~ george said...

http://reset.appspot.com/

~ george said...

blueprint vs. funkadelic

haven't heard it yet myself, thought you might like a heads up :)

~ george said...

sorry for spamming you stan style, but you should carry on your investigation of all things wu by checking out the shaolin-unafilliated Woo Tang dance craze sweeping the lower 48 as we live and breathe...

you tube: "do the wu-tang"