GZA is a legend. One of the key solo breakaways from Wu-Tang Clan, he has a decent back catalogue, with one classic solo album, the legendary Liquid Swords being one of the greats of the form. Wu-Tang, themselves, are one of the best hip-hop crews that ever existed. Their atmospheric, weird and brilliant albums travel further out there than many of their contemporaries. Their music drips with imagination and a dark humour into a tripped out melange of fat beats and samples from obscure underground kung fu films, and the cast of characters that make up the crew and their endless supply of alter-egos has become part of hip hop lore.
Unsurprisingly, their thick, spiritual beat gravy always works better on record. Their immense soundscapes take you on a trip, and you can get lost in their music. Headphones on, eyes shut, and you are in their strange world. A Wu-Tang album – or one of the better solo spin-offs – is like a film on its own; a long and strange trip that somehow never quite works as well live.
GZA is a brilliant and gifted rapper, but the sheer size and scale of the music that he is presenting makes performing it live a tough call. This gig works okay with one man, a few random crew members, a mic and backing tracks delivering a sound that is loud and rowdy. GZA’s constant trips behind his crew members is distracting and tiresome, and he unfortunately does not have the stage presence of Meth or Ghostface Killa. But to be fair to him, not many MCs do.
Consequently…
As hip-hop shows go, this was very atypical. It only rose above the average because of the quality of the tracks from Liquid Swords. It’s not that it was a bad show, it’s just that Wu-Tang is a trip, and a very personal manga movie that shows in your own head. Maybe, perhaps, it’s best approached in a different context live, and enjoyed for what it is. As a massive Wu Tang fan, this scribe is happy to concede that my expectations were too high. GZA delivered an enthusiastic, old school rap set in a packed and hyped O2; the atmosphere was electric, and the performance was good. But very far from great.