WU TANG CLAN at Austin Music Hall for SXSW. Rating: NNN
The Wu Tang Clan sauntered onstage one at a time at the Austin Music Hall during SXSW, seemingly in order of commercial appeal and/or talent.
U God arrived first with his verse from Winter Warz, a triumph of a posse cut off Ghostface Killah’s first album.
Next came Inspectah Deck, who the audience first mistook for Wu originator and producer RZA, currently estranged from the Clan over money disputes.
GZA, the genius behind Liquid Swords last seen in Toronto during NXNE, walked out after, along with Masta Killa and Cappadonna.
Then Ghostface exploded onto the stage, rocking Champion gear and matching the crowd in energy.
Excitement building. Which Clansmen would come out next?
Sadly, that was it. No Method Man, Raekwon or RZA.
Without Ol’ Dirty Bastard (RIP), four out of nine founding members were not at SXSW. So are they still the Wu Tang Clan? (Reminds me of Theseus’ Paradox, in which Theseus, the founder of Athens, rebuilt every plank on a ship and asked if it was the same ship. I digress.)
There were flashes of vintage Wu. But the crew was sorely missing their Wu brethren. Ice Cream, a classic Rae joint, is nothing without Method Man’s swagger on the chorus. Raekwon, especially, would have lit up the stage – his recent resume is straight up live.
Instead, Ghostface Killah put the entire Clan on his back. When he had the mic, which was often, he rapped liked his pants were on fire. He had a comfortable control over the audience, it’s like he was on a street corner just going in on some freestyles.
He even played hype man when the lesser-knowns got into their solo material. Ghost was probably the only person in Austin to get excited over U God’s embarrassing single Dat’s Gangsta.
But one man does not make a clan. GZA sort of wheezed out his parts, and the rest of the crew, while all talented, could not match the charisma of the missing members.
