On This Day (8/7): Method Man and Redman, Ghostface Killah
08/07/2009; House of Blues, Houston, TX
This was one of the first big rap shows I ever attended, and I was obviously slightly uncomfortable, feeling out the crowd and how exactly one conducts themselves at a rap show. I’m super comfortable going crazy at a rock show or throwing down at a metal show, but I just didn’t know what to expect here. Luckily the vibe was pretty welcoming from the start. And there were lots of white hipsters like myself because, really, who the fuck else listens to Wu-Tang Clan anymore?
This was a fun night. Ghostface Killah clearly did not take his opening set very seriously, because he came out on stage wasted as fuck. He was slurring his words and stumbling around, drunk, and went off on several tangents about mainstream music sucking and wanting to see girls shake their asses. Not a lot of it made sense. When he did rap, he was on point, but he was here to party more than anything. That made for an awesome atmosphere, but a less than stellar performance. He performed Inspectah Deck’s legendary verse from “Triumph” but not his own and of course did the requisite “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” performance, as I’ve now seen almost every Wu-Tang member do at one point or another. RIP ODB.
I’ve never been huge on Method and Red’s stuff, preferring Meth’s first solo album Tical more than anything else, and he did perform “Bring the Pain” so I was happy about that. But what impressed me more than anything was the energy level. Method, for a guy mostly known for smoking copious amounts of weed, was bouncing around the stage and yelling and acting like he was in a damn hardcore band. It was amazing. I love the guy. Even during songs I didn’t care about or know, you had to be captivated by his infectious energy. It was a fun night, even though most of the songs were unknown to me.
