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Written By: BenGomori |
GZA @ Electric Ballroom, London – Thursday 13th November 2008
It kind of saddens me that there’s little in modern hip-hop that well and truly excites me or would make me want to get off my derriere and down to a gig. It’s true – they don’t make ‘em like they used to. We’ve got a handful of great artists over in the UK, some hot names from around the globe, but when it comes to the birthplace and power house of rap music over in the USA, it just isn’t what it was. The most talented producers get turned into pop producers, and rappers ones who become big stars spit their monotoned lyrics over dull, unimaginative beats. Dre STILL hasn’t delivered album number 3 after another year of empty promises to boot.
Meanwhile the few good acts that do emerge get little love on their own shores. What happened? Bling took over, people stopped taking risks and got fixated with lowest common denominator drivel.
To imagine another collective like Wu-Tang Clan gaining such immense popularity in today’s climate with such a dark, underground, uncompromising sound, violent lyrics and absence of virtually any radio-friendly songs is unthinkable. It was disappointing, then, to see producer and lynchpin RZA try to push the group in a less Wu-like direction with the latest album, 8 Diagrams – filled with weak soul & R&B style choruses and only a handful of raw bangers, it failed to even reach the more eclectic heights of say, recent Ghostface Killah albums. But with GZA sounding in rude health on his Pro Tools compilation album earlier this year, we weren’t about to turn our back on all things Wu and miss out on the chance to see one of the world’s finest lyricists doing his thang.
The most venerable (42 years old) and indeed experienced (he was already a promising if not very successful solo artist pre-Wu), “The Genius” is known in the world of hip-hop as one of the most skilled wordsmiths, famed for his smooth yet gravelly voice and poetic metaphors. Tonight, he balances and switches perfectly between material new and old, kicking things off with the strutting bass of Liquid Swords – the first track from the album of the same name that’s widely accepted as one of the finest – commanding the stage alone with a DJ for the first part of his set. No need for a hype man or back up yet – just his clear, commanding voice doing the business.
The crowd lap up every minute of nostalgia; the grimy 4th Chamber reminding us of the murkiest depths of RZA productions from days gone by, while newer tracks like Alphabets show him mellowing out in recent years – but his rhymes no less potent or thought-provoking. The quality of the beats is strong throughout, showing the consistency of his work over the years where other members have struggled to deliver the goods time and again, and perhaps not always work with the right people or accept the right tracks.
Flashes of Wu-Tang Clan classics are of course well-received, and these ears are happy to hear them whenever, wherever. But as solid a performance the GZA gives though, and as much as we’ve enjoyed hearing material both old and new, we can’t help feeling slightly downtrodden that in the past 5 years, there’s been so little inspirational hip-hop to come out of the USA as purveyed by the GZA and his co-conspirators, or others of their era. Good to see he agrees at least – telling the crowd that “there’s far too many people in hip-hop putting out seriously weak shit”. Aint’t that the truth.
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