GZA performing at the Paid Dues hip-hop festival at the Nokia Theatre in New York City on June 4, 2008. (Flowizm/Wikimedia Commons)
Wu-Tang Clan’s GZA performed at the Fox Theatre on Wednesday with a lively, yet meaningful performance. GZA also brought out another Wu-Tang staple, Masta Killa, to revive die hard fans’ yearning for 90’s hip-hop.
The Fox Theatre was packed with a conglomerate of older generation fans that grew up with the clan, as well as a younger audience that just appreciates good artistry. Everyone from all corners of the theater threw up their Wu-Tang “W’s” with their hands and bobbed their heads along to some of GZA’s best tracks.
The crowd would also reverb all of the essential hits like “Triumph” and “Liquid Swords” with on-the-dot delivery and timing. However, GZA threw in a few of his signature acapella verses in between songs that packed in the most heart and lyrical complexity. These solo freestyles contained wow-factor substance that had everyone in awe.
His genius and creativity combined to deliver a lot of intelligent and thought-provoking lyricism. Aside from his music, GZA also held a talk on Oct. 12 about hip-hop and science at the University Memorial Center. He’s even had multiple interviews with Neil Degrasse Tyson where they discuss how he’s worked to integrate science and knowledge within his music.
GZA showed how much of a predominant member of the hip-hop community he is by cultivating and performing with such intelligence and soul. The classic Wu-Tang gritty rap matched the New York inspired downbeats to perfection. He even jumped down into the crowd during “Crash the Crew.” He was respectful as he interacted with the fans that were swarming him like a beehive.
Overall, it was a crazy and high energy performance between the nostalgic classics and the original freestyle verses. Hopefully next time we can have some more members back to make it a real deal reunion.
Contact CUI Arts writer Kristen Endahl at kristen.endahl@colorado.edu
