Label: Wu Records/Sanctuary Format: DVD
It’s Wu, motherfuckers! Wu-Tang, motherfuckers!
And indeed it is. A 34-track live DVD featuring all nine of the buggers (well, ten, what with Cappadonna an’ all), all on stage at once!!!
It’s an oft-stated truism that the Wu-Tang live experience can be patchy, at best- members not turning up being the usual criticism, as witness the occasion at Brixton Academy in London when only a third of the Clan were present. But for this gig, filmed in San Bernadino earlier this year, they were there in full force. Yeah, Ol’ Dirty Bastard included. The presence of nine top-quality rappers and showmen ensures that there is always something to watch, always something going on, whether it be ODB leering his leer or Method Man chucking his blunt into the crowd; but it must have made mixing the sound a bitch. But no, the levels are perfect, each allowed to bring his own take on the Wu world of guns, drugs, sex, religion and, of course, kung fu. Their newly-rediscovered sense of community doesn’t stop them dipping into their various solo projects to make this a true Greatest Hits set, each seeming more than happy to play second (or seventh, or eighth) fiddle to their compadres, with the likes of “Duel Of The Iron Mic” and “Brooklyn Zoo” sitting happily next to other group efforts like “Clan In Da Front” and “Shame On Da Nigga”.
Personally, I’ve always found Genius/GZA to be the best Clan member, and “Liquid Swords” is definitely one of the highlights here, the multilayered vocal transformed here into a call-and-response beast of a terrace chant, Wu-banners aloft as the other guys bounce up and down chanting the backing. For such a bunch of rampant egos to occupy a stage at once the whole thing seems surprisingly effortless- “One Blood Under W” and “Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthin’ Ta Fuck Wit” flow as smoothly as the more solo-oriented numbers. The rap itself, you already know- whether doped-out or fucked-up, Hip-Hop’s premier kung-fu superheroes spew out freewheeling, dizzying clutches of rhymes as, both individually and as a team, they explore the various facets of the complex mythology the Clan have built up around themselves. Staten Island/Shaolin, the Quran, the Bible (not to mention the obligatory bigging-up and ego-massaging)- all fly past in a dizzying stream-of-consciousness flow that can, as on vinyl, often take quite some decoding, while the RZA‘s crackly loops and kung-fu samples roll menacingly on behind.
Above all, they look like they’re having shitloads of fun. As do the crowd. One of those “wish you were there” shows. What else? Well, between each track you get various of the Clan discussing anything from how great the gig was to the history of the Wu-Tang sword style, their pride in Staten Island/Shaolin or the difficulties inherent in getting a paranoid ex-con like ODB out of the hotel room to turn up for a show. There’re music promos from Masta Killah and RZA (whose offering is pretty fucking kung-fu-tastic) and a couple of (largely redundant as the consist of clips from the gig) TV spots, although there seemed to be a problem with the sound on these. Overall, though, this is a show that captures the chaotic, self-contradictory nature of the collective albums like a motherfucker.
Clan In Da Front? Oh yeah. By a LONG way.
-Deuteronemu 90210 dedicates this review to the late and much missed John Peel-
