Recently I attended a Method Man & Redman show, which was a different experience from my usual concert experience. I was certain I was probably one of the youngest audience members since Wu-Tang’s infamous debut album Enter the Wu-Tang was released in 1993, 3 years before I was born. Regardless, the night was full of songs I recognized, as well as some newer material that I was still thoroughly impressed with.
The night started off with an opening DJ, who wasn’t all that great imo. He would walk away from his equipment at times, making it pretty apparent that he was essentially just pushing play on his laptop. Finally around 9:45, Method was supposed to start at 9pm, Method Man & Redman took the stage. They played a few newer stuff off of The Saga Continues, which Wu-Tang released this past October. It just so happened that their DJ for the night was Mathematics, which is the guy who designed the Wu-Tang logo and produced The Saga Continues.
One of the first songs I recognized was the classic Method Man which Meth executed with such precision. After nearly 25 years in the game, Method hasn’t lost his touch when it comes to executing a flow effortlessly. Redman was also impressive to watch as he acted as more of a hypeman on songs that he didn’t already have a part or he’d do a part of another Wu-Tang member. That came during the song Shimmy Shimmy Ya which is actually an Ol’ Dirty Bastard(RIP) song. Just before that went off, the two MC’s told the crowd to start a mosh pit during the song. While not in the traditional mosh pit sense, the crowd still went crazy during the song.
Sometime after that, the two MC’s went into a rendition of Shame On A Nigga, which is another essential song for anybody interested in Wu-Tang. Just after the song, crowd members started throwing weed at the two up on stage. Thanks to Shawn G on youtube, I was able to find a higher quality of the incident, in which Redman says “This is the 1st show that it’s ever rained weed with Method Man & Redman before.” Along with that, this is probably the most hotboxed I’ve seen a venue since I started seeing shows. Every other second I could see someone else lighting up a blunt and singing along to song after song.
As the night winded down the two, along with Mathematics doing some old school DJing during parts, crushed their verses with minimal effort. The crowd was wild throughout the entirety of the show, only making it that much more of a memorable experience for me. At one point, the two started talking to the crowd about the difference between a rapper and an MC, which is still sorta unclear to me. Their point was, a lot of rappers these days rely on beats and no lyrical flow, as well as lacking an ability to get the crowd to get crazy hyped. It was interesting hearing the perspective of where rap is now from some guys who basically witnessed Hip Hop becoming a primary music form.
My only complaint, however, was with the merch: a Wu-Tang sweater was nearly $80. Shirts were in the $35 range which is still high, but not as high as $80 for a sweater. Regardless, I’m glad I decided to choose this show as my first legit rap show. Remember: Wu-Tang is for the children.
