I Hugged Cappadonna

Even though this blog is about reality TV, I would like to prove that I do leave the house once in a while. Despite the cold weather (5 degrees today), last night I ventured into the rain/sleet/whatever it was, and headed downtown for my third Wu Tang concert ever. I saw them once at the House of Blues in L.A, a few years back, where I think about three of them were missing. Then, I saw them in the OC (no housewives present) at the first Rock the Bells concert ever. Turns out this was the last time that the 10 of them would all play together before ODB passed away. I was a part of history!

The show in Chicago was pretty packed, and surprisingly there were a lot of teenagers. I was surprised because this was an 18 and over show, but some of the kids around looked about 12. My two lady companions and I nudged our way toward the front of the stage, only to have a bunch of tall 12 year olds stand in front of us. Though Liz is tall, Jazzy and I are not. We stood there while about four other groups took the stage. I couldn't catch the name of any of them, though one group kept talking about Ice Water. They were all mediocre at best, and the antsy crowd kept throwing up the W's and yelling Wu-Tang! I felt sort of bad for the guys on the stage. Couldn't we just stand quietly and let them do their thing? No need to yell louder than they are rapping, even if some of them were pretty bad. The funny thing was, once they started challenging the crowd to be louder than the crowd at their last HOB concert in L.A., everyone started shouting at the top of their lungs. Heaven forbid we aren't as good of a crowd as those out West!

Finally, at about 11 p.m. Wu Tang came out! They rolled out slowly, as they often do. First U-God came out, and I barely recognized him. He looks to have beefed up a bit, and appears older than I remember. Well, they all did really. Next was Inspectah Deck. I want to emphasize that I love every member of the Wu Tang Clan, but I do play favorites. It was appropriate that those two came out first. At this point it's a little hazy. I think then we had Raekwon, RZA, Ghostface and then GZA. Masta Killa came out near the end, and Cappadonna came out at the very end. I wasn't sure if he'd be in attendance, because technically he is not a member of the Wu Tang Clan, though he is sort of an honorary member. Wiki tells me he is an official member, but I don't buy it.

Method Man wasn't able to attend for some reason, probably out working on How High 2 or something like that. It's too bad Meth isn't as tied to his Wu Tang roots as the others. The show was fabulous. They did a lot of tunes from 36 Chambers, and not a lot of new ones. In fact, I didn't notice much past The W, which is a good thing. Iron Flag had some great songs, but I couldn't get into 8 Diagrams. Each member did a diddy from a solo album, and they mixed it together with a group song. It was fun to watch the dynamic between all of the members. Ghostface and Raekwon appear to still have that special bond that makes them great together.

It's hard to pick an absolute favorite, but I think GZA takes the cake. Every one of his solo albums have been great from top to bottom. As a performer, he isn't as noteworthy, but as a lyricist he is the king in my book. I am also a huge fan of Ghostface and Masta Killa. Ghostface was a hoss up on stage, wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a thick jacket which must've been scorching hot on that stage. Though he isn't necessarily text-book handsome, he has that hot swagger down. Ghostface and RZA were that two that stood out as giving the show their all. Inspectah Deck and U-God did their thang, too, but they can't help but fall to the background a tad. Cappadonna was also great, and his voice is mesmerizing, though he, like the rest, were difficult to understand. Masta Killa and GZA would literally disappear from the stage for periods of time, and Masta Killa was wearing this huge weird jumpsuit. It was like a prison outfit only black. I'm not sure what was up with that.

I got to hear some of my favorite tunes (No Said Date, Glaciers of Ice, Triumph), and see all of my favorite guys. They were really great about slapping hands and signing autographs, but I wasn't close enough to the stage to cash in on that. Though Jazzy swears U-God waved to her. Then, near the end of the show, Cappadonna went into a verse (it might have been during Triumph) and just sort of walked into the crowd. He kept rapping and walking and everyone yelled and cheered. After he was done, the set went on and the guys launched into Gravel Pit. Cappa continued to hang in the crowd and shake hands, sign autographs and give the ladies hugs. I really wanted to go down and say "hi," but I was too scared. Finally, he started to leave and I seized the moment. I ran across part of the bar and told him that Slang Editorial is one of my favorite Wu Tang songs. He was wearing a huge hoody with the hood up, and he put his arm around me in a half hug. Lots of sweat found its way on my forehead, but who cares! I hugged Cappadonna!