What an embarrassment. GZA's "performance." The crowd's reaction. This review. All, so pathetic.
You may have seen GZA's PitchforkTV feature where he hangs out for a night with his son. He seemed like a really great guy: down to earth, fun, grounded. Thursday night, he was nothing more than a selfish, dirty old man. The first warning sign was when at 11:00, instead of the GZA himself, the Mohawk crowd was treated to some random rapper from the Wu-Tang Killer Army. For 20 minutes (of a 45 minute set). Sending on an opener/warmer at SXSW? Come on. After the aforementioned rapper left the stage, we stared at an empty stage for 10 minutes, while organizers raced around backstage trying to locate GZA. Nice. Finally, 30 minutes into the 45 minute set, the opening Shogun Assassin sample from Liquid Swords came from the speakers and the opener and Killah Priest ambled on stage. A minute later we caught our first glimpse of GZA. He was a mess. So intoxicated that he could hardly stand straight, he stumbled onto the stage to massive cheers and applause (wtf, audience?). For the next fifteen minutes he tried to rap, but kept mumbling and stumbling his way through his verses. They almost resembled the originals. He also groped at random girls' hands in the audience, but clearly wasn't alert enough to enjoy it. The only coherent rapping the audience was treated to during the set was a phoned-in rendition of "B.I.B.L.E.," performed by Killah Priest. Other "highlights" of the set included GZA drunkenly staring at a Mr. T figurine, not comprehending its ironic hipness and Killah Priest forcefully grabbing a slightly reluctant fan to join him onstage and then immediately backstage.
Sadly, it was the audience's reaction to this mess that disappointed me the most. Oblivious to the garbage that was being presented to them, nearly the entire crowd cheered their faces off and threw up "W's" with their hands throughout the fifteen minute set. It was as though they felt so honored to be in a Wu-Tang's presence that they had to lap up anything that came their way. Give me a fucking break.
