‘Only Built 4 Cuban Linx’ is about as essential as hip-hop albums get, serving up some of the most vivid stories from the criminal underworld ever rhymed on wax over RZA’s sublime production. Released in 1995 during the New York hip-hop renaissance period, ‘OBFCL’ also started the trend for gritty, cinematic, Mafioso-themed hip-hop that influenced countless rappers to start adopting godfather crime boss alias’s.
After the success of fellow Wu-Tang member GZA performing his classic ‘Liquids Swords’ album at KoKo in December, Raekwon and Ghostface took to the same stage to perform ‘OB4CL’ flanked by three unnecessary hype men at a surprisingly reasonable hour for a hip-hop gig. London crowds have always showed Wu-Tang Clan a great deal of appreciation and respect in the past and everybody in the sold out venue was craning their necks for a view of one of the best tag-teams in hip-hop history.
Many past hip-hop gigs have had disappointing sound mixing, with rapper’s struggling to be heard clearly, and tonight was no exception. This proved a hindrance to Raekwon in particular with his low voice sometimes drowned out by the overtly low frequencies of the sound system. Ghostface’s more high-pitched, animated vocal delivery cut through the mix more clearly - this was most noticeable on the super epic, string-laden ‘Rainy Dayz’ and the classic soul of ‘Can it all be so simple’ - which had the die-hard Wu fans rhyming with him line for line.
The MC competition that took place half way through the set was a nice if half-hearted touch and the usual get the fly ladies on stage routine was ruined by Raekwon’s persistent misogynistic outbursts. The set ended with a flurry of instrumentals which usually feature verses from both MC’s but were cut before either could say a word, amounting to a bizarre encore. After an hour and forty minutes of mostly classic material, the audience were hardly short-changed but with a show that lacked cohesion and with a few essential numbers from ‘OB4CL’ left out, one couldn’t shake the feeling of disappointment at the end.
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