This Wu Tang performance at the Apollo in 97 is :wow:

[BmoreGorilla]

There's a thread about the energy at a Rakim show from back in the day. Not sure if I made that thread or someone else did.

That electric feeling of an entire crowd vibing is something else. Whether it's a concert or sporting event. You love to see it.

Live performances aren’t valued the way they used to be. There was a point in time where that shyt was damn near a requirement

I’ve been to a ton of shows and seen some legends but to this day nobody has ever topped when I was LL live for free back in 04. Never seen anybody have control over a crowd like that

 

[Complexion]

I’m not sure if ODB being on Def Jam woulda benefited him. Especially during that era and knowing his addictions. At the same time tho just imagine if Meth didn’t end up on Def Jam. We would prolly never have Red and Meth paired up

True, there are always things that change whilst others stay the same but can you imagine how it felt to be ODB and be so close to joining the team he'd wanted to be on since a jit? That alone would've been a huge variable whereas Mef being elsewhen would've pushed him into the run we're seeing now back then as you can tell he's writing like he has something to prove. Could've got more classics.

The other thing I vision from Def Jam ODB is that he'd have branched off into his own type of singing rap flow way before that was known or an option as he was an old Soul in the musical sense and too wild to fit inside a hip hop box.



Can you imagine an album of ODB covering Motown classics with his own twist?

People generally go extra on the drugs when they're dealing with unhappiness they can't face nor fix as they won't deal with it. That and the worst thing for him was the psych meds that were killing his spirit.

Another vital thing (and one that RZA agrees with) is had he been left Ason Unique and not rechristened into ODB we'd have seen a totally different skillset due to the name and vibration it brings. So many variables, so many options. Its amazing how everything is interconnected in a sense.

 

[BmoreGorilla]

Was that revival they tried to do a few years ago worth a damn?

Prolly not. I heard all the members wouldn’t show up at the same dates. And Meth barely showed up at all due to filming a movie. I love the Wu but tbh I ain’t trying to see the Wu without Meth


That reminds me how I saw Ghost in 2016. He wasn’t bad but there were some songs he clearly didn’t remember the lyrics to. Then he got lazy and started performing other classics like Shook Ones and OPP

 

[Hathaway]

Breh…I felt like I was there watching this


Plus Meth gotta be one of hip hops goat performers

He so effortless with it. Could listen to breh rap all day

 

[Amestafuu (Emeritus)]

Whenever I see an early Clan performance it also makes me wonder about alternate timeline ODB. If RZA hadn't blocked his dream of being on Def Jam and placed Mef somewhere else. I'd be willing to bet he'd still be alive and we'd have seen a totally different, much more focused artist. Meth as well not being on a marquee would've made him grind to prove himself as a contender.

Things are easy to say in retrospect but I always felt his mad genius was always underappreciated as he was obviously the glue that made this group stick together from Shaolin to the tape deck due to his pure charisma in abundance as he was so likeable.

ODB was not fukked up on drugs because of RZA. It's crazy to put his fate in another man's hands like that. Meth was always the first break out star and the one Def Jam wanted first. He wasn't going "somewhere else" he was that dude. The man with a solo single on a group album.... Let's stop rewriting history.

Being of def jam doesn't magically stop dirtys long standing addiction and give him focus This is lunacy.

 

[Complexion]

Either you see it. Or you don't. We're philosophizing on alternate timelines in a multiverse and you want to get serious?

 

[Elim Garak]

Prolly not. I heard all the members wouldn’t show up at the same dates. And Meth barely showed up at all due to filming a movie. I love the Wu but tbh I ain’t trying to see the Wu without Meth


That reminds me how I saw Ghost in 2016. He wasn’t bad but there were some songs he clearly didn’t remember the lyrics to. Then he got lazy and started performing other classics like Shook Ones and OPP

I mean the Showtime at the Apollo one with Steve Harvey hosting again.

 

[BmoreGorilla]

True, there are always things that change whilst others stay the same but can you imagine how it felt to be ODB and be so close to joining the team he'd wanted to be on since a jit? That alone would've been a huge variable whereas Mef being elsewhen would've pushed him into the run we're seeing now back then as you can tell he's writing like he has something to prove. Could've got more classics.

The other thing I vision from Def Jam ODB is that he'd have branched off into his own type of singing rap flow way before that was known or an option as he was an old Soul in the musical sense and too wild to fit inside a hip hop box.



Can you imagine an album of ODB covering Motown classics with his own twist?

People generally go extra on the drugs when they're dealing with unhappiness they can't face nor fix as they won't deal with it. That and the worst thing for him was the psych meds that were killing his spirit.

Another vital thing (and one that RZA agrees with) is had he been left Ason Unique and not rechristened into ODB we'd have seen a totally different skillset due to the name and vibration it brings. So many variables, so many options. Its amazing how everything is interconnected in a sense.

Idk breh. I feel like ODB needed to be up under RZA the most. Can you imagine had ODB been on Def Jam and ended up as an act on the Hard Knock Life Tour without the rest of the Wu around him?

 

[BmoreGorilla]

I mean the Showtime at the Apollo one with Steve Harvey hosting again.

Ohhhhh

 

[hashmander]

Damn you were there? shyt poked crazy especially when Meth started rapping

meth always made the ladies go crazy.

freshman year of high school i joined a wu-tang site call the dsc, it was the shyt back then like this internet shyt is amazing. so i was all up to date on where they were gonna be. i took the metro north down to the city to meet up with the family.

if i remember correctly, after dirty's dog shyt, it was visionz, something else and heaven's sake.

 

[Complexion]

Idk breh. I feel like ODB needed to be up under RZA the most. Can you imagine had ODB been on Def Jam and ended up as an act on the Hard Knock Life Tour without the rest of the Wu around him?

No doubt. RZA and GZA definitely got him due to being kin but I've met people before with the same eccentric flex and so much hangs on string with them as they're so sensitive. Tread carefully as you tread on my dreams kind of thing.

In that sense we are all products of our childhood hopes and fears. This is a fact that most would like to pretend doesn't exist but its exactly how it is because its this subconscious drive thats pimped by commercial interests that promise you buying this will fix that nagging emptiness within.

Folks like ODB are the best and worst friends in the same instance as it takes such an immense amount of effort to intuit someone so mercurial but thats because their standard equipment is set to such a fine level of tolerance that its easily messed with. End of the day, just a thought experiment as Ason was always the most interesting member of the Wu from the debut and media experiences because Meth grabbed your attention whilst ODB generated WTF? reactions that just drew you in as he had his own flex.

His death is the closest I've came to a Mandela effect as I remembered it different to the standard tale they tell and can't quite pinpoint why.

Such a come up. Wouldn't believe it if I hand seen it happen in real time. The power of betting on yourself against the odds.

 

[Pressure]

Was that revival they tried to do a few years ago worth a damn?

We saw them in Raleigh, whole clan. shyt was live!

@Morose Polymath

 

[Buddy]

fukk this, I'm pushing the first white man I see at work

 

[Amerikan Melanin]

Is this the concert where Ghostface got banned for life from the Apollo?

 

[BuddahMAC]

I don’t ever think we’ll see this type of energy ever again

That version cuts off Dirt's ending. Someone uploaded the set in higher quality a couple months back (they flipped the titles on the videos):