GZA @ The Sound Academy – Jan. 25, 2010

To me, the GZA can do absolutely no harm.  But I’m not going to lie.  I was a little more than aggravated by his ‘late’ appearance at Monday nights show @ the Sound Academy. I mean, for a show where doors opened at 8PM and the “show” was suppose to begin at 10PM.  Going on at 11:45PM is a little bit obscene.

Regardless, Skratch Bastid opened up the show and got the crowd warmed up for what was a long evening.  I’m shocked at how diverse this crowd was – punk rock kids, snowboard/skateboard kids & genuine hip-hop heads.

Bastid was killing it and spinning so many solid ass jams, like “Get It Together” by Beastie Boys and a whole mash up of Busta Rhymes tracks, but it definitely felt like he was holding a lot back. He got me up sweating it out and busting out my best Barbadian ass shake.  This didn’t feel like any ol’ hip-hop show & this felt like a damn near rave, complete with strobe lights, which nearly killed me (I’m epileptic). But I busted my best moves on the dancefloor.  Before Skratch Bastid was done, he said he couldn’t finish off with Wu-Tang because that would be “disrespectful”.  I basically wanted to tell him to fuck off.  This was a GZA show.  Everyone is EXPECTING YOU to play Wu-Tang. Asshole.

While awaiting the Genius to come on everyone threw their WU signs in the air and began chanting “GZA”.  Just when we thought GZA was going to take the stage, some other dude(s) take the stage to tell us that GZA is in the back getting blunted out & we should support Haiti.  While I thought it was excellent he told us to support Haiti, I really wanna know when the real show is going to begin. Then this motley crew of ‘dudes’ began to rap.  I still have no idea who they were.  Yup, I’m clueless but I’m almost positive I wasn’t the only one.  As boredom began to set in and the hours were creepin’ by – finally, the GZA came on.

So was he worth the wait?  They don’t call him the Genius for nothing.  This man is so underrated and under appreciated by so many. GZA made the Wu-Tang and continues to amazing today. He played for an hour & a half from 11:45PM, making this the Monday night party to be at.  But let’s be for real, most people can’t stay out that late on Monday nights. Unforch GZA, we can’t all get blunted & stay up late.  It’s unfortunate how many people I saw leaving when I did.  I can only imagine if this was a Friday or Saturday night how many people would have been wilding out.  Note to GZA: Come back on a weekend.