Raekwon & Ghostface Live @ Koko

From the time we touched down in Camden at 7 o’clock on the dot and managed to find a car parking space with no hassle, it was obvious that 19th May would be a charmed night.

Personally, I’ve been waiting for this since February, but on the grand scale of things since the fateful day in 1995 when I copped the Purple Tape on my lunchbreak. Having missed out on the Staten Island boys live at the time, I knew that I had to be at Koko come hell or high water. I can’t lie though, I was a little apprehensive after hearing the sound engineers had made a dog’s dinner of the Liquid Swords show last December. It’s not like I don’t know the album word for word, but you know how it is….

On the way in – there was the usual concession stand shenanigans. You don’t understand how close I came to copping a Wu-Tang hand towel.

DJ Biznizz – one of the heads who has had held it down over here since the 80′s as part of the En4cers was spinning the 90′s jams as we sauntered past the concession stand (Not buying a Wu-Tang hand towel may be one of those decisions that keeps me awake at night for years to come).

For those that don’t know London has had a fairly tempestuous relationship with the Wu, which goes back to the infamous 90′s (no) shows when they would turn up, pace back and forth for 20 minutes then give it “Peeeeeeace” and bounce. Then there was the infamous gig at the Island in Ilford. A good friend of mine regaled me with the story of how the door was ripped off the box office as fans, unsatisfied with only getting ODB and Mathematics with a tape deck, went the mob way about getting their refunds.

Tonight, however all that was forgotten. “The American Werewolf has come back to London” – a familiar raspy voice said from backstage. People screamed. J-Love was setting up the 1′s and 2′s. The lights go out. Michael Buffer pipes up out of nowhere. LET’S GET READY TO RUUUUUUUMBLE! Shallah Raekwon steps from behind the curtain and it goes off. W’s are in the air.

After bodying ‘C.R.E.A.M’, it’s a quick trip through the classics before Tony Montana’s hot-tub soliloquy gives way to ‘State Of Grace’. “I love y’all accent” Rae offered at one point. “I wanna take that and flip my slang with it”. An interesting proposition, to say the least. I was shocking out by now. That proper ‘so-what-if-I’ve gotta-go-to-work-tomorrow?’ shock out, but at the back of my mind, I had the nagging feeling that Ghost might be AWOL. I know – I should turn in my Timbs and Champion hoodie asap. “I got family in the house, tonight – you don’t know who he is…” Rae growled as a spoken intro played out. Then Ghostface Killah himself takes the stage with Theodore Unit to the strains of ‘The Champ’.

The. Crowd. Goes. Wild.

From then on in, it’s a mixture of ‘Cuban Linx’ as billed, as well as some of The Clan’s biggest hits: ‘Protect Ya Neck’, ‘Triumph’, ‘Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthin To Fuck Wit’, ‘It’s Yourz’, ‘Black Jesus’. Rap’s Rocky and Bullwinkle were getting it in. The chemistry between Rae and Ghost is pretty much effortless. When one of them is winded – the other immediately takes up the slack. Come to think of it – that’s a tall order – all that and having to remember 8 other peoples’ lyrics too…Fortunately they have a house full of hypemen/women to lend a hand and they came in pretty damn useful during the Ol’ Dirty Bastard tribute.

A bunch of MC’s were invited onto the stage, but fell victim to a crowd who only really wanted to hear someone rhyme if their names were Dennis or Corey. With the impromptu open mic over, we got more OB4CL. ‘Criminology’ and ‘Verbal Intercourse’ set it off nicely and Glaciers Of Ice was pretty much epic. Pos and Maseo of De La Soul also dropped in to say ‘Hi!’ ahead of their show at the Forum tonight. Some lofty words of praise flew back and forth between the crews before we were returned to the regularly scheduled programming.

The award for craziest reaction of the night has to go to ’4th Chamber’ which started a moshpit. Chef even took time out to shout Amy Winehouse – interestingly it was a mention of crack that reminded him to do so – and Corinne Bailey Rae.

The only time the show looked to stall was the obligatory invitation of honeys to the stage for ‘Ice Cream’. “No handcuffin’!” Ghost barked as the ladies decided whether or not it was worth the silent treatment from their other halves on the night bus home after they’d got their grind on with Shawn Wiggs, in front of a packed house.

‘Heaven & Hell’ saw the end of the Cuban Linx set. But what to do next? Perhaps let Ghost get busy? He declined to spit over ‘One’ but laced the Barry White-sampling ‘The Watch’ something ridiculous. The show was closed out with ‘The Jihad’ – the Necro produced joint that dropped last week.

As I write this my voice is yet to return. Unfortunate as I spend a lot of time on the phone at my 9-5, but those are the breaks. On the way out, I ended up bumping into people that I haven’t seen since ‘Only Built…’ dropped. Shout out to Doc Brown and Snips (Is there anywhere he doesn’t pop up?) It may not have been the greatest rap show of all time – but it’s easily in my personal top 3.

Edit – I’ve also just realised that I saw Neil Labute standing outside Trafalgar Studios, where his production Fat Pig is currently playing. That, kids, is another story for another time…