GZA & KILLER MIKE
live at PARADISE ROCK CLUB OCTOBER 19, 2012
by KERRY HERLIHY
B
ack in October, I had the very large treat of seeing Killer Mike and GZA live at the Paradise Rock Club. I had been pretty geeked about the show since I had noted the date a month before. I had also seen Killer Mike over the summer when he was touring his collabo album, R.A.P. Music, with producer/ rapper El-P. Beyond that, Killer Mike has been one of my favorite rappers for a few years, hooking me in with his riotous classic album, I Pledge Allegiance To The Grind 2, keeping it steady with the next installment of the series, PL3DGE, and nailing various mixtapes such as Bang x3 in between. I had been able to speak with him after his set the previous time, and I was excited to support him again, not to mention the headliner, GZA. GZA’s Liquid Swords is one of my favorite Wu-Tang albums and features some terrific RZA production, and he was set to perform it in its entirety with a live band. I tried to leave for the show pretty early, as I couldn’t really miss any of it and I usually come tragically late to concerts. I arrived at 8:30 and saw a decent amount of people loitering outside due to the show selling out. As I was on the guest list, I got in no sweat, but I had to leave my ticketless companion behind. However, when I glanced at the lineup, I saw that the opener, Bear Hands, wouldn’t be on until 9:30, Killer Mike at 10:30, and GZA at 12. An hour and a half wait ensued for the dismayed crowd and myself. By the first act, Bear Hands, the audience was pretty ready to get it going. Further vexing everyone, these openers were not very hyped to the audience. This indie rock band from Brooklyn was a definite contrast to the awaited performers; they were low-key, with some punchy, melodic tunes and grungy apparel. Seeming no different from Any Brooklyn Indie Group, Bear Hands was difficult to get into. They had a song about smoking weed and did a tepid take of The-Dream’s “She Rockin’ That Thing Like,” which garnered a similarly lukewarm
reaction from the crowd. At that point the majority of the audience was making a fair amount of noise in search of Mike and GZA. This continued when Bear Hands exited the stage, leaving another long hour of pause. Luckily for a loner like me in the building, the communal miff led to a sense of camaraderie, and others around chatted with me for a while. Fellow attendees exchanged hopes for upcoming sets and nerd knowledge on the performers. Finally, DJ Trackstar, Killer Mike’s man on the turntables, began to set up. Trackstar dropped the beat to “God In The Building,” an amazing track on my favorite album, Pledge 2. Unfortunately, Killa didn’t start in on rapping on this one. To further frustration, he ended up touching nothing from that album. However, after such previous anticipation, the undeniable boom of his presence jacked the audience when he jumped on stage. First up was “Big Beast” and its heavy hitting from the pavement. He then immediately dropped another joint from this most recent R.A.P. Music album, “Ghetto Gospel.” This serious jam kept the audience bumping, most notably when going into a cappella at the end, laying out his slick and heavy rhyme of pictorial lyrics. Killer Mike transitioned back and forth between works from the recent and the opening chapters of his career, and between his own pieces and his various guest features. The first of the old verses he went in on was the emphatic and hard “Ain’t Never Scared” by Bone Crusher -- my kind of raps. His verse was engaging and the chorus was yellable, a recipe for an active audience. Mike Bigga then steamed down to preach a little to the crowd. He dictated that he’s proud of young America, and in a wonderfully Killer Mike fashion drew a political connection to Ronald Reagan and transitioned into “Reagan.” In an even more personal tone than heard on record, Killer Mike spat his political views on the former president and his legacy. The crowd was hooked on his revolutionary stance and Killer Mike floated this spirit into his first buzzed-about opinionated song on PL3DGE, “Burn.” Then we’re brought back to the beginning of the millennium with Outkast’s “The Whole World,” one of a good few of their tracks featuring Mike, who is a member of the Dungeon Family. A truly engaging performer, Mike did a solid Temptations-reminiscent dance and maintained a real command of the audience to the very end. Last was his joint done with Purple Ribbon All-Stars “Kryptonite (I’m On It),” which also closed his set over the
