connecting*the*dots

Artist: GZA (The Genius)
Song: Breaker, Breaker

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[Chorus: GZA]
Breaker, breaker, one nine, clear the line
Can you read me? Extorted your rhymes
MC’s should expect the worst
I stay alert and shoot first

[GZA]
This is not a test, it’s difficulty
Picture closely, the ignorant mostly
Blind, deaf, dumb, your mind left numb
Lost soul who failed to hear the roll of the drum
In the bottom of your bomb shelter, still felt the
heavy blast that blew off the masks of twelve welders
The math of an elder, praise the Lord - thank you Genius
Operation: Project English
Commander-n-chief of flight style, check the aircraft
Glide like the frisbee, Digi look Disney
To check fault in oneself is pure loveliness
You break the mirror that remind you of your ugliness
So when I bust, no one is untouched
Some returning with the mic clutched, like such
who plan but never execute
He had the heat in his hand, but yo he didn’t shoot
Therefore; your mechanism of material better be sickly
or let your lead spread incredibly quickly
I move bravely, travellin on a horse
on the battlefield, surrounded by the lost
of those who plotted with the brains of animals
My high molecular structure be untangible
The name ring a bell, killable two syllable
The Wu is comin through, the outcome is critical
To be blunt, the beef was cooked up like coke goods
The rhyme first came to me in the oak woods
Up to no good, rap icon
“Milk” the industry like the Wall Street junk bond
You see the bright stone, I got your height sewn
Direct current, that move through the mic-phone
Key contributor, well known major factor
Rhyme distributor, the drive of a tractor
who run ya down if you don’t move or wanna linger {*echoes*}

Chorus: repeat 2X

[GZA]
The immortality of my fame is the measure of other’s torture
Burnt offer, from a flamin author
The falconer who flies enough birds for the chase
Strictly excel in what is excellence with grace
The significance was not the vulgar applause of interest
but the feelin that exit, completion of a sentence
With age and experience, my reason ripens
I strike on you Vikings, slash like a hyphen
If you enter the house of fortune by the gate of pleasure
You will leave by sorrow, the flow measures
everything fails with the unfortunate
Learned that recordin it, so my mind broaden it
Track records, ranks us, with the exceptional
Extreme complex physics, high technical
The truth is usually seen and rarely heard
What’s more dangerous than hatred, is the word
You wild cards, Jack of all trades
Those who parade their positions, show their Spades
A large flock of MC’s, they figure to be taught
It ain’t hard to see why I’m vigorously saught

Chorus: repeat 2X

[Outro: GZA]
Breaker, breaker, one nine
Breaker, breaker, one nine

That’s right, I said powder blue. Saturday night, I caught the Grandmaster show at Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro, NC (about 30 seconds from downtown Chapel Hill).

I’ve never experienced DJ Muggs live before, so I didn’t know what to expect from him other than some bumping bass and high pitched wails. I mean, basically, could he move the crowd in unexpected ways?

The answer? No, not really.

After getting us fired up with some Cypress Hill classics, he kinda came off a bit rehearsed and sluggish. His intro loop and beat for GZA to hit the stage with must’ve repeated itself fifty times, and it was a vocal sample, so whatever meta-context it held was lost after the first eight repetitions.

Now GZA… well, that’s a completely different story.

GZA rocked the show. He jumped from their new shit, back to his old shit, back to Wu shit. I mean, he got the crowd hyped so much, at times I felt like I was watching Geldof control the audience within the movie The Wall (all you Floyd heads, check the above image). I know Wu is an iconic act, but these kids were younger than ten when Enter the Wu Tang - 36 Chambers dropped in ‘93. I dug the vibe; I guess it just felt a bit surreal.

In between flexin’ his skills, GZA paused a few times to school the crowd on the meaning of Wu-Tang, the social importance of lyricism and the enormity of ODB (RIP) — his tribute acapella flow to ODB was amazing, as he stressed the realness of the man that so often got twisted in the glare of the media; his testimony brought the crowd to a respectful silence.

GZA brought it hard, but also brought a mature flow and presence to the stage, which was a perfect contrast to the young-buck style of Kaze (put on by 9th Wonder), the local kid that opened up for him. After rocking the mic with the flavor of a master lyricist — hitting topical, emotional and stylistic memes — Kaze brought his boys onstage with him, introducing them to the audience by telling us to picture them on his grandmother’s porch. They didn’t get on the mic, but backed him up with energy, shooting the crowd with their cell phone cameras, posing and basically, enjoying their fifteen minutes.

Kaze’s flow was tight, but he saved his best for a 2 minute acapella drop on the US occupation of Iraq, George Bush and the lessons of karma. The entire crowd went nuts for his words that cut like a knife through the bullshit propaganda of the times. Keep an eye out for this kid.

More show photos at my flickr spot.

Friday, April 7th at Cat’s Cradle - Ghostface Killah and M1 of Dead Prez. I’m there.