Recap Ghostface Killah at Barrymore Theatre

If there was one point that Ghostface Killah jammed through the skulls of his audience at the Barrymore Theatre on Tuesday night, it’s that the East Coast hip-hop legend longs for the good old days. This was immediately apparent when Wu-Tang Clan’s ultimate hard-ass hit the stage with his hypmen—Trife Da God and Shawn Wigz (who rap with Ghostface in Theodore Unit)—and kicked off the set by jumping all the way back into Raekwon’s 1996 classic Only Built 4 Cuban Linx to spit his verses from “Criminology” and “Ice Cream.”

With one white-knuckled fist gripping a mic and towel and the other hand grabbing at his unmentionables, Ghostface spat his lyrics at the crowd like it had swiped his coke stash. “Watch these rap niggas get all up in your guts / French-vanilla, butter-pecan, chocolate deluxe / Even caramel sundaes is gettin’ touched / And scooped in my ice cream truck, Wu tears it up!” Meanwhile, DJ J-Love backed up Ghostface with his turntables, punctuating almost every song with silly gunshot and car-crash samples.

As Ghostface ripped through medley-length snippets of jams like “Be Easy” from 2006’s Fishscale and “We Celebrate” from 2007’s The Big Doe Rehab, the shamefully small audience responded with the same half-assed enthusiasm that plagues so many great Madison shows. However, Ghostface put an end to that when he abruptly stopped his verse from GZA’s “4th Chamber” with a disgusted look. “Check it, when we drop that ‘4th Chamber’ anywhere else, niggas be hittin’ the ceiling,” shouted the Ironman at the lazy crowd. “My powers only work off of your energy. I love sleep, pussy, pissing, and shitting. And if you want me to sleep, just remain silent. Be my battery, keep Tony Starks alive!” Somehow, that urging magically spun the room into a zeal of flailing arms and rap-alongs once the track started back up.

“Where my real hip-hop fans at?” Ghostface shouted on several occasions, before finally following up the question with a massive tirade. “The reason I’m asking y’all this is because there’s a lot of new shit on the radio that I just ain’t feeling. Growing up, I beIieved in the real shit, like Big Daddy Kane and A Tribe Called Quest. I come from a team of niggas where—when you’re standing with The Genius, the [Inspectah] Deck, the RZA—you had to keep your sword sharp. For those of you just getting into this shit—like in 2000 or later—do your homework. Learn about Biz Markie and Doug E. Fresh. Know where this shit comes from.”

At least one fan showed his loyalty in super-dorky fashion, holding up an Ironman CD insert with a Sharpie for the entire duration of the set. Perhaps this guy thought the swaggering MC would chuck his microphone to the back of the stage in mid-set and sprint into the audience to sign it for him. In another odd moment, Ghostface's side men brought several scantily dressed women onstage to dance. “Shake that ass or get the fuck off the stage,” Ghostface commanded with head-slapping conviction. Additionally, the middle of the set saw the three rappers paying tribute to both Michael Jackson and Ol’ Dirty Bastard by dancing to a collage of their hits.

While the set pulled bits and pieces from Ghostface’s work with the Wu-Tang clan (“C.R.E.A.M.,” “Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthin To Fuck Wit’,” his guest verses on the classic first wave of Wu-Tang solo records, and from across his own discography, it treated his freshly released R&B –themed album Ghostdini The Wizard Of Poetry In Emerald City as almost an afterthought, finally working in the single "Baby" near the end. Unfortunately, Trife Da God and Shawn Wigz buried the song's smooth hook with painfully off-key singing. Ghostface did offer this classy sales pitch for the album, though: “If you play Wizard Of Poetry for your bitch, she’s fuckin’.... If you got trouble talking to your bitch, let me talk to your bitch."

Despite the frustrating medley format of the set (which was understandable, considering the massive body of music under Ghostface's belt), Ghostface beamed with energy and nailed every couplet until wrapping up with Wu-Tang Clan’s “Reunited.” “I’m being told that it’s curfew and I have to stop,” he explained. “Y’all was incredible. I know this was my first time in Madison and I’m sorry it took so long. But, if you holler at your promoter, I’ll come running for you motherfuckers!” After making the audience say “peace” with him, he finally walked over and signed that kid’s CD insert.