Music

You Deserve Nice Things, So Watch This Amazing Wu-Tang Clan Performance

by Joseph Earp  6 December 2018
Worth remembering that Wu-Tang Clan ain't nothing to fuck with

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Listen, I know what you might be thinking: on first glance, the Wu-Tang Clan and the Tiny Desk concerts seem like a pretty bad mix. After all, Tiny Desk concerts have earned a reputation as a quiet corner of the internet, designed for a bit of careful contemplation and some easier listening.

Indeed, the rowdiest they’ve gotten in recent memory is with the addition of chronic miser and patron saint of sad bois everywhere, Hobo Johnson, and despite Johnson repeatedly flubbing lines and having to start over, even that was more like a meet-up in a library than a mosh.

The Wu-Tang Clan killed their Tiny Desk concert

The Wu-Tang Clan who are, lest we forget, for the children.

The Wu-Tang Clan, by contrast, an anarchic hip-hop collective that might be the coolest gaggle of human beings to ever assemble, are distinctly un-gentle. So you’d be forgiven that inviting them into the confines of NPR’s studios would be about as sensible as herding a small army of bulls into a china store.

You’d be forgiven but also wrong, because today NPR dropped the Wu-Tang’s Tiny Desk set, and it’s as invigoratingly unique as McDonald’s fries dipped into a McFlurry, or vegemite mixed with chocolate.

Rather than the usual Tiny Desk fare, which involves artists playing subdued sets, complete with mumbled thanks to host Bob Boilen for inviting them, the Wu-Tang appearance is a fiery, frenetic thing. Songs bleed into each other; Old Dirty Bastard’s son jumps around the place like someone’s lit a small inferno under him, and the whole thing feels like a 20-minute showcase of every single one of Wu-Tang’s skills.

Watch the thing here, and have your day immediately improved:


Oh, and if that’s got you fired up, then why not see if you can beg, steal or borrow your way into the Wu-Tang’s Opera House shows, going down this week. Tickets are all ostensibly sold out, but hey, fortune favours the bold, after all?