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Ghostface Killah - Cat's Cradle - Oct. 4

There was a lot going against Sunday night's Ghostface Killah show at Cat’s Cradle. Ghost was running late after missing his plane – we’ll excuse it because he was recording for the upcoming Ghost, Method Man and Raekwon project – Fashawn, the other billed artist, wasn’t attending the show and one of the fill-ins, Kooley High, was down one emcee. But after several hours of waiting, the show proved worth it to the packed house of hip-hop heads.

Click above to read more about the show and view photos and video.

Kooley High was a late addition and kicked off the show around 10:15 looking a little thin. Charlie Smarts soonexplained Rapsody wouldn’t be in performing as she was unavailable after the death of a family member (everyone out there show Rap some love and keep her in your thoughts). Tab-One and Smarts still ran through some Kooley material for a short set of about 20 minutes. With Ill Digitz on the boards, the three members performed tracks off both The Summer Sessions EP – “Kool With It” – and Kooley is High. Both emcees also rocked some dope a cappella verses.

Digitz held it down after the set was over with a quick DJ set before fellow late addition Kaze hit the stage. While his set wasn’t as intimate as last week’s show at The Library, Kaze still held it down in his custom Jumpman with a mic tee. Still pushing his latest mixtape First in Flight, most of Kaze’s material was newer, but it was also supplemented with some tracks off old releases such as “Dynasty” from his Rawkus effort, Block 2tha Basement. The crowd was definitely feeling “I’m Fresh,” “A Day in the Life” and “919 Fashion,” but he really brought the house down with his “grab shit people are holding up” freestyle. By the time Kaze was off, however, the midnight hour had since passed and the crowd was getting hungry for the Killah with no face.

Another DJ set by Forge was no match for the increasingly restless and worn-out concert-goers. It wasn’t until around 1 a.m. that Ghost hit the stage with two goons, both dressed similarly in grey sweatpants and Nike Air Maxes. With the appearance of the headliner, the throng of heads were right back in the show. Ghost did a pretty generous sampling of about everything you’d want to hear from his catalogue. Only thing that didn’t quite sit right was the way in which the Staten Island maestro delivered many of the songs in one verse melodies. It is a tactic that does keep the extremely dense lyrics of Ghostface from getting too drawn out, but it also becomes quite frustrating when you’d prefer to hear an entire song instead of bits of all the hits and have them broken up by more gunshot and foghorn sound effects than a Funkmaster Flex radio show. Another thing about Ghost’s show; the tour is supporting his latest release Ghostdini: The Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City, yet he may have played two songs from the album, instead favoring cuts off of Supreme Clientele, Big Doe Rehab and other past records. There were also more Wu-Tang verses than Ghostdini, including a short tribute to the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard. Guess Ghost knows what people want to hear.

Unfortunately Ghost’s set ended just short of an hour in. But considering the amount of setbacks and obstacles in the way of this show happening, it was one of the better line-ups of hip-hop to hit Cat’s Cradle in a minute. Or, at least since the De La Soul show.

Kooley High - "Trix (1983 Kooley High Remix)"