Raekwon and Ghostface Killah Put On A Tour De Force Verzuz Performance Saturday Night
Sadly I missed this one live last night but I saw the Twittersphere blowing up all night and instantly regretted it. Put it on first thing this morning and it definitely did not disappoint.
When you're talking about Raekwon The Chef and Ghostface Killah aka Tony Starks you're talking about two rappers with not only some of the greatest flows of all time, but with some of the greatest rap voices and personas as well.
These two brought out some of the best features they've ever been apart of, Wu-Tang classics, and other Wu members throughout the THREE HOUR performance.
Ghostface and Raekwon took a trip down memory lane for viewers to eavesdrop on about a trip they took together to Barbados. RZA made a surprise cameo at one point, as well as Young Dirty Bastard, Ol’ Dirty Bastard's son. RZA came back again later in the broadcast to call a toast.
We also got a surprise appearance from Cappadonna who showed up to perform his guest verse on Raekwon’s “Ice Cream,” and Masta Killa stepped up for “Glaciers of Ice.”
The big question heading into the night was who would get to use "Criminology" (from Raekwon's 1995 solo debut Only Built 4 Cuban Linx) as theirs since the song features some of the best verses from each of the two artists' respective careers.
Ghostface Killah jumped on a round with Raekwon, performing the song together which was fucking awesome.
After “halftime,” Raekwon told the world that he was drunk and that he was restarting the proceedings without waiting for Ghostface Killah to return from his break. Inspectah Deck then joined him for Wu-Tang Clan’s “C.R.E.A.M.,”
Ghostface returned shortly after to the set in a white ankle-length mink coat which got the Twittersphere buzzing.
In the 19th round, Raekwon started with Jodeci’s “Freek’n You (Mr. Dalvin’s Freek Mix),” which Ghostface finished on his turn.
Here's the entire thing, best version I could find.
And here are some of the Round highlights-
Round 1:
Ghostface Killah: “Special Delivery” (Diddy)
Raekwon: “Skew It on the Bar-B” (OutKast)
(I honestly forgot how fuckin awesome both these songs were.)
Round 3:
GZA feat. Ghostface Killah, Killah Priest & RZA's "4th Chamber"
vs.
Raekwon feat. Inspectah Deck, Ghostface Killah and Method Man's "House of Flying Daggers"
Round 8:
Ghostface Killah feat. U-God and Madam Majestic's "Cherchez LaGhost"
vs.
Raekwon's "Ice Cream"
What a slug fest. How do you decide between one of these two songs? You can't.
Round 12:
Raekwon feat. Ghostface Killah's "Rainy Dayz" (Remix)
vs.
Ghostface Killah feat. Raekwon's "Daytona 500"
Round 16:
Raekwon feat. Nas' "Rich and Black"
vs.
Ghostface Killah feat. Ne-Yo's "Back Like That"
This one wasn't even close. "Back Like That" one of the top 10 breakup rap jams EVER.
Round 20:
Wu-Tang Clan's "Can It Be All So Simple"
vs.
Ghostface Killah feat. Mary J. Blige's "All I Got Is You"
This was so well thought out and planned. Two amazing songs perfect to go head-to-head almost every single round. Hats off to Swizz Beatz, Timbaland, and the entire Verzuz team for treating us and thank you to Ghost and Raekwon for an amazing 3 hours.