GZA draws 'Liquid Swords' at The Englert

Jul 19, 2023

Celebrating Liquid Swords

GZA’s seminal 1995 debut solo album Liquid Swords celebrates its 28th anniversary this year, so The Englert decided to bring da ruckus. Before GZA hit the stage, his touring band, the Phunky Nomads, built up an eerie atmosphere for the album's introductory dialogue. It begins with the ominous fable of a murdered mother and vengeful father...

“When I was little my father was famous,” says an unseen child. “He was the greatest samurai in the empire. And he was the Shogun’s decapitator…”

This English-dubbed monologue from the 1980 Japanese martial arts flick Shogun Assassin, technically the seventh Lone Wolf and Cub film, echoed through The Englert while the funky four-piece kept the tension rising. GZA took his time joining the Nomads on stage, allowing “Cub” to finish the tale.

“Then, one night,” says the child, “the Shogun sent his ninja spies to our house. They were supposed to kill my father, but they didn't. [A woman screams] That was the night everything changed.”

When GZA appeared, he simply waved, made his way to center stage and blasted into “Liquid Swords,” the album’s first and title track. His cousin, Wu-Tang co-founder RZA, wasn’t there, but GZA and the Nomads, including drummer Ramsey Jones (Ol' Dirty Bastard's oldest brother), nevertheless transported attendees back to that music video from 28 years ago.

The album's infamous cover art, depicting a bloody brawl on a chessboard, exists as a reminder that GZA is strategic, technical and not to be played with. GZA's skillful infusion of martial arts moments from film and foreboding hip-hop beats is pronounced throughout his classic debut album, and proved the theory that members of the Wu-Tang Clan could go at it alone too.

GZA's Liquid Swords supercharged the Wu’s mid-90s run of solo efforts, making way for ODB’s Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version and Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…. Tracks like “4th Chamber (feat. RZA, Ghostface Killah, Killah Priest),” “Shadowboxin’ (feat. Method Man)” and “I Gotcha Back” involved and popularized the use of nontraditional, sometimes gruesome in-song "skits."

The Wu-Tang Clan’s deep reverence for, connection to and sampling of kung fu and karate flicks from the '70s and '80s are endemic to the group’s sound and image. Not that any member of the Wu-Tang Clan needs to shop at Goodwill, but if you happened to see one there, they’d likely be rifling through the VHSs in search of crackling dialogue and cartoonish kicks, swipes and slashes.

In Iowa City, the East Coast hip-hop luminary performed everything from “Duel Of The Iron Mic” and “Gold” to “Labels” and “Killah Hills 10304.” Backed by ODB’s brother on drums, GZA’s spirited cover of “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” would surely frighten “any emcee in any 52 states.”

At one point, the Phunky Nomads took over and broke into a rendition of "For the Love of Money" by The O'Jays that grooved strangely, yet naturally, into the Wu-Tang classic "C.R.E.A.M. (Cash Rules Everything Around Me)." The Wu was palpable from the floor to the mezzanine. When they weren’t applauding, audience members’ thumbs seemed fused together from throwing up the ‘W’ all night.

Iowa City-based hip-hop artist Ahzia Hester kicked the evening off with tracks from his latest EP Loading… Please Wait, which dropped only days before the show. He juiced the crowd up with new songs like the laser-filled, laid back “Mellow Man Anthem” and “pew pew”-heavy, futuristic “Trial & Error,” before the '80s and early '90s babies returned to the Temple of Shaolin.

On stage, the 26-year-old joked about how adamant the old-heads in his life were that he do a great job opening for the Wu-Tang legend: a daunting task for an artist younger than the album that attendees showed up to remember. The "Affinity" songwriter represented the new wave of hip-hop artists well that night.