As they race toward tonight’s (July 18) Philadelphia finale of their Wu-Tang Forever: The Final Chamber tour, Wu-Tang Clan trotted out a host of high-profile guests earlier this week during shows at New York’s Madison Square Garden and Newark, N.J.’s Prudential Center. Among them: Mary J. Blige, Lauryn Hill, Mobb Deep’s Havoc, Redman, Lil’ Kim and Slick Rick.
Last night in Newark, Hill teamed with Wu-Tang Clan to perform “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” “To Zion” (with son Zion Marley) and “X-Factor” and acknowledged with pride that she and her Fugees bandmates rose to prominence at the same time as the beloved, Staten Island-reared rap legends.
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Blige also made a surprise appearance on Thursday to duet with Method Man on “I’ll Be There for You / You’re All I Need to Get By.” their smash hit single from 1995.
At Madison Square Garden, the regular Wu-Tang set list was upended by a parade of hip-hop friends, including the Lox on “We Gonna Make It” and “N*gga Done Started Something,” “Ain’t No Half Steppin’” with Big Daddy Kane, “Children’s Story” with Slick Rick and Havoc on “Shook Ones, Pt. II.” Redman was on hand to re-team with Method Man on “Da Rockwilder,” and Lil Kim’ sang her verse from the remix of Mobb Deep’s “Quiet Storm.”
“The feeling in the building when they are all standing on stage, rapping in a circle the same way they did when it all started 30+ years ago, is something truly unique to only Wu-Tang Clan,” AEG Presents SVP of Global Touring Brett Williams previously told SPIN. “It’s a spirit that is bigger than them, bigger than the audience, bigger than all of us.”
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