News / / 23.07.14

Method Man & Redman

Bristol, Motion | 19 July

“We believe that if you pay to see a fucking show, then you should get a fucking show,” opines Redman partway through his set with long-time cohort Method Man at a sold-out Motion. It’s no empty sentiment. The East Coast stalwarts take the stage with the self-assurance of two artists whose places in the hip-hop pantheon have long since been enshrined. Cramming as much fun as possible into their 75 minutes is clearly going to be the only order of the day.

Judging from the hyperactive response to the short selection of comparatively docile Blackout! 2-era material that opens the show, the audience seem to have decided they’re quite happy to work with whatever tracks they’re given. What they are given, thankfully, turns out be quite a lot. And when, shortly after, Redman announces that it’s high time for some old shit, they barely have a chance to process just what a gleeful prospect this is before the first driving strains of Time 4 Sum Aksion kick in. It’s at this point when the already-animated audience go truly apeshit.

The highlights of 20-odd years of seminal output are ripped through with relish, with ecstatic reaction after ecstatic reaction  serving to galvanise our hosts further. Hulking Wu-Tang Clan mainstay Method Man stalks about the stage like a large hip-hop bear, spitting guttural couplets about blunts, forties and kung-fu, while Redman bounces around the place with the kind of exuberance which suggests he’s genuinely still having as much fun as anyone else in attendance. An earnest tribute to ODB segues into a blistering rendition of Shimmy Shimmy Ya. The choreographed dance routine that accompanies A-Yo tickles funny bones. Meth seems to be fighting off an asthma attack during an acappella face-off interlude.

There are the How High 2 plugs and the exhortations to pick up any bags of cannabis we might find lying on the floor and imbibe the contents, but the sense that we’re witnessing something that has been perfected diligently, lovingly even, over the years is always satisfyingly, comfortingly pervasive. Hip-hop may have relieved Meth and Red of their envelope-pushing responsibilities some time ago, but in their current role – as guardians of its enduring legacy and proud tradition of getting the party started – they’re arguably doing just as important a job. Inarguably, they’re doing it very well.

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Words: Charlie Amos

Photography: Samantha Milligan

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