Ghostface Killah @ The Liquid Room, 9 November

Eight months after his Cuban Linx co-host claimed The Liquid Room, Ghostface Killah shows up to mirror Raekwon’s inebriated triumph – tonight’s slightly sluggish start perhaps owing to the pungent waft of the philosopher's blend. Fittingly, Ice Cream makes an early appearance, with Ghost protégé Trife Da God ably filling in for Rae’s verses before shining in his own right to a dense freestyle over Mobb Deep’s Eye For An Eye.  

With such generous nods to his peers against a ticking clock, the question of whether Ghost can do justice to his own illustrious catalogue begins to loom when he tends towards a backseat. But a dedication of Protect Ya Neck to the late Joe Frazier and Heavy D is no squandering of his time, paying tribute to the Wu-Tang dynasty’s catalogue as often as those who informed the culture.

Then he blows the dust off a few soul-inflected cuts from the blueprint-setting Supreme Clientele, as raw and gritty as the day it was hatched – the crowd's enthusiasm practically reinstating the 2000 album as his most celebrated moment. An eleventh hour cameo from long-time Wu-affiliate Killah Priest assures a menacing 4^th Chamber, while a reprisal of the philosophical B.I.B.L.E – his immortal closing turn on GZA’s Liquid Swords – provides another unexpected highlight on a night our host could have claimed more. [Dave Kerr]