The Wu-Tang Clan & Nas had one of the most hyped Hip-Hop concert tours of the year in 2022 with their N.Y. State of Mind Tour, and they’ve decided to run it back bigger and better to celebrate Hip-Hop’s 50th anniversary in 2023. In an epic team-up between arguably the greatest Hip-Hop group of all-time and one of the greatest solo emcees to ever do it, last year’s Toronto tour stop at Budweiser Stage proved that the legacies behind these two entities make for an incredible concert, even despite experiencing technical issues and no-shows (check out our full concert review here). This year they’re doing it even bigger with a stadium-sized show at Scotiabank Arena, and their already cemented legacies have grown even stronger, with a lot happening in the near 13 months since the last time they were in town.

While the Wu-Tang Clan’s musical output both as a group and as individual solo artists has slowed in recent years, they’ve experienced TV success with season 3 of their biopic series Wu-Tang: An American Saga making waves this spring, highlighting the 5-year run they had in the ’90s leading up to their 1997 chart-topping sophomore album, Wu-Tang Forever. Nas on the other hand has been flooding the fans with new music, having released 3 new albums since we last saw him, all produced by Hit-Boy, bringing the duo’s run to 6 albums released in 4 years. Nas started the year with a milestone, selling out New York City’s Madison Square Garden as the sole headliner for a King’s Disease Trilogy concert, proving he’s ready to headline similar arena-sized shows across North America for the first time. Along with King’s Disease III released in November last year, Nas has most recently released Magic 2 this past July and Magic 3 on his 50th birthday less than a month ahead of this tour, giving fans plenty of new music they could anticipate seeing live on stage along with the decades of classics behind them.

Between Wu-Tang and Nas, this was bound to be an action-packed concert celebrating the legacies of some of the most important artists in Hip-Hop history.

We decided to show up early and check out the newest restaurant to be added to the arena, Scotia Club, which allowed early entry with a dinner reservation and provided a dope atmosphere with a specially curated, uncensored classic ’90s Hip-Hop playlist playing while we ate. We got to peek through the curtains to see a view of the stage on the opposite side of the arena, and got the full view from our table once doors opened for the rest of the building and the curtains lifted. The food and drinks were great with the menu also being curated specially for this concert, although a bit pricey with no main meal being under $40. The early entry gave us plenty of time to check out the merch booths too, which had a ton of fly t-shirts, hats and hoodies, and also brought back the limited edition prints from last year with a different design for each city of the tour.

Shortly after we found our seats, DJ Scratch got his gear set up and welcomed the crowd to the New York State of Mind Tour. As the arena slowly filled up, Scratch would warm up the crowd by taking us on a sonic tour through New York City, starting off in Queens with an artist who recently passed through Toronto on his own tour, 50 Cent. After setting it off with “What Up Gangsta,” DJ Scratch would take us to Brooklyn by playing Jay-Z’s “U Don’t Know,” Harlem with Cam’ron’s “I Really Mean It” and “Oh Boy,” and the Bronx with Camp Lo’s “Luchini.” Scratch would deviate a little throughout his set, playing DJ Khaled’s “All I Do Is Win” after age-checking the crowd to find a lot of the fans were under 25, and also threw in a few Dancehall chunes knowing Toronto loves its Caribbean culture. Other than that, it would be strictly New York classics, with songs by Biggie, Jay-Z and M.O.P. for Brooklyn, Black Rob for Harlem, Boogie Down Productions for the Bronx, DMX for Yonkers, and Mobb Deep, LL Cool J, A Tribe Called Quest and Black Sheep for Queens.

Once the energy levels were high enough and most of the seats were filled, DJ Scratch would make way for the tour openers, legends in their own rights who even predate both Nas and the Wu-Tang Clan, De La Soul. It’s been a bittersweet 2023 for the Native Tongue icons, as they finally won their multi-year-long dispute to gain ownership over their music, allowing them to release their discography on digital platforms for the first time, only to have one third of the trio, Dave a/k/a Trugoy The Dove pass away shortly after. For many of the 25-and-under fans in the building, this would sadly be as close as they’d get to seeing a true De La Soul show, with DJ Maseo set up behind the turntables and Posdnuos being the only plug on the mic. They’d start off their set with the day-one fans in mind though, taking it back to 1988 with the 3 Feet High And Rising single “Potholes In My Lawn.”

Pos & Mase did an admiral job of moving the crowd while missing their third member, performing a couple more songs including the Grammy-nominated “Oooh” before they’d get some help on the mic. In the middle of performing the 1996 classic “Stakes Is High,” De La Soul would bring a surprise guest out to the stage to help cover Trugoy’s vocals, and Posdnuos would switch up some of the lyrics in his first verse to introduce him: “Talib Kweli got some Hip-Hop Quotables!!” The crowd got hyped as most of us weren’t expecting to see Kweli, who covered Trugoy’s verses with the passion and respect of a true student.

They of course had to give Talib Kweli a moment to shine with his own music, as he got to perform “Move Somethin'” and “Get By” before getting back to the De La tracks with “Buddy.” De La would then close out their set with a hype performance of their 2004 underground hit, “Rock Co. Kane Flow,” with Maseo doing his robot dance routine behind the turntables and both Pos and Talib Kweli freezing in place as he cut the beat off. With Posdnuos being the only vocalist on the song who’s still alive, they’d restart the song three times and let him repeat his opening verse, getting the crowd even more hyped every time, and Kweli would leave the crowd with RIP shoutouts to Trugoy and MF DOOM.

While De La Soul put on an incredible performance, it felt like they could have kept going if they had more time on stage. There were plenty of songs throughout their deep discography that was left off the set list, me personally wishing they did “Say No Go,” “Saturdays,” or “My Writes.” Still, it was good seeing Pos & Mase still able to hold it down despite their loss, and adding Talib Kweli as a surprise guest was a nice touch. There would be a bit of a break for Maseo’s turntable booth to be moved off stage and DJ Mathematics along with a full live band to get set up from atop a higher platform. Pretty soon, a video interlude with sights of New York City would play on the jumbo screens, and RZA would join the band on the upper platform, taking his place behind a glass podium.

With this show at Scotiabank Arena being the biggest concert either Wu-Tang or Nas have ever performed in Toronto, you knew they had to make it slightly more cinematic than your typical Hip-Hop concert. RZA and the band would give a nod to his days of scoring films, doing an interpolation of Nancy Sinatra’s “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down),” which he of course sampled in his score for Kill Bill Vol. 1. RZA would recite a part-rapped, part-sung verse telling his story of creating the Wu-Tang sound as their producer, tying it in nicely into the original song with his hook, and would get the crowd hyped with the “Wu-Tang Killa Beez, we on a swarm!” chant from “Clan In Da Front,” the band making it sound extra hardcore with the guitar. As we’ve seen in past concerts, RZA would then introduce his fellow Wu-Tang Clan members one at a time, letting them perform solo songs or standout verses as they graced the stage.

Getting things started with “the head when they form like Voltron,” RZA would bring out The GZA, who would perform his solo classic “Liquid Swords,” followed by Inspectah Deck performing the Wu-Tang Forever deep cut “For Heaven’s Sake.” With the live instrumentation making the beat sound even more epic, they’d continue “For Heaven’s Sake” and bring out Cappadonna to perform his closing verse on the song, his booming voice bringing a ton of energy out of the crowd. While they notably skipped over Masta Killa’s verse on the song, adding to the infamous narrative of Wu often having an incomplete roster at their concerts, they’d continue bringing out other Clan members, next with Raekwon The Chef performing his verse from “Box In Hand” as well as his solo Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… single “Incarcerated Scarfaces.” Next would be U-God, who would perform his verse from another Wu-Tang Forever deep cut, “Severe Punishment.”

While it would have been dope to see the rest of the Clan join in on eerie “Severe Punishment,” they instead made the smooth transition into a classic from their debut Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), with U-God setting off “Da Mystery of Chessboxin’.” With the track featuring so many of the Clan members on it, fans may have expected to find out which remaining members were and weren’t in the building as they performed the song, but the Wu-Tang Clan seems to have caught on to their infamous reputation and made sure to keep things Witty Unpredictable. After U-God, Inspectah Deck and Raekwon spit their verses, the eldest son of the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Young Dirty Bastard would come out to perform his father’s verse, bringing a ton of youthful energy to the stage as he jumped around. Fans would notice that Method Man wasn’t there to perform his hook, and the group skipped over Ghostface Killah’s verse on the song entirely, but Masta Killa did come out and make an epic entrance with his standout closing verse, going slow and acapella before letting the beat build back up around him as he sped his raps back up, with smoke guns shooting out into the crowd.

Any pessimistic fans who may have been anxious about no-shows wouldn’t be left disappointed for long, as RZA would next introduce Ghostface Killah, giving him his own special entrance to his solo Supreme Clientele single “Mighty Healthy.” With the majority of the Wu-Tang Clan now having been introduced on stage, the group would perform the intro track off of their 36 Chambers album, “Bring Da Ruckus,” with the live instrumentation giving the beat a more epic, grandiose sound that fit the arena setting. Ghostface, Raekwon and Inspectah Deck would each perform their verses on the song, and RZA got the crowd chanting along to the bridge and the hook with energy.

Just as they were starting to kill it, the Clan walked off the stage as the lights went dark and a video interlude played, showing scenes from classic mob flicks and shows like King of New York, Scarface, and Breaking Bad. With these film scenes setting the mood for some mob-inspired Only Built 4 Cuban Linx raps, Nas would then make his grand entrance, performing his feature on Raekwon’s solo album with “Verbal Intercourse” and bringing back both the Chef and Ghostface to rock their verses as well. Some might remember last year’s Budweiser Stage concert having the epic moment of this rare collaboration being hindered by technical issues, but this time they made sure to nail it, with Nas, Chef and Ghost all coming through crisp on the mic as they spit their verses. Raekwon and Ghostface would then salute Nas as they made way for him to take over the stage, and he’d throw up his hands in celebration as the beat for “The Message” built up.

Nas would leave plenty of gaps in his opening verse to see how much of the crowd knew the lyrics, and would pick up the energy as “The Message” transitioned into the intense “Hate Me Now,” with flames appearing on the jumbo screens behind him as he spit his fierce raps. With now near 20 albums worth of material in his discography, Nas would bounce to a different album with each song he performed, going from the ’90s to the year 2001 with Stillmatic‘s “Got Yourself A Gun,” maintaining the flow as the beat flipped to “Thief’s Theme” for the second verse. Jumping from his newest material to his oldest, Nas would do a new Magic 3 joint with the first verse from “TSK” before getting to his acclaimed debut Illmatic with “It Ain’t Hard To Tell.” The crowd stayed engaged with every new beat that dropped, whether it was new Nas fans who just got introduced after his 2021 Grammy win or the day-one fans since the ’90s.

After getting the crowd grooving to the James Brown-sampling “Get Down,” Nas would take some time to applaud Hip-Hop’s 50th birthday as well as his own, shouting out his fellow Virgos in the building and getting the celebration vibes going with his Magic 3 single, “Fever.” With the “Fever” music video from his actual 50th birthday party playing on the jumbo screens, Nas would get the crowd to toast and join in on the hook, which made for a dope transition into the throwback Illmatic cut “Represent.” Next pulling out some rarities, Nas would perform a verse each from Magic‘s “40-16 Building” and It Was Written‘s “Shootouts,” and would tease the hook from The Firm’s “Phone Tap” before diving deeper into Illmatic. Continuing to tease just part of the song before moving on to the next one, Nas would do bits of “Halftime,” “One Love” and “Memory Lane,” spitting the second verse of the latter track acapella before landing on the song the tour is named after, “N.Y. State of Mind.” The live bass made the beat hit harder as Nas got heads nodding to his flows, fans shouting out the lyrics with him as he rocked his monster opening verse.

Similar to how they did it on last year’s tour, Nas would follow up the last banger of his set with a song that would transition smoothly back into the Wu-Tang sound, doing a more hardcore track we’ve only seen him do on this tour, Mobb Deep’s “Eye For A Eye (Your Beef Is Mines).” Bringing Raekwon The Chef back out on stage to join him, Nas & Rae would both cover Havoc & Prodigy’s hook before each performing their featured verses on the song, and Nas would give a salute to Wu-Tang before letting Raekwon take control of the stage. Rae would take some time to speak on his love for Toronto, having spent some time living here himself and opening the boutique shop 611 Purple Factory on Dundas St. E, and would get the crowd hyped before dropping the beat to “Criminology,” calling on Ghostface Killah to join him on stage.

For the next few songs, the fans would get to dig into that Raekwon & Ghostface pocket of Wu-Tang, with the duo often standing out amongst their fellow Clan members, having co-starred on each others’ solo albums. Ghost would come out and rip through his fire verse on “Criminology,” and Rae would show tight coordination with the DJ and band with the way he transitioned mid-verse into the classic “Daytona 500,” the crowd turning up as soon as that beat dropped. Keeping it Witty Unpredictable indeed, Ghostface would follow up with his verse from “Rainy Dayz,” but would spit it over an alternate, more upbeat kind of production. The band then played a dramatic build-up into the beat for “Ice Cream,” and the duo brought Cappadonna back out to join them on the song, performing it with an added string and bass section that reminded me of Jay-Z’s “Moment of Clarity,” making for a unique rendition of the Wu classic for the ladies.

Having been alternating between Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… album and Ghostface Killah’s Ironman, the trio would give Cappadonna one more moment to shine while they were in this pocket, as he performed his monster verse from “Winter Warz” over the beat from Biggie’s “Who Shot Ya” and Mobb Deep’s “The Learning (Burn).” Next, they’d start to expand the Wu-Tang family, bringing RZA and Inspectah Deck back out to the stage. Now taking the front of the stage rather than standing with the band up top, RZA would engage the crowd and got everyone jumping as the beat dropped for “Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthin’ Ta F Wit,” and him and Deck ripped through their verses on the song. Those keeping count were probably aware of the elephant in the room at this point, as it looked like Method Man was the sole member of the group who skipped out on the Toronto tour date for the second year in a row, but then RZA shocked the crowd by introducing Meth to the stage for the third verse of the song, and the energy in the arena got absolutely cranked when Johnny Blaze graced the stage!

With Method Man now in the building, fans could check off bucket lists as all nine living members of the Wu-Tang Clan were officially together on stage in Toronto for just the second time in history (we were there for the first time too). The crowd was as hyped as they’d been all night as Meth got to bless the stage with some of his solo hits, doing the upbeat “M-E-T-H-O-D Man” followed by the mellow, romantic “All I Need,” getting the ladies to help sing along to that Mary J. Blige chorus. RZA would then call on Young Dirty Bastard to return to the stage, who would do a masterful job as always emulating his late father’s flows, cadences and overall energy as they performed “Shame On A N—-.” The band would cut the beat out midway through Method Man’s verse to let him show off his breath control, and would bring it back for Raekwon and YDB to finish it off.

Continuing to keep Method Man as a central figure for this segment, the Clan would next perform “C.R.E.A.M.,” with RZA vocally singing out the horn sample before the band dropped the beat, and Raekwon & Deck both nailed their verses around that Method Man hook. With a few Clan members still hanging backstage, the rest would all come out as the group took it back to day-one, performing their very first single, “Protect Ya Neck.” With every Clan member now in the building, this song was all the more epic with each member getting to spit their verse, including YDB adding a ton of energy to that ODB verse, and GZA coming out from backstage just in time to close the cypher acapella style. The crowd was hyped after seeing “Protect Ya Neck” live, but again just as the Wu seemed to be getting started, they ended up leaving the stage to make room for Nas to take over.

Nas came back out wearing a new outfit and picked up where he left off, performing another Illmatic cut with “The World Is Yours.” That would be the last we’d hear from 1994 though, as from here on out Nas would bounce between different eras of his career. He’d do a joint off of his Grammy award-winning album King’s Disease, performing “Spicy,” and would progressively get into more party vibes. He’d tease a bit of his 2012 summer smash “The Don” before abruptly flipping to a rare joint most may not have seen him perform live before, his feature on Missy Elliott’s “Hot Boyz (Remix).” The dance vibes continued with the familiar routine of Nas vibing out to the hook from “Oochie Wally” before performing “You Owe Me.”

Bringing it back to the street anthems, Nas would get heads nodding as he teased the hook from “Street Dreams” before diving into the 1999 classic “Nas Is Like.” The hype would continue to build as he got into one of the most energetic songs of his set, “Made You Look,” turning the crowd all the way up as he ripped through his verses. With this second set mostly focused on summertime hits, it’s only right that Nas pulled out the celebratory King’s Disease III track “30,” which has him celebrating 30 summers in the music business. He’d then bring the crowd back to the classics, getting everyone to sing along to Lauryn Hill’s vocals as he performed “If I Ruled The World,” the live drums giving the beat an extra kick to it.

Nas would next take some time out to talk to the crowd, being humbled by the good times he’s been able to celebrate in his career, and calling on RZA to join him on stage for some words. Nas would let RZA take over again, and RZA would contrast Nas’ message by talking about bad times Hip-Hop has endured, giving RIP shoutouts to fallen legends like 2Pac, Biggie, Biz Markie, Guru, and of course Ol’ Dirty Bastard. This would then lead into a performance of “Tearz,” with RZA dramatically performing his verse about his brother getting shot, and Masta Killa backing him by playing the other characters in the story. RZA would then speak about unity as he got the crowd to throw up that universal W hand symbol before dropping the beat to “Reunited.” GZA would return to the stage to rock the first verse, followed by most of the rest of the Clan joining in on the hook. “It’s Wu motherfucker! Wu-Tang motherfucker!”

With the rest of the original Clan members now joining him on stage, RZA would get the crowd to jump as the band played the beat to GZA’s “4th Chamber,” and would restart the track for that added energy. While this has been one of Wu-Tang’s most hyped songs at past shows, with Method Man usually hyping up the crowd and Ghostface and RZA bringing a ton of energy to the mic, this time they decided to skip the song after just letting the beat play out, giving their band a moment to shine with their instruments. To be fair, the floor was filled with rows of chairs for assigned seating rather than being general admission, making it impossible to open up a mosh pit like the old days.

Next would be a tribute to the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard, as they’d bring Young Dirty Bastard back to the stage to help cover some of his father’s solo hits. They’d of course do “Shimmy Shimmy Ya,” getting the crowd to join in, and unlike other tributes where they just let the hook play, YDB actually covered the verses too as they did “Got Your Money” and “Brooklyn Zoo.” He’d even jump down into the front row as he rapped and got the crowd engaged with him.

Closing out the show would be one of the most epic moments of the concert, as the Wu-Tang Clan performed one of the few songs that features all ten members on it, “Triumph.” YDB would jump around on stage as he covered ODB’s intro, and the other nine emcees proceeded to slay their verses, each enthusiastically spitting their raps as if they were back in New York City forming a cypher in the park. Nas and Posdnuos could be seen joining the Clan on stage, hyping each member up as they spit their verses, and RZA would pop a bottle of champagne to spray on the crowd as Raekwon nailed the closing verse. Not to completely steal the spotlight from their co-headliner, Wu-Tang would introduce Nas back on stage one last time, and remained there to back him as he closed out the show with a passionate performance of “One Mic,” getting the crowd to light up the arena with their cellphones. This would be the end of the show with no chance at an encore, as Wu-Tang and Nas made sure to give the fans their money’s worth by staying on stage and performing until the very last minute before the strict 11pm curfew at Scotiabank Arena.

Overall, the N.Y. State of Mind Tour was a much more epic experience the second time around. For the biggest concert Wu-Tang Clan or Nas have ever done in Toronto, all the artists involved made sure to bring their A-game and make this a historic night. Between De La Soul, Wu-Tang Clan and Nas, the fans got to celebrate the most impactful decades of Hip-Hop’s 50-year history, from De La’s 1988 debut to Nas’ newest 2023 release, and its incredible seeing them able to pull off a show this big this deep into their careers. The production value was also stepped up to fit scale of this stadium-sized show, as you could tell both Wu-Tang and Nas put a lot of thought into the structure and curation of their set lists, with well-placed interludes and transitions that kept the crowd engaged for well over 2 hours.

The Wu-Tang Clan definitely delivered on the shock value with the way they made their entrances throughout the show, playing to their reputation of having incomplete rosters at their concerts and building up the suspense by spreading out their entrances. With Method Man having missed much of last year’s tour due to scheduling conflicts, it became the most hyped moment of the night when he finally made his entrance during Wu-Tang’s second set on stage. Nas also delivered an exceptional performance, covering the essentials in his classic catalogue while also throwing in some rarities he doesn’t perform often. You could tell Nas was especially excited to be performing the new material from his King’s Disease and Magic trilogies, those new albums bringing a renaissance to his career. If I had one gripe, it would be wanting to see more collaborations between Nas & Wu-Tang, with songs like “John Blaze” (RIP Big Pun), “The Grand Finale” (RIP DMX), or “Rich & Black,” but that’s just nitpicking at one of the most epic concerts of the year.

The N.Y. State of Mind Tour continues through USA and Canada until the end of October, tickets for other tour dates can be found here.

Check out this playlist of Nas concert videos from all the times I’ve seen him over the years.

Check out this playlist of Wu-Tang concert videos from all the times I’ve seen them over the years.

Remember to check out the SYpherSights Youtube channel for more concert videos.

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