The Spin can't proclaim ourselves scholars on the long and storied career of cult-revered Memphis rapper Tommy Wright III. But like anyone with a basic knowledge of Southern hip-hop, we at least knew the name when we decided to trek out to Third Man Records to see what the so-called Tennessee legend's live show was all about.
Let's first note that Third Man's Blue Room is easily one of our favorite local venues for live hip-hop. Where else can you find folks spitting murder raps under the dead, unwatchful eyes of a taxidermied elephant head mounted on a blood-red wall? That alone makes for a more-interesting-than-most evening, in The Spin's humble opinion.
The show started a comical two hours late, giving us ample time to eavesdrop on audience chatter about the performers. The most intriguing pre-show buzz surrounded the saga of opening act Greenwade, a blast-from-the-past Nashville rapper who recently got out of prison after serving almost 20 years locked up for shooting a pair of Metro police officers during a 1998 drug raid. Street cred doesn’t get any more unassailable than that. Greenwade’s show — his fourth since being paroled in January — wasn’t impeccably executed, but he was performing some songs live for the first time since Bill Clinton was in office, so we’ll give him a pass on forgetting a few words. Busting out songs with street-AF titles like “Ghetto Monster,” “Where Do Gangstas Be?” and “Get Yo Hustle On,” Greenwade's performance was the perfect stage-setter for fellow Tennessee veteran MC Tommy Wright III.
Though not the most well-known Memphis rapper (dude doesn't even have a Wikipedia entry), TW3 can, without blinking, stake claim as a forefather of the ultra-violent, drug-centric trap genre. His influence in the game is undeniable, even if his level of recognition doesn't — and perhaps never will — reflect it. Between songs, the rapper bantered about how he's gotten the short end of the stick, noting how he was once up for the lead role in Hustle & Flow — a role he supposedly inspired. The actual pimp-turned-rapper said MTV Films instead cast Terrence Howard, who earned an Oscar nod for the role. While we can't confirm whether or not that claim is 100 percent accurate, we can confirm that Wright's perm is 100 percent tighter than Howard’s was in the flick, so at least he has that going for him.
Wright didn’t stop with his movie industry woes. He also went after 2 Chainz for remixing one of his songs for a mixtape and, showing how his grudges don’t die, performed “Thuggish Ruggish Bustaz” — a Bone Thugs-N-Harmony diss track from 1996. The most interesting moment of the night came when Wright brought his son, Tommy Wright IV, onstage for a performance of “Keep It Real." It always warms the cockles to see a loving and supportive parent bringing their child into the family business, especially when the family business is rapping about murder. Sheepishly rapping while holding down the corner of the stage, TW4 has a little ways to go before he fills his old man's footsteps, but he's already got some sick game when it comes to spitting gangsta shit.
At the end of the night, we found ourselves wondering: Was this a good show or bad show? Did it hurt or enhance the performance when technical difficulties forced Wright to rap a cappella on the fly? What we can say is that there was a weirdness to the night we won't forget anytime soon. And The Spin is always, always, ALWAYS down for a weird night.
