The social/racial effects of poverty are hardly as evident as they are at a Ghostface Killah show taking place in a small college town. One would expect the crowd to be diverse in both color and status, due to the popular nature of anyone coming from a group so big as the Wu-Tang clan. In a college town however, the large majority of interested viewers are going to be white, well-to-do students. This is exactly how the crowd at the WOW Hall was this last Friday. Some were genuine fans of Wu-Tang and Ghostface’s catalog, a few were even fans of Fashawn, but most were just white boys and their girlfriends looking for something, anything to do.

This, of course, isn’t a problem. As long as people are into the music, the event, it should go off without a hitch. For the most part this last Friday, they were.

A very small enthusiastic crowd formed at the front of the stage for the two local acts that began the show. Most of the attendees, however, were in the bar if their age permitted; waiting for the more significant half of the evening to begin. Once Fashawn took the stage, it had. His presence on stage is strikingly similar to how he acts offstage. Not shy to fanfare, and not afraid to push the boundaries of acceptable action. This is to say, he smoked a blunt both backstage, as well as on stage.

But he’s about more than weed, and way more than stoner rap. Some may be turned off by the positive and suggestive nature of some of his lyrics. Some might think he’s too underground, too raw. He combats these notions on his album by sampling recognizable sounds, and spitting about every-man experiences. Even when his raps are specific to his experience, it isn’t hard to imagine these situations as being close to one’s own. That is, of course, unless you are a white, well to do college student.

Which is to say, I’m not totally surprised people weren’t going crazy for Fashawn’s set. At one point I heard someone yell, “Make your own beats!” in a relatively aggressive fashion. And in some ways, the guy had a point. But more so, this indicated his inability to comprehend, or care about what Fashawn was actually SAYING. For a lot of people (particularly those invested mostly in Ghostface’s most recent record), there isn’t much beyond the beat that justifies rap’s ability to entertain. Personally, I thought Fashawn’s voice carried over into the live setting phenomenally. Despite being worlds apart from his crowd, he brought the topics of his songs down to earth; and was able to engage and entertain considerably well. He’s coming back through Eugene on December 14th, and I suspect that after last Friday I won’t be the only person jockeying for front and center during his performance.

Ghostface is such a different beast. For one, he’s been on the mainstage a million times. He’s played for rich white students before. He knows what the crowd wants in any given situation, because he’s been around long enough to have seen it all before. For that reason, I don’t know how much there is to say about his set.

He came on stage with two others; one with notable celebrity. He preformed songs old, and new, even delving occasionally into Wu-Tang territory. He made the crowd go wild, and the women come on stage. If you’ve seen Ghost once, you’ve seen him a million times. This isn’t to imply, however, that you wont have fun time, and time again. He has a presence that demands your attention, and a charisma that keeps it. He can evoke different crowd reactions and responses with a myriad of different styles that span across his entire catalog. Like him or not, he’s among the most important rappers around. Seeing that power put to performance will always be interesting, as it was at this show.