When I think of holiday pop music, Mariah Carey and Brenda Lee immediately come to mind, stirring up images of long grocery shopping lines, Macaulay Culkin mischievously munching macaroni and cheese and this album poster (seriously, it’s worth a click). Not too often, though, do we tie together the Wu-Tang Clan and holiday festivities.

At 8 p.m. Monday evening, the enduring hardcore rap group rolls stylishly into Town Ballroom for a show on the Wu Fest Tour. All nine members—RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Cappadonna, Masta Killa, U God and Inspectah Deck—are scheduled to appear. Tickets are $45 general admission, while $60 gets you a ticket and four hours of open bar. You read that correctly.

The pre-show slogan is pretty catchy as well: “PROTECT YA NECK FOR THE CHRISTMAS HANGOVER…
TAKING YOU INTO TWO ZERO ONE TWO: IT BE THE WU!” Oddly inspiring, even if you have to read it twice to understand (maybe it’s just me.)

Interesting Wu-Tang Clan fact: The clan has a major obsession with the numbers ‘9’ and ‘36.’ The super-group’s debut album in 1993 was entitled “Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers,” which refers to the nine group members times the four heart chambers in each person—all beating down the windy, occasionally violent path to hip-hop success. 

URB.com’s Brandon Perkins wrote in 2007: “According to Supreme Mathematics—a Five Percent philosophy and belief of the Wu, used to describe the Earth’s mechanics—the number 9 means ‘to bring into existence,’ and this meant everything to the group’s first record. It took 9 MCs, each with 4 chambers of the heart {2 atria, 2 ventricles}, to give rise to Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers {9 x 4 = 36}, and hip-hop was never the same.”

Whether it’s coincidental, incredibly creepy or entirely predictable, Wu-Tang original member Ol’ Dirty Bastard died two days before his 36th birthday.

If you’re interested in a deeper look into the group’s history, browse through the bio at the Wu-Tang website. Regardless of these bizarre connections, there’s a chance to celebrate your post-Christmas day-off with a night filled with Wu-Tang. You wouldn’t want to make Ghostface Killah upset, would you?

Photo courtesy of Funtime Presents’ press release.