
Wu-Tang Clan
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Wu-Tang Clan Are Making History At Nashville's Ryman Auditorium
GRAMMY-nominated hip-hop group the Wu-Tang Clan will be the first-ever hip-hop act to be at the top of the bill at the historic Ryman Auditorim in Nashville, Tenn.
NPR reports that while the venue, known as "The Mother Church Of Country Music," has hosted concerts, church revivals and boxing matches, but it has never offered a headlining hip-hop event. The group will stop by on their international tour celebrating 25 years of their 1993 album Enter The Wu-Tang for a sold-out show on June 9.
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"It's just not intuitive to have necessarily a hip-hop show at the Ryman," Nashville concert promoter and Belmont University professor Eric Holt told NPR. "It's going to be interesting. I mean, the energy, I think is going to be different."
GRAMMY-winning record producer/musician Shannon Sanders, former member of one of Nashville's first hip hop groups, told NPR that country has outshined hip hop in the city, "It's just been hard to be part of the narrative of the city's musical story," he said. Sanders added that times at the Ryman have changed.
"You know, the Ryman has had to grow up too, and had to grow up into what the city is," Sanders said. "You know, the Wu-Tang is ready for the Ryman, but also the Ryman is ready for the Wu-Tang."
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