Group’s Las Vegas debut

Grammy nominated hip-hop collective Wu-Tang Clan will take up its first-ever Las Vegas residency starting on Super Bowl weekend February 9 and 10.

The group took to X on Tuesday with news of its residency at The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas:

A Virgin Hotels press release stated Wu-Tang Clan’s residency was a tribute to both the success of individual musicians in the collective and as “the most storied group in hip-hop history.”

In keeping with a sporting theme Wu-Tang Clan: The Saga Continues…, as its Sin City residency is billed, the group follows its Super Bowl weekend show with another during March Madness on March 22 and 23.

The New York Times stated more dates “will be released in the coming months.” Artist pre-sale tickets to the February and March shows at Virgin Hotels went on sale Tuesday, with general public ticket sales starting Friday at 10am PST.

Long-time coming

Wu-Tang Clan’s Staten Island-born leader, producer, and rapper RZA (real name Robert Diggs) told the Times the Las Vegas residency had been in the pipeline for about five years. RZA added his nine-member-strong group’s Vegas bow was intended in part to elevate hip-hop, a genre that in 2023 is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

“Hip-hop is rich in its content and what it offers creatively to an audience,” RZA stated. The Vegas shows will be to put the genre “on flagpoles to show that hip-hop can go where any other art form has gone before,” and to encourage other hip-hop artists to perform in the gambling capital of the world.

I’m in that spirit of loving where there’s a hub of art”

Praising the Las Vegas entertainment scene, RZA added: “I’m in that spirit of loving where there’s a hub of art and then loving that I — in my talent and the Wu-Tang brothers — can add to that hub.”

According to the Times reporter Emmanuel Morgan, while rap stars often perform at Vegas nightclubs and concerts, it is “unclear if a hip-hop group has held a traditional residency.”

Las Vegas stars in alignment

Recently voted by WalletHub as the most fun city in the US, Las Vegas is making all the moves in the entertainment and sports sphere. Irish supergroup U2 has been wowing audiences at The Sphere and its strongly rumored multiple Grammy Award winner Beyoncé will take up Bono and company’s residency when it ends in February.

But the Wu-Tang Clan’s Las Vegas debut on the same weekend the city’s Allegiant Stadium hosts the Super Bowl could be the biggest party of them all.