When the Wu-Tang Clan rocked the jam-packed 9:30 club in Washington in February, it was the first time they had toured en masse since 1997 and one of their first shows of any kind since key member Ol' Dirty Bastard died of a drug overdose in 2004. The two shows were a tribute to ODB but also a testimonial to the Staten Island, N.Y., nonet whose 1993 debut, "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)," was one of the most influential hip-hop records of the '90s.

That album's dense, frantic lyrics and dirty, claustrophobic beats helped to revive East Coast hip-hop, providing a bracing antidote to West Coast G-funk, the era's dominant sound. As the first (true) family of hip-hop - including mastermind-producer RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa and Ghostface Killah - Wu-Tang Clan also provided the blueprint for all oversize rap crews to come.

No wonder the group's brief reunion tour earned instant sellouts.

According to Ghostface Killah: "It's a blessing if people come out and see you like that. It's all love. I wasn't surprised. I know they still love us; that's just what it is."

Sadly, Wu-Tang fanatics probably shouldn't hold their breath for a full-scale reunion. Ghostface says there might be more shows this year but no record until at least next year. The group's last studio album was 2001's "Iron Flag," with 2004's live CD/DVD, "Disciples of the 36 Chambers," capturing one of the last concerts with ODB.

Don't worry about Ghostface, however. Outside of uber-producer RZA, he has been the most critically acclaimed solo alumnus, and the busiest, both on record and the tour circuit. The recent "Fishscale" is his fifth solo album and has garnered his best reviews since 2000's "Supreme Clientele," an album referenced by the faux-boxing coach who skewers his charge in a "Rocky"-sampling skit by insisting, "You ain't been hungry since Supreme Clientele!"

It's a criticism that Ghostface has heard on rare occasion, including for 2004's "The Pretty Toney Album," his first without any Wu guests.

"I let God handle everything," he responds. "I don't have to get all the praise or the spotlight. As long as I'm a respected man and you spell my name right, I'm good. It took Denzel (Washington) a long time to get an Oscar, took Al Pacino mad years. It always happens like that to the best of us, but I'm not trippin' - that's what it is and it's coming all in good time.

"Sometimes it change for the better, sometimes it change for the worse," Ghostface adds. "Everything I try ain't always a bomb. It's like basketball: One day you might hit your threes, next day you might get two points and that's just how it is."

Leaving basketball to return to the boxing analogy, a statement of repurposing can be heard on the new album's "The Champ," in which Ghostface spits, "This is architect music, verbal street opera ... fully got the projects booming indeed."

It helps that the first single, "Back Like That," features R&B heartthrob Ne-Yo, whose debut album recently opened at No. 1. The track finds Ghostface bemoaning a former girlfriend who has shifted her attention to one of his rivals, and he's looking to get some gifts back ("Let me get that rock on your finger/ Oh, it's stuck? Then I'll take the whole finger.") Well, he's not St. Ghostface.

He does reunite with the entire Wu-Tang (including the late ODB) on "9 Milli Bros," as well as with his most frequent Wu partner in rhymes, Raekwon, on four tracks. And though RZA is absent, production duties are in capable hands with five tracks from MF Doom and others, courtesy of Pete Rock, Just Blaze, Madlib and the late J Dilla.

The on-again relationship with fellow Wu-Tangers is no big deal, Ghostface says. "You argue," he says. "What are we going to do? But it ain't really nothing that big because that's with any family."