Ghostface Killa has apparently never watched the popular Hulu series Wu-Tang Clan: An American Saga, a series about their iconic Hip-Hop group. During an appearance on the Touré Show, Pretty Tone explained that he has never paid attention to the film because he doesn’t believe it tells his story.
“I never seen that shit,” he began. “I never watched it. Never in my life. RZA know that. Because that’s not my story. You want a Ghostface story, you get a Ghostface story.”
He continued, “You could take a piece of me: ‘Oh, he had two brothers with muscular dystrophy.’ I’m me. There’s a story behind myself.”
Wu-Tang & Hov had a gig together but the latter wasn’t paid
Jay-Z is a skilled rapper but first and foremost, he’s a bussinessman, so every penny anyone owes him matters. During a recent sit-down on Million Dollaz Worth Of Game, Ghostface Killa remembered when Hov asked for $500 that Wu-Tang Clan owed him.
“One time, RZA and [GZA] were telling me that Hov was on the list with us to do a show or whatever,” he began. “We gave him some time … Long story short, n-ggas ain’t pay him the money.
“You know how Hov is. He wait. A few years down the line, and bring it up to one of the n-ggas. Like, ‘Yeah, remember that time you ain’t really pay me?’”
Ghostface wants to see rappers to bring back storytelling
Ghostface Killah is frustrated with how rappers of today fail to incorporate the art of storytelling in their raps. Recently speaking to the Rolling Stone, Killa reflected on how the art flourished back in the day.
“I don’t hear n-ggas doing storytelling no more, man,” Killa explained. “There might be Nas. You might still got [Slick] Rick out there doing it … Raekwon, [GZA]. A lot of stuff be regular darts, regular raps. Everything with this new generation is about clubs.”
He added, “A lot of pussy getting thrown around and shit. It ain’t like with MC Lyte. Even when Lil’ Kim did it, she was gangsta with it. She was a rapper’s rapper. … But the Lauryn Hills of this shit [are] gone. Even the Foxys and shit like that, like a lag came over it. But all this other ‘lick my ass,’ ‘my butthole brown’ shit, it’s like … it’s too much.”
Just Blaze says “Girls, Girls, Girls” helped shape Jay-Z’s album The Blueprint
Iconic producer Just Blaze recently opened up about Ghostface Killah’s influence on Jay-Z’s “Girls, Girls, Girls,” and how the record became the structural skeleton for Hov’s sixth studio album, The Blueprint.
While explaining the relevance of Biz Markie, Slick Rick, and Q-Tip features on the song, Blaze revealed that he originally made the beat for Ghostface but ended becoming one of the first songs to be recorded for the project.
“The Blueprint is kind the culmination of what we were tryna figure out on [The Dynasty: Roc La Familia] and [Beanie Sigel‘s] The Reason,” he began. “Hip-Hop [Kyambo Joshua] will tell you himself, Ghostface was his favorite rapper. So we were all definitely influenced by Supreme Clientele, specifically. When we were in that chamber, I had actually made ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ for Ghost; about a year and a half before The Blueprint was ever a thought, that beat was already done.”
“I remember Jay walking into the studio like, ‘Yo, I just got the CD from Ye, let’s go.’,” Blaze went on. “And I’m like, ‘What we doin?’ And he says, ‘We’re back to the soul music.’ So the first thing I think of is that Ghost beat. Ghost is my brother now. At the time, I didn’t have the link to Ghost. So, I could hold out and pray that I meet Ghost one day; or this is the chamber that Jay’s in right now, boom.”
“We wanted it to be familiar voices that, even at that time, were old school voices,” Blaze added about the features on the album. “And we wanted it to feel like Hip Hop. Because if you remember, we were just coming out of that keyboard beat phase. So it was definitely a conscious ode to a different time and a different sound.”
“Like, as that album started to take shape,” he explained, “we knew that we were about to change things sonically. So it wasn’t a coincidence that we got those three artists.”
When was Ghostface Killah born? Ghostface Killah was born on May 9.
Born Dennis Coles in 1970, Ghostface Killah is a founding member of Wu-Tang Clan. He is from Staten Island’s Stapleotn Projects and went to high school with calnmate Raekwon. He is also cousins with Shyheim. He helped raise his two younger brothers with muscular dystrophy. His early work includes extensive work on Only Built for Cuban Linx… His solo debut album Ironman dropped in 1996. He’s since released Supreme Clientele, Fishscale, Bulletproof Wallets, and others.
Originally rapping as D-Love, Ghostface was once RZA’s roommate. He helped bring the other seven members together and is one of the more well-known Wu-Tang Clan rappers. The events of his life are portrayed in the Hulu original series Wu-Tang: An American Saga. He converted to Islam in 2004.
