Ghostface Killah - 36 Seasons (out 12-09-14) *Stream Added*
- Thread starter Billy Ocean
- Start date
-
- Tags
- ghostface killah
..short, sweet, succinct.
Piff Perkins
Veteran
make sure you support the album brehs. It's a dope project, Ghost been consistent for years, he deserves it.
Ghostface Killah Compares Himself To Martin Scorsese. Here’s Why (Food For Thought Interview)
Speaking about his upcoming eleventh solo album, Ghostface Killah is in his glory. The Staten Island MC is spirited, especially on the subjects of 1980s Rap and 1990s cinema. The day his 36 Seasons was publicly premiered in a full-length NPR Music stream, Ghost speaks to Ambrosia For Heads, and practically downplays the effort of an album that is arguably eclipsing hardcore fans’ excitement surrounding Wu-Tang Clan’s own sixth album, A Better Tomorrow. In his to-the-point way, G.F.K. takes credit for being a lyrical mercenary on his first foray with Tommy Boy Records, and little else.
Narratives and imagery come easy to Dennis Coles, who playfully imagines his own verses in the days where he’ll be flashin’ AARP cards instead of iron. Guarded at first, Ghost’ is a strong listener, who likes to incorporate humor into his conversations, much like his verses. He’s big on metaphor, innuendo, and the kind of barbershop riffing that’s made him a timeless voice of reason and originality in the Hip-Hop genre he loves. Like the LP he is releasing, Ghostface Killah is so impassioned, sincere, and unadulterated that whether it’s a storyline (in the case of an album) or schtick (in the case of speaking with a near stranger), it’s all real. In Ghostface Killah’s verbalized thoughts are his essence, and in an era of synthetic substitutions, he is a dependable constant.
Ambrosia For Heads: I remember the last time you and I spoke, in 2006, and you went into great detail on Slick Rick’s influence on you. 36 Seasons is a story. I love that there are elements like the constant reminder of “nine years” that are parts of the story in most songs; this feels like an audio book. To what extent did you map this out, and blueprint it as a story? For me, the listener, it feels like a lot of work to make it so cinematic.
Ghostface Killah: Right. I mean, I did [36 Seasons] kind of quick, you know what I mean? The rest of the team just put the work together. It’s like they sent me to do a hit. If you give me a contract and tell me you want a person killed, and you want it done this [specific] way, I’ll just do whatever you say. That’s basically what happened. It was presented to me, to do this thing. “On this track, do this thing right here. Then, on this track, I want you to do this. And do this. Do this. And do this. Talk about all these situations.” And that’s basically what I did. I [answered the requests], and then I gave it back to the [Tommy Boy Records] team. They got the rest of the brothers on there to go do what they had to do. And that was it; we just put this puzzle together.
Ambrosia For Heads: Salute to you then, and everybody else who worked on 36 Seasons, because it sounds like something that was really masterminded like that.
Ghostface Killah: Yeah, yeah! Definitely. It was masterminded like that. For this album right here, it was a theme. So it was kinda more easier for me, you know? Because, I have direction. So when I got direction, it’s like, okay, I know where I want to go. Like I tell people, I’m like a Martin Scorsese. I want you to see this picture, but I want you to see it like how I see it. Now, now, now, now—I didn’t go like 32 bars and 40 bars, so I had to just get my story off so the other guys could get on it, with my 16 bars, 20 bars, you know what I mean? So every thing could fit. So I don’t gotta dog the whole track. That’s what it was, more than anything, they were trying to squish it down to make it whateva, whateva, whateva, nahmean? And that’s just what I did.
And the beats was on point, so that helped me out a lot too. It adds a lot—the beats. If you’ve got some fukked up beats, then it’s like, “Damn, how you really want to go with this shyt?” The beat is the shyt that gives you the feel. My whole career, everything I ever wrote that was a story, really, the beat made me do it. Whatever you heard, “All That I Got Is You,” whatever, the beat made me do that story. And that’s what it be. That’s what it is.
Ambrosia For Heads: Speaking of the beats, listening to The Revelations’ tracks, it sounds like a live album in many places. Is this something you might take on the road?
Ghostface Killah: The show? The songs? The album? Umm, I mean, it could. It could do that because it’s [cohesive]. I mean, but to go on the road…if I was to go on the road with it, I wouldn’t really want to go on stage and just have a microphone with it, and being the guy who was just rhymin’. Nah. You would have to make it like a play for me. Everything would have to be like a play; I wouldn’t want to just come up there and just [perform traditionally]—unless I wanted to just get money. But I would rather give it to the people like, “Oh shyt, this is like a real movie, on stage. This one did this and that one just did that.” And you’ve got intermissions where you know what? We’re just livin’ it out for like 60 minutes. You know what I mean? So, you definitely could, definitely could.
Ambrosia For Heads: You mentioned how the beats send you in directions. I know it’s just one track,“Blood In The Streets,” but you and I are both big fans of ’80s and ’90s Hip-Hop. That said, what is it like to get a track in with 45 King?
Ghostface Killah: Oh yeah, man! It’s like, yo, I respect all legends, man. That’s what got me [into the culture]. They play a part in Hip-Hop. If it wasn’t for the legends and the ones that was doin’ it, we probably wouldn’t be where we are right now, at this stage of the game. I was glad to see my ones supplyin’ the—even Sugarhill Gang, [Grandmaster] Melle Mel, [Grandmaster] Flash & The Furious Five, I’m so blessed to get a chance to see those guys, and shake hands with those guys, and to tell ‘em “thank you”—even down to Rakim, and KRS-One, and Big Daddy Kane and them, because that’s who made me the person that I am right now: goin’ through that. I thank God that I had the chance to experience the ’70s, all through the ’80s Hip-Hop music. You know what I mean? That gave birth to me. That gave me the whole insight on how I wanna rhyme.
So for 45 King to go and put the track up there like that, it’s like, yo, that just added on to my legacy. You know what I mean? It’s like, “Yo, he had a track on this dope album and shyt.” So it’s like, you know what, it’s all good. It’s a blessing, yo.
Ambrosia For Heads: Early on, you said that you sent this back and the folks behind 36 Seasons added the other components. So with that said, you didn’t record with two other legends, AZ, Kool G Rap, and the other guys? It reminded me of an ensemble cast, like in your career, being a “costar” on Raekwon’s Purple Tape…
Ghostface Killah: I sent my verses in. I guess [the guests] might have heard [my verses], I’m not sure. They might heard my verse or verses, and then worked off of that. But I’m quite sure they did. Because the way it meshes, and the way [their verses] responded back to me. In order for the movie to go right, they had to hear it.
Ambrosia For Heads: One of those guests is Shawn Wigs. I was a huge fan of Theodore Unit 718 album10 years ago. Of all of your own artists, Shawn’s still with you, even though he’s not always involved with your projects. Your own career took a while to get started, into Enter The 36 Chambers: Wu-Tang. Is that type of patience something that you try to instill in your guys to be successful?
Ghostface Killah: I mean, yeah. It’s like, when the time is right, the time is right. If the time is not right, then, you know what, [wait it out]. That said, I’ve still got a few of my guys. [Shawn Wigs] is one of my loved ones. We still bug out and laugh. If I’m in the studio, he might come through. It’s like, “Hey, you know what? Go do this.” Whatever, go get your voice on it or whatever.” It ain’t nothin’ givin’ a brother a part or whatever, just makin’ a play. “Play that part,” and that’s it, keep it movin’. He’s one of the good brothers to me, right there, and stuff like that.
Yeah, we started out with Theodore Unit. Families grow, a lot of things don’t last forever, you know what I mean? Whether it’s the dream, friendship, or ideas, or whatever it may be, but at the end of the day, I took some brothers where they had to go, ’til the Most High said, “Okay, that’s it, right there.” You know me, I’m spiritual. These are relationships. Like when you deal with a female—I was tellin’ this chick today, “You know what? Not everybody is meant to be married. I might not can’t do a 75-year anniversary, or a 50-year anniversary. Sometimes, some people are meant to take up space in your life just for a [finite] period of time.” You know what I mean? So I understand that, and that’s how it goes with everything. I don’t care if you have a pair of sneakers, you’re not gonna have that pair of sneakers for the rest of your life like that, ’cause after you dogged them out, you’re gonna have to fukk around and get a new pair.
Ambrosia For Heads: Coming off of last year’s Twelve Reasons To Die, and this album’s early reception, you’ve done some amazing stuff lately. You had the TV show, and a lot going on. At this point in the game, over 20 years, is there anything you want to do that you haven’t achieved?
Ghostface Killah: I mean, yeah! I don’t really know what it is, but I know there’s something else, bigger than Rap, that I must do before [I retire]. I’m gonna rap ’til…if I’m gonna rap, I’m not gonna be on the road. If I’ma be on the road, I might do some [Las] Vegas stuff for 20 years straight [chuckling] on some Celine Dion shyt. Because I got stories like that. Like you said, 36 Seasons or Twelve Reasons To Die, I got stories—I could take that shyt on the road. Nahmean? That’s there already. But as you get older, you get older. You start…there’s problems. Like Marvin Gaye, he was on some “mercy, mercy” shyt in “What’s Going On” and all that. I’m one of those guys, that’s gonna have to tell a story one day for us as a nation.
All that party shyt, it’s all cool. But you have to get serious. Be true, at the same time. There’s too much going on. You’ve got our people gettin’ shot, cops killin’ Blacks for nothin’, healthcare ain’t this, that, and the third—we gettin’ older now. It’s like, you got a lot of females comin’ up with cancer. I gotta tell these stories as I get older; I can’t be tellin’ stories like “C.R.E.A.M.” and all that other shyt like I’m sellin’ two-for-five’s, ’cause I’m not really doin’ that. ‘Cause if I got a cane, a lot of people can identify with that—the cane, or false teeth, or medication, ’cause we have problems. In the world, we’re not gettin’ no younger—we’re gettin’ older. So my generation that know me from Rap music, they’re gonna grow with me. I’m gonna be havin’ to talk to them people too—but maybe doin’ it in a fly way. I might be talkin’ about my cane, but my cane just might be iced out. You know what I mean? I’m just enjoying the ride right now. I’m payin’ tickets, but at the same time, droppin’ jewels.
I don’t care if I got false teeth, I’m gonna rap about that. ‘Cause other people got false teeth too. Yo, there’s gonna be so much ground that I have to cover. A lot of people like, “Yo, I’m gonna stop rappin’ at 50, or 40, or 30.” Then yo, you don’t really love it. That’s why it was hard for Bernard Hopkins to leave the ring. He’s 50 years old, but he believe he can really do it! But yo, this Rap is not boxing! Nahmean? I’m not gettin’ punched in my head all day when it’s slowing me down and I gotta whatchamacallit. All I gotta do is keep an open mind, stay writing, and look at the music to get the sceneries. I might gotta go to Costa Rica or somewhere in the hills of Africa to catch one, like Marvin Gaye had to go to Europe where he did the [Midnight Love] album. If he wouldn’t have went there, he might not have caught that vision, you understand what I’m sayin’? So these are the things, in my lifetime, that I’ma have to do, or whateva, whateva, whateva, yeah. I wanna do another R&B album, I wanna do an album about strictly God and things of that nature, “This is what it should be. This is how it is to me.” I just wanna cover ground, B. I’ma continue to be the best that I can be, and God willing, if he goes ahead and gives me long life where I can use my hands and my brain. If I live to be an old man, I’m gonna have so many tales about bein’ an old man, even if ya dikk don’t get up. [Laughs] I’ma let that out. That’s just me, man. So I don’t really know what’s the next big, big, thing, but it just comes as it comes. I don’t want to know. Let me take the challenge. Once you know, it throws everything off balance.
Ambrosia For Heads: My final question is an easy, quick one for you. Since you mention Marty Scorsese, and I’m glad you did, and I agree with it. But I have to ask you the question all Scorsese Heads ask each other: Casino or Goodfellas?
Ghostface Killah: Wow. Hmmm! Mmmm. Yo, you know what? I can’t even tell you. Yo, that’s like you askin’ me “Al Pacino or [Robert] DeNiro?” It’s like they both ill, man. I don’t know, maybe Goodfellas, maybe. I don’t know. [Laughs] I do love Casino too, though! That’s a hard one. I shouldn’t even answer that, you know what I mean?
http://ambrosiaforheads.com/2014/12...corsese-heres-why-food-for-thought-interview/
Speaking about his upcoming eleventh solo album, Ghostface Killah is in his glory. The Staten Island MC is spirited, especially on the subjects of 1980s Rap and 1990s cinema. The day his 36 Seasons was publicly premiered in a full-length NPR Music stream, Ghost speaks to Ambrosia For Heads, and practically downplays the effort of an album that is arguably eclipsing hardcore fans’ excitement surrounding Wu-Tang Clan’s own sixth album, A Better Tomorrow. In his to-the-point way, G.F.K. takes credit for being a lyrical mercenary on his first foray with Tommy Boy Records, and little else.
Narratives and imagery come easy to Dennis Coles, who playfully imagines his own verses in the days where he’ll be flashin’ AARP cards instead of iron. Guarded at first, Ghost’ is a strong listener, who likes to incorporate humor into his conversations, much like his verses. He’s big on metaphor, innuendo, and the kind of barbershop riffing that’s made him a timeless voice of reason and originality in the Hip-Hop genre he loves. Like the LP he is releasing, Ghostface Killah is so impassioned, sincere, and unadulterated that whether it’s a storyline (in the case of an album) or schtick (in the case of speaking with a near stranger), it’s all real. In Ghostface Killah’s verbalized thoughts are his essence, and in an era of synthetic substitutions, he is a dependable constant.
Ambrosia For Heads: I remember the last time you and I spoke, in 2006, and you went into great detail on Slick Rick’s influence on you. 36 Seasons is a story. I love that there are elements like the constant reminder of “nine years” that are parts of the story in most songs; this feels like an audio book. To what extent did you map this out, and blueprint it as a story? For me, the listener, it feels like a lot of work to make it so cinematic.
Ghostface Killah: Right. I mean, I did [36 Seasons] kind of quick, you know what I mean? The rest of the team just put the work together. It’s like they sent me to do a hit. If you give me a contract and tell me you want a person killed, and you want it done this [specific] way, I’ll just do whatever you say. That’s basically what happened. It was presented to me, to do this thing. “On this track, do this thing right here. Then, on this track, I want you to do this. And do this. Do this. And do this. Talk about all these situations.” And that’s basically what I did. I [answered the requests], and then I gave it back to the [Tommy Boy Records] team. They got the rest of the brothers on there to go do what they had to do. And that was it; we just put this puzzle together.
Ambrosia For Heads: Salute to you then, and everybody else who worked on 36 Seasons, because it sounds like something that was really masterminded like that.
Ghostface Killah: Yeah, yeah! Definitely. It was masterminded like that. For this album right here, it was a theme. So it was kinda more easier for me, you know? Because, I have direction. So when I got direction, it’s like, okay, I know where I want to go. Like I tell people, I’m like a Martin Scorsese. I want you to see this picture, but I want you to see it like how I see it. Now, now, now, now—I didn’t go like 32 bars and 40 bars, so I had to just get my story off so the other guys could get on it, with my 16 bars, 20 bars, you know what I mean? So every thing could fit. So I don’t gotta dog the whole track. That’s what it was, more than anything, they were trying to squish it down to make it whateva, whateva, whateva, nahmean? And that’s just what I did.
And the beats was on point, so that helped me out a lot too. It adds a lot—the beats. If you’ve got some fukked up beats, then it’s like, “Damn, how you really want to go with this shyt?” The beat is the shyt that gives you the feel. My whole career, everything I ever wrote that was a story, really, the beat made me do it. Whatever you heard, “All That I Got Is You,” whatever, the beat made me do that story. And that’s what it be. That’s what it is.
Ambrosia For Heads: Speaking of the beats, listening to The Revelations’ tracks, it sounds like a live album in many places. Is this something you might take on the road?
Ghostface Killah: The show? The songs? The album? Umm, I mean, it could. It could do that because it’s [cohesive]. I mean, but to go on the road…if I was to go on the road with it, I wouldn’t really want to go on stage and just have a microphone with it, and being the guy who was just rhymin’. Nah. You would have to make it like a play for me. Everything would have to be like a play; I wouldn’t want to just come up there and just [perform traditionally]—unless I wanted to just get money. But I would rather give it to the people like, “Oh shyt, this is like a real movie, on stage. This one did this and that one just did that.” And you’ve got intermissions where you know what? We’re just livin’ it out for like 60 minutes. You know what I mean? So, you definitely could, definitely could.
Ambrosia For Heads: You mentioned how the beats send you in directions. I know it’s just one track,“Blood In The Streets,” but you and I are both big fans of ’80s and ’90s Hip-Hop. That said, what is it like to get a track in with 45 King?
Ghostface Killah: Oh yeah, man! It’s like, yo, I respect all legends, man. That’s what got me [into the culture]. They play a part in Hip-Hop. If it wasn’t for the legends and the ones that was doin’ it, we probably wouldn’t be where we are right now, at this stage of the game. I was glad to see my ones supplyin’ the—even Sugarhill Gang, [Grandmaster] Melle Mel, [Grandmaster] Flash & The Furious Five, I’m so blessed to get a chance to see those guys, and shake hands with those guys, and to tell ‘em “thank you”—even down to Rakim, and KRS-One, and Big Daddy Kane and them, because that’s who made me the person that I am right now: goin’ through that. I thank God that I had the chance to experience the ’70s, all through the ’80s Hip-Hop music. You know what I mean? That gave birth to me. That gave me the whole insight on how I wanna rhyme.
So for 45 King to go and put the track up there like that, it’s like, yo, that just added on to my legacy. You know what I mean? It’s like, “Yo, he had a track on this dope album and shyt.” So it’s like, you know what, it’s all good. It’s a blessing, yo.
Ambrosia For Heads: Early on, you said that you sent this back and the folks behind 36 Seasons added the other components. So with that said, you didn’t record with two other legends, AZ, Kool G Rap, and the other guys? It reminded me of an ensemble cast, like in your career, being a “costar” on Raekwon’s Purple Tape…
Ghostface Killah: I sent my verses in. I guess [the guests] might have heard [my verses], I’m not sure. They might heard my verse or verses, and then worked off of that. But I’m quite sure they did. Because the way it meshes, and the way [their verses] responded back to me. In order for the movie to go right, they had to hear it.
Ambrosia For Heads: One of those guests is Shawn Wigs. I was a huge fan of Theodore Unit 718 album10 years ago. Of all of your own artists, Shawn’s still with you, even though he’s not always involved with your projects. Your own career took a while to get started, into Enter The 36 Chambers: Wu-Tang. Is that type of patience something that you try to instill in your guys to be successful?
Ghostface Killah: I mean, yeah. It’s like, when the time is right, the time is right. If the time is not right, then, you know what, [wait it out]. That said, I’ve still got a few of my guys. [Shawn Wigs] is one of my loved ones. We still bug out and laugh. If I’m in the studio, he might come through. It’s like, “Hey, you know what? Go do this.” Whatever, go get your voice on it or whatever.” It ain’t nothin’ givin’ a brother a part or whatever, just makin’ a play. “Play that part,” and that’s it, keep it movin’. He’s one of the good brothers to me, right there, and stuff like that.
Yeah, we started out with Theodore Unit. Families grow, a lot of things don’t last forever, you know what I mean? Whether it’s the dream, friendship, or ideas, or whatever it may be, but at the end of the day, I took some brothers where they had to go, ’til the Most High said, “Okay, that’s it, right there.” You know me, I’m spiritual. These are relationships. Like when you deal with a female—I was tellin’ this chick today, “You know what? Not everybody is meant to be married. I might not can’t do a 75-year anniversary, or a 50-year anniversary. Sometimes, some people are meant to take up space in your life just for a [finite] period of time.” You know what I mean? So I understand that, and that’s how it goes with everything. I don’t care if you have a pair of sneakers, you’re not gonna have that pair of sneakers for the rest of your life like that, ’cause after you dogged them out, you’re gonna have to fukk around and get a new pair.
Ambrosia For Heads: Coming off of last year’s Twelve Reasons To Die, and this album’s early reception, you’ve done some amazing stuff lately. You had the TV show, and a lot going on. At this point in the game, over 20 years, is there anything you want to do that you haven’t achieved?
Ghostface Killah: I mean, yeah! I don’t really know what it is, but I know there’s something else, bigger than Rap, that I must do before [I retire]. I’m gonna rap ’til…if I’m gonna rap, I’m not gonna be on the road. If I’ma be on the road, I might do some [Las] Vegas stuff for 20 years straight [chuckling] on some Celine Dion shyt. Because I got stories like that. Like you said, 36 Seasons or Twelve Reasons To Die, I got stories—I could take that shyt on the road. Nahmean? That’s there already. But as you get older, you get older. You start…there’s problems. Like Marvin Gaye, he was on some “mercy, mercy” shyt in “What’s Going On” and all that. I’m one of those guys, that’s gonna have to tell a story one day for us as a nation.
All that party shyt, it’s all cool. But you have to get serious. Be true, at the same time. There’s too much going on. You’ve got our people gettin’ shot, cops killin’ Blacks for nothin’, healthcare ain’t this, that, and the third—we gettin’ older now. It’s like, you got a lot of females comin’ up with cancer. I gotta tell these stories as I get older; I can’t be tellin’ stories like “C.R.E.A.M.” and all that other shyt like I’m sellin’ two-for-five’s, ’cause I’m not really doin’ that. ‘Cause if I got a cane, a lot of people can identify with that—the cane, or false teeth, or medication, ’cause we have problems. In the world, we’re not gettin’ no younger—we’re gettin’ older. So my generation that know me from Rap music, they’re gonna grow with me. I’m gonna be havin’ to talk to them people too—but maybe doin’ it in a fly way. I might be talkin’ about my cane, but my cane just might be iced out. You know what I mean? I’m just enjoying the ride right now. I’m payin’ tickets, but at the same time, droppin’ jewels.
I don’t care if I got false teeth, I’m gonna rap about that. ‘Cause other people got false teeth too. Yo, there’s gonna be so much ground that I have to cover. A lot of people like, “Yo, I’m gonna stop rappin’ at 50, or 40, or 30.” Then yo, you don’t really love it. That’s why it was hard for Bernard Hopkins to leave the ring. He’s 50 years old, but he believe he can really do it! But yo, this Rap is not boxing! Nahmean? I’m not gettin’ punched in my head all day when it’s slowing me down and I gotta whatchamacallit. All I gotta do is keep an open mind, stay writing, and look at the music to get the sceneries. I might gotta go to Costa Rica or somewhere in the hills of Africa to catch one, like Marvin Gaye had to go to Europe where he did the [Midnight Love] album. If he wouldn’t have went there, he might not have caught that vision, you understand what I’m sayin’? So these are the things, in my lifetime, that I’ma have to do, or whateva, whateva, whateva, yeah. I wanna do another R&B album, I wanna do an album about strictly God and things of that nature, “This is what it should be. This is how it is to me.” I just wanna cover ground, B. I’ma continue to be the best that I can be, and God willing, if he goes ahead and gives me long life where I can use my hands and my brain. If I live to be an old man, I’m gonna have so many tales about bein’ an old man, even if ya dikk don’t get up. [Laughs] I’ma let that out. That’s just me, man. So I don’t really know what’s the next big, big, thing, but it just comes as it comes. I don’t want to know. Let me take the challenge. Once you know, it throws everything off balance.
Ambrosia For Heads: My final question is an easy, quick one for you. Since you mention Marty Scorsese, and I’m glad you did, and I agree with it. But I have to ask you the question all Scorsese Heads ask each other: Casino or Goodfellas?
Ghostface Killah: Wow. Hmmm! Mmmm. Yo, you know what? I can’t even tell you. Yo, that’s like you askin’ me “Al Pacino or [Robert] DeNiro?” It’s like they both ill, man. I don’t know, maybe Goodfellas, maybe. I don’t know. [Laughs] I do love Casino too, though! That’s a hard one. I shouldn’t even answer that, you know what I mean?
http://ambrosiaforheads.com/2014/12...corsese-heres-why-food-for-thought-interview/
Ghostface Killah on His New Album, Giving Up Weed:
Ghostface Killah, your rapper's favorite rapper and a self-described "wizard of poetry," is one of hip-hop's most prolific artists — he's released nearly a dozen solo albums since his 1996 debut, Ironman, not to mention his work with the Wu-Tang Clan, which released their long-awaited new album, A Better Tomorrow, last week. This week, Ghostface drops 36 Seasons, a concept album on which the rapper's alter ego, Tony Starks, gets killed by a crooked cop (played by AZ) but brought back to life to exact vengeance. We spoke with Ghostface about how the album came together, his writing process, and his plans for the sequel to his masterpiece, Supreme Clientele.
This is your third album in the past two years. How quickly did 36 Seasons come together?
It only took 11 days. What it was, a team of people came together and they asked if I wanted to do the project. Bob Perry [co-owner of Soul Temple Records, the label that released Ghostface Killah’s Twelve Reasons to Die] and his team reached out, explained it to me, and then sent me the script they wanted. It was easy for me. They provided the direction, all I had to do was follow a concept, and one thing just led to the next. It’s like doing a hit. Someone pays you to do a hit, and they tell you how they want the hit done. I just took care of it.
Was this album easier since you had a blueprint?
It was kind of easy, but you have to be careful. You don’t want to make it too complicated where it gets really deep, but it could just be summed up in a few words. You have to feel how the song might need to be done.
Since you already had the blueprint, what was the writing process like?
I just sat down at the table and thought. If you look at the album, it’s about a comeback. I go to jail, and when I come back, my friend is now a cop, but at the same time, he’s fukking my girl without me knowing. He convinces me to go ahead and take out this one dude who is running all the drugs. And these are things that you have to use your mind and draw up. It’s like a Martin Scorsese film — I am imagining how I want the film to go. I want to get real deep into the story like a movie, and it’s almost like in my mind, I’m watching the movie. I never went to jail for 36 seasons, I never knew someone like that, but I just had to follow the guidelines.
Is that how you typically write, to think of the song, or the album, as a film?
My process is once I know what I got, I just set it off. I don’t know what I want to say until I am listening to the beat, but it’s always important that I make sure that first line is right. Whatever line I get, especially of theme albums, I try to go off for that. I will write maybe six to eight bars and then pick the best that fits right on the music, and then use that. Sometimes you think you have it, but you don’t.
Was this something you’ve always done?
The importance of the first line? I learned this back in the day. It’s almost like boxing. The first couple of rounds, you should be getting your weight up. Maybe in the sixth or seventh round, you can coast a little, but to make it to 12, you have to come out heavy — unless you went crazy for 10 rounds, and then coast the next 2 rounds. I look at lines like rounds.
Your career has been built on songs with very descriptive lyrics. "Shakey Dog" or your verse on "Impossible," they feel like short stories.
It all goes back to thinking my rhymes are like a movie. On certain beats I have to make the lyrics descriptive. Even if I drop the juice near the fridge, I have to say that so people know what I am doing. I never planned this to be my technique — I was just rhyming to rhyme, and I had stories. As time went on, things just happen. My first story was "Can It All Be So Simple" with Raekwon, and then my song with Mary J. Blige, "All I Got Is You." It’s a picture you paint on the track. It’s like, wow, I’ve had people crying — they told me they cried listening to my songs. From there on, I felt like I needed to write stories, but only on certain beats.
You mentioned not all beats, just certain ones. When and how do you decide?
A beat can touch and move me, and if it can grab me and make me want to rhyme off top, then I’ll go ahead. I can’t get busy on every track. You might think you can get busy, but the rhyme will not come out. It’s like having a bytch. You are so anxious to fukk her, so you might not fukk her right. You’re so anxious that you cum too quickly. That’s how it is sometimes with music. You wanted her so bad, but as soon as you got it, your brain wasn’t clicking like that. If I can’t catch it right there, I have to come back, either days later or a week. I’ve had rhymes that took me a month to finish.
I read you gave up smoking weed. When was that?
Around the time of The Pretty Toney Album [2004]; it was the worst time for me.
Did giving up weed make it harder to write?
It could be a mind thing with weed. It used to help a lot. To be a real MC, with my technique, is tricky, so when I was smoking, the weed would open up closed doors. I would hear music and be like, "Oh shyt, this sounds good." In a sense of catching that first line and how you want the rest of the verse to go, weed might have been a good one for that, but I just started getting sick a lot. I started saying I don’t need it anymore. When you have a sober mind, you can put things where they need to be, but the music sounds better on weed. I am almost second-guessing myself. You are a little more creative and might be able to catch a few better lines than when sober. If I was smoking, I would hear someone catch a beat, but I might have a few more juicy lines. My brain works different than other people’s brains — my mind has always been the total opposite of others.
Albums like Supreme Clientele, Ironman, and even Ghostdini are considered classics. Is that something you are aware of when you are recording them?I don’t really look at the importance of it, at the time. I just look at it as work, and I’m not analyzing them as you are. Once you are in the middle of it, you don’t recognize the power until you step away from it.
With Ghostdini, which was an R&B-influenced album, it is such a stark departure from what you were doing up until that point.
Yeah, but I wasn’t scared to do that album anyway. I’ve always wanted to do an R&B album. I am a huge fan of R&B. I love R. Kelly and want to be the person every chick gets with, and Ghostdini is one of the best albums I ever did. The album wasn’t promoted out there, though. Def Jam just dropped it and left it alone, and that was the last hurrah with me on Def Jam. I thought if they could promote that album, that shyt was fire.
You left Def Jam in 2012, so what is your creative freedom like now?I have a lot more of it. I’m one of those guys in the NBA that can get triple doubles every day. I cover topics that people go through every day. I’ve got my street cred, I covered a lot of that ground. I’ve got the criminal to napsackers to some women. When I did Fishscale, a lot of napsackers came and hopped on that. I touched a lot of females with my R&B, even if it wasn’t promoted, and I have that earlier shyt that had the streets.
Since debuting in 1993 with Enter the Wu-Tang, how do you feel you’ve progressed?I don’t know if I am getting any greater, or if I am mellowing out. I’ll never be the same as I was back then, and I could fall off at any time. At least I try to stay consistent with every album I do. But I consider myself a wizard of poetry.
What is the status of the sequel to Supreme Clientele? Is that coming out soon?I still have to finish off Supreme Clientele II, but it is like 85 to 90 percent done. I can’t wait to release that — I’ve been doing theme albums, and that is great, but I think it is time for people to know what they love me for. They love me for stories. With Supreme Clientele II, I am going to get how I felt back then when I was doing street shyt, but it’ll also be mixed with a little bit of today. The only things I need on that is the correct skits, and to figure out the lineup. Everything on the album is important, from songs 1 through 12 or whatever, and the lineup has to mesh and fit well. I could have a bunch of hits on an album, but if the album isn’t meshing, people could fast-forward. I didn’t have to deal with the lineup of 36 Seasons because it was a story, so I couldn’t change it and just left that to the team, but with Supreme Clientele II, I might have to go through several different lineups just to get the right one.
Are you also working on anything else right now?We’re making a Twelve Reasons to Die II, and that will maybe come out in March. Some of the stuff that will be coming out — the Supreme Clientelefollow-up, the Twelve Reasons to Die II — it was finished months ago. I still go to the studio here and there, but my focus is on wrapping up what is about to drop, and what me and Raekwon got. He is doing an album. Then I’ll go back to the drawing board and see what is next.
AZ plays the cop in 36 Seasons, and he recently said he believed rappers nowadays are focused less on the lyricism and more on the brands. You have voiced your displeasure with the rise of Southern trap music, do you agree with AZ? Or do you feel like this generation’s music is meant for them?I think AZ is correct. But what I rapped and listened to, and what the kids do nowadays, it is two different musics. What they are doing is what they are doing. When you study the music, you have to dumb yourself right down for certain music. When you get my Supreme Clientele, it is straight bars. It’s not like the kids nowadays are not as smart — or maybe I could say they aren’t as smart — but it doesn’t take them time to think. They are just making music for right now, and not music that is going to last forever. You can go into an archive, grab some Biggie or Nas, and just zone out listening. You are hearing the stories and what they are saying, but the attention span for the new generation is short. They don’t think. If you have a conversation with kids on the street, they can’t use one big word.
To stay relevant, do you have to dumb yourself down then?You have to know when to turn it on. When I do a trap music track, I don’t get too complicated, because they don’t want to hear that shyt. You got to get dumb with them. They have a dumb hook and aren't saying anything on that hook. When Nas and AZ send you a track, you know it is serious business. Same with Styles P and Jadakiss, then it is serious business. But when you get a trap music track, you know it's time to dumb it down.
http://www.vulture.com/2014/12/ghostface-on-his-new-album-giving-up-weed.html
Ghostface Killah, your rapper's favorite rapper and a self-described "wizard of poetry," is one of hip-hop's most prolific artists — he's released nearly a dozen solo albums since his 1996 debut, Ironman, not to mention his work with the Wu-Tang Clan, which released their long-awaited new album, A Better Tomorrow, last week. This week, Ghostface drops 36 Seasons, a concept album on which the rapper's alter ego, Tony Starks, gets killed by a crooked cop (played by AZ) but brought back to life to exact vengeance. We spoke with Ghostface about how the album came together, his writing process, and his plans for the sequel to his masterpiece, Supreme Clientele.
This is your third album in the past two years. How quickly did 36 Seasons come together?
It only took 11 days. What it was, a team of people came together and they asked if I wanted to do the project. Bob Perry [co-owner of Soul Temple Records, the label that released Ghostface Killah’s Twelve Reasons to Die] and his team reached out, explained it to me, and then sent me the script they wanted. It was easy for me. They provided the direction, all I had to do was follow a concept, and one thing just led to the next. It’s like doing a hit. Someone pays you to do a hit, and they tell you how they want the hit done. I just took care of it.
Was this album easier since you had a blueprint?
It was kind of easy, but you have to be careful. You don’t want to make it too complicated where it gets really deep, but it could just be summed up in a few words. You have to feel how the song might need to be done.
Since you already had the blueprint, what was the writing process like?
I just sat down at the table and thought. If you look at the album, it’s about a comeback. I go to jail, and when I come back, my friend is now a cop, but at the same time, he’s fukking my girl without me knowing. He convinces me to go ahead and take out this one dude who is running all the drugs. And these are things that you have to use your mind and draw up. It’s like a Martin Scorsese film — I am imagining how I want the film to go. I want to get real deep into the story like a movie, and it’s almost like in my mind, I’m watching the movie. I never went to jail for 36 seasons, I never knew someone like that, but I just had to follow the guidelines.
Is that how you typically write, to think of the song, or the album, as a film?
My process is once I know what I got, I just set it off. I don’t know what I want to say until I am listening to the beat, but it’s always important that I make sure that first line is right. Whatever line I get, especially of theme albums, I try to go off for that. I will write maybe six to eight bars and then pick the best that fits right on the music, and then use that. Sometimes you think you have it, but you don’t.
Was this something you’ve always done?
The importance of the first line? I learned this back in the day. It’s almost like boxing. The first couple of rounds, you should be getting your weight up. Maybe in the sixth or seventh round, you can coast a little, but to make it to 12, you have to come out heavy — unless you went crazy for 10 rounds, and then coast the next 2 rounds. I look at lines like rounds.
Your career has been built on songs with very descriptive lyrics. "Shakey Dog" or your verse on "Impossible," they feel like short stories.
It all goes back to thinking my rhymes are like a movie. On certain beats I have to make the lyrics descriptive. Even if I drop the juice near the fridge, I have to say that so people know what I am doing. I never planned this to be my technique — I was just rhyming to rhyme, and I had stories. As time went on, things just happen. My first story was "Can It All Be So Simple" with Raekwon, and then my song with Mary J. Blige, "All I Got Is You." It’s a picture you paint on the track. It’s like, wow, I’ve had people crying — they told me they cried listening to my songs. From there on, I felt like I needed to write stories, but only on certain beats.
You mentioned not all beats, just certain ones. When and how do you decide?
A beat can touch and move me, and if it can grab me and make me want to rhyme off top, then I’ll go ahead. I can’t get busy on every track. You might think you can get busy, but the rhyme will not come out. It’s like having a bytch. You are so anxious to fukk her, so you might not fukk her right. You’re so anxious that you cum too quickly. That’s how it is sometimes with music. You wanted her so bad, but as soon as you got it, your brain wasn’t clicking like that. If I can’t catch it right there, I have to come back, either days later or a week. I’ve had rhymes that took me a month to finish.
I read you gave up smoking weed. When was that?
Around the time of The Pretty Toney Album [2004]; it was the worst time for me.
Did giving up weed make it harder to write?
It could be a mind thing with weed. It used to help a lot. To be a real MC, with my technique, is tricky, so when I was smoking, the weed would open up closed doors. I would hear music and be like, "Oh shyt, this sounds good." In a sense of catching that first line and how you want the rest of the verse to go, weed might have been a good one for that, but I just started getting sick a lot. I started saying I don’t need it anymore. When you have a sober mind, you can put things where they need to be, but the music sounds better on weed. I am almost second-guessing myself. You are a little more creative and might be able to catch a few better lines than when sober. If I was smoking, I would hear someone catch a beat, but I might have a few more juicy lines. My brain works different than other people’s brains — my mind has always been the total opposite of others.
Albums like Supreme Clientele, Ironman, and even Ghostdini are considered classics. Is that something you are aware of when you are recording them?I don’t really look at the importance of it, at the time. I just look at it as work, and I’m not analyzing them as you are. Once you are in the middle of it, you don’t recognize the power until you step away from it.
With Ghostdini, which was an R&B-influenced album, it is such a stark departure from what you were doing up until that point.
Yeah, but I wasn’t scared to do that album anyway. I’ve always wanted to do an R&B album. I am a huge fan of R&B. I love R. Kelly and want to be the person every chick gets with, and Ghostdini is one of the best albums I ever did. The album wasn’t promoted out there, though. Def Jam just dropped it and left it alone, and that was the last hurrah with me on Def Jam. I thought if they could promote that album, that shyt was fire.
You left Def Jam in 2012, so what is your creative freedom like now?I have a lot more of it. I’m one of those guys in the NBA that can get triple doubles every day. I cover topics that people go through every day. I’ve got my street cred, I covered a lot of that ground. I’ve got the criminal to napsackers to some women. When I did Fishscale, a lot of napsackers came and hopped on that. I touched a lot of females with my R&B, even if it wasn’t promoted, and I have that earlier shyt that had the streets.
Since debuting in 1993 with Enter the Wu-Tang, how do you feel you’ve progressed?I don’t know if I am getting any greater, or if I am mellowing out. I’ll never be the same as I was back then, and I could fall off at any time. At least I try to stay consistent with every album I do. But I consider myself a wizard of poetry.
What is the status of the sequel to Supreme Clientele? Is that coming out soon?I still have to finish off Supreme Clientele II, but it is like 85 to 90 percent done. I can’t wait to release that — I’ve been doing theme albums, and that is great, but I think it is time for people to know what they love me for. They love me for stories. With Supreme Clientele II, I am going to get how I felt back then when I was doing street shyt, but it’ll also be mixed with a little bit of today. The only things I need on that is the correct skits, and to figure out the lineup. Everything on the album is important, from songs 1 through 12 or whatever, and the lineup has to mesh and fit well. I could have a bunch of hits on an album, but if the album isn’t meshing, people could fast-forward. I didn’t have to deal with the lineup of 36 Seasons because it was a story, so I couldn’t change it and just left that to the team, but with Supreme Clientele II, I might have to go through several different lineups just to get the right one.
Are you also working on anything else right now?We’re making a Twelve Reasons to Die II, and that will maybe come out in March. Some of the stuff that will be coming out — the Supreme Clientelefollow-up, the Twelve Reasons to Die II — it was finished months ago. I still go to the studio here and there, but my focus is on wrapping up what is about to drop, and what me and Raekwon got. He is doing an album. Then I’ll go back to the drawing board and see what is next.
AZ plays the cop in 36 Seasons, and he recently said he believed rappers nowadays are focused less on the lyricism and more on the brands. You have voiced your displeasure with the rise of Southern trap music, do you agree with AZ? Or do you feel like this generation’s music is meant for them?I think AZ is correct. But what I rapped and listened to, and what the kids do nowadays, it is two different musics. What they are doing is what they are doing. When you study the music, you have to dumb yourself right down for certain music. When you get my Supreme Clientele, it is straight bars. It’s not like the kids nowadays are not as smart — or maybe I could say they aren’t as smart — but it doesn’t take them time to think. They are just making music for right now, and not music that is going to last forever. You can go into an archive, grab some Biggie or Nas, and just zone out listening. You are hearing the stories and what they are saying, but the attention span for the new generation is short. They don’t think. If you have a conversation with kids on the street, they can’t use one big word.
To stay relevant, do you have to dumb yourself down then?You have to know when to turn it on. When I do a trap music track, I don’t get too complicated, because they don’t want to hear that shyt. You got to get dumb with them. They have a dumb hook and aren't saying anything on that hook. When Nas and AZ send you a track, you know it is serious business. Same with Styles P and Jadakiss, then it is serious business. But when you get a trap music track, you know it's time to dumb it down.
http://www.vulture.com/2014/12/ghostface-on-his-new-album-giving-up-weed.html
Yea, what Piff said
Only a few tracks in but this is dope..sounding way better than A Better Tomorrow. Might have to support this one. Sounds better than anything I've heard from Ghost since probably Big Doe Rehab.
Foxmulder
Superstar
I'm copping the physical and the iTunes version
AZ's flow is still 
and over this production hes killing it
and over this production hes killing it
Sounds like Ghost and Trife parted ways when the Shawn Wiggs mention came up in the interview....
Just heard this today, better than the Wu album. The story is dope and the songs themselves are good too, I can listen to these without getting the whole album story and they're still good. Diverse sound on the album, that singing song with no Ghost verse is dope. Great album.
why isnt this stickied 
, couldn't even find the thread
this album
, couldn't even find the threadthis album