|
 With his name attached to two albums out now, Wu-Tang swordsman Ghostface Killah has certainly had a busy fall -- with his seventh solo LP, The Big Doe Rehab, out and the much anticipated Wu-Tang reunion record, 8 Diagrams.
The Staten Island rapper's been hailed as one of hip-hop's legendary figures, a time-tested MC of outlandish style and intricate narratives, and Ballerstatus.com had the change to speak with him about his new album, his writing style, and his thoughts on the death of Sean Taylor.
BallerStatus.com: Your new album, The Big Doe Rehab, what should we expect from that?
Ghostface Killah: You should expect that real Tony Starks sh**. That sh** that I brought you up on with my first album, know what I mean? And my stories -- the way I put sh** together real well. You know, just expect Tony, man. I can't tell you something that's going to be crazy, from out the blue. I'm just doing me. You know, real music man. Knowing who the real Tony Starks is, the real Ghostface. This is what you're gonna expect, that's all.
BallerStatus.com: You think that your storytelling has changed over the years?
Ghostface Killah: Um, I'm not sure, but maybe because I used to get high and smoke weed or get drunk before I'd write a certain amount of rhymes, you know? I think not too much, though. When you get the album right here, you'll be able to tell me.
BallerStatus.com: What's up with the rest of Theodore Unit? Should we expect anything from Sun God?
Ghostface Killah: He's kinda lazy. He don't really, like, stay too serious in the booth. He just kinda do what he do and go by the streets and sh** like that. But we gonna continue to make records and tour.
BallerStatus.com: Do you plan to maintain the pace you're on right now of basically an album a year?
Ghostface Killah: Yeah, I plan on doing sh** like that. Even if it's not my full album, like we gonna do the Cuban Linx album. It's hard to do two things at one time, but you'll definitely feel my presence.
BallerStatus.com: Let's talk about "All That I Got Is You." Was that a challenging song to write? Had you tried to accomplish something similar before?
Ghostface Killah: It didn't take me a while, but I might of recorded it two or three times. You take your time on it, and you fall into that zone. Fall in tune with it, where the people can feel you. And I think that's what I did, and that's why people feel the song so much.
BallerStatus.com: When you approach a song, do you have an idea of how you'd like it to come out?
Ghostface Killah: I like to write at home. I never go in the studio and write unless I have to. A lot of times I don't like how my material come out. But I listen to the beat at home, and whatever comes to my mind, whatever the beat feels like -- if it feels like nighttime -- I'll write about something that happened at night time. If it feel like... "Oh sh**, just tear that up, just go in there like Paisley Darts." Certain beats tell you, "Oh sh**, it's raining outside. Oh sh**, yo, to talk about the sun. Do this or do that or it's snowing." Certain beats, that's what the beat does to me. Then I write it. Then I go in the studio and try it out. But every rhyme that you write isn't a dart. It's gotta be a good one. Sometimes you write it down, and you might not like how you came off on it. So you gotta trash that, and see if you can come up with something iller than that.
BallerStatus.com: What's it like to play in a place like Austin, a city synonymous with music, but not exactly hip-hop?
Ghostface Killah: I approach every state the same way I'd approach it if I was approaching Madison Square Garden. It's nothing different. I gotta do the same thing up there -- give the same energy, interact with the crowd, you know, talk to em. I never approach it like "Be careful with this crowd here, and take this out, take that out."
BallerStatus.com: Do you have any thoughts on Sean Taylor? What was it like for you to leave your past behind as you found fame?
Ghostface Killah: You know, we're sad about his death and it's a shame. When you get to that point in your life, and you become a football star or a rap star, and you have to get murdered. You leave the hood to be comfortable, to take care of your family, but for sh** to follow you, and to kill you, that's f***ed up. That's not what we left for. We left to get this money and live comfortably.
I never met the guy, and I don't know what his outside forces was, what he was dealing with or sh** like that, but I know that any foul play that he was involved in... you know, cause you can't mix pork with beef. You're either gonna be straight or you're gonna be foul. You can't be both together. I don't know what his background was, or whatever, whatever, whatever, but it was just an occasion that, just whatever he was doing on other side of things, you know, it could come back to haunt you.
That's why I left a lot of foul sh** I used to do back in the day. Not saying he was on that. I know everything happens for a reason, but it's just sad. Just us, as a people, to have that mentality just to be savage and just wile out on somebody who was just trying to make it, or even if they're not trying to make it, just people period, man. Our frame of mind is so f***ed up. We'd do anything for a dollar. We'd kill our brother. Our mother.
Motherf***ers really need God, need life. Cause once you got Him in your life, you'd be so afraid to disappoint Him that you wouldn't do nothing. You wouldn't even steal a book of matches. You become so humble. And to try to pick up a gun and murder a motherf***er without feeling f***ed on the inside, that's some sh** man. You wouldn't even do that if you were so close to your Maker, to your Creator.
BallerStatus.com: How many Wallabees do you own right now?
Ghostface Killah: I gave a lot of my Wallabees away. I don't really own that many. I own maybe ten pairs. I gave a lot of sh** I had back in the day away. I can't even fit 'em anyway. I'm not a big fan of them like how I used to be. The creators of Wallys and sh**, they just run it on me. I made the motherf***ers a lot of money, so I'm not into it so much.
|
