Ghostface: On The Come Up Interview
Few rappers have the resume Ghostface boasts. From being a part of the core nine Wu-Tang Clan members, and coming up from the “36 Chambers,” Ghostface has done nothing but wow his listeners. Often extremely abstract and arguably avant-guarde, Ghost has consistently pushed boundaries even to the point of setting a trend rhyming over old soul records without removing the vocals from the original song.
After moving from Sony to Def Jam, Ghost has just released his fifth studio album entitled “Fishscale.” Featuring guests including Ne-Yo, the whole Wu-Tang Clan and MF Doom, Ghost is trying to further solidify his position as one of New York’s most creative.
MVRemix: What’s the biggest mis-conception people have of Ghostface?
Ghostface: I don’t know. I can’t even really, really tell ya man.
MVRemix: Is there anything you think people think differently of you than you’re used to thinking of yourself?
Ghostface: Nah, some people be thinkin’ that I was wild and shit – whatever they got it from was back in the days though. I’m a cool person, I’m down to earth. I’m a humble person.
MVRemix: What’s the plan for tomorrow? (March 28th when “Fishscale” is released)
Ghostface: I mean nothin’, just take it day by day. It’s not even a plan, God’s got all the plans. I just live it out.
MVRemix: So no particular celebration parties or anything like that?
Ghostface: Nah, just do what I do. I got a show, I think tomorrow… Got a show and that’s it. I’m keepin’ it movin’. That’s it.
MVRemix: Do you find focusing on being creative a challenge because of your time constraints with touring, interviews etc.?
Ghostface: Nah, I’m thinkin’ all the time. I’m always thinkin’ of new stuff and music really makes me go ahead and think of stuff, if I’ve got the right music. That’s it man, I’m always creating in my head.
MVRemix: Do you write down a lot of it or just keep it up there?
Ghostface: Nah, a lot of the time I keep the thought and lose it a lot because I don’t write it down, but it always comes back to me.
MVRemix: How does the Ghost of the “Ironman” era compare to the Ghost of today? What sort of things were going on back then?
Ghostface: The “Ironman” era; I was just coming out of “Cuban Linx.” I was wildin’ out on “Cuban Linx” in the streets and all that. Nowadays I’m not on the streets like I was back then in the “Cuban Linx” days and “Ironman” days. I mean I was with a bunch of my friends, just doin’ a lot of stuff and things wasn’t really that cool, you know what I mean? I found out I was a diabetic and losin’ a lot of weight here and there. So times was stressful, a lot of other things was goin’ on that I mentioned. It was real. Today things are still real, it’s just what I was goin’ through in different time zones.
MVRemix: “Three Bricks” is an excellent track, but would it have happened if B.I.G. were still alive. Did you make things good before he passed, because I know there were some problems around ’95…
Ghostface: I think so… I think so.
[phone rings]
Hold on, hold on…
Yeah, yo Rae. Yeah, I’m on the phone with these interviews with the magazines. Doin’ a bunch of interviews on the phone.
Raekwon: Okay… Page me then.
Ghostface: Alright, in a minute then. Aight, peace.
[interview resumes] It would have been happened before that. I mean it would have been happened before that because we would’ve gotten over that little bullshit and talked with whatever was goin’ on and we would have moved on. Right before he passed I was tryin’ to connect dots with him anyway in time, like, “Yo, come on, lets get this splashed out. Lets call this shit today man.”
MVRemix: How did that track come about? Was it your idea? Was it a label idea?
Ghostface: No, it was we had this song for Puffy and he doin’ the Biggie “Duets,” and it didn’t make “Duets,” and we just took it. We just used it.
MVRemix: How involved were you in “The Broiled Salmon Mixtape” with Mick Boogie?
Ghostface: How what?
MVRemix: Do you as an artist see much or any profits from the mixes?
Ghostface: When I did the Mick Boogie mixtape, the “Broiled Salmon” joint?
MVRemix: Yeah…
Ghostface: What about it, what you wanna know about it?
MVRemix: Did you play a hand in deciding the tracks, or was it more so him and you just hosting, or…
Ghostface: Nah, it was just me in a hosting thing. I just hosted it for him.
MVRemix: There have been some issues with U-God over the years with him saying things about the Clan, what’s the current situation overall with that?
Ghostface: I don’t know… That’s my buddy. I don’t know about him and anybody else, but that’s my man. That’s my buddy.
MVRemix: What’s the current status with the collaborative project we’ve heard you’re doing with MF Doom?
Ghostface: Yeah, we got the album that he got… We gotta finish off the Doom album.
[phone rings three times]
And um… Hold on for one second, hold on…
Yo, yo.
Male voice: Yo, I got the pen here right now. [Interference] What you lookin’ for?
Ghostface: Just tell me a few things ’cause I’m on the phone with some magazine people.
Male voice: You can eat chicken, right?
Ghostface: Yeah, I eat chicken, what else they got?
Male voice: Yeah, that’s it, it’s a chicken house! It’s a chicken place.
Ghostface: Just get me some chicken wings. Some chicken wings and… that’s it.
Male Voice: Chicken wings, alright…
Ghostface: Chicken wings, but just chicken wings though. No thighs, no legs – just wings.
Male Voice: Do you want some eggs? They got the fries and three chicken wings.
[Ghostface chuckles]
Ghostface: Aight so yeah, whatever, it’s all cool, it’s all cool. Put some cheese on the eggs. Some real cheese; American.
Male Voice: [laughs] Alright, I got you.
Ghostface: Alright, that’s it, that’s it. Aight, peace.
Male Voice: Peace.
Ghostface: [interview resumes] Yeah, sorry…
MVRemix: We were just talking about MF Doom – the collaborative project.
Ghostface: Yeah that’s my man. I gave him five or six songs, I gotta do another five or six songs.
MVRemix: How was it working with Rae, on “Cuban Linx 2”? Doing that whole thing over again…
Ghostface: I wasn’t with Rae, he sent me the music. It’s like nowadays everybody movin’ so much and it’s easy to MP3 somebody the music, you can get the music, write to it and then just lay it down and send it back to ’em.
MVRemix: What about the forthcoming Wu album? You said during a recent interview that you didn’t like the last two projects – why was that?
Ghostface: I didn’t like ’em, they was wack and y’all know it was wack. So I’m not tryin’ to hide nothin’ from nobody and shit. The last couple of Wu albums wasn’t nothin’ to me. I didn’t like ’em, I’ll tell RZA – I tell everybody that. It was ’cause I know our capabilities and I know where we can take it.
MVRemix: Are there any non-musical plans in the works? Tell me a little about the Ghostface Doll and how that came about…
Ghostface: Nah, just some people who wanted to do a doll from California. I flew in, I checked ’em. I seen the doll to see what they was talkin’ about, and we just agreed on it. You know what I mean? It was nothin’ and pretty soon they should have a doll out.
MVRemix: Aside from the album, what else have you been working on? Guest appearances and whatnot? I heard rumours about you working with Swollen Members…
Ghostface: [phone rings] I did Swollen Members, I did that. [phone continues ringing] There’s a bunch of little side artist things.
MVRemix: Are there any further plans to collaborate with AZ and Cormega?
Ghostface: I mean listen, everything is in God’s hands. I don’t know what’s goin’ on – whatever God guides me or brings my path into who’s hands or brings to me. Whatever the case may be, he’s the soul controller. I’m just here as a student in life and a servant for him just waiting, and that’s that.
MVRemix: A la “Fight Club,” “If you could fight any celebrity, who would you fight?”
Ghostface: I don’t know. I’d probably fight my alter ego.
MVRemix: And which alter ego would that be?
Ghostface: I don’t know, I got a lot of ’em. I got Ghostface, I got Paisley Fontaine. I got Tony Starks, [phone rings] Ironman – either one. I’m not into that celebrity stuff like that.
MVRemix: What are your feelings on the reconciling of Nas & Jay-Z. Is that a good look for New York and Hip Hop overall?
Ghostface: Yeah, yeah, I mean in the sense that you ain’t gotta kill each other man. Anything that’s better than killing each other is a good look.
MVRemix: What about follow ups to “Fishscale,” anything in the works there?
Ghostface: Nah, I got a lot of stuff that was left over. A lot of stuff that I’m writing to. I’m just keepin’ it movin’ man, there’s no stoppin’ me now. It’s on, you’re gonna see me on the come up.