photo by Ricky Powell
(THO, I SOMETIMES THINK I SHOULD TAKE THESE DOWN AS THIS PAGE GETS TONS AND TONS OF HITS, YET VERY LITTLE ORDERS... IF YOU LIKE IT, BUY IT...)
at least, if you like what you heard, send me some feedback at pmc220@yahoo.com
The Ghostface History Lesson is an effort to both honor Ghostface by collecting his best tracks (rare and otherwise) and to put him in his proper context in the history of hip hop. Tracks by Biz Markie and Big Daddy Kane that Ghost has sampled or redone show where Ghost's hip hop roots lie. Tracks by Baby Huey, Al Green, Barry White show Ghost's reverence for the funk sounds of the 70's (and show where he got his beats!). These sounds have all been collected along with rare freestyles, guest appearences, and tracks unreleased due to uncleared samples... All of this is flawlessly mixed and scratched by Flex Unger .
CD- $10
Ghost Manifesto
Admit it. Back when you listened to the Wu, you slept on Tony Starks. Now you're not sure quite why. How could you have not noticed the high pitched voice, buzzsaw flow, and it's metaphoric non-sequiters.? How did Pretty Tony get lost in the murmer of Wu voices (he's not Inspectah Deck, for God's sake)? Somehow, though, he did. Perhaps he didn't shine as brightly as Method Man, as bugged as ODB, or as speech impedimently distinctive as RZA. And now that Ghost is the only thing happening with Wu Tang, you want to claim you've been down since day one.
And Day one it is. Rewind to Staten Island, 1992. The Wu Tang Clan self releases it's first single on it's own Wu Tang Records. On Side 1, it's the classic "Protect Ya Neck," and on Side 2, it's... what's that? No, it's not "Method Man", that's the B-side of the Loud records reissue, the B-side on the OG is "After the Laughter, Comes Tears" (renamed "Tearz" on "Enter the 36 Chambers"). This song set a precendent in Wu-production: if you have a track with emotion on it, let Ghost spit on it. This song was a prototype for all later RZA and Ghost vocal duets, like "I Can't Go to Sleep" and "Jah World" from "The W" album, where RZA and Ghost sound as if they're sobbing and crying while they're rapping. Some have dismissed this as "stoned bullshit", but they're missing the point. This non-fear of over the top displays of emotion have lead others to snidely label Ghost as an "emo-rapper." Again, the point is missed. Ghost's sobbing style is a direct descendent of James Brown a la "Please, Please, Please." Can't you see somebody draping a cape over the prostrate body of Ghostface as he moans that he can't go to sleep, he can't shut his eyes?
After all if any rapper has shown himself to be in the soul tradition, it's Ghostface. Tracks like "All that I got is you" ooze red light vibes, and no rapper sounds better on top of classic slow jams like the "In the Rain" by the Dramatics or Teddy Pendergrass, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, or Al Green than Ghost. Ghost often talks about being a child and hearing the Delphonics and other classic 70's soul seeping through the floor at parties at his mother's house. On the white label track "Holla" Ghostface took this love one step further and rapped over the entire track (original vocals and all) of the Delphonics "La, La, means I love you."
Recently Ghost has been on a tear, releasing white label and mixtape only exlusives, rapping on top of classics of many genres like the aforementioned Delphonics joint, Dawn Penn's reggae oldie "No, No, No", and the Beatle's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." While other members of the Wu seem as though they are resigned to falling off, Ghost is going the opposite way, reaching for the King of NY crown that has been vacant since the demise of Biggie.
Much has been made of Ghostface's unique slang. Lines like "My raps are like ziti" or "Beat the black Boy George, dusted on my honeymoon" couldn't have come out the mouth of any other rapper on a mainstream label. While Kanye West (who has expressed a desire to work with Ghost and cites his album "Sumpreme Clientele" as a key influence on his production style) may bill himself as the first "backpacker with a BMW", Ghostface has been doing it for years. Spitting the fiercest cypher around, yet selling platnum units. Ghost seems to be trying to tie all of together now, releasing gritty street jams like "Run" with Jadakiss, club bangers with Missy Elliot, and old school throwback jams like "The Drummer" and "Afterparty" with Method Man (where the two display amazing chemistry together that brings back the early 90's rap heyday that birthed the Wu Tang).
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