semi-interesting ghostface interview
p_gunn
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GHOSTFACE KILLAH, START TO FINISHAuthor(s): ??????Ken Capobianco, Globe Correspondent Date: April 9, 2006 Page: N12 Section: Arts / EntertainmentThrough most of the '90s, the Wu-Tang Clan was the most influential band in hip-hop and perhaps all of pop music. Its roiling collective of MCs have gone on to produce some sturdy work individually, but only one has emerged as hip-hop's elite voice: Ghostface Killah.The ultimate street storyteller, he mixes vivid tales of urban mayhem with hallucinatory passages and arresting images that no one in hip-hop comes close to duplicating. In so doing, he takes listeners to places no other rapper can imagine. His latest release, the brilliant and inspired "Fishscale," features a return to Ghost's earlier style, lacing drug narratives with fantastic flights of consciousness. It features funky, vivid production from Just Blaze, MF Doom, Pete Rock, and the late J Dilla, among others, as well as a Wu-Tang reunion track, "9 Milli Bros.," which proves there is another great Wu record waiting to be recorded. Just off a short reunion tour with members of the Wu, Ghostface is on the road behind "Fishscale" and rolls into the Paradise on Thursday. We caught up with him to talk about his recent success, the Wu, and the Big Questions.Q. The new record recaptures some of the vibe of your early work, but you put a new spin on these stories. There are such colorful flights of language and you drop some wild references. I mean, I doubt you've seen mermaids. Where does some of this stuff come from? Are these things you improvise in the studio or is it well planned and written out?A. It's all written out. A lot of people don't understand that, you know, I'm a writer; just like an artist painting a picture, it takes time. I paint with words.There are things I see, and I try to make that visual to the listener. I want to take them on a journey, too, so if I'm in a car and I'm rolling down the window and feel the breeze you've got to feel it, too. The details in each story is what makes it believable, and without them you just have the kind of lack of imagination you have in a lot of today's hip-hop.Q. There are things missing in so much hip-hop these days. Why do you think it's so hollow?A. That's easy. It's just a lack of creativity. I want to take things back to the early days of hip-hop when things were really flavorful and there was personality to the music. Somewhere it took a turn for the worse, but we can bring it back to where the music is alive again. It doesn't have to be as dull as some of it now seems.Q. You just got off a tour with the rest of the Wu, and you guys have a track on "Fishscale." Is there a new Wu record on the horizon?A. Maybe. The truth is I just don't know. They're talking that we're going to do it for next year, but it is tough these days with all the schedules and everyone has so many things to tend to. But I would say yes right now. It has to be without conflict, though, and it has to be where we are all on the same page working to make a great record. We can't do something halfway. What we put out as a group has to be great.Q. When you guys get together now onstage or, let's say, on "9 Milli Bros.," do things get competitive? Do you try to top each other or is it still more collaborative?A. Nah, it's gotten competitive because everyone has their nut, and they want to assert themselves. I guess it's an ego thing, but we work it out.Q. Do you ever see yourself making a record that deals with some of the political issues we're dealing with today?A. I don't know. I might. Politics really isn't for me. There's a lot of deception. But I really think that it will all be revealed, and that may be soon. My belief is that you have to trust God and true understanding comes through him. The truth hurts, but sometimes it sets you free.Q. What are the truths that will be revealed?A. Look, the way the world is today is for a reason. Every action is a reaction, and the things that are going on in the world are a reaction to previous actions in the past. What is right and who is going in the wrong path will come clear. What you need to do is serve God, and there will be a judgment day, trust me.Q. Do you see a life for you beyond hip-hop?A. Hip-hop is beautiful, but I have other things I will need to get done. I can see myself on television saying "10 cents a day can feed a child." There are things greater than who we are and a more important purpose than what is evident in my life right now. Being righteous is very hard, but it is the path. Serve God, man, and serve his plan. You need to listen to me. Don't think that what you're doing now is the final step. It's the beginning to something bigge
Comments
I feel like hes a natural for that.
actually, this song finally confirmed what I have long feared: there is not another great Wu record waiting to be recorded.
last week on youtube.
Shit was embarassing.
No more Wu full clan LP's, plaese.
this is hard-hitting journalism.
the questions read like a 2nd grader interviewing her grandfather for homework.
I don't know...this question is pretty well thought out: