Ghostface Killah can say what he wants. The Wu-Tang rapper has put out classic albums in multiple decades, and his latest, Set the Tone, proves that he hasn't lost his touch. He's one of the elite artists in the history of hip-hop, so it makes sense that he would have opinions on where the genre is going. Ghost was interviewed by Rolling Stone on May 22, and he took the current generation of rappers to task for being bad at one specific thing: storytelling. He wants to hear more narratives set to song.
Ghostface asserted that the only storytellers in hip-hop are the ones from his generation. He even cited some of his fellow Wu-Tang Clan members as examples. "I don’t hear n**gas doing storytelling no more, man," he lamented "There might be Nas. You might still got [Slick] Rick out there doing it, Raekwon [and] GZA." The rapper blamed this pivot away from storytelling on the desire to make songs that play well in the clubs. "A lot of stuff be regular darts, regular raps," he added. "Everything with this new generation is about clubs."
Ghostface Killah Laments Music Being Made For Clubs Only
Ghostface Killah then targeted the current wave of female rappers. He felt they were the most egregious examples of style over substance, and pointed to 90s stars like Foxy Brown and Lauryn Hill as examples of well-balanced artists. "The Lauryn Hills of this sh*t [are] gone," he told Rolling Stone. "Even the Foxys and sh*t like that, like a lag came over it. But all this other 'lick my a*s,' 'my butthole brown' sh*t, it’s like … it’s too much." Ghost didn't mention any specific names when it came to rappers he didn't like, but the lyrics he used are likely a reference to Sexxy Red.
The one modern rapper who impresses Ghostface Killah is Kendrick Lamar. During a recent interview with Juan Epstein, the Wu-Tang rapper claimed that Lamar made him up his game. "That’s why when I did the record with Kendrick, it was like, 'Okay… I sat with it and was like — I sent him two verses," Ghost recalled. "I sent him a 'just in case' one. Like, 'N**ga, if that don’t go, this one [will].'" It probably helps that Lamar has made some of the most ambitious concept albums in hip-hop history. Game will always recognize game.
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