Ghostface "Isn't Co-Signing" New Wu-Tang CD

[THEV1LL4N]

Veteran rhyme slinger Ghostface Killah has once again re-emerged and is ready to drop more jewels with his latest effort, The Big Doe Rehab. In his usually colorful form, Tony Starks chopped it up with SOHH about how Wu-Tang Clan's comeback disc almost came out the same day as his new album, the Clan's beef with Rza and taking his family to rehab.

After dropping More Fish last December, Ghost went back to the lab and cooked up his 7th solo disc, The Big Doe Rehab, an album that he says took it's own turn and detoured a bit from his original vision.

"It was supposed to be, more or less, it's me again," Ghost explained to SOHH. "I was gonna do the album by myself but as time went on, I started to hear Rae on a few of the tracks and ni**as wanted to get on. They wanted to be a part of it. Then I started to go back and see where I could fit everybody in. I started to think, like, where I could put Meth, where I could put U-God. I already knew where I wanted Rae to be so, it just kinda worked like that."

In addition to his Wu brethren making guest appearances on the set, Ghostdini also linked up with New York staple, DJ Kid Capri, on the disc's lead single, "Celebrate." The single has been gaining momentum leading up to the CD's December 4 release date, the same date that Wu-Tang's album 8 Diagrams was originally slated to hit shelves, before moving to the following Tuesday (December 11). Seeming to be a conflict of interest, Ghost explained that he was not budging on the date, no matter who was dropping.

"I've had that date since like last June and the Clan album was supposed to been came out," Ghost said of the possible showdown. "It was supposed to drop in August, then October and I guess it wasn't making the deadlines or whatever, and it was like, what the @#*$ are ya'll doing? I kinda felt like I was being sabotaged."

"Rza and Divine didn't want me to drop this year," Ghost added. "They wanted it to be all about the Wu and it seemed like a lot of funny sh*t was going on. They were trying to act like it was going to hurt me I'm like, c'mon man, I'm comfortable with my project. I don't give a @#*$ when my album drops. Whenever it drops, it's going to be solid."

The Wally Champ also took time to shed some light on the Clan's seemingly ongoing beef with crew leader RZA.

"Rza ain't listening," Ghost revealed. "He wanted to make how he wanted it and it ain't come out right. He wanna always do the whole thing himself, produce the whole album. We're like, let's bring in some other producers too. Bring in Kanye, bring in Pharell. You ain't gotta do the whole thing yourself. He wanna make his own instruments and @#!* and it sounded real horrible."

"So now it's like when fans come up to me like, 'Ghost, why you let them put that out,' it's like nah, we ain't taking the blame for that," Ghost continued. "That's what Rae was saying. We ain't co-signing that. It's like, the game is different. It's not how it was 10 years ago. We're trying to tell him, you can't just put a Wu-Tang album out and just think it's gonna sell just because. We been gone for what, six years? It's hard to win new ni**as. A lot of the fans now was in @#*$ing diapers when we first started doing this. That's why a ni**a like me drop every year. I stay relevant."

Ghostface's The Big Doe Rehab hits shelves on December 4 via Def Jam Recordings.

http://www.sohh.com/articles/article.php/13111

 

[Casey]

What a surprise that Ghost sticks together with his buddy Rae.

Personally I think the album is hot and RZA did a good job. I wouldn't want to hear Kanye and Pharrell beats on a Wu album. Fuck that. I like those guys but I can't see it fitting at all.

Ghost seems insecure in the Wu's prospects. Not everybody needs to work with the producers that are hot and selling records right now to stay relevant. In fact, it can backfire because a lot of producers of Kanye and Pharrell's stature end up oversaturating the market and their sound becomes dated fast.

If Ghost wants to work with Kanye and Pharrell then why doesn't he do so on his own record? Hell, get Rae, Meth, INS etc on the tracks and it's pretty much gonna come out the same way anyhow.

 

[Devious]

i think you're missing the point tho casey. Wu-Tang is supposed to be a group thing, not one person calling all the shots. if the rest of the Clan, or even some of them, were unhappy with RZA's production on the album, then maybe he shoulda considered making some changes instead of being stubborn. if that's always gonna be his attitude, that he's running the show and his word goes, he's gonna be a solo artist soon. man, this is so disappointing. i was so hyped up this year for this big Wu reunion, and now the whole group seems to be on the verge of breakup.

 

[Sarr]

the album is decent at best...i think even iron flag is better...but im still listening to it (8D) so my oppinion might change

 

[Casey]

i think you're missing the point tho casey. Wu-Tang is supposed to be a group thing, not one person calling all the shots. if the rest of the Clan, or even some of them, were unhappy with RZA's production on the album, then maybe he shoulda considered making some changes instead of being stubborn. if that's always gonna be his attitude, that he's running the show and his word goes, he's gonna be a solo artist soon. man, this is so disappointing. i was so hyped up this year for this big Wu reunion, and now the whole group seems to be on the verge of breakup.

...remind me of the last time that any other Wu member produced a platinum record and maybe that point will be valid. Obviously they liked the shit enough to write to it and then record their parts as well. Which is why I'm not buying this lil mutiny thing that Rae has going.

 

[Devious]

...remind me of the last time that any other Wu member produced a platinum record and maybe that point will be valid. Obviously they liked the shit enough to write to it and then record their parts as well. Which is why I'm not buying this lil mutiny thing that Rae has going.

ummm, well first of all, you should know that quite often rappers spit their lines to a basic version of the beat, after which the producer adds to the beat. so it is easily possible that the tracks that Rae and others rapped on were changed or altered after they laid their verses, and they don't like the finished product.

as for your "none of them have produced a platinum record" argument, what does that have to do with anything? if you and your band were in the studio, and you bring in a famous platinum selling producer, and he is making changes to your music that you don't like, are you just gonna say, well, he's the producer? hell no, you're gonna step up and tell him he's doing a shitty job. or if one of your band members wants to try something on a track, and the rest of the group think it's wack, does he get to do it anyway? if RZA wants to run the show and be in control of everything he should become a solo artist. especially when it's a group environment, you should listen to the group and not try to dictate. if the other members of the group think what you're doing is wack, you should at least listen to them and try to make an effort to accomodate them.

the way i see it, the only way to run a group like Wu, with so many members and so many potential ego clashes, is democratically. if not all the members are satisfied with a decision it should be put to a vote, and if it doesn't get the majority vote it doesn't get done. the only problem i have with the way Rae handled the situation was that he went to the public to talk about it when it should have stayed an in-house problem and taken care of that way.

 

[Casey]

ummm, well first of all, you should know that quite often rappers spit their lines to a basic version of the beat, after which the producer adds to the beat. so it is easily possible that the tracks that Rae and others rapped on were changed or altered after they laid their verses, and they don't like the finished product.

i've never heard of a situation where the original beat has become drastically different to the point where the vocalist doesnt like it anymore. yes of course the beats would have been embellished afterwards, but I highly doubt the originals were THAT different. I suspect Rae never really liked them much to begin with. So it's his fault for recording to them.

as for your "none of them have produced a platinum record" argument, what does that have to do with anything? if you and your band were in the studio, and you bring in a famous platinum selling producer, and he is making changes to your music that you don't like, are you just gonna say, well, he's the producer? hell no, you're gonna step up and tell him he's doing a shitty job. or if one of your band members wants to try something on a track, and the rest of the group think it's wack, does he get to do it anyway?

now you are comparing apples and oranges. producers in pop and rock music are a very different thing to hip-hop producers and are not responsible for the music as much as the mic'ing and recording of the instruments, which takes are used etc.

we would not need to bring in an outside producer, as my cousin is a multi-platinum producer. and since he has sold millions of records - he gets the final say and hasn't been wrong yet.

if RZA wants to run the show and be in control of everything he should become a solo artist. especially when it's a group environment, you should listen to the group and not try to dictate. if the other members of the group think what you're doing is wack, you should at least listen to them and try to make an effort to accomodate them.

you are missing the point. who is responsible for wu tang's sound, musically? nobody other than rza. the others are not musicians and they are not producers. if your point was about the clan members recording different verses and rza using ones that they didn't like as much as others then the point would be valid.

bottom line is, when they all had nothing, they trusted rza then. now that wu has been successful for so long everyone is vying for some sort of piece of creative control, probably because they want a bigger percentage split on the songwriting.

rza has proven himself as a very competant producer. so why the fuck they wanna tell him how to do his job? you think when they are writing verses he's telling them to change 'em cos they're wack?

the way i see it, the only way to run a group like Wu, with so many members and so many potential ego clashes, is democratically. if not all the members are satisfied with a decision it should be put to a vote, and if it doesn't get the majority vote it doesn't get done. the only problem i have with the way Rae handled the situation was that he went to the public to talk about it when it should have stayed an in-house problem and taken care of that way.

come on. can you really see wu-tang raising hands to vote on shit? if all of them told rza they didnt like something of course he would tell them to fuck off. and if ghost or rae dropped a verse and all the other members told them it was wack, what do you think they would do? look at the floor and mumble "oh ok let me go write something else then". hell nah

if every member got everything they way they wanted it then no album would ever get finished.

 

[Devious]

i've never heard of a situation where the original beat has become drastically different to the point where the vocalist doesnt like it anymore. yes of course the beats would have been embellished afterwards, but I highly doubt the originals were THAT different. I suspect Rae never really liked them much to begin with. So it's his fault for recording to them.




now you are comparing apples and oranges. producers in pop and rock music are a very different thing to hip-hop producers and are not responsible for the music as much as the mic'ing and recording of the instruments, which takes are used etc.

we would not need to bring in an outside producer, as my cousin is a multi-platinum producer. and since he has sold millions of records - he gets the final say and hasn't been wrong yet.




you are missing the point. who is responsible for wu tang's sound, musically? nobody other than rza. the others are not musicians and they are not producers. if your point was about the clan members recording different verses and rza using ones that they didn't like as much as others then the point would be valid.

bottom line is, when they all had nothing, they trusted rza then. now that wu has been successful for so long everyone is vying for some sort of piece of creative control, probably because they want a bigger percentage split on the songwriting.

rza has proven himself as a very competant producer. so why the fuck they wanna tell him how to do his job? you think when they are writing verses he's telling them to change 'em cos they're wack?




come on. can you really see wu-tang raising hands to vote on shit? if all of them told rza they didnt like something of course he would tell them to fuck off. and if ghost or rae dropped a verse and all the other members told them it was wack, what do you think they would do? look at the floor and mumble "oh ok let me go write something else then". hell nah

if every member got everything they way they wanted it then no album would ever get finished.

ok i see what you're saying. it's better to have an album out where only half of the group is happy about it than it is to have an album out where everyone in the group is satisfied. yes that makes a lot of sense.

were you there when the album was recorded? i know i wasn't, and i'm pretty sure you weren't either. so speculating on how it was recorded is pointless. but all i know is when you have a group where several members aren't happy about what the group is putting out, you have a group that isn't going to last much longer.

obviously i know there is a huge difference between hip-hop producers and producers in other musical genres. but when it comes down to it its the same thing. the producer is supposed to be in charge of the recording session, but if the artists aren't happy with the job the producer is doing, they have every right to tell him he's not doing his job. my guess is, based on various things i've read and heard about RZA, is that he did much of the work on these tracks by himself without any outside input. so the rest of the group probably didn't even know what he was doing to the tracks after they were thru with them. now is that fair to the rest of the group?

oh, and it's great that your cousin is this big selling producer, but are you telling me that if he did make a decision that you didn't like (adding an instrument here, removing vocals or instrumentation there) you wouldn't say anything? you'd just stand there and say, "well, he's the producer, he calls the shots?" somehow i don't see that happening. or what about the part you didn't answer, what if one of your bandmates wanted to try something on a track that the rest of the group didn't like. do you tell him you don't like it? or do you just let him fuck up the track? i imagine you'd tell him you thought it was wack.

 

[hizzle?]

Album is...I don't know what to say... The worst thing on it is Rae's voice to be honest....

 

[S. Fourteen]

A lot of the fans now was in @#*$ing diapers when we first started doing this.

Fuck! That makes me feel old

See what happens when you put RZA on your Top Producers list?