Wu-Tang Clan icon Ghostface Killah is an inspiration to figures from all across the hip-hop sphere, spanning generations and sub-genres, yet he is unsure whether the future is in safe hands.
Over the last 30 years, Ghostface Killah has been a constant presence in a revolving scene which is continually evolving, with new names coming to the forefront. While many have provided its possible to get to the top, few have the longevity to compete with the Wu-Tang Clan man, who is still a vital artist in 2024.
To coincide with his 54th birthday, Ghostface Killah recently shared his new album, Set The Tone, which sees him lyrically spar with Nas on ‘Scar Tissue‘ for the first time since their 1995 collaboration, ‘Verbal Intercourse’.
Other star-studded guests who contribute to Set The Tone include Kanye West, Method Man, Raekwon, Method Man, Busta Rhymes, Fat Joe, Sheek Louch, and Ja Rule. Notably, younger rappers have been omitted from the record, and now, in a new interview, Ghostface Killah has explained why he doesn’t believe they have the same storytelling capabilities.
“I don’t hear n-ggas doing storytelling no more, man,” he said to Rolling Stone. “There might be Nas. You might still got [Slick] Rick out there doing it … Raekwon, [GZA]. A lot of stuff be regular darts, regular raps. Everything with this new generation is about clubs.”
The hip-hop legend continued: “A lot of pussy getting thrown around and shit. It ain’t like with MC Lyte. Even when Lil’ Kim did it, she was gangsta with it. She was a rapper’s rapper. … But the Lauryn Hills of this shit [are] gone. Even the Foxys and shit like that, like a lag came over it. But all this other ‘lick my ass,’ ‘my butthole brown’ shit, it’s like … it’s too much.”
Previously in 2021, while speaking to Complex, Ghostface Killah aired his grievances about many modern rappers that “sound the same” rather than adopting unique deliveries, which he believes is down to a lack of knowledge regarding hip-hop history.
“I’m all for these young Black kids getting money and doing what they do, but musically, I think that becoming a rapper now, you should know the history, know now who the Spoonie Gees and Sugarhill Gangs was, the Wu-Tangs and the Biggies, all that. Grand Puba, all these guys. You need to know these people,” he said.
The rapper added: “You gotta add to that. We got bodies of work. Mobb Deep, Nas, Wu-Tang, Jay-Z, we got bodies of work. These days, you might hear one record and don’t even care about the rest of the album.”
