“Ghostface! Catch the blast of a hype verse!”

My personal favorite master of ceremony is Ghostface Killah. Born on May 9th, 1970, Dennis Coles of Stapleton Projects in Staten Island, would adopt a moniker from The Mystery of Chess Boxing. A kung fu flick from ’79, and a song off of the debut, whose music video was the first time I can remember seeing the masked rapper. The ski mask apparently wasn’t just a stylistic accessory, but a way for the ex-stick up kid to avoid attention from the fives. Outstanding warrants can be problematic.

Ghostface kicked off 1993’s Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) in ’93 with the first verse on Bring Da Ruckus. I was in seventh grade, and completely obsessed with the clan. My friend Carlos and I incessantly discussed all things Wu, learning and reciting every lyric, and copping bootleg t-shirts from Busy Bee on Main Street, in Flushing, Queens. C.R.E.A.M. and Can It All Be So Simple are the best songs the album, and the latter showcased the chemistry between Ghost and Rae, featuring on many of each other’s greatest tracks, making it difficult to mention one without acknowledging the other. Their styles compliment each other so well. Raekwon is an extremely close second for me, but they easily can go hand in hand.

The Rza, the mastermind behind the Wu, also produced some of my favorite albums during the nineties. All time favorites, really. He produced Method Man’s Tical in ‘94, and Gza’s Liquid Swords, Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx and Ghostface’s Ironman in ‘95. All of those solo debut records, aside from Liquid Swords, which was the Gza’s sophomore release are undeniably classics for the genre. I listened to those albums on cassette when they dropped, and maybe the format changed through the years, but my love for those records has not. They’re still in constant rotation.

Ironman was released on October 29th, 1996, and has since gone platinum. Illustrious lyricism and stellar production, a commonality between all the aforementioned releases, and although they each hold a special place in my heart, I seem to gravitate to Ironman more. I recently grabbed the chicken and broccoli 25th anniversary vinyl, which means I now have two copies of this album now. The strongest tracks are Fish, Wildflower, Daytona 500, Iron Maiden and Winter Warz.

A year later Wu-Tang would drop the double LP, Wu-Tang Forever, which might have been like getting your significant other’s name tattooed on your body, the inner strife between members would bubble up after this record. Here’s a hot take, it shouldn’t have been a double album. I know, I know. It’s highly regarded but cut it down to a single album with all the fat trimmed and you would have an insane classic with no skips. Of course, some of my favorite tracks have Ghost on them: Cash Still Rules/ Scary Hours, Triumph, Older Gods, It’s Yourz, and The M.G.M.

As my interest in Hip Hop waned Ghostface released another incredible album. Supreme Clientele came out on February 8th, 2000, in my final year of high school. When critics said the album was a return to form, it was a slight directed at the Wu as a whole who were in a state of decline, but for Ghostface, he hadn’t left. The authenticity and stream of consciousness raps only further extended his accolades. The album went gold. Minus the skits, I hate them, all of them, and maybe the commercial hit single, Cherchez LaGhost, and his sophomore record is an almost perfect hip hop album. The strongest songs are One (a dope beat from Juju of the Beatnuts), Mighty Healthy, Nutmeg, Saturday Nite, Apollo Kids and Buck 50 (minus one surprisingly awful guest verse).

Ghostface has released 11 studio albums and a handful of collaborations since then, and while none have had the fortitude of those first records, there are some solid tunes peppered through the remaining catalog. Purified Thoughts of of 2010’s Apollo Kids and The Champ off of 2006’s Fishscale are both on my list of favorite Ghost tracks. He has a ton of solid songs: Guns N Razors, Run, Street Opera, Good Times Pt 2, Biscuits, Street Bullies, Blue Armor, and Me Denny and Daryl. I wish the aim was less tracks on an album, quality over quantity, and less sub par features, but that is not directed solely at Ghost, I feel that way overall.

My playlist is over 80 songs and almost five hours of Ghost, how many rappers can you do that with? Not many.

Ghostface is sharp, witty, aggressive yet vulnerable, soulful and street, brutally honest and sometimes unintentionally funny. I’d love to have a beer with him. A natural storyteller, more than just a rapper. If Ghostface never released another song after Supreme Clientele, it wouldn’t matter because his legacy was already cemented with those first two Wu records, his first two solo records and all of the dope verses he dropped on those other solo wu records. He shouldn’t be included in the discussion, he is the discussion. A true legend.