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Ghostface Killah
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Dennis Coles (born May 9, 1970), better known by his stage name Ghostface Killah, is an American rapper and member of the Wu-Tang Clan. After the group achieved breakthrough success in the early- to mid-1990s, each member went on to pursue a solo career.
Ghostface Killah took his name from one of the characters in the 1979 kung fu film Mystery of Chessboxing.
Early Years
Ghostface Killah was raised in the Stapleton housing projects in Staten Island, New York.
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Encyclopedia
Dennis Coles (born May 9, 1970), better known by his stage name Ghostface Killah, is an American rapper and member of the Wu-Tang Clan. After the group achieved breakthrough success in the early- to mid-1990s, each member went on to pursue a solo career.
Ghostface Killah took his name from one of the characters in the 1979 kung fu film Mystery of Chessboxing.
Early Years
Ghostface Killah was raised in the Stapleton housing projects in Staten Island, New York. In his autobiographical song "All That I Got Is You," Ghost tells the story of his childhood. He raps about how he grew up in a three bedroom apartment without his father, who left him at the age of six. Growing up poor, he experienced hard living conditions like "pluckin' roaches out the cereal box."
Career
He debuted with the rest of the Wu-Tang Clan on their critically acclaimed debut, 1993's Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). A roommate of Wu-Tang founder The RZA, Ghostface helped bring together the other seven members, and would function as executive producer on all the Wu-Tang Clan releases.
In 1995, Ghostface guest-starred extensively on fellow Clan member Raekwon's debut album, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..., appearing on almost every song. He also contributed songs to the Sunset Park and Don't Be A Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice In The Hood soundtracks, which would be included on his first solo LP, Ironman, in 1996. The album, which debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200, had a more pronounced soul influence (particularly 1970s soul) than previous Wu-Tang releases, and Ghostface's future albums would continue to feature this stylistic trait.
Ghostface became well-known for both his up-tempo, seemingly indecipherable stream-of-consciousness rap and, later in his career, for his emotionally charged raps and his smooth constant flow. In 1996, he discovered that he was diabetic, a condition that would weaken his health. According to "Trials of Life," a 2007 song with fellow New York rapper Prodigy (himself a sickle-cell anemic), Ghostface assumed he had been stricken by a sexually transmitted disease until he received the diabetes diagnosis. This assumption was brought on by his rapid weight loss and that he had "hit it raw aplenty."
He would return in 2000 with his follow-up to Ironman, Supreme Clientele. "Cherchez LaGhost," a single off the album, became a minor club hit, and the sentimental "Child's Play" brought numerous comparisons to Slick Rick.
Ghostface wasted little time in recording his next album, the heavily R&B-influenced Bulletproof Wallets, released a year after Supreme Clientele. He had another minor club hit with "Flowers," which featured guest vocals from fellow Wu-Tang members Method Man and Raekwon, although the album would be met with disappointing sales and reviews.
Def Jam
In 2003, Ghost signed with Def Jam Records. After temporarily dropping "Killah" from his stage name, Ghost released The Pretty Toney Album in April 2004. The album, while containing two RZA productions, featured none of the Clan; instead, it featured collaborations with Missy Elliott, D-Block and Jacki-O. The singles "Tush" and "Run," the collaborations with Missy and Jadakiss respectively, achieved moderate success in the clubs and charts, and the album was featured on numerous "best of the year" lists, including number nine on Pitchfork Media's. Ghostface also appeared on the track "On My Knees" by UK R&B group The 411, which became a hit in the UK and Australia, and released an album titled 718 (after the Staten Island area code) with a group of his Protégés, the Theodore Unit. In November 2005, Ghostface and Theodore Unit's breakout star Trife Da God released a joint project, Put It On The Line.
In 2006, Ghostface teamed up with underground favorite MF DOOM for a still unreleased album entitled Swift & Changeable. MF DOOM also produced several songs for Ghostface's 2006 album Fishscale, which was once again attributed to "Ghostface Killah." The album debuted strongly, in the #4 position on the U.S. Billboard 200 and at #2 on the R&B charts, the rapper's most auspicious chart showing since the heyday of the Wu-Tang Clan and the release of his solo debut. The album also nearly unanimously received positive reviews. Ghostface embarked on a limited-date tour of US venues in support of the album, performing several of his concerts together with most members of the Wu-Tang Clan.
He has worked with 4Cast to produce his own action figure.
In December 2007 Ghostface appeared on Spinner.com's comedy show The DL to do a holiday commercial for his action figure.
On December 4, 2007, Ghostface released his seventh solo studio album, The Big Doe Rehab.
In a recent interview, Ghostface Killah said that his next project is going to be an R&B-inspired album. It is going to be in the vein of the tracks he has done before with such artists as Ne-Yo and Jodeci.
Aliases
Ghostface Killah, like most members of the Wu-Tang clan, rapped under several personae, each with their own name, mythology and influences. Some recurring aliases:[5]
- Ghostface Killah (occasionally spelled Ghostface Killer, Ghost Face Killah, or abbreviated GFK)
- The stage name Ghostface Killah comes from the film (Shuang ma lian huan, also known as The Mystery of Chess Boxing), part of the Wu-Tang Clan's extensive mining of Kung fu movie mythology.
- His shortened stage name during the The Pretty Toney Album era.
- Ghost Deini
- Ironman, Tony Starks
- Ghostface has frequently assumed the persona of both Ironman and Tony Stark, a reference to the Marvel Comics character Iron Man and his true identity, millionaire industrialist Tony Stark (note the variant spellings). He released a 1996 album titled Ironman and has drawn deeply on the Iron Man mythology. His song, "Slept On Tony With Dirt," appears in the 2008 film.
- Starky Love
- Pretty Toney, P Tone
RZA & The 8 Diagrams Album
In talking about 8 Diagrams, Ghost went on the record to say that RZA's music "wasn't sounding like how it was when we first came in." He joined Raekwon in saying that the RZA wasn't producing the type of music that he wanted. 8 Diagrams was also set to release on the same day as The Big Doe Rehab which prompted RZA to push back the release data of the Wu Tang Clan album. Raekwon also expressed an idea that he and the other Clan members would release an album without RZA. However, it is not certain which, if any, of the Clan members have agreed to this.
Discography
Solo albums
Compilations
Filmography
Movie appearances
- Belly (film) (1998) as get away driver (uncredited)
- Black and White (1999) as himself
- Hunter Dawson (2002) as himself
- Fade to Black (2004) as himself
- Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007) as himself
- Iron Man (2008) as a Dubaian sheik; cameo. (Though it was cut in post-production, his cameo can be found in the DVD's deleted scenes section.)
TV series appearances
Video game appearances
External links
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