Agree Or Disagree: Ghostface Killah Is Top Ten Of All Time?

[Budda]

TRU

 

[BeBorn]

hell yes top 3 for me

 

[SubLyminalz]

top 20-25.

rae would be higher if I had a list.

 

[mobbinfms]

Yes. To say he doesn't have many classics is ridiculous dude has arguably the greatest discography in hip hop. Ironman and Supreme Clientele are classics, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx was basically a collab album with Raekwon that's a top 10 album All-Time IMO.

You have his contributions on 36 Chambers and Forever, an amazing solo career along with being a member of the greatest hip hop group of All-Time. Get into his skills lyrically as a story teller, the comedy he brings, the pictures he paints, the unique voice/flow.

Quoted for Emphasis.
You've really gotta take OBFCL into consideration when considering Ghost's achievements. There were 39 total verses on that album. Ghost had 11. Rae only had 18.

I'll repeat that I'd really like to see a list of ten rappers better than Ghost. And why...

 

[b@squ1@t]

sure why not...him and rae both actually

 

[BuddahMAC]

Agree.

First, when you're talking best MC of all time, group work is included. It ain't the best solo album catalog ever. It's who's the best man on the mic in all iterations. So that includes his contributions to group albums & co-starring w/ Rae on both Cubans, where Ghost was such the standout on Cuban Linx that he leapfrogged mid-90s Deck to drop an album.

Second, Ghostface switched his style completely on 4 successive albums and remained for the most part consistent. Ironman was continuing his style from the guest spots & Wu solos, then he went into his abstract style on Supreme, then abandoned that to have an album of all concept & story tracks on Bulletproof Wallets (The problems with that album were all production & songs kept off/ changed for sample clearance but that is one of Ghost's best performances on the mic.) That album's reception & criticism had him step back lyrically on Pretty Tony but he rebounded with Fishscale which compiled all the styles he'd done before. And his Supreme Clientele style was so iconic that people a decade & a half later talk shyt about 'Ghost not making sense' when he dropped that style back in 2001 (meaning you can easily dismiss them as they're not even listening).

Third, The importance and influence of Ghostface. There's the influence as part of Wu as a whole. There's the influence of Cuban Linx, which blows up mafioso rap and inspires It Was Written, Doe or Die, Reasonable Doubt, etc... There's the influence of Supreme Clientele, which was a sample heavy album in the keyboard era when people were writing the sample off as dead. SC was the blueprint to the Blueprint's return to samples and inspired the next 5 years of production:

Really we were making all those beats for Ghostface. Me and Just love Ghostface so much, that's Hip-Hop's (Roc-a-fella executive) favorite rapper and one of my favorite rappers, so we were trying to make all these beats for Ghostface but just so happens we're at Roc-a-fella and Jay heard them and rapped on them. We were making all these beats for Ghostface because we get so inspired by his albums. He was the only dude coming out with something worthwhile with Supreme Clientele. I feel like I got my whole style from Ghostface. Listen to what I'm saying, I need that in print, I feel like I got my whole style from Ghostface. My whole mentality about Hip-hop. He really took it to the next level.

- Kanye West

Fourth, you've got an ear for beats. Ghost has stayed once of the most consistent emcees in the game who, while rapping over many different types of beats and never limiting himself, has always maintained a tremendous sonic backdrop to his rhymes. While there are arguments for better people on the mic, I don't think anyone else on the mic tops Ghost's ear for what he's rhyming on. And that's huge. Take whoever your favorite MC is and put him over Ghost's instrumentals and it's an immediate upgrade.


Fifth, you've got flow





you've got storytelling



?t=1m35s

you've got raw spitting





you've got emotions





you've got originality





Opinions are whatever and everyone's lists will be different, but I bet if you got a top 10 without Ghost, when you break it down some of those people aren't seeing Starks.

 

[Billy Ocean]

SUBJECTIVELY speaking anyone you cot damn want could be in your top 10

OBJECTIVELY speaking no ghost ain't top 10. not even close. doesn't have enough classic records. his greatest contributions to hip hop were as a member of wu tang.

wu tang has a legit case for being top 10 but ghostface as a solo artist ain't sniffin it.

First sentence in this post is on point. Everything else in the post is trash. If @intilectual recipricol daps your post you know you have to reevaluate what you're doing. Good try tho, bro

 

[mr x]

 

[the cac mamba]

top 5 imo, if hes not your top 20 your clownin

what he did with wu plus that solo discog is fukkin

 

[intilectual recipricol]

maynes I have never been in a situation where a nikka said "play some ghostface killer"

 

[mobbinfms]

Agree.

First, when you're talking best MC of all time, group work is included. It ain't the best solo album catalog ever. It's who's the best man on the mic in all iterations. So that includes his contributions to group albums & co-starring w/ Rae on both Cubans, where Ghost was such the standout on Cuban Linx that he leapfrogged mid-90s Deck to drop an album.

Second, Ghostface switched his style completely on 4 successive albums and remained for the most part consistent. Ironman was continuing his style from the guest spots & Wu solos, then he went into his abstract style on Supreme, then abandoned that to have an album of all concept & story tracks on Bulletproof Wallets (The problems with that album were all production & songs kept off/ changed for sample clearance but that is one of Ghost's best performances on the mic.) That album's reception & criticism had him step back lyrically on Pretty Tony but he rebounded with Fishscale which compiled all the styles he'd done before. And his Supreme Clientele style was so iconic that people a decade & a half later talk shyt about 'Ghost not making sense' when he dropped that style back in 2001 (meaning you can easily dismiss them as they're not even listening).

Third, The importance and influence of Ghostface. There's the influence as part of Wu as a whole. There's the influence of Cuban Linx, which blows up mafioso rap and inspires It Was Written, Doe or Die, Reasonable Doubt, etc... There's the influence of Supreme Clientele, which was a sample heavy album in the keyboard era when people were writing the sample off as dead. SC was the blueprint to the Blueprint's return to samples and inspired the next 5 years of production:

- Kanye West

Fourth, you've got an ear for beats. Ghost has stayed once of the most consistent emcees in the game who, while rapping over many different types of beats and never limiting himself, has always maintained a tremendous sonic backdrop to his rhymes. While there are arguments for better people on the mic, I don't think anyone else on the mic tops Ghost's ear for what he's rhyming on. And that's huge. Take whoever your favorite MC is and put him over Ghost's instrumentals and it's an immediate upgrade.


Fifth, you've got flow





you've got storytelling



?t=1m35s

you've got raw spitting





you've got emotions





you've got originality





Opinions are whatever and everyone's lists will be different, but I bet if you got a top 10 without Ghost, when you break it down some of those people aren't seeing Starks.

So this is the new benchmark. Any disagreeing that he is top ten need to refute this post point by point or make similarly well thought out posts in favor of ten other rappers.

@BuddahMAC

 

[Kill Dat Noize]

The radio plays singles. Not albums. So I'm not sure how relevant hearing a song on the radio would be to the question of whether an album is a classic or where to rank an emcee on an all time list. But if you're point is those albums didn't produce legendary hip hop singles, then I'll concede it. How long do you think it would take to hear a song off Amerikkkas Most Wanted or Death Certificate? Are those albums not classics? I'd expect to hear Top Billing or It Takes Two before a song from any of these Ghost or Cube albums, does that make those albums classics?

So who is your top ten? You've listed Pac Big Jay and Nas. Who are the etc?

i wasn't talkin about albums, i was talkin about hits. ghost don't got any classic hits on the same level as cube does. cube got good day, check yo self, steady mobbin, etc.... plus he was also a huge factor in nwa. dude got the opening line on of the most legendary tracks of all time.... straight outta compton crazy muthafukka named ice cube. ghost don't got a line in his entire catelogue as big as that.

i don't know who would make like a concrete 10 but i could literally think of like 40-50 names i'd put there before ghost as a solo rapper. what was his biggest hit? what was his most memorable line? what was his biggest moment? what was his biggest contribution?

again we're speakin objectively here, which means you gotta take opinions out of it. based on the facts ghost can't be in this discussion as great as he was/is.

 

[Ill-Yaz]

Fukk no

 

[mobbinfms]

i wasn't talkin about albums, i was talkin about hits. ghost don't got any classic hits on the same level as cube does. cube got good day, check yo self, steady mobbin, etc.... plus he was also a huge factor in nwa. dude got the opening line on of the most legendary tracks of all time.... straight outta compton crazy muthafukka named ice cube. ghost don't got a line in his entire catelogue as big as that.

i don't know who would make like a concrete 10 but i could literally think of like 40-50 names i'd put there before ghost as a solo rapper. what was his biggest hit? what was his most memorable line? what was his biggest moment? what was his biggest contribution?

again we're speakin objectively here, which means you gotta take opinions out of it. based on the facts ghost can't be in this discussion as great as he was/is.

You're kind of all over the place here.
First, you are completely ignoring albums it seems. Why is that? And do you deny that Ghost has been a part of numerous classic LPs?
Second - your reliance on hits is misplaced. Drake and Wayne have more hits than Ghost and Cube - would you put them higher on an all-time list?
Third - you continue to judge Ghost as a "solo" rapper (I bolded where you did it in the above post) yet point to Cube lines from NWA? Isn't this inconsistent? And why shouldn't we consider Ghost's work wtih Wu? His work with Rae?
Fourth - Steady Mobbin was not a hit in the way those other two Cube songs were.
Fifth - you emphasize objectivity, but then discuss "legendary" lines? Isn't that partly subjective? Isn't the only truly subjective measure album sales and Billboard rankings? But isn't that entirely unreliable (Vanilla Ice and Hammer sold more).
Sixth - for your final litany of questions - why don't you read @BuddahMAC post and refute it line by line? He addressed many of your questions. If not all.

Edit: List the 40-50 names.

 

[Billy Ocean]

Agree.

First, when you're talking best MC of all time, group work is included. It ain't the best solo album catalog ever. It's who's the best man on the mic in all iterations. So that includes his contributions to group albums & co-starring w/ Rae on both Cubans, where Ghost was such the standout on Cuban Linx that he leapfrogged mid-90s Deck to drop an album.

Second, Ghostface switched his style completely on 4 successive albums and remained for the most part consistent. Ironman was continuing his style from the guest spots & Wu solos, then he went into his abstract style on Supreme, then abandoned that to have an album of all concept & story tracks on Bulletproof Wallets (The problems with that album were all production & songs kept off/ changed for sample clearance but that is one of Ghost's best performances on the mic.) That album's reception & criticism had him step back lyrically on Pretty Tony but he rebounded with Fishscale which compiled all the styles he'd done before. And his Supreme Clientele style was so iconic that people a decade & a half later talk shyt about 'Ghost not making sense' when he dropped that style back in 2001 (meaning you can easily dismiss them as they're not even listening).

Third, The importance and influence of Ghostface. There's the influence as part of Wu as a whole. There's the influence of Cuban Linx, which blows up mafioso rap and inspires It Was Written, Doe or Die, Reasonable Doubt, etc... There's the influence of Supreme Clientele, which was a sample heavy album in the keyboard era when people were writing the sample off as dead. SC was the blueprint to the Blueprint's return to samples and inspired the next 5 years of production:

- Kanye West

Fourth, you've got an ear for beats. Ghost has stayed once of the most consistent emcees in the game who, while rapping over many different types of beats and never limiting himself, has always maintained a tremendous sonic backdrop to his rhymes. While there are arguments for better people on the mic, I don't think anyone else on the mic tops Ghost's ear for what he's rhyming on. And that's huge. Take whoever your favorite MC is and put him over Ghost's instrumentals and it's an immediate upgrade.


Fifth, you've got flow





you've got storytelling



?t=1m35s

you've got raw spitting





you've got emotions





you've got originality





Opinions are whatever and everyone's lists will be different, but I bet if you got a top 10 without Ghost, when you break it down some of those people aren't seeing Starks.

Prolific fvcking post.