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Originally Posted by noisereductions
I believe it. Ghostface is one of the few rappers out there who consistently continues to hone is craft and just be the weirdo he is.
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Yeah, and he is totally unashamed of being a nerd (which he must be... I mean, I do believe that's the art of John Romita Jr. in the 36 Seasons accompanying graphic novel), and he is absolutely unhindered by hip-hop trends and rules. Does he alienate fans? Sure. The other day someone came into he store looking for A Better Tomorrow I asked him what he thought so far, and if he was looking forward to the new GFK. He said "I don't know.. Not if it's more of that Adrian Younge shit.. If I want that I'll put on the Ropts (sic), when I listen to Wu I wanna get my ass kicked!"
(It was unclear whether he was referring to ABT or 36 Seasons, but he seemed to be talking about Wu-Tang Clan as a whole; skmehow he'd fallen under the misconception that RZA was no longer producing Wu work. I don't think anything in his response referred directly to 12 Reasons or 36 Seasons.)
Anyway, clearly somewhere along the way this guy became disenfranchised with the whole shebang, for reasons that had to do with Adrian Younge's work on 12 Reasons, ostensibly, though it could also be because of his assistance on ABT.
Anyway, the point is Ghostface Killah can work with whoever he wants... Any producer, any situation, and have an end result that sounds completely unique and unlike anything else in mainstream hip hop. He's really more of an experimental artist than he's given credit for, and he drops albums like Catholic mums drop babies in a Monty Python skit.
I did my reader's poll for pitchfork yesterday. I always miss it (well, at least ˝ the time I do. I have a love/hate thing going with them) so I just rattled off a draft of my favorite albums of 2014. To my surprise, there wasn't a single rap album present. But I just wanted to score some points for Dub Thompson and Morgan Delt and other highly overlooked artists who rocked the year. But if I'd had time I would have put 36 Seasons in the top 10.