The Awl http://www.theawl.com/ Be Less Stupid Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:50:17 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.2 Ghostface Killah: Sensitive Genius Poet, Also Backwards-Thinking Sexist http://www.theawl.com/2009/08/ghostface-killah-sensitive-genius-poet-also-backwards-thinking-sexist http://www.theawl.com/2009/08/ghostface-killah-sensitive-genius-poet-also-backwards-thinking-sexist#comments Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:50:17 +0000 Dave Bry http://www.theawl.com/2009/08/ghostface-killah-sensitive-genius-poet-also-backwards-thinking-sexist Here is video of an interview Wu-Tang Clan MC Ghostface Killah did last week on Angela Yee's radio show on the Shade 45 satellite station. It is a good example of how a hugely talented artist can be engaging and enjoyable to watch, even as he espouses horribly repellent views on matters of ethics or politics.

Here is a guy who can render the tenderness and intimacy of maternal love in twenty exquisitely chosen words: "But I remember this/Moms would lick her fingertips/to wipe the cold out my eye before school with her spit." (From 1997's "All That I Got Is You.") And here is a guy who can say: "That's what's wrong with our people and shit, they put our women equal to men. We're not equal... Don't put me equal. I was here first!"

That's a bummer, no way around it. It's like my favorite rapper is a member of the Promise Keepers. Still, I love his music. I play his records all the time, I play his records for my kid. And I could listen to him talk all day. What does this mean? I don't know for sure. Something about art being apolitical, I guess. Anyway, the clip is nothing if not interesting. (Note: it is full of curse words. Ghost is a renowned vulgarian. He once told me, at the end of an interview I did with him in the 90s, "Don't take the curse words out and shit, those are my favorite shits.")

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]]> Here is video of an interview Wu-Tang Clan MC Ghostface Killah did last week on Angela Yee's radio show on the Shade 45 satellite station. It is a good example of how a hugely talented artist can be engaging and enjoyable to watch, even as he espouses horribly repellent views on matters of ethics or politics.

Here is a guy who can render the tenderness and intimacy of maternal love in twenty exquisitely chosen words: "But I remember this/Moms would lick her fingertips/to wipe the cold out my eye before school with her spit." (From 1997's "All That I Got Is You.") And here is a guy who can say: "That's what's wrong with our people and shit, they put our women equal to men. We're not equal... Don't put me equal. I was here first!"

That's a bummer, no way around it. It's like my favorite rapper is a member of the Promise Keepers. Still, I love his music. I play his records all the time, I play his records for my kid. And I could listen to him talk all day. What does this mean? I don't know for sure. Something about art being apolitical, I guess. Anyway, the clip is nothing if not interesting. (Note: it is full of curse words. Ghost is a renowned vulgarian. He once told me, at the end of an interview I did with him in the 90s, "Don't take the curse words out and shit, those are my favorite shits.")

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