After recently reviewing the most recent release from Ghost67, Finebeats thought it would be a prime opportunity to catch up with the man himself and find out a bit more about this emerging talent.
Who has been you biggest influence/inspiration ?
As cliché as this sounds, I use life as my influence. I write on how I feel day to day and mix it with a twist of what I’ve seen around the world. People that have inspired me: Blade helped a lot when I first started out, he sat me down and gave me quite a few solid pointers, that helped a lot to know that someone with weight in the game was willing to reach out to me, it gave me confidence. My family ofcourse and people that are close to me always make me wanna try harder.
How long have you been involved in Hip Hop ?
I’ve been into it since I was at high school but have been involved for the past 8 or so years, maybe longer… It’s been a long time.
Who have you worked with so far ?
Blade, Face (So Solid Crew), The Madpack, Mr CRF, Wordsmiff, Madsabre, Celph Titled, Nightwalker, Solystic, Incite, Doc Zootz, Dukes, Kristin Hoffmann, Faz, Ich&Wirr and others.
What can we expect to see from you in the near future ?
I’m dropping the Footsteps of an Angel of Sin album soon, then I’m focusing on a mini album with Detroit producer/emcee Solystic. It’s a collaborative effort we worked on while I was in Detroit and it features some dope artists, I’m excited about letting people hear that project! I also have a project with a female artist called Kristin Hoffmann that’s been fully recorded but we’re just waiting for the right time to drop it. I recorded it with her in Brooklyn and it’s a real nice piece of work, it’s different to what I normally do so hopefully it’ll gain me a few more listeners that I wouldn’t normally get. Also I’ve got an ace up the sleeve with an actor called Peter Dante, (you can catch him in most of the Adam Sandler flicks), basically he’s heavily into music and we’ve been talking on and off for the past 3-4 years about working together, but between him shooting movies and me recording we haven’t found the time for me to head to LA. It’ll happen 2012 if everything works out though, we spoke the other day and we both feel like the time is ready. He sings with a reggae feel so I’m excited about starting the project with him.
If you could only ever make one more track, who would you feature on it and why ?
It would sound a lil fucked up but: Dre on beats. Mike Oldfield on instruments. Maria Mena singing the hook. Me, Vinnie Paz & Em on the verse. Reasons: Dre is a god. Mike Oldfield is massively underrated. I have a schoolboy crush on Maria Mena & I love her voice. I wanna work with Vinnie Paz. Em is one of the greatest.
What would you say to those that counter Hip Hop with a certain level of criticism, claiming that it incites violence and gang culture ?
I’d say this. Hip Hop has made me the person I am today, I’ve gotten to travel the world with it, meet amazing people with it and experience some real live situations with it…. and I’ve been met with nothing but love & respect. I feel that some artists let the rest of us down with some of the dumb shit they say/do but everyone has their own way of expressing themselves so they gotta do what they gotta do. I’ve had comments made about some of my lyrics and it’s become quite clear to me that half of the people holding that criticism don’t actually listen to the words, if they did, they’d hear past the “worst bits”.
There’s a lot of ignorant people in the world and too many people believe what they hear in a song, or see on TV. TV & media ruins lives just as much as gang culture does, it just does it in a very different way and those ignorant people mentioned above are too focused on finding shit to blame, like violent movies & songs, that they can’t see it.
How would you describe your style ?
Honest & real. Shocking perhaps, I dunno, I try to leave that for the listener to figure out.
where can we find your recent work/project ?
All my current stuff is on www.ghost67.co.uk and www.reverbnation.com/ghost67 I lose track of what tracks are where. I also have the Angel of Sin & Land of the Lost singles on digital stores for download.
Can we hear you on airplay right now ?
I don’t know of any stations playing me right now, there were a few that showed love but I haven’t really had time to catch up on who’s playing what. I have to visit a station in Kent soon for an interview etc… I need to organise that actually.
whats your favourite track that you have made so far ?
The Land of the Lost track with Celph Titled is sounding big… but Solystic and I just did a track for the introduction of our UK/Detroit project and its real heavy! We both go in on that and it’s gonna be a great song for people to connect with us on. You get to see where our minds are at!
What label are you currently working with, or are you working totally independently ?
I’m 110% unsigned 4 life!!! I’ve tried the label thing, had meetings and shit but I just don’t dig it. I don’t trust many people in this world and can’t see how someone would care about my music as much as I would or do so I’ve kept it independent all the way.
what would you say has been your greatest musical achievement to date ?
Getting to jump on a plane, leave my home town and go do what I love to do. I feel blessed to be able to do that, it’s been hard work but it’s worth it when you get to do that.
do you have any live shows planned ?
Nah, I don’t do the live shit. Despite what my music might appear to say, I’m actually a bit of a recluse. I feel most comfortable in a studio, locked away from the world, with people I know and trust, recording decent music. I hate the attention, no matter how big or small, I don’t like the attention which is weird cos around my family/friends, I’m a loud motherfucker. It doesn’t make sense to a lot of folk but I just don’t feel comfortable being in the spotlight.
What Hip Hop artists do you admire the most and why ?
Marvin Gaye! He had a serious issue with substance abuse and moved to the other side of the world to kick it, he went into hiding, did his thing and then came back with a hit record and got dragged back into that world. He had a very sad life but made the most awesome music.
your latest release is now available and we have enjoyed listening to it, how do you feel about the outcome of the project ?
I’m very happy. Everything seems to be going the route it was planned to go so I couldn’t ask for more. There’s one track I’m gonna have to drop from the album due to licensing issues but I have found a home for that now so all round I’m happy.
do you have any particular superstitions or processes that you follow when you create a track ?
I don’t like to talk to people the day before I hit the studio and I like my house to be empty when I record, unless you’re recording with me in the studio.
Do you keep all of your old rhyme books ?
Yea I do. I once lost an entire book on a plane whilst on my way to India, I left the damn thing in the seat pocket and didn’t realise until I got to the hotel. So now I keep them very safe.
What do you hope to achieve from Hip Hop ?
I always wanted to be able to travel overseas with my music and I’ve done that so I guess the next step would be to work with everyone I want to work with. Wait for the next album, I have some surprises!
Many thanks for your time, please feel free to leave a closing comment with any shoutouts you wish to be published.
Thankyou to everyone that supports me and big ups finebeats.com for hittin me with this interview! I have some great fans across the world and I genuinely thank you all for helping me get this far. Check my sites www.ghost67.co.uk & www.reverbnation.com.ghost67
Peace
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