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• RZA returns to the 'Chamber'

  Hollywood Reporter - Found Jun. 25, 2009 ... said the hip-hop impresario, who executive produced the June 30 set that features Clan members Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck and U-God... RZA Returns To The 'Chamber' - Billboard RZA Returns To The 'Chamber' - Billboard Explore All

  Hollywood Reporter

• Ghostface Killah Australian Tour

  Faster Louder - Found Jun. 21, 2009 When you get a new Ghostface Killah album, the only reasonable reaction is to get lost in it, said the New York Times of Ghosts last full studio

• Photos: Ghostface Killah mows us down at WTF Club

  Shanghaiist - Found Jun. 15, 2009 Ghostface Killah rocked out Wu-Tang style in Shanghai last Sunday night, June 14 at the WTF Club in Red Town (which some of you may have known as ...

• Fire engulfs landmark theater in Athens, Ga.

  MSNBC - Found Jun. 19, 2009 ... acts such as the North Mississippi All-Stars, Galactic, Robert Earl Keen, Sister Hazel and Ghostface Killah played at the Georgia Theatre. Theater where R.E.M., B-52s played burns - CNN R.E.M., B-52s theater burns - CNN Fire engulfs landmark Georgia Theatre in Athens - Minneapolis Star Tribune Fire engulfs landmark Georgia Theatre in Athens - Boston Globe Explore All

• Ghostface Killah aka Dennis Rides Into Town

  Moscow Times - Found Jun. 9, 2009 Especially if our new identities were anything like Ghostface Killah.

• Ghostface Killah Live at Metros!

  Inthemix.com.au - Found Jun. 22, 2009 Live from Staten Island, New York comes Ghostface Killah? As well as been a successful solo rapper he is also a member of the smash hit hip...

• BMI Sues Ludlow Venue Pianos

  Village Voice - Found 2 hours ago ... term 'punk' Gary Indiana Gary Shteyngart Gavin McInnes gay panic Gay Talese genre get well Ghostface Killah Ghostland Observatory Gil Scott...

• And The Bands Played On!

  Vineyard Gazette - Found 23 hours ago The summer lineup includes national headliners like Barrington Levy, Average White Band and Method Man, Redman and Ghostface Killah.

• "Not Like Other Guys": Rob Sheffield Remembers Michael Jackson

  Rolling Stone - Found Jun. 26, 2009 ... the J5 hits, from Naughty By Nature's 'OPP' and Kris Kross's 'Jump' to Jay-Z's 'Izzo (H.O.V.A.)' and Ghostface Killah's 'All That I Got Is You...

• To Infinity and Beyond! N.A.S.A. & Fatlip's Bizarre Adventure 2 ...

  Filter - Found Jun. 27, 2009 Frusciante, Fatlip, Karen O, George Clinton, Ol? Dirty Bastard, Tom Waits, Kanye West, M.I.A. and Ghostface Killah (and believe me, I could...

Ghostface Killah extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

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Ghostface Killah
Background information
Birth name	Dennis Coles
Born	May 9, 1970 (1970-05-09) (age 39)
Origin	Staten Island, New York, United States
Genre(s)	Hip hop
Years active	1991–present
Label(s)	Razor Sharp, Epic, Starks Enterprises, Def Jam
Associated acts	Wu-Tang Clan, Theodore Unit
Website	Ghostface's official site

Dennis Coles (born May 9, 1970),¹ 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 aftermath of Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) , the members went on to pursue solo careers to varying levels of success. Ghostface Killah debuted his solo-career with Ironman, which was well received by music critics. He would continue his career, creating additional award-winning albums over the following years such as Supreme Clientele, Fishscale, and The Big Doe Rehab. Ghostface is currently working on his next solo album, along with a new Wu-Tang Clan album.

Ghostface Killah is known for his unique, dynamic style^{citation needed}. He has a high-pitched, edgy flow, that manages to blend in, but still "stick out". Along with Raekwon, Ghostface is famous for telling stories in his songs. He rarely pauses, rapping in a quick, excited stream-of-conciousness style unique to him.

Ghostface Killah took his name from one of the characters in the 1979 kung fu film Mystery of Chessboxing. Ghostface Killah is known for wearing oversized chains, bracelets, and other forms of jewelry.

Contents 1 Early years 2 Career 2.1 Def Jam 3 Aliases 4 Controversy 4.1 RZA 5 Discography 5.1 Solo albums 5.2 Compilations 6 Filmography 6.1 Movie appearances 6.2 TV series appearances 6.3 Video game appearances 7 References 8 External links

Early years

This biography of a living person does not cite any references or sources. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (January 2009) Find sources: (Ghostface Killah – news, books, scholar)

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.

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, 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."²

He would return in 2000 with his follow-up to Ironman, Supreme Clientele. It was very well-received by critics. It was placed #2 on Hip Hop Connection's list of "The 100 Greatest Rap Albums 1995-2005". It had "Apollo Kids", a popular single which featured Raekwon and had a sample of "Cool Breeze" by Solomon Burke; "Cherchez LaGhost", another single off the album, became a minor club-style hit. It also notably had the sentimental "Child's Play" brought numerous comparisons to Slick Rick. Supreme Clientele would be a turning point in RZA's influence on his sound, as only four songs are produced by the RZA, compared to Iron Man, its predecessor where every song but one is produced by him.

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, and a popular single "Ghost Showers" which featured Madame Majestic, who also sung on the popular Wu-Tang track "Gravel Pit". It was well received, but never really matched its predecessor in popularity or reknown.

Def Jam

In 2003, Ghostface signed with Def Jam Records. After temporarily dropping "Killah" from his stage name, Ghostface 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.³ 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 artist 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,⁴ 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.⁵ In December 2007 Ghostface appeared on Spinner.com's comedy show The DL [1] to do a holiday commercial for his action figure.[2]

On December 4, 2007, Ghostface released his seventh solo studio album, The Big Doe Rehab.

In a May 2008 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. ⁶⁷ In March 2009, Ghostface recorded a song called "Message from Ghostface" dedicated to women who were abused in relationships, especially to Rihanna who, a month earlier, was allegedly abused by Chris Brown.

Raekwon, in a May 2009 interview with Rolling Stone indicated that Ghostface Killah is preparing to release a new album. In response to a question asking if the Wu Tang Clan are going to release a follow up to 8 Diagrams, Raekwon stated "Everybody's doing different things right now — you got Meth [Method Man] coming out with an album, you got Ghostface coming out with an album, some guys working on their projects, some guys getting into the film world, everybody is multi-tasking right now."⁸

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:

• Ghostface Killah (occasionally spelled Ghostface Killer, Ghost Face Killah, or abbreviated GFK)
• Ghostface

His shortened stage name during the The Pretty Toney Album era. ⁹¹⁰

• Ghost Deini ¹¹
• Ironman, Tony Starks, or just 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, and he even appears in a deleted scene on the DVD. ¹²

• Starky Love ¹³
• Pretty Toney, P Tone¹⁴

Controversy

RZA

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." ¹⁵ 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 date of the Wu-Tang Clan album. Raekwon also expressed an idea that he and the other Clan members would release an album with another producer. However, it is not certain which, if any, of the Clan members have agreed to this.

Discography

Solo albums

• Ironman (1996)
• Supreme Clientele (2000)
• Bulletproof Wallets (2001)
• The Pretty Toney Album (2004)
• Fishscale (2006)
• More Fish (2006)
• The Big Doe Rehab (2007)

Compilations

• Put It On The Line (with Trife Da God) (2005)
• 718 (with Theodore Unit) (2004)
• The Wallabee Champ (2008)
• GhostDeini The Great (2009)

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

• Made (2005) as himself (episode "Nile Is Made Into a Rapper")
• 30 Rock (2006) as himself (episodes "Jack-Tor" and "The Source Awards")
• Human Giant (2007) as himself (episodes "Mind Explosion" and "Mosh Pit!")
• The Boondocks (2007) as himself (episode "Stinkmeaner Strikes Back")
• Burn Notice (TV series) (2009) as Tony Soto (episode "Hot Spot")

Video game appearances

• Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style (1999) as himself
• Def Jam Vendetta (2003) as himself
• Def Jam: Fight for NY (2004) as himself
• Def Jam: Icon (2007) as himself

References

External links

• Official Def Jam site
• HHC Digital interview with Ghostface
• Ghostface Killah at MySpace

v • d • e Ghostface Killah Studio albums Ironman · Supreme Clientele · Bulletproof Wallets · The Pretty Toney Album · Fishscale · More Fish · The Big Doe Rehab Compilations Shaolin's Finest · Hidden Darts: Special Edition · The Wallabee Champ · Ghostdeini the Great Collaborations Put It on the Line · 718 · Swift & Changeable Solo singles "Daytona 500" · "All That I Got Is You" · "Apollo Kids" · "Cherchez LaGhost" · "Never Be the Same Again" · "Ghost Showers" · "Guerilla Hood" · "Tush" · "Run" · "Milk Em'" · "Be Easy" · "Back Like That" · "We Celebrate" Guest singles "Heaven & Hell" · "Criminology" · "Ice Cream" · "I Want You for Myself (Remix)" · "Stand Up" · "Thrilla" · "On My Knees" Other songs "Me, Myself and I" · "You Know I'm No Good" Related articles Discography · Wu-Tang Clan · Theodore Unit

v • d • e Wu-Tang Clan Ghostface Killah · GZA · Inspectah Deck · Masta Killa · Method Man · Raekwon · RZA · U-God Ol' Dirty Bastard Studio albums Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) · Wu-Tang Forever · The W · Iron Flag · 8 Diagrams Singles "Protect Ya Neck" · "Method Man" · "C.R.E.A.M." · "Can It Be All So Simple" · "Triumph" · "Gravel Pit" · "Uzi (Pinky Ring) · "The Heart Gently Weeps" Compilations The Swarm · Wu-Chronicles · Wu-Chronicles, Chapter 2 · The Sting · Disciples of the 36 Chambers · Legend of the Wu-Tang Clan · Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture · Mathematics Presents Wu-Tang Clan & Friends Unreleased · Chamber Music Related Discography · The Wu-Tang Manual · Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style · Affiliates · Affiliates discography · Category

Persondata
NAME	Coles, Dennis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Ghostface Killah
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Hip hop artist
DATE OF BIRTH	May 9, 1970
PLACE OF BIRTH	Staten Island, New York
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH