When it comes to following certain artists, the cliche of patience being a virtue feels all the more real. And for fans of Ghostface Killah, it’s a sentiment they know full well. Look, it’s not as if the Wu-Tang Clan rapper has dropped off the face of the earth or been as inconsistent as his brethren. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Ghostface has released solo material at a steady rate since going off on his own in 1996 with Ironman. He even released one of the finest hip-hop records of 2013 in Twelve Reasons to Die, a stirring and cinematic project with producer Adrian Younge.
OK, here’s the thing: Ghostface has repeatedly teased specific projects that, to date, have not seen the light of day. In addition to his long-rumored collaboration with MF DOOM tentatively titled DOOMSTARKS, Ghostface has long been sitting on material for Supreme Clientele 2: Blue & Cream. And since that announcement in 2011, he’s slowly just said the same thing whenever anyone has asked him about it: “It’s still coming.” In fact, here’s what he said in a recent interview posted over at VladTV:
“I’m helping Rae finish up his album Fly International Luxurious Art. Then I got the Supreme Clientele #2. I’m just working. I’m just working. Me and Sheek Louch [are doing] another Wu Block album. It’s just a lot of things happening.”
So there you have it: To answer the question posed in this article’s headline, we might just have to say “Who really knows.” Because as Ghostface made clear, he’s got a lot on his plate and he himself probably doesn’t really know when the second Supreme Clientele effort is on the way. To that end, though, it’s not like he hasn’t juggled multiple projects at once. Let’s take a trip down memory lane…
Like plenty of other rappers before him, Ghostface decided it was time to venture into the world of side hustles in the mid 2000s. That’s when he jumped on the poker bandwagon that absolutely ballooned and launched into a gigantic industry, especially online. Among them was Betfair, which launched in 2004 and has blossomed into a heavyweight through brand promotions, tournaments, and the like. Seeing the industry boom—and being a poker fan himself—Ghostface started his own site in the States to capitalize on the market. The only problem? When the legal issues surrounding online gambling in the U.S. hit in 2011, the rapper (and others of his ilk) watched as his site fell by the wayside.
Amid all that, however, he went on one of the more impressive runs of his career. From 2004 to 2007, Ghostface dropped four (!) full-length records, two of which are home to some of his finest work in The Pretty Toney Album and Fishscale. So if he could handle that workload on top of what happened with his poker site, why can’t we at least get a release date for Supreme Clientele 2?
As for some more recent news related to the Killah, you should check out this infographic wherein it’s revealed that his vocabulary (and the rest of the Clan’s for that matter) is pretty darn impressive.
