Happy 10th Anniversary to Ghostface Killah’s ninth studio album Apollo Kids, originally released December 21, 2010.
Dennis “Ghostface Killah” Coles is a difficult emcee to harness. As of 2020, he’s been releasing music for nearly 30 years. For the last 20 years, he’s been the brightest star in the Wu-Tang Clan. He radiates charisma and regularly lays down gobs of mind-bending, hyper-realistic material. He’s respected by all of his peers, and it seems like a no-brainer that he should have been hip-hop’s biggest superstar during at least this point in time. And yet something has prevented him from becoming a “your grandmother knows who he is” type of household name. So, more than a few record labels have just thrown up their hands and stopped trying.
But Ghostface is so skilled that he manages to shine even when he records what by all accounts is likely a throwaway album. Apollo Kids, released a decade ago, was dumped into the markets during the final weeks of the year with no fanfare. Yet it’s still celebrated by hardcore fans of Tony Starks and hip-hop heads the world over. The album, his ninth, is still in the top half of his now extensive catalogue, despite the fact that it’s possible that Def Jam Records has forgotten that it ever existed.
Apollo Kids signified the end of Ghostface’s partnership with Def Jam. It was his sixth and final solo album with the label. Though most artists rarely got the chance to release six albums through any imprint, Ghostface’s tenure at what was still considered the most hallowed hip-hop ground was a bit tumultuous and wracked with missed opportunities.
Truthfully, Def Jam never figured out what to do with Ghostface. His first release with the label was the really good Pretty Toney Album (2004), but as I wrote in my tribute to it, the strain where the label was trying to push him towards more commercially friendly fare is blatantly obvious. Def Jam did learn from its mistakes with that initial album, and subsequently let Ghostface be true to his personality. This approach resulted in Fishscale (2006), which sounded very much like a vintage Ghostface album, and sold reasonably well for the time.
Then, for whatever reason, Ghostface seemed to lose his zeal for recording music for Def Jam. He released More Fish (2006), taken from leftovers of the Fishscale recording sessions, nine months later. Less than a year after that, he put out The Big Doe Rehab (2007), which received very little promotion.
Ghostface’s most bizarre project, Ghostdini: Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City (2009), followed. Ghost partnered with a slew of R&B and soul artists, from John Legend to Ne-Yo to Estelle, recording material dedicated to all facets of romantic relationships. It was an interesting concept, but Ghost often felt like a guest on his own album. In early 2010, he released Wu-Massacre, a joint project with Wu-family members Raekwon and Method Man. Once again, it felt like a collection of unused songs from the three emcees’ various efforts over the years.
A few months post-Wu Massacre, Def Jam released Apollo Kids almost as an afterthought. It was another album of his that dropped near the end of the year, but this time, there were no singles, videos, or promotion of any kind from the label to support it. I didn’t even know that it existed until I saw it on the record store shelves. In fact, given the generic title, I assumed that it was a greatest hits album until I read the tracklist.
The lack of promotion is somewhat understandable, given the circumstances of its recording. According to a later interview with Complex, Apollo Kids was originally recorded as a mixtape. Ghostface had previously announced he was going to record a Supreme Clientele (2000) sequel. However, after receiving the advance, he switched things up, and decided to give them what he envisioned as “warm up” mixtape instead, even titling it The Warm-Up.
Def Jam got hip and balked at the idea of using their resources to promote an album that would be released through someone else. So, Ghost retitled the album Apollo Kids and kept it moving. Looking back, the project does sort of feel like a mixtape (whatever that term meant back in 2010) rather than a cohesive album, but Ghost attacks with more energy than he had in at least four years.
Apollo Kids was a return to form for Ghostface. It was a tight, 12-track project largely devoid of attempts at crossover or mature material. It was slightly over 40 minutes featuring Ghostface and guests kicking raw shit. And, yeah, given the sheer number of outside contributors, there’s not as many Ghostface verses as one might prefer. However, it’s still very much a Ghostface album (or mixtape). He might get out-performed on a track or two, but he still always stands out. He’s always good for some quality non-sequiturs and surreal imagery on each song.
Apollo Kids begins on a strong note with “Purified Thoughts,” which feels like a 2010 version of a classic Wu-Tang track. Producer Frank Dukes hooks up a loop of Them Too’s “Am I Good Man?” while Ghostface and Clan members Killah Priest and GZA get deep. Ghost and Priest both conjure religious and spiritual imagery while struggling to live righteous lives, while GZA creates another of his vivid narratives tracking the life of a drug dealer/stick-up kid dispersing death to deal with abject poverty.
Ghostface invites a couple of Wu-Tang/Theodore Unit cohorts (Cappadonna and Trife Diesel) to contribute verses on “Black Tequila.” Tony Starks is in full Wu-Gambino mode here, “doing hits from home, like an elite mobster,” rhyming over some traditional Middle Eastern music freaked by Frank Dukes. Ghost teams up with Busta Rhymes on “Superstar,” with the two conducting lyrical wind-sprints over a sample of Roy Ayers’ “He’s a Superstar.” Though Busta is impressive as always, traveling at warp speeds, Ghostface shows out during his two verses, rapping, “Toca, Tone be quick fast to poke ya / The Ace of Spade of the deck, you’s a joker.”
Apollo Kids does feature the talents of a few emcees from outside of the Wu-Tang’s immediate orbit, most of whom acquit themselves well. Ghost brings in Joell Ortiz and The Game to kick grimy street stores on “Drama,” where both guests shine. Though the song is often remembered for Game’s closing marathon verse, I personally prefer Ortiz’s meticulously detailed account of methodically stalking the man who killed his cousin through the streets of New York.
“In Tha Park” is another highlight, with Ghostface and Black Thought taking the listeners on a trip through their respective hip-hop origins. Frank Dukes again produces another winner, sampling Johnny Thunder’s raucous rock & soul song “I’m Alive,” adding an air of gritty menace. Ghost does a good job describing the chaos of the dusted Bronx throwdowns and park jams that he attended in his youth. However, he gets outdone by Black Thought on a track, as the Roots frontman vividly describes Philly’s thriving hip-hop scene in the 1980s. Name-checking the likes of Schooly D, Lady B, and Krown Rulers, he absorbs it all as a youth yearning to break in. “I been a G since a little kid,” he raps. “Sticking my head up into somebody’s dollar party, getting into shit / And late nights, shoulda been in bed / Instead, I was running ’round with them downtown lemonheads.”
When Ghost does decide to hold down a track on his own, he does well. On the Pete Rock-produced “How You Like Me Baby,” he vacillates between laying down game to the ladies and kicking fly shit as he raps, “So hot, right before I popped the fuckin’ show stopped / You can’t box, I seen better hands on an old clock.” “Starkology” is another straight hip-hop track, with Starks flowing over the break from Dave Matthew’s (the jazz musician) version of the Star Wars theme.
Apollo Kids ends with a stretch of songs that feature Wu-Tang members, affiliates, and allies. “Street Bullies,” produced by Big Mizza, sounds like it would fit in on the first installment of Supreme Clientele, as the beat incorporates various vocals and yelps from Millie Jackson’s version of “(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want To Be Right.” Ghost is joined by Sun God (his son), Shawn Wiggs, and Sheek Louch of The Lox/D-Block. Starks would soon join Louch and other members of their respective crews to record the Wu-Block project.
“Troublemakers” feels like a rougher Wu-Tang posse cut, with Ghost, Raekwon, Method Man, and Redman blessing a horn-heavy Jake One track. But the jewel of this closing run is “Ghetto,” which would definitely feel at home on a Wu-Tang album. Ghostface, Raekwon, Cappadonna, and U-God each provide slices of everyday life experiences when dwelling in the slums of New York. While Rae visualizes making a better life for himself through selling drugs, Ghost devises numerous ways to dispose of “rats” who communicate with the authorities.
Ghostface has continued to be prolific in his post Def Jam days. However, his catalogue over this last ten years is even more of a mixed bag. He’s recorded a lot of concept albums, to mixed success. Some of these seem like they were strictly contract jobs done for the advance. The best of this bunch are Sour Soul (2015), a collaboration with the band BADBADNOTGOOD and Frank Dukes, and Czarface Meets Ghostface (2019), his team-up with the group composed of Inspectah Deck and Esoteric.
A decade later, Apollo Kids is a warm-up from an event that has yet to occur. Ghost has promised the Supreme Clientele sequel frequently over the years, but never delivered. He again confirmed its existence at the end of October 2020 in an Instagram post, but didn’t attach a release date. Apollo Kids is still good on its own merits, divorced from any hype or connection to other releases. You can always count on Ghostface to make a statement, even when the music industry doesn’t bother to listen.
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