Ghostface Killah has shared a surprising tidbit about his collaboration with Kendrick Lamar, “Purple Hearts.”
In an interview with Peter Rosenberg and Cipha Sounds on the radio hosts’ Juan Epstein podcast, the Wu-Tang Clan legend was asked which rappers, if any, would make him “tighten up” in the studio due to their lyrical prowess.
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Ghostface answered by naming veterans like JAY-Z and The LOX, as well as “new cats” such as Drake and Kendrick, which led to him speaking about his collaboration with the Compton kingpin.
“They can really, really rhyme. That’s why when I did the record with Kendrick, it was like, ‘Okay’… I sat with it and was like — I sent him two verses. I sent him a ‘just in case’ one. Like, ‘N-gga, if that don’t go, this one [will],'” he revealed.
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When Rosenberg remarked that him submitting multiple verses shows how “honored” he was to work with Kendrick, Pretty Toney replied: “Oh yeah, definitely! He put his call in and it was like, ‘Yo, okay. This is one of them names.’ I ain’t take him lightly because his wordplay, his style, y’know what I mean? Now, I just gotta do what I feel.”
“Purple Hearts” appears on K. Dot’s 2022 album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers and also features vocals from Summer Walker.
Big @GhostfaceKillah speaking on @kendricklamar and @Drake on todays Juan Ep pic.twitter.com/qm4yIfmj92
— Peter Rosenberg (@Rosenbergradio) May 14, 2024
Ghostface Killah is fresh off the release of his own new album Set the Tone.
The 12th entry in his decorated solo catalog, the project boasts appearances from a slew of big names including Nas, Kanye West, Method Man, Raekwon, Fat Joe, Busta Rhymes, Jim Jones, Remy Ma and Sheek Louch.
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“Thank you to everyone who helped put this project together and every talented artist that jump in the fire with me !!” Tony Starks wrote on Instagram shortly before the album arrived last Friday (May 10) via Nas’ Mass Appeal Records.
In addition to the aforementioned Kendrick Lamar collaboration, the Staten Island native has stayed relatively busy in recent years with guest verses on songs with Westside Gunn, Dave East, Russ, Statik Selektah and NEMS.
Ghostface has also been teasing Supreme Clientele 2 — the long-awaited sequel to his 2000 opus — and said it would be executive produced by Kanye West and Mike Dean.
“SUPREME CLIENTELE 2 IS EXECUTIVE PRODUCED BY: KANYE WEST, MIKE DEAN & PRODUCERPLUGUNI.COM. RELEASE DATE: FEB 2022,” he announced during a Q&A with fans on Reddit back in 2021.
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That date obviously came and went without the album, and it’s unclear if the Kanye feature on Set the Tone is from the sessions for Supreme Clientele 2.
The 53-year-old also has a memoir that hit shelves on Tuesday (May 14). Titled Rise of a Killah, the book is described as a “visual record and a real-feel narrative of a performer’s life.”
