When it comes to rapping over lush soul samples, there are few artists in history who can match Ghostface on the mic.
Peep “Holla” off The Pretty Toney Album where the Ghost rhymes over the “La La (Means I Love You)” by The Delfonics, and tell me who could have done that better. So imagine if Ghost had gotten his hands on the Just Blaze-produced “Girls, Girls, Girls” off Hov’s The Blueprint.
In a conversation with legendary engineer, Young Guru, the producer talked about The Blueprint and how the only song that existed before the recording sessions was “Girls, Girls, Girls” which he created for Ghost.
“The only joint that preexisted was ‘Girls, Girls, Girls,’ which I had been holding for Ghostface [Killah],” Just told Guru. “The protools session was called ‘Ghostface.’”
In another interview Just explains how the beat wound up in Hov’s hands.
“I already had “Girls, Girls, Girls” made for a minute. I was toying with the idea of giving it to Ghostface. I played it for [Jay], and he was like, “Let’s go do it right now,'” Just explained in another interview with XXL. “I think he had already toyed with the idea of doing a record like that, where it wouldn’t be a huge smash, as far as a club record, but it was very visual.”
“When I met [Ghostface] years later, I told him. He was like, “Yo, God, I knew it when I heard it, that was supposed to be for me.”
It’s a shame Ghost never got to rap over it, although Hov did the beat justice. To make up for missing out on the beat, the Wu-Tang MC later did a quick 16 bar freestyle for AOL over it:
On a related note, Kanye would also reveal in an interview about the impact of Ghost’s sophomore album, Supreme Clientele, that his beats that wounded up on The Blueprint were originally made for the Wu rapper.
Kanye: Me and Just love Ghostface so much, that’s Hip-Hop’s favorite rapper and one of my favorite rappers, so we were trying to make all these beats for Ghostface but just so happens we’re at Roc-A-Fella and Jay heard them and rapped on them. We were making all these beats for Ghostface because we get so inspired by his albums. I feel like I got my whole style from Ghostface. Listen to what I’m saying, I need that in print, I feel like I got my whole style from Ghostface.
SOHH, February 2004
