Ghostface Killah

When you become a man, you put away childish things—and when you’re Ghostface Killah, that means not rapping about guns, coke, and running from the cops anymore. On 2009’s Ghostdini: The Wizard Of Poetry, the man who’s occasionally known as Pretty Toney lets his loverman side shine for an entire album, proving that past come-ons like “Camay” and “Beauty Jackson” weren’t the only chinks in his tough-guy armor. Fortunately, Ghostface isn’t pulling a Kanye here: The hooks come solely from R&B singers like John Legend, while Ghost sticks to using his unparalleled storytelling skills to set the mood—and occasionally destroy it, as when he squares off in a suspenseful love triangle with Fabolous in “Guest House.” Ghostface’s latest, The Apollo Kids, is a tight, cohesive album that shows that his mind is still in a strange, beautiful place. He’s set to release his next album this summer.

Updated 04/12/2012