Ghost Dog: the vengeful spirit of hip-hop. Not content to let the art form die out in a commercial fizzle; this NC-based lyricist seamlessly combines razor-sharp wordplay, wickedly-clever concepts, and a limitless spectrum of moods and subject matter into an intelligent and truly unique package. In "Relics of tha Lost Art", the follow up to the 2007 underground classic "Out of the Woodworks", Ghost Dog continues to take everything that's been missing from hip-hop for the last 10 years and puts it on exhibit in this powerful medley of top-shelf lyricism, genius production, and content that runs the entire range of rawness and human emotion without missing a beat. "I chose Ghost Dog because the essence of the character from the movie fits me nicely, and the Hagakure (which the movie was based on) helped to bring about a major transition in my life. I live and die by a certain code, and betray it for nothing. I have always been drawn to martial arts, Eastern philosophy, and Bushido; and this is often reflected in my music. In fact, when I am not working on music, I'm usually either teaching or training in Kantan Wushu (a system comprised of Ch'uan Fa, Tae Kyon, and Jujutsu); of which I've been a student for the last 8 years. My influences include (but are not limited to): life experiences, personal reflections, martial arts, current events, anime, video games, movies, chess, dreams, 9 to 5 life, battles fought (physically and mentally), and my various encounters with people from all over the world." "I'm not going to try to gas ya head up; I just try to make the type of hip-hop I like to listen to. It's different; sometimes it's got a message, sometimes I just like to flip tha wordplay. I work with an assortment of producers that spend a lot of time at what they do. I myself have been honing my craft over the last 15 years, and continue to evolve as an MC. I think if you check it out and you even remotely like hip-hop, you'll hear somethin' you like."