Wu-Tang Clan members have been celebrating several milestone anniversaries in recent years. In 2020, Raekwon and GZA celebrated the 25th anniversary of their solo debuts, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx and Liquid Swords, respectively. The year before that, it was the 25th anniversary of Method Man’s TICAL. Ghostface Killah is now celebrating the 25th anniversary of his 1996 debut album, Ironman. The debut from GFK was re-released on streaming services and includes a remix of the hit record, “All I Got Is You” ft. Mary J. Blige.
Ironman remains one of the most pivotal albums to be released in the 1990s. Ghost’s vivid, and often amoral, storytelling helped bring RZA’s cinematic production to life, with the help of Cappadonna and Raekwon, of course. During a recent interview with Billboard, Ghost explained how he was coming off of the success of Only Built 4 Cuban Linx while dealing with health issues, both physical and mental.
“Ironman was dark to me. The cover is colorful, but as far as the music, there was something going on there — it was wrong,” said Ghostface. “That’s why I didn’t get on a few of the records, like ‘Assassination Day’ [with RZA, Inspectah Deck and Raekwon] or ‘Fasta Blade.’ I couldn’t write to those records. Rae did what he did on ‘Fasta Blade’ — I couldn’t come behind that, not feeling how I was feeling, so I left it there like that.”
Check out the 25th-anniversary edition of Ironman below.