Ghostface Killah Reflects on Hearing Voices During Making of Classic 'Cuban Linx' Album

Ghostface Killah is again speaking candidly about a difficult period in his life during which he was dealing with undiagnosed diabetes, leading, in part, to him hearing voices.

Speaking with Touré, the 54-year-old Wu-Tang legend said around the eight-minute mark in the video up top that his diabetes diagnosis came around the time of his debut solo album, Ironman, in 1996. While this was a "dark" and "rough" time for Ghostface, he explained how the period leading up to that diagnosis was even harder, though he still managed to craft some of the most unforgettable lyrics of the era, including on Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... album in 1995.

"It might have started when I was in Ohio. … I got shot, and this and that and the third, but one day I just smoked some shit, some weed or whatever," Ghostface recalled. "I’m standing in the kitchen and everything just got light to me and I just dropped the water on the floor. I ain’t pass out but it was just, like, I told my mans, I said, 'Yo, I gotta lay down.'"

At that moment, Ghostface explained, he started hearing whispers of "I’m gonna get you." He tried to fight it, ultimately waking up the following morning with a blur in his vision he compared to TV static. This marked the beginning of a period in Ghostface’s life where "everything was just off," leading to depression and other issues. The voices would tell Ghostface "to do shit" including "jump off the train, jump out the car, all that shit." These voices, he added, would also tell him to "snuff" friends.

Initially, Ghostface didn't open up about this battle to those in his life, save for Cuban Linx producer and fellow Wu-Tang member RZA. Ghostface cited RZA as "so smart," noting that he was always able to "bring me back by breaking down the brain on me." At the time, triggers for the voices included smoking, which would cause the symptoms to "come on massive heavy." A period of trying to ignore the problem followed, with Ghostface at one point turning to alcohol to help quell the noise.

"I don’t even know how I got through it," Ghostface told Touré.

Finally, Ghostface went to visit a psychiatrist, who first put him on several unspecified medications that Ghostface said did not work on him. Following this, bloodwork revealed he was diabetic.

"When you got bad blood in you, that dirty blood as far as sugar, like diabetes, it can play with your mind. … You’re gonna have bad thoughts," Ghostface said.

These days, Ghostface, who’s been on insulin for some time now, is thankfully "on top of it" and no longer experiences such symptoms.

The recent Ye collaborator has spoken about his health struggles in the past, at one point turning his prior battle into a teaching moment for fans through his Making Diabetes Ghost foundation.