Ghostemane

Eric Whitney (born April 15, 1991),^[7] known professionally as Ghostemane or Eric Ghoste,^[8] is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He has released eight solo albums and three collaborative albums under his Ghostemane moniker, primarily merging elements of heavy metal, hip hop and industrial music. Whitney has also released music with a number of additional solo projects, pursuing styles including black metal as Baader-Meinhof, noise music as GASM,^[5] and electronic music as Swearr.^[9] He began his career in local hardcore punk and doom metal bands around Florida.^[10][11] In 2015, he moved to Los Angeles, California, starting a career as a rapper, under the moniker Ill Bizz.^[9] Around this same time, he was a member of the hip hop collective Schemaposse.^[12]

Ghostemane
Ghostemane performing in 2017
Background information
Birth name	Eric Whitney
Also known as	Eric Ghoste Baader-Meinhof Swearr Ill Bizz GASM
Born	(1991-04-15) April 15, 1991 (age 31) Lake Worth, Florida
Origin	West Palm Beach, Florida
Genres	Trap metal^[1] hip hop^[2] hardcore punk^[3]^[4] noise^[5] alternative hip hop^[6] black metal^[5] industrial hip hop doom metal
Occupation(s)	Songwriter singer rapper
Instrument(s)	Vocals guitar drums bass synthesizers
Years active	2010–present
Website	ghostemane.com

Ghostemane's merging of trap and metal gained him popularity on SoundCloud. In 2018, Ghostemane released his seventh studio album, N/O/I/S/E, which was highly anticipated in the underground music scene^[13] due to its heavy influence from industrial and nu metal.

Early life

Eric Whitney was born on April 15, 1991 in Lake Worth, Florida to parents from New York.^[14] Whitney grew up in West Palm Beach, Florida. As a teenager, he was mainly interested in hardcore punk music. He learned to play the guitar and performed in several bands,^[15] including Nemesis and Seven Serpents.^[10][16] He also played football while he was in high school, saying he was practically forced to by his father, who died when Whitney was seventeen.^[14]

Whitney was introduced to rap music when he was the guitarist in the hardcore punk band Nemesis and a band mate introduced him to Memphis rap.^[10]

Career

Prior to his musical career, Whitney worked in several B2B sales positions.^[14] In 2015, Whitney moved to Los Angeles, California due to him not musically thriving in Southern Florida. He also gave up his employment.^[15] Meeting up with JGRXXN, Whitney joined his collective Schemaposse, which included artists such as Craig Xen and Lil Peep.^[17]

In April 2016, after just 1 year with the group, Whitney left Schemaposse.^[18] He subsequently released his self-produced album "Blackmage" and his first cinematic music video with his single "John Dee". Whitney eventually began to associate with fellow Florida rapper Pouya,^[19] who released the video for "1000 Rounds" with Ghostemane in April 2017.^[20] The video quickly went viral and as of May 2021, has over 29 million views.^[21]

In late 2017, Whitney saw greater success when art collective TRASH GANG created and released their 1930s cartoon edit music video for his song "Mercury: Retrograde". The cartoon was a 1933 Betty Boop short, Snow-White, featuring Cab Calloway as Koko singing St. James Infirmary. The video has since climbed to over 419 million views, making it his most well known single.^[22]

In October 2018 he teamed up with Zubin to release a track titled Broken.^[23] Also in 2018, he released his seventh studio album, N/O/I/S/E, in which many of the songs are influenced by industrial metal, nu metal, Metallica, Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails. In May 2020, he unveiled his latest project, a lo-fi black metal band called Baader-Meinhof, of which he is the sole member (credited as Eric Ghoste).^[24] Ghostemane is also the sole producer of his former fiancée Poppy's Christmas EP A Very Poppy Christmas released in December 2020.

In 2021, Ghostemane's music video "AI", directed by Nick Cinelli, was nominated for Most Bizarre at the Berlin Music Video Awards.^[25]

Artistry

Lyrically, Ghostemane's themes focus around occultism, depression, nihilism, death and illuminism. He started his career as a musician playing guitar in hardcore punk bands, and drums in doom metal bands.^[11] He has stated that his biggest influence is black metal band Bathory.^[10] He spent most of his teenage years listening to extreme metal bands such as Deicide, Death, Carcass and Mayhem.^[7] In terms of rap music, Ghostemane is influenced by Southern rap groups such as Outkast and Three 6 Mafia. He has also gone on to cite Midwest rap group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony as an early influence.^[26]

Personal life

In October 2019, Ghostemane began dating musician and YouTuber Poppy. In July 2020, Poppy announced on social media that the two were engaged.^[27][28] The couple separated and called off their engagement in late 2021.^[29] He is currently engaged to American model, Skye Boysen aka Skyefires. On July 3, 2022, he announced on social networks that he would be a father with his current partner, Skyefires.^{[citation needed]}

Backing band

Current^[30][31]

• Parv0 – DJ
• Nolan Nunes – bass
• Marcus Johnson – drums

Former^[32]

• Mark Bronzino – guitar
• Cayle Sain - drums

Discography

As Ghostemane

Studio albums

• Oogabooga (2015)
• For the Aspiring Occultist (2015)
• Rituals (2016)
• Blackmage (2016)
• Plagues (2016)
• Hexada (2017)
• N / O / I / S / E (2018)
• ANTI-ICON (2020)

Collaboration albums

• Pallbearers || Tales from the Grave (w/DJ Killa C) (2015)
• GRXXNGHOSTENAGROM (w/JGRXXN x Nedarb Nagrom) (2015)
• Elemental (w/Lil Peep x JGRXXN) (2016)
• LXRDMAGE (w/Scarlxrd) (2021)

Compilations

• Astral Kreepin (Resurrected Hitz) (2015)
• Get To Know Us (w/Lil Peep x JGRXXN) (2016)
• Hiadica (2019)

Extended plays

• Ghoste Tales (2015)
• Dogma (2015)
• Kreep [Klassics Out Tha Attic] Featuring Dj Insane (2015)
• DÆMON (w/Nedarb Nagrom) (2016)
• DÆMON II (w/Nedarb Nagrom) (2016)
• DÆMON III (w/Nedarb Nagrom) (2017)
• Dahlia I (w/Getter) (2018)
• Fear Network (2019)^[33]
• Opium (2019)
• HUMAN ERR0R (w/Parv0) (2019)
• Digital Demons (w/Nolife) (2019)
• Lxrdmage (w/ Scarlxrd) (2021)
• Fear Network II (2021)

Mixtapes

• Blunts n' Brass Monkey (2014)
• Taboo (2014)

Singles

• Technicolor (2014)
• Kronol (2015)
• John Dee (2016)
• Hades (2017)
• Kybalion (2017)
• Tartarus (2017)
• Kali Yuga (2017)
• Nails (2017)
• Blood Oceans (How Many?) (w/ PHARAOH) (2018)
• D(R)Ead (2018)
• AI (2020)
• Lazaretto (2020)

As Ill Biz

Mixtapes

• Revival (ft. Shepherd) (2012) (on tracks "Revival" and "Lean Wit It" only)
• No Holds Barred (2012) (exclusive mixtape for datpiff.com)
• versatyle (2013) (unreleased)
• [Soh] [fahy] mixtape (ft. Infinite SoFi) (2013) (on track "Southside" only)
• ILL BiZ EP (ft. Infinite SoFi) (2013)
• 1991 (2014)

As GASM

Studio albums

• Www (2018)

As SWEARR

Extended plays

• Technomancer (2019)

As Baader-Meinhof

Extended plays

• EP (2016)
• Evil Beneath a Veil of Justice (2019)
• Baader-Meinhof (2020)

With Nemesis

Extended plays

• From the Neighborhood (2012)

With Seven Serpents

Extended plays

• Seven Serpents (2015)

As Eric Ghoste

• Music from the Motion Picture (2021)

References

1. JAMIESON, BRII (May 23, 2019). "This is Trap Metal". Kerrang!.
2. "Hear Ghostemane's Crushing New Hardcore EP 'Fear Network'". April 10, 2019. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
3. "Hear Ghostemane's Crushing New Hardcore EP 'Fear Network'". Revolver. April 10, 2019. Retrieved August 2, 2020.
4. "Ghostemane – Fear Network / Премьера релиза на Rhyme.ru". Rhyme - новости музыки. April 10, 2019. Retrieved August 2, 2020.
5. "45 MOST ANTICIPATED ALBUMS OF 2019". Revolver. January 2019. Retrieved April 11, 2019.
6. "Album Review: Ghostemane – Anti-Icon — Kerrang!".
7. "Interview: rapper Ghostemane talks death metal influences". Metal Insider. August 23, 2016. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
8. "Ghostemane has announced his eighth studio album, 'Anti-Icon'". Retrieved May 8, 2021.
9. Law, Sam. "How Ghostemane is changing the fabric of heavy music". Kerrang!. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
10. "Thanks To Ghostemane, Industrial And Metal Are Rap Now". Stereogum. September 13, 2017. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
11. Shaner, Lee. "GHOSTEMANE'S HARDCORE PAST INSPIRED HIS UNDERGROUND RAP PRESENCE". Skullcandy. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
12. Robb, John (January 16, 2021). "Ghostemane 'Anti- Icon' : A 21st century antichrist superstar who combines black metal, industrial and rap into a dystopian whole". Retrieved May 8, 2021.
13. "Ghostsmane Surprise-Releases New Album 'N/O/I/S/E' a Week Early". Revolver. October 10, 2018. Retrieved November 14, 2018.
14. Kinda Neat (July 6, 2016), KINDA NEAT EPISODE 110: GHOSTEMANE, retrieved May 25, 2018
15. "Ghostemane's Hardcore Past Inspired His Underground Rap Presence". Skullcandy. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
16. Wenke, Carrick. "Underground Hype: GHOSTEMANE". Retrieved December 24, 2018.
17. "Underground Hype: GHOSTEMANE – The Blow Up – A Place for the Independent Artist". www.theblowup.co. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
18. No Jumper (April 18, 2016), No Jumper - The Schema Posse Interview, retrieved May 25, 2018
19. "Music For The Aspiring Occultist: Ghostemane and the Collision of Metal and Underground Rap - Heavy Blog Is Heavy". www.heavyblogisheavy.com. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
20. "Pouya & Ghostemane "1000 Rounds" Video". HotNewHipHop. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
21. Buffet Boys (April 27, 2017), Pouya x Ghostemane - 1000 Rounds [Music Video], retrieved May 25, 2018
22. "GHOSTEMANE - Mercury". YouTube. Retrieved October 5, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
23. "Ghostemane and Zubin team up on "Broken"". The FADER. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
24. Ghostemane's Black-Metal Project: Hear Baader-Meinhoff's Sinister New EP Revolver. May 26, 2020. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
25. Berlin Music Video Awards (May 20, 2021). "Nominees 2021". www.berlinmva.com.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
26. "GHOSTEMANE Interview With Independent Grind". unsignedhype.org. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
27. Down, Rachael (July 10, 2020). "Poppy has announced she's engaged to Ghostemane". Alternative Press. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
28. Poppy. "My Fiancé Does My Makeup". YouTube. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
29. "Ghostemane via his official Discord server". Discord.
30. Law, Sam. "How Ghostemane is changing the fabric of heavy music". Kerrang!. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
31. Angell, Jack (April 28, 2020). "LIL LOTUS IS REWRITING THE EMO PLAYBOOK AND THERE ARE NO RULES". Alternative Press. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
32. "HEAR HORUS THE ASTRONEER'S NEW SONG WITH IRON REAGAN AND GHOSTEMANE GUITARIST". Revolver. January 3, 2019. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
33. HILL, JOHN (April 10, 2019). "HEAR GHOSTEMANE'S CRUSHING NEW HARDCORE EP 'FEAR NETWORK'". Revolver. Retrieved April 11, 2019.

External links

•   Media related to Ghostemane at Wikimedia Commons