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10/11/2006 Interview with 4CAST founder Amish Dani What's up? Just working hard. How did the idea for the Ghostface Doll come about? I came up with the idea on a Vegas trip when I was vacationing with some friends. We were listening to Ghost's album all weekend and I thought it would be dope to make a Ghost doll that focused on his character. How did you get Ghost down? I initially approached his manager and he liked the idea. He liked the fact that it was limited edition. When we first told Ghost, he said, "Do you think niggas are going to pay $500 for that shit?" We were like, "Yeah, there's a big collectors' market out there for items like this." $500 is a lot of money. Why is the doll so expensive? We put real gold, silk and jewels on there. The main idea of 4CAST Limited is to create items for successful urban people who don't want fine china in their display case. This is more of a mantelpiece than something you play with. We're looking at the preorders and people aren't scared of the price tag. What makes this a Ghostface doll as opposed to a Ken doll? It curses and it has steez! We took Ghostface to the studio and recorded some lines from his old songs. If you listen to the way he said it, it may sound a little different than the recording, but it's Ghost. He's the reason people rock bathrobes and Wallabees. How was it having Ghost in the studio? It was crazy. It was a great experience. How long has this doll been in production for? We've been working on this doll for about nine months. It's been a challenge to create because we weren't in the toy business before. When we started out, we started with clothing. That's a whole different ballgame from figurines. Does Ghost like the final version? He likes it. He's definitely feeling it. At one point he wanted to have it look like his image right now, but we told him that people really want the classic Ghost with the Wallabees, robe and the eagle. That's Ghost to them. That's what the fans grew up listening to. He was cool with that. What are your goals for the Ghost Doll? We've already received major coverage in terms of getting it out there to the general public. We've already built up a lot of sales off our own website. We're also working with a lot of high-end urban boutiques as well as some collector shops throughout Japan, Canada, Germany, England and the United States. Where do you think the doll will sell the most at? I think the majority of them will overseas in places like Japan and Germany, but there are definitely a lot of fans interested in items like this here in the U.S. as well. Do you have plans for other dolls in the future? Definitely. We already have two more that are coming in after Ghostface. They'll be coming next year. What's your background in hip-hop? My dad owned a CD store for 20 years and it just closed its doors this February. I also have a bachelor's degree in Business at college and I've been a Wu-Tang fan forever. Over the last few years I've been keeping a real close eye on how the music industry has been going. It's very apparent that record labels are struggling and sales are dropping. I see merchandise having huge potential. What do you want to say to everybody? If you're a Wu-Tang fan, and collector in general, you better cop one of these dolls before all 1,000 are gone.

By Brian Kayser

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