SOUR SOUL

Sheffield sure does love its hip hop. With the announcement of Wu-Tang Clan playing Tramlines this year, it seemed more than appropriate to have a look at the latest album by Ghostface Killah accompanied by Canadian jazz trio BadBadNotGood.

BadBadNotGood are well known for their hip hop roots, having covered tracks by J Dilla and Kanye West in their earlier albums BBNG1 and BBNG2, before getting recognition from the Odd Future collective of Tyler, The Creator, Earl Sweatshirt and Frank Ocean.

BBNG are no strangers to Sheffield either, having wowed The Harley last year at Tramlines with their energetic performances, so the combination of the two artists seems like a good match.

Ghostface delivers a more reflective approach to his lyrics, such as on ‘Nuggets of Wisdom’, with lyrics like, “Make peace not war, make babies some more/ Keep a smile when you travel from shore to shore/ Superficial, don't get sucked into the scene/ The grass ain't always green / The meat ain't always lean.”

The production from BBNG on Sour Soul complements this hip hop legend’s flow and is nothing short of excellent. Reminiscent of a Blaxploitation film soundtrack with a modern twist, it’s so smooth and pleasant to listen to, arguably one of Ghostface’s best efforts in recent years, showing the 44 year old is still as relevant as ever.

The only sour note is the length of the album. At less than 34 minutes it seems too short for such a solid album. But there’s enough soul in this collaboration to feature in the Best Albums lists come the end of the year, and to whet the appetite for July, when Wu-Tang come and visit.

Brady Frost