Thoughts On: Sour Soul

Recommended Listening: Sour Soul, Six Degrees, Ray Gun.

Welcome back to Thoughts On, where I talk about music and ignore all outside opinions. Hot off of spring break we just got hit with a new Kendrick Lamar album and the jazzy hip-hop blend of music continues. That however is a beast I will attempt to tackle next week after I have had time to cool down. This week we are talking about 'Sour Soul', a collaborative album between Wu-Tang legend Ghostface Killah and fairly new Jazz trio called BADBADNOTGOOD (BBNG). To be honest at the start of the year I had no interest in this project but after I looked in the mirror and accessed my life I realized that I had to hear it. As I have mentioned before there has been a trend of collaborative albums coming out recently but I maintain that this is one of the most unique. With such a new group working with essentially a hip-hop legend one could only imagine the kind of project they would put together. Luckily for us it is pretty good.

For a it a background BBNG is a Jazz trio from Toronto, Canada. Made up of friends who met each other via a college Jazz program and bonded over a love of Hip-Hop music. They then made covers of famous Hip-Hop songs which got the attention of rapper Tyler, The Creator who helped them get well deserved recognition. Since then the group has put out three albums, performed all over the world, and now produced for major rappers. I heard about them when I saw a review for their newest collab album and I decided to just binge everything they have put out. Almost instantly I was hooked and they are now one of my favorite bands. They have a great way of fusing Jazz with Hip-Hop and laying out elaborate road maps with their music that creates this great visual imagery and makes their tiny band seem massive and experienced. On the flip side of BBNG we have Ghostface who is a member of the legendary Wu-Tang Clan and one of the best lyrical story tellers the genre has seen. With his albums often taking heavy narrative themes like murder, revenge, and of course ghosts. He has seen an abundance of success both with his group and as a solo act, but how does he fare when paired with such a Jazzy band? It turns out that their ability to create visual imagery sets them up for a brief, but grand walk into a dreamlike fusion of old school and new. This is actually going to be an incredibly hard album to talk about because it is so heavily based in music that what I say may not translate well.

So what does the album sound like? Well to put it simply it sounds like a dream, with wavy production and a vibe that reminds me of beaches and Hotline Miami. Opening with 'Mono' this instrumental starts off a simple bass pattern with little explosions of chords by keyboards and hi-hats every few measures. It is slow buildup that does an excellent job at setting up the pace of the album. This project is not fast nor is it very heavy, rather it is meant to hit lightly and stay in your mind just like an old Jazz tune might do. The title that follows, 'Sour Soul', is where we first hear Ghostface come in and lyrically drop bars about how he feels about the government. This is the first hint we have that this album could be politically charged as he takes about being chipped and monitored his major distaste of government authoritative establishments, and seeing UFOs fly out of the back of a truck. The instrumental to this song is a slow and steady with more chordal bursts thrown in through out. The bursts come in the form of nice triplets that form a nice framework for the idea that Ghostface is living the life of a sour soul in a land of the free. Next we have 'Six Degrees' which reminds me of a Snoop Dogg kind of beat, which is not by any means a bad thing but it has an air of west coast that I just love. It is collection of musical Wahs that hit every few beats and then a snare comes in to fill in for the empty space. Lyrically this song is Ghostface talking his hard persona and street personality. It has an awesome feature by Danny Brown, whose comedic themes and unique delivery help push forward the idea that there are six degrees of separation between us and the artists. While this albums short length makes it hard to cement any sort of consistent theme, the next song 'Gunshowers' seems to carry themes of revolution, again referring back to the same ideas as 'Sour Soul' and calling people to action. This violent tale of gun showers and rebellion highlights Ghostface's signature style backed by a wild guitar and smooth drums. Skipping ahead a bit we have my favorite song on the album, 'Ray Gun' which features another rap legend, MF Doom. This song filled superhero and comic book imagery has probably the bright production with music that sounds out of an old martial arts move then transitions into an old spy theme by the end. The whole album blends together well and has an interesting way of carrying you through time and sounding like what Ghostface may have listening to growing up. In 'Nuggets of Wisdom' we get a short verse about what it means to be righteous and Ghostface references the Qu'ran and it actually makes for an interesting change of pace tonally. As much as Ghostface loves to talk about danger it seems like at the end of the day he is still using his words as a vehicle to inspire. On the last lyrical track 'Food' we get a beautiful chord progression that feels like it is making a statement just as Ghostface comes at us with a tale of how he used to to be a villain but now he makes food for thought, so choosing to use his newly cleansed soul to try and and help others get clean. This track is meant to stick with you as Ghostface's last words before the project ends with 'Experience' which starts as the intro does but expands on it musically and closes the album on a strong note.

This album is great but it feels too short. There is not enough time for Ghostface to lyrically get all his themes across and it seems like he just wanted the music to take priority, which is fine but I was just left wanting more. BBNG has more than held there own and not once did it seem like they could not keep up with one of the greats. The production is fantastic, the lyricism perfectly suits it, but I can't help but feel like it is the precursor to something. As far as collaborations though what we have here is a seamless blending of two unique styles that if given more time or a more expansive idea could easily reliever a modern classic. Projects like this need to be made so artists can see the potential of what you can do with your music. Here in this album the instrumentals do not just sit in the background they play a vital role in how you understand the tone of every song. The way it blends tells one how story and the different songs highlight points across the journey. I want more. I recommend that you: Listen Soon to this album because it opens the door for more and more things like this to exist. We already have artists like Terrace Martin and Flying Lotus bridging the gap between genres and now with Kendrick Lamar's new album we see an even more pronounced fusion of styles. With all this amazing crossover that is shaking the foundation and re-defining how certain music is perceived it certainly is a good time to be a Hip-Hop fan.