BADBADNOTGOOD x Ghostface Killah Collab Album

As one of the most accomplished rap lyricists of our time, whose contributed some of the most colourful narratives around to the annals of hip hop history, the iconic Ghostface Killah could easily just rest on his laurels. Fortunately for us, he’s not content doing that, continually finding new ways to stay relevant with current generation hip hop fans; whether it be performing impromptu gigs on the backs of utes in alleyways behind toasted cheese sandwich shops in remote Australian cities (#nevaforget), putting in overtime on both his solo album 36 Seasons and Wu-Tang album A Better Tomorrow, or teaming up with current-day genre innovators like BadBadNotGood, the Canadian dudes who merge their jazz school training with a rap sensibility to pretty dope ends. i.e. being the first jazz band to have people moshing at their shows, for starters. 

In May last year, Ghostface linked with BBNG and raprovocateur Danny Brown for the hard-ass Six Degrees, that turned out so well that Ghostface decided to go in with BBNG again come October 2014, on Gunshowers, bringing in Detroit rap technician and former Slum Village member Elzhi to help him throw some fire over a psych-out instrumental from the Canadian boys. They worded us up then that they’d be smashing out a whole album, Sour Soul, sometime in the near future, and that near future is now, with February 24 being announced today as the date to expect this likely groundbreaking collab album to drop on Lex Records. Back in October, the boys from BBNG expressed their excitement to be working with the living legend, via Twitter:

"I don't know what you know / But if you know how I know, you better get ghost 'fore I get Ghost!"

This follows the premiere last week of another fresh joint from the album, Ray Gun, featuring none other than supervillian of the scene, DOOM. The track is the perfect mix of Ghostface’s raw powerful flow, reminiscent of his early solo work, and DOOM’s poetic quirkiness, laid atop a chilled-out, lounge jazz beat from BBNG, that eventually explodes into out of control drumming and trumpets. It was released on DOOM's birthday, heh. Listen below:

 “As if, stance mad stiff. Metal Face DOOM, beware, he bear gifts.”

After saying they’ll do it for years, Ghostface and DOOM also have a collaboration coming out, Doomstarks, confirmed by Ghostface via his AMA for a release this year, although in the hands of the evasive and mysterious DOOM, who knows if that’s for real (“DOOM likes to take his time”, Ghostface told Hot New Hip Hop…two years ago now!)

This Sour Soul shit, though, is shaping up to be wild: Gunshowers, Six Degrees (which will be first track on album), Ray Gun, as well as Ghostface on every single track, which ain’t nothing to laugh at. Notably, the album’s key feature will be in its recording techniques, that will draw from 1960s production approaches, where sampling is ditched in favour of dynamic, live instrumentation, which we can trust will be decent in the hands of boundary-breaking hands of BBNG, who have that rare ability to create genius, alongside producer Frank Dukes (Danny Brown, 50 Cent). Much anticipation from camp Pilerats (/the hip hop world at large)!

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