Jazz trio backs famed rapper
Age and distance were no barrier for their collaboration on album
BadBadNotGood and Ghostface Killah form an unlikely pairing. The former is a trio of fresh-faced jazz school kids from Toronto, while the latter is a hardened MC from New York’s revered Wu-Tang Clan around 20 years their senior.
Despite the age and status difference, the union was considered mutually beneficial when they joined forces in 2012. After all, BadBadNotGood had designs on becoming the go-to session-playing Funk Brothers of rap. Ghostface, for his part, longed for a backing band to bring a classic soul sound to life, and who better to assume the role than a band that had prior experience working with rappers?
The collaboration has moved slowly, yet has proved fruitful over time. Three years after they started swapping music files from their respective bunkers, their first album, Sour Soul, emerged in February.
“I think we were nervous at first,” recalls BBNG bassist Chester Hansen. “At that point we were so young as a band, we couldn’t have even dreamed of working with someone from the Wu-Tang Clan until it was proposed to us.”
Unlike BadBadNotGood’s previous collaboration with California rapper Tyler, the Creator, which came about through Internet happenstance — Tyler happened upon one of the trio’s hip-hop covers on YouTube — their introduction to Ghostface was brokered through a mutual friend, producer Frank Dukes. The fellow Canuck, who produced BadBadNotGood’s 2014 album III, is an experienced rap beatmaker and had accompanied Ghostface on tour as his DJ.
“It was really Dukes’s brainchild,” says Hansen. “He wanted to get a band to record instrumentals that were beats but had more in-studio life.”
After receiving their original marching orders, Hansen, keyboardist Matthew Tavares and drummer Alexander Sowinski found themselves hammering out three beats a day for about a week. Once they were done, Dukes sent the instrumentals to Ghostface, who would then record his rap verses on top.
Swapping music files was the only communication between the band and the rapper until they met at an event in Toronto last year.
“We personally didn’t speak to Ghost prior to meeting him; all of our interaction up to that point was through Frank Dukes,” says Hansen. “It just made the most sense to have Dukes go back and forth and communicate our collective ideas, because they had a previous relationship and it made things far less complicated.”
The band received most of the direction they needed through Ghostface’s raps. They reworked the instrumentals based on his lyrics and delivery.
“Sour Soul isn’t a concept album, but Ghostface was rapping about his life experiences, imparting knowledge and telling stories about his over 40 years of life,” Hansen says.
“It’s a reflective album that’s also dark. We wanted the instrumentals to fit that as well.”
What they didn’t want to do, Hansen adds, was mimic Ghostface’s older solo works, especially his 2000 album Supreme Clientele. Dukes introduced them to lesser-
Sour Soul isn’t a concept album, but Ghostface was rapping about his life experiences. CHESTER HANSEN
known Ghostface tracks that show his diverse musical tastes — ones where he raps over While My Guitar Gently Weeps and Barry White’s I’m Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby.
For the live show, BBNG has learned how to play a few Wu-Tang Clan classics, Ghostface’s solo material and a handful of soul and hiphop covers at the rapper’s request. Based on stature, one would think Ghostface assumes the starring role on stage with BBNG as his backing band.
“That’s how we see it, but he enjoys playing with a band. I don’t think he’s had too many opportunities to do that in recent years,” explains Hansen.
“He gets really excited when we’re playing an instrumental part. He’ll turn around, look at Alex (on drums) and say, ‘Go off!’ We’ll end up jamming on the songs for two minutes and he’ll become our hypeman who roots us on. He likes it when the music evolves and it’s not just some static beat.”