When Ghostface Killah released his 12 Reasons To Die album around this time last year, the hip hop world lapped it up like fresh milk. It had all those classic Ghostface vibes about it, with the added live instrumentation providing a deep backdrop for the Wu Tang legend to best utilise his knack for storytelling.
That album has set the template for a couple of UK artists to try their own hand at making a soundtrack. Cook & Kuartz are a producer and emcee duo from Manchester, England who have been keeping to the roots of hip hop with the music they release, and inspired by the music they listen to, they decided to create their own soundtrack. The Tormented Revenge of Slick Jnr is a 6 month long body of work that was meticulously formed and put together with the utmost care and attention, and acts as a fictional Western story of a man who seeks revenge for his parents deaths. Using friends and acquaintances to play some of the live instrumentation on the record as well as some of the spoken word segments, Cook & Kuartz have compiled a strong 12 track album that demonstrates Kuartz's prowess as a producer, and Cook's lyrical ability on the mic.
Personal highlights on the album include the laid back vibes of "Night Train" which features a crispy drum beat along with a flow from Cook that fits the beat perfectly. Another personal favourite is "The Lonely Walk", which features probably my favourite beat on the entire project, as Cook spits his way through a tale of finding the people who killed his parents. Those are just a couple of the tracks that I've picked out, but in whole the project is considerably stronger than a lot of other work I've heard recently.
You can stream The Tormented Revenge of Slick Jnr below, and if you're feeling what you're hearing then you can download it from their bandcamp, just follow the link below!
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