Ghostface Killah may be the de facto star of Twelve Reasons to Die, the veteran Wu-Tang rapper’s 10th solo album, but its musical visionary is the name above the title: 30-something producer Adrian Younge, who also shares the billing on tonight’s concert. Although Ghost crafted an intricate, cinematic plot, set in 1960s Italy, that finds his Tony Starks alter ego battling a crime family so he can become Ghostface, it’s Younge’s giallo-soul backing soundtrack that steals the show. In recent years, the producer has reunited Philly soul singers the Delfonics (“La-La (Means I Love You)”) and assembled the soundtrack for Blaxploitation spoof flick Black Dynamite, but it’s in between Ghostface’s smooth and taut musings on torture and death wishes where Younge conjures his inner Ennio to great effect, heightening the drama along the way. With Venice Dawn and William Hart.
