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CZARFACE Delivers an Ode to Hip Hop’s Golden Age with “Czartificial Intelligence” (Album Review)

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CZARFACE is an east coast underground trio consisting of New York emcee/producer Inspectah Deck from the almighty Wu-Tang Clan as well Boston emcee/producer duo 7L & Esoteric of the Army of the Pharaohs. They first formed like Voltron in 1999 on the single “Speaking Real Words”, but finally decided to form the supergroup after making “12th Chamber” off the final 7L & Eso album to date 1212 over 13 years ago. Their 2013 self-titled debut along with their 2015 sophomore effort Every Hero Needs a Villain would both become modern underground classics in my opinion. A Fistful of Peril the following year was originally supposed to be the quartet’s final album & I thought that was a great way for them to go out, but they did pleasantly surprise me when they dropped their collab albums CZARFACE Meets Metal Face with the late MF DOOM in 2018 & then CZARFACE Meets Ghostface Killah with his DOOMSTARKS partner in rhyme Ghostface Killah the year after that. The Odd Czar Against Us would come out 9 months later & that felt more like a split EP between CZARFACE and solely 7L & Esoteric given that both groups have 6 songs each. Czarmageddon! though ended up being the trio’s most consistent full-length since Every Hero Needs a Villain so when it announced they had signed to Virgin Music for their 6th album, I was intrigued to hear if CZARFACE would continue to improve themselves like they did a year & a half ago.

“Czarchimedes’ Death Ray” of course starts the album with a boom bap instrumental & feeling like no one can stop them whereas “Blast Off” works in more kicks & snares with a fuzzy guitar continuing to boast on the lyrical side of things. “All That For a Drop of Blood” is a synth/boom bap hybrid explaining that it be a grand entrance whenever Czar’s in the building, but then “You Know My Style” featuring NEMS serves as an eerie reminder to all 4 of their underground roots on all fronts.

7L & Esoteric get their own solo cut with “Mama’s Basement” telling the story of a mother going away on a lifelong trip & never seeing her much, yet he found a world he can escape to in the end leading into the dusty “Frenzy in a Far Off World” featuring Frankie Pulitzer a.k.a. Tom Hardy keeping the battle bars rolling. “Czarsenic” despite is brevity has to be one of the most cutthroat moments on the album comparing their flows to arsenic over an unsettling beat just before the piano/boom bap “Gatecrasher” featuring Logic asking why people bringing beef up in their joint.

“Sirens” brings the synthesizers back into the picture explaining that they be sleeping with the titular prolonged warning sounds going off while “Helicopter” featuring Godfather Don & Kool Keith finds the quintet bringing it live from the czarbeque over kicks & snares. After the “1-11 Chelsea” instrumental from both 7L & JL Hodges, “Marvel at That (Road Trip)” is another 7L & Eso cut filled with Marvel wordplay while “Live from Czarnegie Hall” featuring Kool Keith ruggedly talks about this being survival of the fittest. “Together” ends with album with an uncanny instrumental describing themselves as A-list.

For a major label debut, CZARFACE continues to build upon what made their last LP from a year & a half ago by putting out another consistently focused body of work that pays homage to golden age of hip hop culture with samples from classic records. They mix their characteristic old school sound with soulful & jazzy beats on top of blending the unfiltered essence of OG braggadocio, introspective storytelling that the high-flying superheroes have become known for by now.

Score: 8/10

Source: UndergroundHipHopBlog.com

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CZARFACE Return to Form on “Czarmageddon!” (Album Review)

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This is the 5th full-length album from East Coast supergroup CZARFACE. Consisting of Inspectah Deck of the almighty Wu-Tang Clan as well as 7L & Esoteric of the Army of the Pharaohs, first formed like Voltron in 1999 with Speaking Real Words” but decided to form the supergroup after making “12th Chamber” off the final 7L & Eso album to date 1212 in 2010. Their 2013 self-titled debut along with their 2015 sophomore effort Every Hero Needs a Villain would both become modern underground classics in my opinion. A Fistful of Peril the following year was originally supposed to be the quartet’s final album & I thought that was a great way for them to go out, but they did pleasantly surprise me when they dropped their collab albums CZARFACE Meets Metal Face with the late MF DOOM in 2018 & then CZARFACE Meets Ghostface with his DOOMSTARKS partner in rhyme Ghostface Killah the year after that. The Odd Czar Against Us would come out 9 months later & that felt more like a split EP between CZARFACE and 7L & Eso given that both have 6 songs each. Last we heard from them was last spring when they dropped their 2nd collab album with DOOM called Super What? & now given that Record Store Day was last weekend, the supergroup’s getting back together for Czarmageddon!.

“Damien Dinner Time” is a boom bap opener produced by none other than The Czar-Keys finding Esoteric & Inspectah Deck spitting lethal battle raps like “You ain’t a Coachella, you flying coach with Ella & that local dope seller” and “I hit ‘em like lead to the chest, I wanna see hands to the forehead when my presence is blessed” whereas “The Czarlaac Pit” has a more Middle Eastern influence to the production talking about how you can’t stop their shine. “Can It Be?” works in some uplifting synthesizers coming through with some passionate verses, but then the synths that “Walk Thru Walls” bring to the table are more sinister accompanied by some dusty drums raising glasses to .

Meanwhile on “Splash Page”, we have CZARFACE over some heavy drums talking about being focused on the green leading into “Bob LaCzar” takes a more lo-fi route in terms of sound flexing their skills. Lion Eye tags along for the rap rock-tinged “Big ‘Em Up” challenging anyone to step up to them just before “Nu Muntantes” has a more cavernous tone to it comparing themselves to that of mutants & the hook is super awkward.

The song “Fearless & Inventive” by 7L & Esoteric and Kool Keith finds the trio over some more rock production talking about being bounty hunters & after the “Boogie DefMix” interlude, the penultimate track “Czarv Wolfman” is a fresh 2-parter in the vein of “I’m the Man” by Gang Starr as well as Jeru the Damaja & Lil Dap. “Logan-5” ends the album with an emotional 7L & Esoteric cut paying tribute to his dog Logan, who passed away a little over 2 years ago at this point.

I’ve been a fan of CZARFACE since the first album came out during my sophomore year of high school & I have to admit that this is the Fistful of Peril follow-up that I wanted The Odd Czar Against Us. The production from The Czar-Keys is pretty much a melting pot of all the sounds they’ve experimented with in the past & I’m happy to hear Deck on more than half of it destroying mics with Eso like they do best.

Score: 9/10

Source: UndergroundHipHopBlog.com

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CZARFACE & MF DOOM – “Super What?” (Album Review)

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This is the surprise 2nd collaborative album between East Coast supergroup CZARFACE & one of the most beloved MCs/producers in all of hip hop: MF DOOM. The first time we heard Inspectah Deck and 7L & Esoteric team up with Viktor was on “Ka-Bang!” off the trio’s classic 2015 sophomore album Every Hero Needs a Villain, which was followed up in 2018 with the appropriately titled CZARFACE Meets Metal Face. But after being delayed for the past year due to COVID-19 as well as DOOM’s unfortunate passing, Super What? is finally seeing the light of day.

“The King & Eye” is a solid way to kick the album off as the quartet team up with D.M.C. to declare themselves as royalty on top of a boom bap beat from none other than The Czar-Keys with some chimes being incorporated. The next song “Czarwyn’s Theory of People Getting Loose” goes on about how “there’s no dope in the industry” & even though I personally believe is far from true, all 3 of the verses on here are cutthroat as Hell. As for the production end of it: I like how it starts off grimy, but the switch-up midway through Esoteric’s verse was a bit unnecessary.

“Mando Calrissian” has a Special Herbs feel to it instrumentally as the trio talk about going commando, but then the track “DOOM Unto Others” is an decimating battle rap cut. Del the Funky Homosapien provides the best feature at the end of the threatening “Jason & the Czargonauts” before talking about “continuing where they left off” on the jazzy “Break in the Action”.

After the “A Name to the Face” skit, the song “This is Canon Now” is a 7L & Eso solo cut taking it back to the days of A New Dopeinstrumentally & dropping numerous comic references. The penultimate track “So Strange” incorporates an organ as well as some dusty drums as they pop off about the thoughts in their mind & even though I like the storytelling on “Young World” a lot, it’s a weird way to end the album.

Even though Super What? is more of an EP to me than a full-length, I still enjoyed it as much as CZARFACE Meets Metal Face. The chemistry between the 3 emcees never fails to amuse me & The Czar-Keys stick to their guns in terms of the project’s overall sound.

Score: 9/10

The post CZARFACE & MF DOOM – “Super What?” (Album Review) first appeared on UndergroundHipHopBlog.
Source: UndergroundHipHopBlog.com

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