Happy 10th Anniversary to CZARFACE’s eponymous debut album CZARFACE, originally released February 19, 2013.
The hip-hop supergroup CZARFACE has spent the last decade building a popular brand. The duo of Jason “Inspectah Deck/Rebel INS” Hunter and Seamus “Esoteric” Ryan have a dozen projects in their catalogue, including collaborative albums and instrumental EPs. Through releasing a remarkably dope discography, the two have become a formidable institution. They’ve conceptualized and released graphic novels, sneakers, lunchboxes, trading cards, action figures, and playsets. Much of their brand is built around their nominal CZARFACE character, a warrior clad in silver armor and mask who, while neither a hero nor a villain, is tasked with defending hip-hop music from corrupting forces.
The group’s success is inspirational. For the un-initiated, Wu-Tang Clan’s Inspectah Deck and Boston’s Esoteric might seem like an odd pairing. But for those who have been following both of their careers, it’s a natural fit. As the Clan’s workhorse, Deck has always been an emcee’s emcee. Meanwhile, Esoteric, first as a member of a duo with George “7L” Andrinopoulos, then as a solo artist, put together a voluminous discography that spans the late ’90s to the early ’10s. His work has demonstrated his deep love for hip-hop culture, as well as pop culture institutions like Star Wars, Marvel and DC comics, and professional wrestling. Released 10 years ago, their self-titled debut album as a group is every bit as dope today as it was the day it was released.
7L & Esoteric’s working relationship with Deck goes back nearly a quarter of a century, when they collaborated on the track “Speaking Real Words” back in 1999. Over a decade later, the parties involved recorded “12th Chamber” for 1212 (2010), 7L & Esoteric’s “reunion” album (Eso had spent much of the mid to late ‘00s releasing material as a solo artist). If anything, “12th Chamber” was an even stronger recording than “Speaking Real Words,” as 7L’s production efforts had improved and Esoteric had grown exponentially as a lyricist.
Given the crew’s now deep discography, it’s a bit strange that CZARFACE was first envisioned as something else entirely. In an interview with Grown Up Rap, 7L said he first pitched the concept of Eso and Deck combining for a project during the mix-down process for “12th Chamber” “My suggestion was no digital, no CD, no cover, just do a white label EP, six songs,” 7L explained. “Something for just hardcore fans to find and treasure as this hidden record.”
Esoteric was intrigued by the idea, but countered that if they were going to do a project with the Wu-Tang member, it had to be “something more than a white label record.” The three eventually came up with the name “CZARFACE” for the group. Esoteric, a lifelong comic book fan, then put together the CZARFACE character. CZARFACE’s look, and the group’s first and subsequent albums’ cover art, were inspired by the work of comic book legends like Jack Kirby and other Silver Age greats.
Though the group’s “branding” was important moving forward, the core of CZARFACE was always built on its music, which echoed Eso, Deck, and 7L’s love for vintage ‘80s and ’90s hip-hop. “I think if you were to look at the bigger picture and wanted to put CZARFACE in a bigger category it would be somebody that represents the good, vintage appeal that hip-hop was built on,” Esoteric said in an interview with Vice. “We're not trying to preach or anything, we're just trying to lead by example with the songs we make.”
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CZARFACE is one of the best albums of 2013 and one of the best projects of the 2010s. It’s also a lot of fun. Esoteric and Deck sound like they’re having a blast as they rap, littering each track with clever lines and rhyme schemes. 7L handles nearly all of the album’s production, at times assisted by Todd Spadafore a.k.a. SPADA4, who worked with the producer often over his career.
The creation of CZARFACE turned out to be a boon for Inspectah Deck. As a member of the Wu-Tang Clan, Deck has recorded some of the best verses in hip-hop history. Fellow Clan compadre Method Man has frequently called him one of the most underrated emcees of all-time and “top 5, dead or alive.”
Unfortunately, Deck never had solo commercial success to match his skill. Aside from his solid debut album Uncontrolled Substance (1999), none of the solo albums he released seemed to quite click. One of the best things about CZARFACE is that it has allowed Deck to really cut loose. “[Esoteric] brought me back into just spitting that lyrical stuff and just letting me spit,” Deck told HipHopDx.com.
Deck sounds amped up and locked in throughout CZARFACE. He starts off with the metaphorical guns blazing on the album-opening first single “Air ’Em Out,” riding the dirge-like keyboard sample. “Ask around, clown: Rebel is nice,” Deck raps. “Fuck your money, I said it for spite, son I’m ready to strike.”
CZARFACE doesn’t solely function as Inspectah Deck’s delivery service: Esoteric is an equal partner in the album’s success. Esoteric’s career, especially as a solo artist, has long gone underappreciated as an emcee. He’d steadily improved over the first decade-and-a-half of his career, and as a member of CZARFACE, he absolutely was in the midst of his stride. On the hectic “Rock Beast” he raps, “You don't want to test the duo / I’ve been blessed with a jewel / I am destined to rule with heat on deck like INS with a tool/ Here's a cup for the drool, I’m a super villain, illing, call me Ra's al Ghul.”
Esoteric and Deck forge tight chemistry together, blitzing tracks tag-team style like the hip-hop version of FTR or The Briscoe Brothers (two of the best tag teams in professional wrestling, for those who don’t know). The pair methodically batter their opponents, on “Marvel Team-Up,” the most Wu-Tang-esque entry on the project, passing the mic back and forth with easy dexterity. “World War 4” similarly captures that mid-1990s Wu-Tang energy, with Deck and Eso kicking a rapid-fire verse to some late 1980s throwback heat.
CZARFACE also enlist numerous guests throughout the album, working with long-standing allies as well as underground workhorses. The duo team up with Long Island’s Roc Marciano and Oxnard’s Ohno on back-to-back “Cement 3’s” and “Czar Refaeli” respectively. The latter is a rugged jam with all three emcees delivering blistering heat to dirge keys and hard-as-penitentiary-steel drums. “Cement 3’s” gets its motor from a finely chopped piano sample and swirling keys. Roc Marci still oozes his unique brand of detached cool on the mic, while Deck pounds away at the competition, rapping, “INS spit warhead bars, go ahead draw / I bang your dome, leave your forehead gone.”
“Poisonous Thoughts” featuring Mr. MFN eXquire and “Shoguns” deliver another potent one-two punch on the album’s back half, both anchored by distinctive electric guitar samples, near the album’s close. “Shoguns” boasts appearances from Wu-Tang Clan O.G. Cappadonna and Esoteric’s Army of the Pharoahs cohort Vinnie Paz. The beat finds a balance between dusty Wu-Tang soul and 7L & Esoteric’s early to mid ’00s material, as the track unfolds over metronome-like percussion, with 7L bringing in yelps and dinosaur screams from various obscure cartoons.
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Deck and Esoteric consistently rise to the occasion as they team up with heavy hitters throughout the project. “Savagely Attack” is a raucous collaboration with hip-hop’s Iron Man, Ghostface Killah. All three emcees bless the bouncy track, each meeting the moment to create an all-time great recording. While Deck asserts “[m]y position in the game, top dog, rock hard / Fuck with everybody in your hood… just not y’all,” Esoteric professes to be “raised on a tape the same color as Galactus.” Ghostface rounds things out, kicking a verse with a ferocity that he rarely displays during the 2020s. He begins his verse with straight lyrical uppercuts, declaring, “Look out! Attack like a n***a on bath salts / Eat his face off, leave his body on asphalt.”
7L steps aside to let DJ Premier assume production duties for “Let It Off,” one of the legendary beat-maker’s best concoctions of the 2010s. It’s a boisterous Preemo endeavor, layered with menacing strings, unruly horns, and foreboding pianos, slowly building to a crescendo. Both Deck and Esoteric sound particularly inspired while working with one of the best. Deck’s verses on the song aren’t quite “Above the Clouds” level of dopeness, but they’re still entertaining. “Rhymes on ya mind like a fitted cap,” he raps. “What I spit is crack / Salutations, see him, tip your hat.”
The group hit the nail squarely on the head again with “It’s Raw,” a collaboration with Action Bronson. It’s another rugged, guitar-driven track that plays out like an extended in-ring melee, with the crew directly invoking the Road Warriors tag team. Esoteric delivers his best verse on the album, a lengthy verbal brawl that targets all doubters. “I'm back, I'm at my apex for all you rap fans,” he proclaims. “I’m a hero to everybody, I’m Batman’s Batman.”
“Dead Zone” is the only track on CZARFACE where Deck and Esoteric attempt to tackle a narrative. Here the two traverse a desolate, post-apocalyptic world that’s a mix of The Walking Dead, Mad Max, and The Road, searching for survivors while dodging mindless, cannibalistic zombies. But even here, as Esoteric reveals in his final verse, the song is a metaphor for the music industry. “Interpret this as a metaphor for true emceeing,” he notes. “Only a few remain, the rest won't use their brain.”
CZARFACE has kept releasing music at an impressive clip, never once compromising their music. Their debut effort encapsulates everything about hip-hop’s 1990s era, but still sounds timeless. The comic books and action figures associated with this group may be wildly creative and entertaining, but it’s the music that keeps the group in business. Come for the comic book art, stay for the raw shit.
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