Czarface, composed of Wu Tang’s Inspectah Deck and veteran duo Esoteric and 7L, return for their second, majorly comic book inspired album.
Here’s Ka-Bang from the new album, with guest DOOM.
The whole album sounds as great as that, a complete antithesis to all that commercial shit, rooted in counter culture. It’s the follow-up to their 2013 debut, which initially went comparatively under the rader as regards usual Wu-associated material, but eventually saw several pressings. That one featured Ghostface, Cappadonna, Vinnie Paz, Action Bronson and Roc Marciano, while the new one certainly isn’t shy of guests either.
Esoteric: “We knew how we felt about the last album, but weren’t sure how it would be received by listeners, but people really responded to it, even more than we had hoped. That gave us the confidence to really spread our wings and let loose on this one. The chemistry is even tighter this time around. We know exactly what lanes we are cruising in and what weight class we are fighting in for Round 2.”
Red and blue colourway is exclusive to Get On Down – click to go
Tracklisting:
1. DON THE ARMOR
2. CZARTACUS
3. LUMBERJACK MATCH
4. NIGHTCRAWLER feat. METHOD MAN
5. WORLD PREMIER feat. LARGE PROFESSOR
6. THE GREAT (CZAR GUITAR)
7. RED ALERT
8. JUNKYARD DOGS feat. JUJU OF THE BEATNUTS
9. SGT. SLAUGHTER
10. WHEN GODS GO MAD feat. GZA
11. KA-BANG! feat. MF DOOM
12. DEADLY CLASS feat. MEYHEM LAUREN
13. ESCAPE FROM CZARKHAM ASYLUM
14. SINISTER
15. GOOD VILLAINS GO LAST feat. RA THE RUGGED MAN
Inspectah Deck: “Czarface is like the Danger Room for the X-Men, I can use all my weapons on there. When I’m in Wu-Tang, I have to come a certain way because we have a certain style of fan, when I’m here doing the Czarface projects, it allows me to actually be an MC, it allows me to actually just spit…I love that. I love when i can just spit freely and just be an MC.”
Production is handled by 7L and Spada4, providing boom bappy, dark but fun background to the lyrics.
As with Twelve Reasons 2, there’s an elaborate package for sale over at Get On Down, including the 70 page hardcover CD, Lyrics and Kirby-inspired artwork is handled by the excellent Gilberto Aguirre Mata (El Ultimo Codice) (peep more of his work here) and l’Amour Supreme.
The debut Czarface comic, Death and Abduction, is written by Esoteric.
The whole thing is a nice accompaniment to both the new Twelve Reasons (from Adrian Younge and Ghostface) and Ghostface’s 36 Seasons comic book and album from earlier this year.
Czarface: Every Hero Needs A Villain is out June 16.
Buy the comic / CLEAR vinyl / CD / cassette bundle, and other versions, from Get On Down. The red/blue version is here.
Grab it from iTunes here.
The Czarface action figure! Pretty hard to get hold of…