CZARFACE & MF DOOM – “Super What?” review

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 referencing AEW performer Orange Cassidy 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 Dope instrumentally & 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: 4.5/5

CZARFACE & MF DOOM – “CZARFACE Meets Metal Face” review

This is the highly anticipated & unexpected collab album between East Coast supergroup CZARFACE & the renown MF DOOM. They originally collaborated on the hard hitting “Ka-Bang!” off of CZARFACE’s classic 2015 sophomore album Every Hero Needs a Villain, but now they are reuniting for a full-length project together. After the “Take Your Medicine” intro, we then get into the first song “Meddle with Metal”. Here, the Metal Face Villain alongside Inspectah Deck & Esoteric tell all the wack MCs that armageddon is here over an ominous beat from The Czar-Keys (7L & Spada4). The track “Badness of Madness” sees the 3 MCs bragging about their rapping prowess over some creepy keys & then after the “Closer Talker” skit, we then get into the next song “Forever People”. Here, the 3 charismatically y’all about how dope they are over some settle bass.

The track “Captain Crunch” is basically shit-talking the wack & to be honest, I think Deck has the best verse on here. Especially with how he started it. The 1 & a half minute “Don’t Spoil It” is a short yet head-bobbing Inspectah Deck solo cut that talks about the era he came from & being hip hop’s most wanted over some live drumming & a guitar in the background. The song “Phantoms” with Open Mike Eagle sees the 4 making a fancy anthem over a futuristic beat while & I love how the beat changes to something grimier during the 2nd half. The track “Bomb Thrown” is filled with creative battle bars with an eerie soul sample in the background.

After the “You Masked For It” skit, we then go into the song “Astral Traveling”. While DOOM doesn’t have a verse on this joint at all, CZARFACE & Vinnie Paz do manage to spit violent bars throughout going toe-to-toe with WWE Superstars Finn Bálor & Samoa Joe and the way the beat changes after each verse is a nice homage to “I’m the Man” by Gang Starr. The song “Nautical Depth” takes a jab at the current state of hip hop over an eerie beat while the track “Stun Gun” is a 7L & Esoteric cut with battle bars over some bass & an organ. The song “MF Czar” talks about how the trio & the Villain are hip hop’s antidote over some grim electronic keyboards while “Captain Brunch” is a decent remix to “Captain Crunch”. The album then finishes off with “Sleeping Dogs”, which is just a 50 second instrumental.

From the second this was announced, I knew this was gonna be great. CZARFACE’s chemistry has been proven over the past 5 years, but their chemistry with MF DOOM is stronger than it was on “Ka-Bang!”.

Score: 4.5/5

CZARFACE – “A Fistful of Peril” review

After releasing 2 modern classic hip hop albums in 2013 & last year, Wu-Tang Clan member Inspectah Deck & Army of the Pharaohs/Demigodz members 7L & Esoteric are hitting us with another full-length album under the CZARFACE name. Just like last time, the album is entirely produced by the group’s producer 7L& his protégé Spada4 but they’re not blatantly copying what they did on the trio’s last 2 albums.

The album starts off with the track “Electric Level 1”, where we hear a tiny sliver of spoken dialogue & then it transitions to a 1-minute electronic beat that kinda reminds of 7L & Esoteric’s 4th album A New Dope just 10 years before. However, things don’t really kick off until the next track “2 in the Chest” which has a slowed down funky beat as well as killer rhymes & flows from the trio’s 2 MCs Inspectah Deck & Esoteric.

“Czar Wars” (awesome title) sees Eso & Deck trading lines back & forth with each other, only proving that their chemistry together is still fucking killer! The beat isn’t bad either, the guitar loop throughout is pretty nice & I love the reference to WWE Hall of Famers & former 3-time WWE Tag Team Champions The Road Warriors. The track “Machine, Man & Monster” starts off with a raw verse from Conway & with the bass playing throughout as well as the electric guitar I heard on this track at points, the beat reminds me of something I’d hear from CZARFACE’s previous album Every Hero Needs a Villain but not in a bad way at all.

The next track “Dare Iz a Darkseid” (which is cleverly named after Redman’s classic sophomore album Dare Iz a Darkside) starts off with a hilarious verse from Esoteric followed by a roughly delivered verse from Deck over a hard boom beat beat & I just REALLY love how you can hear how much fun Eso is having while he’s delivering his verse. The track “All in Together Now” (named after the Wu-Tang Clan’s original name for those who don’t know) has THUNDEROUS drums, a nice electro loop & I love the ambition in the 2 MC’s voices as they deliver these braggadocious yet accomplished sounding lines. Following that track, we have the closer “Level Electric 1” which is just a beautiful 1 minute dark ambient sounding piece.

Now I remember Eso making a poston his Instagram back in January of this year hinting that this is the last CZARFACE album & if that really is the case with this album, they went out with a bang! The production 7 & Spada bright to the table is tight while Eso & Deck’s flows are on point as is their lyrics & the chemistry is still near perfect. Despite my only issue with the album being that it’s too short (it only runs at 35 & a half minutes), the 3 were able to come through with an album as equally great as their last 2 albums

Score: 3.5/5