Album Review | Czarface – Every Hero Needs A Villain

Czarface is a group consisting of 7L & Esoteric & Inspectah Deck. I’ve honestly never heard anything from 7L & Esoteric, but I know that Inspectah Deck is dope. I’ve never heard any of Deck’s solo shit. I heard it isn’t as good as the shit he did with the rest of the Wu-Tang Clan tho. I saw the cover for this album and I said to myself, “Damn… That shit looks dope af.” That cover is fucking great. It reminds me of some MF DOOM shit. That kinda nerdy Hip Hop. I don’t know why, but nerdy rap is just so much cooler to me than most shit. When I say nerdy rap, I mean like when rappers reference shit like comic books and superheroes and shit. I don’t even really like comics and superheroes because… That shit is nerdy af. It just works with Hip Hop tho. That cover is fucking great. I also thought that Czarface was a great name. Nerdy rappers always have the best pseudonyms to me. When I found out that Inspectah Deck was involved, I said to myself, “Oh damn. Inspectah Deck is on this shit? I might have to review this album… Damn. I got too much stuff on my schedule. It’s kinda cold in hear. Who keeps turnin’ the fuckin’ air up?” I’ll hopefully review their first self-titled album eventually. I think the cover for that one is even better than the one for this album. This one is still dope af tho. Every track is produced by 7L & Spada4. I really have no idea what to expect with this album. I know it probably won’t be wack, but I’m worried that it might just be okay. I like Inspectah Deck tho. I’ve also heard that 7L & Esoteric are dope af. Huh. Maybe I DO know what to expect. Okay, I guess I’m expecting this to be dope…

Track 1: Don The Armor

This beat is fucking great. It kinda reminds me of something that Kno of The CunninLynguists would produce. This is just a skit over a beat that 7L produced. It sounds like an old commercial for a comic book that comes with a Halloween costume or something. Is Czarface supposed to be the name of the superhero? I think that would be a fair assumption. This beat is really nice, but I can’t give this track a rating. It’s not really a song. I did enjoy it tho.

Track 2: Czartacus

This beat is dope af. Inspectah Deck is goin’ in right now. He sounds great over this beat. “Only time I go soft after pleasing your bitch.” I’m not really a fan of sexual lyrics, but for some reason that line is just so dope to me. Maybe it’s because it’s actually clever. I guess you have to be a good rapper to make shit like that work. Esoteric’s on the hook and it’s dope af. I don’t really like it when rappers brag about how much money they have and shit like that, but it’s really dope to me when they’re just braggin’ about bein’ good rappers. I don’t care about how much money a rapper has. If he can’t rap then he… uh… Why do I even have to explain this? “Nod ya head to this shit, but make it effortless, quick / When it comes to rap shit we the specialists, kid.” Esoteric’s verse is startin’ now. He kinda sounds like Jay Z with a less annoyin’ voice. It’s a little deeper. Honestly, he kinda just sounds like Inspectah Deck doin’ a Jay Z impression. That’s not necesarrily a bad thing. I would’ve preferred it if they had really distinct voices, but it doesn’t really matter. Just because they have similar voices doesn’t mean they’re the same person. Esoteric’s verse is actually pretty relatable. He talks about how he doesn’t like when rappers are focused on following trends and makin’ themselves look cool instead of actually being good rappers. “Rappers on their iPad, trend-humping every fad / Give me something I can grab / Something with some substance.” I’m the same way. I hate corny rappers. People who follow trends are corny af. Hashtags and Vines and… uh… I don’t know… What else do kids like? I should know this. I’m only sixteen. What do kids my age like? Travi$ Scott. He seems like the type of person that follows trends all the time and he isn’t a good rapper. Hahaha. I just edited the RapGenius description for those lyrics and added a picture of Travi$ Scott. They probably won’t accept my annotation… Goddamn. I like Inspectah Deck, but Esoteric’s kinda stealin’ the show right now. Every single bar is just so dope. I don’t know which one to quote. I wish I could just transcribe his whole verse here. “Keep balling, ‘cuz emceeing ain’t your calling / Leave that shit to us, we rushin’ stages like Stalin.” Goddamn. This is dope af. Inspectah Deck did his thing and Esoteric fuckin’ killed it. 7L’s beat was great too. I fuck with this. This is dope af. 5/5

Track 3: Lumberjack Match

This beat is dope af. It reminds me of a late night news show for some reason. Inspectah Deck is on the first verse. His verse was nice. It was pretty short. Esoteric is goin’ in now. He doesn’t really sound like Jay Z anymore. Now he kinda sounds like Godemis. His flow is dope af. Okay, now INS is goin’ in again. I really like how they both keep spittin’ short verses and then there’s a small break and then they go in again. It’s just nothin’ but bars. They’re referencing a lot of nerdy shit like Dr. Who and The Flash. Holy shit. Esoteric is just so fucking dope. “You try and test it I’ll pass with flying colors / Like a gangbang drive-by.” “You can call for help, but you’ll be dead by 9-1.” That is just so fucking dope. This is hard to say, but Inspectah Deck is honestly gettin’ outdone by Esoteric. It’s not that he doesn’t have any dope lines, but so far all of Esoteric’s verses have been much more impressive in my opinion. Not only are his bars more clever, but his flow sounds a lot cleaner too. INS’ verse wasn’t bad tho. They both got three verses and they were all way above average. 7L did his thing too. This beat is fucking great. I fuck with this song. This song is dope af. 5/5

Track 4: Nightcrawler Feat. Method Man

Nightcrawler

INS is goin’ in right now. His flow sounds great. “I transform to a beast, call me Predacon.” I don’t even like Transformers, but for some reason I really like that line. I really like how they keep referencing nerdy shit like that, but I don’t know why because I dislike more than half the shit they’re mentioning. I don’t give a shit about superheroes and comics or Dr. Who. Dr. Who is so fucking lame to me. I do like the comic book style artwork tho. I always liked that, but comic books as a whole just aren’t appealing to me. I guess I like this so much because people expect Hip Hop to be super cool and trendy. It’s really corny to me when rappers try too hard to seem cool tho. Inspectah Deck’s verse was nice. He had some clever lines in there, but none of them really blew my mind. It was good. There were a few scratches and now Esoteric’s goin’ in. His verse was great. His flow was dope and so were his bars. Okay now Meth’s gonna go in. His verse was pretty good. His flow was great and he had some nice lines, but this verse wasn’t incredible or anything. I fuck with this song. The beat is nice and they all had dope flows. The bars were far from bad, but nothing really amazed me. It was just a bunch of good verses over a good beat. Nothing about this song is bad, but it isn’t amazing or anything. It’s just dope. 4/5

Track 5: World Premier Feat. Large Professor

This beat is dope af, but it’s so loud. I can barely understand anything Inspectah Deck is saying. Oh never mind. It’s just the first couple of bars that are hard to understand. Actually… Damn. I can only understand about half the shit he’s sayin’. I’m sure I would’ve liked his bars if I understood them properly… I know he said some dope shit about how his “valor comes from the will of God’s power,” but I really missed a lot of the shit he said. I rewinded that shit like 10 times and I can still barely understand what he was saying. His flow was dope. The hook could’ve been better. Or nonexistent. It’s not terrible, but it get’s kinda annoying. At least it doesn’t last that long. I think that’s Esoteric on the second verse. I don’t think Large Professor’s gonna rap. He probably just helped 7L out with the beat or something. That might be him on the second verse. I don’t know what he sounds like. I don’t know Esoteric well enough to say for sure if that’s him. I’m pretty sure it is tho. Nope. It definitely isn’t. That’s probably Large Professor. I know it isn’t Esoteric because I heard whoever it is use the N word and Esoteric is white. White rappers usually have enough respect for the culture to not use the word. Most of them at least. Most of them… That’s weird. I’ve never heard Large Professor rap. It was a good ass verse tho. I liked the parts that I could understand and his flow was dope. Is Large Professor a rapper? I always thought he just produced shit. Oh shit he is a rapper. According to Wikipedia. Huh. Never knew that. Might have to check some of his shit out. Okay, Esoteric is goin’ in now. Goddamn. He fucking killed it. I feel bad for dick ridin’ and not really talkin’ a lot about Inspectah Deck, but Esoteric’s just so fuckin’ dope. I like INS tho. It’s just that everytime I hear Esoteric go in he says some shit that makes me do the Cosby face.

DEM BARZ THOOOOOO

This song is dope. The beat was dope and they all killed it, especially Esoteric. The hook got annoyin’ real quick even tho it didn’t last that long. I liked the song tho. It’s dope. I fuck with it. 4/5

Track 6: The Great (Czar Guitar)

This beat is dope. Nothin’ special. It works. I fuck with it. Inspectah Deck is goin’ in. His flow is dope. He’s just talkin’ about the same shit he’s been sayin’. It’s just bars about how dope he is. I liked his verse. Esoteric’s on the hook. It’s pretty dope. Not amazing or anything. Just dope. Yes. Esoteric’s goin’ in and it’s so dope. “Get a pic with him or the dying rapper he’s landing on / As he turns the ghost cannon on / Says he bought it on Amazon / Now tell me what the fuck are you planning on?” “It’s Czarface, back to attack your heart again / Destroy your ass like Drax from the Guardians.” I like the song, but I’m not amazed by it or anything. The beat was dope and they both had dope verses, but it never really reaches the next level… of dopeness. I fuck with it tho. It’s… It’s dope. 4/5

Track 7: Red Alert

There’s a 10 second intro of some lady speaking French about Czarface. I’m not that good at French and I don’t care enough to figure out what she’s saying. The hook is real simple, but it works. It’s just a sample of ODB sayin’ “red alert, red alert.” It does it’s job. It doesn’t really make or break the song. This beat is dope af. Esoteric sounds great over it. He had the first verse this time. “I’m kinda sick so I took this verse off / But I’m kinda in charge of the fucking project, so they can’t take this verse off.” After his verse the hook plays and then there’s a short interlude, which sounds like a clip from an old superhero cartoon. Inspectah Deck’s verse starts after that. His verse was pretty great too. After the hook plays the beat switches up and the outro is basically a Dad asking his daughter’s who shot first. They were talkin’ about Greedo & Han Solo. Kids are so stupid. They can barely speak English. I know it’s because they’re kids, but I’m just sayin’… I fuck with this song tho. The beat was dope, the hook wasn’t bad and Inspectah Deck & Esoteric both did they thing. It’s dope. 4/5

Track 8: Junkyard Dogs Feat. Juju

I’ve never heard of Juju, but he’s apparently a member of a group called The Beatnuts. Okay, he’s goin’ in now. He has a real deep voice. He kinda sounds like Bun B. Kinda. He claims to be God at least twice in his verse. It’s just another one of those standard shit-talking verses. He REALLY thinks highly of himself tho. He refers to himself as God, royalty, legendary, etc… Someone apparently disrespected him. If you’re in to rappers constantly insulting the listener you’ll like his verse. I don’t think it’s bad. It’s average to me honestly. As I said before, I only really like braggadocios rap when it’s about how dope the rapper is. I guess he kinda did that, but it just comes off as defensive. He should compliment himself instead of insulting others. It wasn’t a bad verse tho. It just doesn’t stand out that much. Esoteric’s verse is starting now. “When I pull out the pen I’m a wolf out again / Time to son motherfuckers, school’s out again.” Here Esoteric is talking about how dope he is without insulting the listener. He says that he’s gonna “son motherfuckers,” but not his audience. I will always prefer this method of shit talking. “The flow’s distinguished, but RapGenius makes it look like I don’t speak English / Must I space out the words like Silver Surfer to prove that I got the skill to murder, kill a verse or sell out arenas like I’m backstabbing Gilbert?” Goddamn. Esoteric’s verse was fucking great. Inspectah Deck’s goin’ in now and his verse is actually really good too. “Loud in person, I’ma shoot first like Kyrie Irving / These silly raps getting no claps like Miley twerking.” “Czarface nominated at the Comicon, drop bombs / Deliver it hot like it’s Papa John’s poppin’ dons / Burnin’ blue flowers with Dr.Octagon.” This is the first time that I don’t feel like Esoteric easily had the better verse. Inspectah Deck’s verse was dope af. 7L did a pretty good job I guess. Honestly the beat just sorta blends into the background. I forget it’s even there when I listen to this song. If the MCs weren’t dope enough to keep me interested then that would be a problem, but thankfully that isn’t the case here. The beat doesn’t stand out much, but it’s not bad tho. It’s just there. I fuck with this song. This song is dope. 4/5

Track 9: Sgt. Slaughter

I just looked up pictures of Sgt. Slaughter on Google Images and he appears to just be a Southern white guy who hates Muslims and loves America. Oh he’s a wrastler. Ok then. It doesn’t really matter I guess. It’s just a song title. Inspectah Deck is on the first verse. The beat kinda sounds like something that would be in a shitty action movie about war. It’s because of the snare pattern. The beat isn’t shitty tho. The movie’s shitty. The beat’s pretty good. INS’ flow is great. Wow this hook is actually pretty goddamn good. The way the instrumental kinda switches up sounds really nice. Esoteric’s goin’ in. His flow is dope af. He mentioned Arkham Asylum, the Avengers and Clark Kent. Goddamn. He went the fuck in. The beat sounds great, the hook is catchy and both of the verses were dope af. I fuck with this. This is dope af. It’s really short, but that’s probably why I like it so much. It’s only two minutes and ten seconds long. This song is even shorter than Priorities by Tech N9ne. Weird. 5/5

Track 10: When Gods Go Mad Feat. GZA

Inspectah Deck is goin’ in first. This beat is kinda annoying. It’s not that bad. I like the drum pattern. It sounds good with the rest of the beat. The way the beat switches up in between each verse sounds great. Inspectah Deck’s verse was great. Esoteric’s on the second verse. Honestly I could barely understand a thing he said. His flow was great tho. There’s a long ass interlude after his verse and then GZA goes in. He definitely had the best verse. The beat switched up for him and it sounded great. The way he was describin’ shit was just awesome. This song is dope af. The beat sounds kinda annoying at first, but it switches up pretty quickly and it goes through quite a transformation. They all had great verses (even though some of the shit was hard to understand) especially GZA. He definitely had my favorite verse on this song. I fuck with this song. This song is dope af. 5/5

Track 11: Ka-Bang! Feat. MF DOOM

This should be dope af. They already had the cartoonish comic book style goin’ on and MF DOOM is known for that shit. Is Czarface supposed to be a superhero or a villain? He looks a lot more villainous than heroic, but the skits make him sound like a superhero. So it’s Czarface Vs. MF DOOM. This should be good. MF DOOM is on the first verse. Goddamn. I fucking love this guy. He always stumbles over his words and just makes everything sound so aggressive. This is definitely the best beat on the album so far. It sounds real dark. When MF DOOM comes in and says “A grown ass man, mind from a trash can & he kept his rhymes as aligned as a Tascam” he just sounds so fucking hard. I never know how to describe the way he raps. It’s just so weird. I guess it sorta sounds like his mouth is stuffed with cotton and he has to try really hard to get his words out. That sounds like a bad thing… but he DOES get his words out and it’s so great. He fucking killed it. Inspectah Deck comes in after him. He sounds great over this beat. 7L did a great fucking job with this song. At first it’s just a simple drum pattern with some strong ass bass, but eventually a violin sample comes in and it sounds great. This probably won’t mean anything to 90% of the people that read it, but the beat makes it sound like shit is goin’ down. It’s great. “My bars get funky like a playoff armpit.” That line’s a little gross, but it gets the job done. Deck’s verse was great. His placement on this track made a lot of sense. His flow sounded great comin’ after MF DOOM. I’m not sayin’ DOOM’s flow is wack tho. They just sound very different. It works. Esoteric’s goin’ in now. Goddamn. His flow sounds fucking great too. It’s different tho. They all have different flows and it’s dope af. Esoteric easily had the best verse. Once he starts rappin’ he just doesn’t stop until the beat finishes. I’m convinced that if he wasn’t at the end of the song he would’ve just taken up the whole beat and there wouldn’t have been room for DOOM or INS to go in. It doesn’t even sound like he takes a second to breath in between each bar. I definitely fuck with this song. This song is dope af. 5/5

Track 12: Deadly Class Feat. Meyhem Lauren

Deadly Class

This should be good. Meyhem’s verses on The Rap Monument & Mr. Wonderful were pretty dope. I’m probably the only person who remembers The Rap Monument. He’s on the first verse. His flow and voice sound great over this beat. Speaking of the beat, 7L did a good ass job. During the intro it has this really annoying background noise, but it disappears once the verse starts. Oh. Never mind. It comes back during his verse, but it doesn’t last very long. The scratches between the verses are dope. INS is on the second verse. It was dope. I actually really like this song. The beat is dope and all of the MCs did a great job. I fuck with this. This is dope af. 5/5

Track 13: Escape From Czarkham Asylum

This song is eight minutes long. Most of the songs so far have been less than three minutes long. I hope this doesn’t get old too quickly. The short songs on this album so far all felt pretty complete, so I hope this one doesn’t feel like it’s too long. Okay, this beat is dope af. It sounds kinda like some grimy Wu-Tang shit. Inspectah Deck & Esoteric are kinda tradin’ bars. Kinda. INS spit like 8 bars & then Esoteric comes in right behind him and does the same. “I am not God-fearing / I am God himself.” Huh. Interesting. Their flows both sound great over this beat. Inspectah Deck & Esoteric have great chemistry. The way they’re rappin’ with each other keeps this song interesting. 7L did a really good job with this beat too. I’m still only about a minute and a half in tho. “That guy’s dumber than a bag of hammers at the bottom of a frozen lake.” What the fuck? Neither of them said that. It sounds like a sample from some old TV show. The beat just switched up. It sounds a lot more luxurious now. Not like one of those smooth Rick Ross beats tho. It just has these jazzy horns and it sounds kinda posh. It’s still pretty energetic. The beat just switched up again. It’s still dope. Damn. It just switched up again. All of these beats sound great. This just sounds like a compilation of beats that weren’t long enough to make one full song out of. This song feels huge. I feel like I’m doin’ shit. I feel like shit’s happenin’ right now. Goddamn. This beat at the end is fucking great. 7L did a great ass job. This is just a whirlpool of dope beats and bars. This song sounds like it was a lot of fun to make. That was crazy. I definitely fuck with this song. This song is dope af. 5/5

Track 14: Sinister

I usually don’t really like the guitar, but it sounds great on this beat. I think that’s a guitar. I think. This beat is great. Esoteric and Inspectah Deck both have great flows. This hook is pretty great too. This is just another great beat with two dope MCs doin’ what they do best. The hook is entertaining and 7L did a great job. I fuck with this. This shit is dope af. 5/5

Track 15: Good Villains Go Last Feat. R.A. The Rugged Man

I’ve never listened to an R.A. The Rugged Man album, but I know that he is one of the most under appreciated artists in all of Hip Hop. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever heard a full song from him. I’ve heard parts of a song and I’ve heard him on features, but never a full song. I know he’s dope af tho. I was gonna call him underrated at first, but I don’t think critics dislike him. People just don’t listen to him enough. This is probably gonna be dope af. This beat is dope af. I think that’s an organ in the background. It sounds great. Inspectah Deck is on the first verse. He did a great ass job. I love how there’s no hook. I hate corny ass hooks. Artists always have shitty unnecessary hooks that ruin the songs. If you can’t think of a good hook just don’t have one. Esoteric’s on the second verse. He’s goin’ the fuck in. “These rappers set the bar low like Peter Dinklage at the gym.” Goddamn. He just keeps goin’ in. “Look at you and look at me / You look like a shook MC / Only time you load the Clipse is when you put in Pusha T.” Goddamn. He fucking killed it. Okay. R.A. The Rugged Man is on the last verse. I don’t even know why, but I’m getting excited. Holy fucking shit. This verse is absolutely crazy. He easily had the best verse on this song. He definitely had the best verse out of all the featured artists. “Put a cop’s testicles in a vice grip and sodomize him with his nightstick / Strike quick / Beat a white chick with my white dick / Gas you up like the whip that they beat Christ with.” What the fuck… This verse is absolutely insane. Man. What a great way to end the album. R.A. The fucking Rugged Man. Goddamn. Seriously if you don’t wanna listen to this album after reading this at least listen to this song for that verse. Wow. I definitely fuck with this. This is absolutely dope af. 5/5

Final Thoughts:

That shit was dope af. It definitely started off kinda slow, but once it hit that halfway point things took off real quick. It’s gonna be real hard to choose a favorite song from this album. Every single artist involved with this album did a good job. Some definitely did better jobs than others, but there is not one wack verse on this project. 7L did a great job. His production is just perfect for these artists. Inspectah Deck is a dope ass rapper. I definitely liked Esoteric’s verses more, but that doesn’t mean that INS is wack. He’s a very good rapper. He just didn’t stand out as much as Esoteric to me. It was always very hard for me to decide which lyrics to quote. Every MC has something dope to say. The least interesting verse in my opinion definitely came from Juju, but it still wasn’t bad. Just not as good as the others. When I heard the other featured artists it made me want to go back and listen to other shit that they’ve made. That didn’t really happen with Juju. He wasn’t bad tho. I seriously don’t know what my favorite track is gonna be. Ka-Bang!, Escape From Czarkham Asylum & Good Villains Go Last are all fucking incredible. I fucking love this album. I highly recommend this shit. Oh by the way, Esoteric definitely doesn’t sound like Jay Z or Godemis. I don’t uh… I don’t know what I was thinkin… I definitely fuck with this album tho. This album is dope af.

Favorite Song: Good Villains Go Last

Least Favorite Song: World Premier

Verdict:

92%

VERY HOTTTTT

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