The cover art of Czarface might trick you into thinking that it might be some kind of superhero (or super villain) concept hip-hop album. And while there are tons of goofy sound clips and comic book themed references, with lines like "I'm a super villain, illin, call me Ra's al Ghul" or "Professor X couldn't test my ability," there's no single underlying narrative to this album. The whole comic book and nerd culture theme is meant to compliment the nostalgic 90s feel of Czarface, which Inspectah Deck, 7L and Esoteric pull off very well. In fact, listening to this album makes me feel kind of like a kid again, only in this version of my childhood I'm cool enough to be listening to Wu Tang Clan instead of Weird Al Yankovic (all respect due to Al).
When I say this is a 90s hip-hop album, I'm not exaggerating. The group references comic books of the Batman, X-Men and Spiderman variety, Eddie Van Halen, Mission: Impossible, Transformers, George Carlin, and professional wrestling stars like Andre the Giant, Macho Man Randy Savage and the Road Warriors. The lyrical themes, combined with some great 90s era hip-hop sampling production give Czarface a classic Wu Tang feel that's a bit more playful than Wu Tang. Czarface doesn't take itself seriously, and I think it would've failed if the group had tried to take the 90s comic book thing any further than a general theme. Some of the sound clips can get a bit overbearing, I don't think I needed to hear an entire portion of George Carlin's stand up routine in the middle of World War 4. But some of the clips still add to the feel that Czarface is going for.
Czarface has also made sure to include a number of good features from hip-hop artists who's popularity has really started to take off recently. There are verses from Action Bronson, Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire and Roc Marciano (the latter of whom I'm not a big fan of) that give Czarface a contemporary feel, otherwise it would be easy to mistake the album for one that was released more than a decade ago. Overall, Czarface is a really fun listen from front to back, some album highlights for me were It's Raw, Let it Off, Air 'Em Out, and Shoguns. Check it out and follow the link above.
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