Tag: Czarface Czarface Meets Metalface

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: CZARFACE Shares Mischievous Animated Visual for “Czarchimedes’ Death Ray”

CZARFACE, the collaborative project featuring beloved underground hip-hop duo 7L & Esoteric and the Wu-Tang Clan’s Inspectah Deck. The project’s name is derived from a fictional character that the trio created that’s patterned after comic book super villains with aspects of the personalities and quirks of each individual member.

Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past handful of years, the trio can trace their collaboration back to when 7L & Esoteric and Inspectah Deck toured together in the early 00s. That tour led to a series of collaborative singles including “Speaking Real Words” off 7L & Esoteric’s 2001 album, The Soul Purpose and “12th Chamber” off their 2010 album 1212, and a number of other singles.

Since the act formed back in 2013, they’ve released a handful of critically applauded albums: their 2013 self-titled debut, 2015’s Every Hero Needs a Villain, 2016’s A Fistful of Peril, 2018’s, Czarface Meets Metalface with the late MF DOOM and Czarface Meets Ghostface, with Wu-Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah, 2019’s The Odd Czar Amongst Us and 2021’s posthumously released collaboration with MF DOOM, SuperWhat?

The trio’s ninth album CZARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE was released earlier this month through Virgin Music and is an action-packed odyssey that continues a run of material influenced and informed by comic books, and features guest spot from Logic, Kool Keith, Nems, Frankie Pulitzer and a cast of others. “We’re back with that off-kilter, no filter,” CZARFACE’s Esoteric says. 

The album sees the trio continuing to weave the unfiltered essence of OG braggadocio, introspective story-telling — and as always, the exploits of superheroes and supervillains that’s as engaging as when you used to flip through the pages of your favorite comic book or graphic novel. The album’s guests join CZARFACE on missions and side-quests — and the result is material that playful and lovingly explores the intersection of cosmic hip-hop and comic book culture. “The new album comes equipped with chaos, order and everything in between,” Esoteric explains. “It’s like a swirling vortex of cosmic carnage, but we bring it down to earth in places. We are, after all, in a new era. I hope what we made resonates with the people.”

CZARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE‘s latest single “Czarchimedes’ Death Ray” is built around a trippy production featuring boom bap beats paired with woozy, reverb soaked psychedelic guitars and old-school scratching. Each of the super talented emcees spits mischievously dexterous and swaggering bars full of pop culture and comic book references, while referencing the supervillain’s unique stash of weaponry. “Czar never resorts to conventional weaponry, thus the illustrious Death Ray – a sonic homage to the Greek mathematician Archimedes,” Esoteric says. 

Directed by Hoku Uchiyama and Adam Bolt, a.k.a. Hoku & Adam, the accompanying video for “Czarchimedes’ Death Ray” employs animation and live-action footage to capture and evoke the boundless imagination of a young comic book reader, who mischievously inserts her favorite arch-villain Czarface into the adventures of The Power Partners to hilariously chaotic and imaginative effect.

“We needed a visual that captured Czarface’s brand of justice and a kid’s boundless imagination,” Esoteric says of the video. “But also one that also kept a comic-like pace to match the track.” 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: CZARFACE Returns with Swaggering and Mischievous “Czarimedes’ Death Ray”

Over the past couple of years, i’ve written quite a bit about CZARFACE, the collaborative project featuring beloved underground hip-hop duo 7L & Esoteric and the Wu-Tang Clan’s Inspectah Deck. 

The project’s name is derived from a fictional character that the trio created that’s patterned after comic book super villains and aspects of the personalities and quirks of each individual member, the project can trace its origins back to when 7L & Esoteric and Inspectah Deck toured together.

That tour led to a series of collaborative singles including “Speaking Real Words” off 7L & Esoteric’s 2001 album, The Soul Purpose and “12th Chamber” off their 2010 album 1212, and a number of other singles. The act officially formed in 2013 and since then, they’ve released

Since the act formed back in 2013, they’ve released a handful of critically applauded albums: their 2013 self-titled debut, 2015’s Every Hero Needs a Villain, 2016’s A Fistful of Peril, 2018 saw two collaborations, Czarface Meets Metalface with the late MF DOOM and Czarface Meets Ghostface, with Wu-Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah, 2019’s The Odd Czar Amongst Us and 2021’s posthumously released collaboration with MF DOOM, Super What?

The trio’s ninth album together, CZARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE is slated for a December 1, 2023 release through Virgin Music. The action-packed odyssey continues a run of material influenced and informed by comic books, and features guest spot from Logic, Kool Keith, Nems, Frankie Pulitzer and a cast of others. “We’re back with that off-kilter, no filter,” CZARFACE’s Esoteric says.

The album sees the trio continuing to weave the unfiltered essence of OG braggadocio, introspective story-telling — and as always, the exploits of superheroes and supervillains that’s as engaging as when you used to flip through the pages of your favorite comic book or graphic novel. The album’s guests join CZARFACE on missions and side-quests — and the result is material that playful and lovingly explores the intersection of cosmic hip-hop and comic book culture. “The new album comes equipped with chaos, order and everything in between,” Esoteric explains. “It’s like a swirling vortex of cosmic carnage, but we bring it down to earth in places. We are, after all, in a new era. I hope what we made resonates with the people.”

CZARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE‘s latest single “Czarchimedes’ Death Ray” is built around a trippy production featuring boom bap beats paired with woozy, reverb soaked psychedelic guitars and old-school scratching. Each of the super talented emcees spits mischievously dexterous and swaggering bars full of pop culture and comic book references, while referencing the supervillain’s unique stash of weaponry. “Czar never resorts to conventional weaponry, thus the illustrious Death Ray – a sonic homage to the Greek mathematician Archimedes,” Esoteric says.

Yesterday saw the official release of an already almost sold-out Record Store Day “Stole The Ball” version of the album. The exclusive limited edition vinyl-only RSD Black Friday version of the album features two bonus tracks and special cover with artwork illustrated by their longtime collaborator, Lamour Supreme. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Earlier this year, I wrote about Czarface, a collaborative project featuring renowned, underground hip-hop duo 7L & Esoteric and the Wu-Tang Clan‘s Inspectah Deck. The act derives its name from a character they created that’s patterned after both comic book villains and aspects of each of the individual members. Now, as you may recall, the act can trace its origins to when the trio together, which lead to “Speaking Real Words” off 7L & Esoteric’s 2001 album, The Soul Purpose and “12th Chamber” off their 2010 album, 1212, and a number of other singles. And since the group’s formation back in 2013, they’ve released four critically applauded albums — their 2013 self-titled debut, 2015’s Every Hero Needs a Villain, 2016’s A Fistful of Peril and their collaboration with MF Doom, Czarface Meets Metalface, which was released earlier this year.

Czarface follows their critically applauded collaboration with MF Doom by teaming with Ghostface Killah, a.k.a. Iron Man, a.k.a. Tony Starks on their forthcoming collaborative effort Czarface Meets Ghostface. The album’s first single “Iron Claw” features dope emcees trading swaggering bars about running crime syndicates, taking over the world, being the dopest around and more over a thumping and menacing production featuring enormous 808-like beats, a chopped up vocal sample and arpeggiated organs. Simply put this one is straight fire, as it features some of the world’s best emcees challenging each other to push their talents and skills in a new, exciting directions.