The 12 Days of Wu-Mas #4 - My Gut Reaction: Czarface - The Odd Czar Against Us (November 29, 2019)

On Black Friday this past November, Czarface, the hip hop supergroup comprised of the Wu-Tang Clan’s Inspectah Deck alongside underground duo 7L & Esoteric, released a surprise vinyl project entitled The Odd Czar Against Us!, advertised as a new full-length album. This was a shock mostly because Czarface Meets Ghostface, an album-length sparring match with Deck’s bandmate Ghostface Killah, had dropped earlier this year – Czarface was a group that seemed to enjoy taking their time with their work. And yet here we were with another album, and not just another instrumental effort, which these guys also love doing.

The project lost its exclamation mark when it hit other platforms the following week, but The Odd Czar Against Us remains an anomaly in the catalog of the trio (which really should be a quartet at this point – hey, 7L isn’t producing these songs by himself), who aren’t really known for their spontaneity.

They’re also not known for putting out inferior product, but there’s a first time for everything.

The Odd Czar Against Us is actually the sixth album from Czarface, and I’m not even including their collaborations with MF DOOM and the aforementioned Ghostface Killah. First Weapon Drawn and Double Dose of Danger are instrumental projects that feature zero influence from Deck, although his name appears on the back covers of each, but while I like the idea of the production duo The Czar-Keys (7L and Spada4) getting their quirk on in increasingly creative ways, I feel no need to write those up at this time. So today’s post focuses on the collective’s sixth “solo” album, fourth “solo” with vocals, and eighth full-length overall. Which isn’t bad for a group that has only been in existence since 2013.

The Odd Czar Against Us features twelve tracks fully produced by the Czar-Keys. The guest list is kept to a minimum: there are no other rappers that appear on here, unlike the group’s other projects. Everything here is kept in-house, which should have been your first clue that something was wrong with this picture.

You’ll see what I mean in a bit.

1. BIZARRO

Czarface leans into the weirdness with the aptly-titled “Bizarro”, which finds Inspectah Deck and Esoteric spitting their bars around various dialogue samples (including one that gives the album its name, sort of) and whatever hallucinatory synth flourishes the Czar-Keys could throw at them. It still bangs, don’t get me wrong: Deck and Eso sound refreshed with their braggadocio, INS sounding more invested in his work than usual, while Seamus racks up the pop culture references like an underground Jayceon Taylor. The Czar-Keys are obviously more confident in what Deck and Eso are capable of as a team, as they give no fucks about how both rapping parts of Czarface feel about the beat, instead trusting that they’ll somehow work it out. And that they do.

2. CALL ME

The first sign of trouble, that The Odd Czar Against Us may not be a true collaborative effort, comes on “Call Me”, which is essentially a 7L & Esoteric song, as Inspectah Deck is nowhere to be found. Seamus even drops the pretense of the group to focus his rhymes on both sides of the “texting vs. making a phone call” debate, which is far from what one expects to hear from these guys. The beat is far peppier than everything else the Czar-Keys have put together since Czarface first took form, bouncing along to what sounds like the score from Super Adventure Island (not a complaint – that music is fantastic). Deck is missed, but Eso does well enough with the theme. Besides, “Call Me” is so short that it may fly under your radar that it isn’t really a Czarface song anyway, so.

3. THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON…

Far be it from me to expect the Czar-Keys to be pigeonholed into one particular sound for these projects, but “The Gift That Keeps On…” just doesn’t sound like a Czarface song, even though Inspectah Deck returns to participate. Still, I found this one to be enjoyable enough, even with the overly calming instrumental giving off a Pure Moods vibe. Our hosts each receive a single verse on this “audio gift to your eardrum”, as the vocal sample repeats throughout, and I have to day, this shit was relaxing as hell, perfectly suitable for all ages even with the cursing, which is so passive that it may as well not exist. Deck uses his time to promote his mic skills and his history within our chosen culture, while Esoteric chooses to bypass all braggadocio in order to talk about how the birth of his son has changed his life. Awwwwww. I mean, he sounds fine, but this isn’t exactly fans expect from a group calling themselves Czarface. Not that he needs to give a shit about what fans think, or course.

4. ME’S COMPANY

Deck ducks out again during “Me’s Company”, Esoteric’s ode to how much he loves being quiet and alone, and how awkward he feels when forced into social situations. Apparently this time around Czarface is tackling relatable problems? Everybody hates small talk, sure, but not everybody has an outlet to rap about hating small talk, so this was just weird. The Czar-Keys turn in an instrumental that is far too funky than the subject matter deserves: if you hadn’t been paying attention, you might think that 7L relocated to the West Coast for the duration of this one song. But Eso’s verses, while technically sound and competently delivered, are downright silly, and I write this fully aware of how goofy the concept of “Czarface” is as a character. This reminded me of back when J-Zone used to write rap songs about never getting laid – essentially the exact opposite of what every other artist was doing at the time. This was a lark, but a lark with some pretty good music attached. Still, do you ever need to listen to it? Not really, no.

5. DEAR COMPUTER (FEAT. KENDRA MORRIS)

In addition to housing several 7L & Esoteric castoffs that wouldn’t make any sense elsewhere, The Odd Czar Against Us appears to be a place for Czarface to tinker with their sound, at least if “Dear Computer” is any indication. A subtle electro-synth New Wave-esque ode to technology (one that reminded me of Nine Inch Nails’ “Ringfinger” for some reason – it’s not that it sounds like it especially, but now “Ringfinger” is stuck in my head), “Dear Computer” is almost aggressively anti-boom bap, and I have to say, I kind of dug what the Czar-Keys have done here. Didn’t care so much for any of the performances, however: guest crooner Kendra Morris’s vocals during the hook were instantly forgettable, and Inspectah Deck sounds so much like Esoteric (a comparison I had never thought to make before) during his opening verse that it threw me off completely. A shame, that.

6. BURRITO

If you’ve ever wished for Czarface to release a song about getting food poisoning at Chipotle, then, well, your genie is really good at granting very highly specific requests, but they missed one thing: this is a 7L & Esoteric track, not Czarface. (Inspectah Deck has no time for these lyrical shenanigans, I presume, and honestly, would you really want to hear the Rebel INS rap about diarrhea?) Eso’s tales of woe, taking the audience with him from the line at the counter to the gross aftermath, could have been constructed as a writing challenge by our host, and in that respect it’s successful, as the details dropped are visceral, almost disgustingly so. The Czar-Keys also provide a jaunty little number to underscore the fact that “Burrito” isn’t to be taken so seriously. But still, what a weird fucking song to include on a Czarface project.

7. BROTHER CZARQUIS (FEAT. KENDRA MORRIS)

Goofy title aside, I fuck with this one heavily. The Czar-Keys let their old school-slash-distorted electro-freak flag fly, delivering a great instrumental (one which approaches Yeezus territory, but don’t let that stop you) for Inspectah Deck to destroy upon his return to The Odd Czar Against Us. And destroy it he does: dude spits flames, and he even drops in an “I bomb atomically” for the heads in the back. Esoteric, by comparison, receives more screen time, even interrupting his co-host’s verse for a few bars, and he sounds fine enough, but “Brother Czarquis” is Deck’s to lose, and he isn’t going out without a fight. Why hasn’t the man gotten the Czar-Keys to lend production to his own solo efforts? Does he not want to shit where he eats?

8. COUCH

Another 7L & Esoteric track focused on the pleasure of the mundane, “Couch” being an ode to planning on doing nothing on a Friday night but watching cartoons from the 1980’s and inhaling junk food, which honestly sounds fucking amazing as I write this sentence. Deck skips out on the sleepover, but Seamus more than makes up for his partner’s absence with a flow that is roughly as lazy as his evening plans, although he certainly doesn’t skimp on any of the details. The instrumental is cartoonish, but engaging nonetheless: once again I feel the need to reference J-Zone in regard to The Odd Czar Against Us, but in no way is that a bad thing. Hell, the Czar-Keys should bring in Zone on the next project to provide the drums. Just putting that out into the universe.

9. DOUBLE DRAGON

I can’t believe that song title doesn’t already exist within the Wu-Tang Clan mythology. (At least not amongst the core members, but there is a lot of material out there, so I’m willing to admit that I could be wrong here. It isn’t likely, but it’s possible.) Anyway, “Double Dragon” is perfect for readers who have longed to hear both Seamus and Deck speed-rap over a Czar-Keys instrumental that doesn’t exactly call for it, which is to say, absolutely nobody. The track itself is alright: as per usual, the boasts-n-bullshit are of a relatively high caliber. But if your song features Inspectah fucking Deck doing his best (worst?) Twista impression, then your song has to be categorized as “strange”. Them’s the rules, you two.

10. THE PROBLEM WITH FRANK

I think I heard Deck during the “hook” of Esoteric’s “The Problem with Frank”, his lyrical fantasy of actually being Marvel antihero The Punisher, but I could be mistaken. Eso delivers some of the most violent lyrics to ever be attributed to Czarface (even though I strongly doubt a pseudo-comic book character such as Czarface dreams of being an altogether different licensed property), and it’s just, and I’m running out of ways to write this, weird. Seamus clearly loves the subject matter: his passion for Frank Castle oozes out of your AirPods, and 7L and Spada4 deliver a rush of an instrumental that is, um, instrumental in helping the cause. But did this really need to appear on a Czarface album? Are 7L & Esoteric telling us that they never plan on releasing another project by themselves ever again?

11. DOG

Remember when I wrote that The Odd Czar Against Us was Czarface “lean[ing] into the weirdness”? That isn’t always a good thing. Seriously, what the fuck was this shit? And why would Eso invoke Inspectah Deck’s name if the man himself couldn’t even be bothered to show up to the studio?

12. CZARTIS GILMORE (THE COOL DOWN)

The Odd Czar Against Us ends with a sinister synth-infused Czar-Keys instrumental, a cocky-as-hell Esoteric, and a quick-tempered Inspectah Deck, which reads like the recipe for something great, but while this closing track was alright (I especially enjoyed the moody beat), it still felt hollow to me. Coming after the inexcusable “Dog”, “Czartis Gilmore (The Cool Down)” does manage to send a chill down your spine, thanks to, again, the moody beat, but the song itself seems disconnected from everything else that came before it. In what galaxy does “Dog” naturally lead in to this? At least The Odd Czar Against Us is now complete, so Eso and Deck can take a smoke break and regroup, hopefully discovering some more inspiration to keep this side project going, because otherwise I’ll turn this car around, don’t think I won’t.

THE LAST WORD: The Odd Czar Against Us plays as a compilation of cutting-room floor antics and randomly-selected 7L & Esoteric leftovers, so it’s very difficult to compare it to the rest of the group’s (quite fine) catalog. A Czarface project this is not, however: you can’t call it that and have Inspectah Deck missing in action on half of the album’s tracks. So while I found some of this pretty worthwhile, the Czar-Keys experimentation behind the boards successful for the most part, The Odd Czar Against Us is the worst Czarface album so far, and it isn’t even close.

I suppose it would have been a little much for us to have expected a full album’s worth of Deck and Eso antics after having already received Czarface Meets Ghostface earlier this year (let alone the instrumental Double Dose of Danger, which also dropped in 2019), but the question must be asked: why even push this as a Czarface album? Maybe you had a bunch of stuff on your hard drive that you felt deserved to be heard in some fashion, but if that was the reality, warn the fanbase, why don’t you? The bait-and-switch nature of The Odd Czar Against Us will only leave a bad taste in the mouths of hip hop heads who have enjoyed the rest of the Czarface catalog, and we all know it’s not Inspectah Deck’s doing because he’s barely a part of the project, at least compared to 7L & Esoteric.

Again, it’s difficult to compare The Odd Czar Against Us against any of the other full-length offerings in the Czarface Cinematic Universe as the playing field isn’t level in any way, but because this is how our hosts decided to market the project, we must power through. And so. I enjoyed some of these songs a great deal: the one-two punch of “Bizarro” and “Call Me” clicked with me, even though the latter of those efforts betrays the true nature of the album. “Brother Czarquis” is the best track offered here, while many other songs had some solid Czar-Keys production even if Esoteric’s subject matter was lacking. But even with the relatively short length of the project, that isn’t enough for me to give a shit about The Odd Czar Against Us moving forward. Czarface already dropped a fantastic project for us in 2019: why force out inferior product on top of that?

The Odd Czar Against Us is only for diehard fans who have no problem being lied to by artists. Which leaves nobody, really.

-Max

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