If one were to judge this album by its cover they would only be half mistaken, everything about the latest project of the collaborative hip-hop act Czarface is a juxtaposition of retro and modern. Most apparent of these juxtapositions is that the group is compromised of old-school hip-hop legend and Wu Tang member Inspectah Deck and younger producers 7L and Esoteric. Such efforts to connect generations have often failed, especially since the older half is often out of their prime, but Czarface’s self-titled debut LP had proven that this trio could be the exception to the rule.
After 2004, no hip-hop album with a superhero on the cover can escape being compared to hip-hop masterpiece Madviillainy, especially one with the word “villain” in the title. This fate could easily spell doom (I’m sorry) for a lesser project, and while their latest project Every Hero Needs A Villain may not dethrone Madviillainy from its pedestal, (and potentially no album ever will) it is amazing enough in its own right to step out of the project’s massive shadow. Like Madviillainy, the album is tied together with humorous vocal snippets, but where the album is truly hilarious is in the verses themselves. The lyrical content of this album sounds like a fusion of heavy hitting old school rap and the lighthearted, ridiculous punchlines of Das Racist.
Going through the tracks on this LP provides for the same action and comedy mix one would have reading through a comic book. In the first track, “Czartacus”, listeners are greeted with a booming guitar line and a nonstop tirade of increasingly clever insults from Deck. “Nightcrawler” features Method Man, another Wu Tang member, and show that the group’s bars and flow show little signs of aging. The production on the track “Junkyard Dogs” and generally throughout features a variety of seemingly live percussion and rhythmic pinches of short guitar riffs. Esoteric and 7L switch it up a bit in the opening half of “Ka-Bang!”, adding an infectious sped up vocal sample over the always impressive lyrics of guest emcee MF Doom, followed by an equally impressive set by Deck over the same beat. It is difficult to evidence the album’s lyrical quality without ruining the punchlines, but the albums plethora of witty complicated similes typically reference pop-culture or comic books. These references are so pervasive and central to the album that not having a rudimentary knowledge of TV, movies and comic books would probably significantly detract from the enjoyability of this project. Regardless of a listener’s comprehension the lyrics, the beats do a great job of making this LP sound action packed, like the grainy guitar chords that serve as the backbone for “Sgt. Slaughter”, helping drive home it’s superhero theme.
Every Hero Needs A Villain is a nice change of pace in production from the trap and post-Kanye stylings of most contemporary hip-hop projects. Furthermore, Czarface evokes nostalgia not just of playing with superhero action figures, but of the gritty flows and sly wordplay of the old school hip-hop legends.
