Up next in 10
Czarface Member Esoteric Discusses New Album "CZARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE" With Inspectah Deck
23K views
Apr 26, 2024
In the ever-evolving landscape of Hip-Hop, few groups stand out with the distinctive flair of CZARFACE. This supergroup, blending the talents of Wu-Tang Clan's Inspectah Deck and Boston's 7L & Esoteric, returns to the spotlight with their latest album, CZARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. This release is more than just an album; it's an odyssey through cosmic Hip-Hop and vibrant comic book culture. Known for their high-profile collaborations with icons like MF Doom and Ghostface Killah, CZARFACE elevates their game in CZARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE by bringing on board artists such as Logic, Kool Keith, Nems, and Frankie Pulitzer. Accompanying the album's release is a series of innovative lyric videos on the CZARFACE YouTube channel, enhancing the listening experience with a visual exploration of each track. The group's recent single, "Czarchimedes' Death Ray," features exclusive artwork by Lamour Supreme and two bonus tracks, further expanding the CZARFACE universe. An exclusive Q&A with Esoteric on AllHipHop.com offers deep insights into the creation of CZARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.: Subscribe to AllHipHop on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/allhiphoptv?sub_confirmation=1 Check out more of AHH here on social media: https://allhiphop.com https://twitter.com/allhiphopcom https://facebook.com/allhiphopcom https://instagram.com/allhiphopcom Executive Producers: “Grouchy” Greg Watkins and Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur
View Video Transcript
0:00
Yo, it's Esso from CzarFace. I'm hanging on allhiphop.com with my girl Lil Nikki. You know the deal
0:10
What's up everybody? This is Lil Nikki Duncan-Smith from allhiphop.com and I'm here with Esso from
0:17
CzarFace. What's going on Esso? How you doing? I'm doing pretty well. I'm doing pretty well, Nikki
0:21
Thank you for having me. Did I get you a little early? No, it's 10 a.m. here. I think I'm good. I've been up for a while. I've been up since probably
0:31
I don't know, 6 30. But I'm good. I haven't showered. That's a lot to share. That's a lot to share
0:40
That's okay. I love it. I love it. So we're here to talk about the new project. First of all, for our audience
0:47
who may not be familiar with CzarFace, share a little bit about the group and what you guys
0:53
stand for and who is your target audience? Okay, yeah. I think CzarFace is a group that's consisting of me, Inspector Deck from Wu-Tang
1:08
Clan and 7L who is the producer. So me and Inspector Deck handle a lot of the rhymes and
1:16
7L is doing a lot of the production, bulk of the production. Sometimes I help out a little bit
1:21
And I think our target audience is just fans of lyrical hip-hop, really, that are into
1:31
wordplay and punchlines and fly talk, just stuff that we really grew up on and helped kind of
1:40
shape the music that we make and why we continue to do it today
1:45
What was it like for you guys to kind of connect with Deck to kind of make this like
1:52
you guys are not Wu-Tang, but you guys are Wu-Tang affiliate, kind of like an extension
1:57
of the clan. So what was it like for you to connect with Deck to kind of create CzarFace
2:05
It was, I mean, a real honor. I am the 935th member of the Wu-Tang
2:12
Affiliate. So set the record straight now. It was great. We actually made our first record in 98
2:21
together. And that was just a single. It was a single off of a 7L and Esoteric record. Deck was
2:27
a feature and we kind of kept in touch since then. And then around 2011, we came up with the idea of
2:33
making an album together and Deck was down and then we needed something to kind of bridge the
2:39
gap between Staten Island and Boston and kind of share some of our like interests and mutual
2:46
connections. And we came up with CzarFace. And I think CzarFace is intended to, you know
2:53
represent the group's goal in restoring, you know, it's kind of like a superhero to save hip
2:58
hop in a sense and a really broad aspect. But I mean, it extends to a world of comic books
3:04
and action figures and things of that nature. So it's a little bit wider
3:08
This is the thing. Folk don't know how deep Boston is in hip hop. Like there's such a heavy
3:16
and historical concentration of hip hop in Boston that folk don't know. Talk to me a little bit
3:22
about as we celebrate the 50th year of hip hop, talk about Boston's contribution to the culture
3:28
Oh, yeah. Boston really helped shape the way I look at hip hop. I mean, I grew up looking up to
3:34
artists like Guru from Gangstar, Ed O.G., Top Choice Click, TDS Mob, RSO. There's a lot of
3:41
groups that paved the way for artists like myself and artists that have come after us, too. You know
3:47
what I mean? So I think, you know, just being about three and a half to four hours away from
3:52
New York, I mean, that influence is going to shine on Boston, too. So, I mean, I think we're all
3:57
pretty East Coast focused with our music. You know what I mean? And that kind of comes out with the
4:02
Darth Day stuff, too. So I think there's a lot of mutual ground between us and New York. That's why
4:07
I think the way that we connect with Dec is a natural fit. It is a natural fit. And if you
4:14
listen to the music, you see how organic your chemistry is. Like it doesn't seem forced
4:22
Like you would never. It takes it out of Staten Island and just says culture, if that makes sense
4:27
So it's not like, oh, it's just Wu-Tang from Staten Island. It's culture. It's blended, right
4:32
Like, I mean, it's the stuff that you guys do. Like people always just focus on Griselda, but
4:38
there are other people kind of carrying that Wu-Tang, Mobb Deep, you know, that 90s
4:46
late 90s, mid 90s type of authentic, urban, when they say urban, really street. Yeah
4:55
Yeah. Well, thank you. Yeah. Thank you. I mean, that's the goal. And that's what we
4:59
you know, we love making, you know, and really won't compromise. We won't change our sound
5:03
We signed to Virgin. A lot of people thought we were going to change our sound up and, you know
5:09
get Pitbull on the remix and stuff like that. But we kept it true to our formula. You know what I
5:15
mean? The stuff we love. Wait, why won't you get Pitbull on the remix? I want to tell you something
5:19
I would love to. Pitbull's one of my favorite. I always boggle people's minds when I tell them
5:23
he's one of my favorite entertainers. I love Pitbull. But, you know, it doesn't really mix
5:28
with our sound. You know what I mean? I can see him like, dun, dun, dun. No? Is he just this
5:38
There it is. Versus this? There it is. Yeah, he's got a different voice. It's a different hand
5:42
gesture. Yeah. He gets the party going. You know, I love Pitbull. It's just, I just can't see him
5:50
collaborating with our face. And that's unless we have a, you know, 128 beat per minute joint
5:55
or something like that, you know. Now, it's important that you said that because that
6:00
shows that you have an intimate understanding of music and what music is and what kind of music
6:08
works in different spaces. Is that something that you were able to develop as an indie artist
6:16
And is that still respected, being assigned to a major? Yeah, I think so, because I think there
6:23
are a lot of groups in our vein that are continuing to push the envelope in the other direction
6:28
You know what I mean? For every, I think for every artist that is kind of leading towards a
6:35
trap atmosphere or drill at, you know, those soundscapes, there are other artists that are
6:40
you know, following in like a Wu-Tang footstep and pushing it that way. So there's a good balance
6:46
And I think, you know, like Thanos, he wants a balance. And this is like a balance of
6:51
you know, sound within the hip hop landscape. I love that you just brought up Thanos because
6:57
that was my next direction. No one can argue that hip hop isn't amalgamation of music
7:06
but also comic books, karate, and, you know, pop culture, right? But it's very specific comic books
7:16
I mean, the idea that you can be Clark Kent in your regular day life, but then you put on your
7:21
rap moniker and then you become Superman, right? Talk to me about how you make the connection
7:27
between hip hop and comics. Okay, yeah, I think Zarfa is a great example of that because he's
7:34
you know, an iron clad hero with a big red cape and red boots kind of fashioned after a lot of
7:42
Jack Kirby, Silver Age, Bronze Age creations from Marvel Comics, DC Comics. And I think what you
7:50
had said, you know, Iron Man is Tony Stark, but when he's Iron Man, he's like the Invincible Iron
7:55
Man. And when the Hulk is, when Bruce Banner is the Hulk, he's the Incredible Hulk. And when Peter
8:00
Parker is Spider-Man, he's the Amazing Spider-Man. So when I go to pick up my daughter today at
8:05
school, she has a half day, I'm Seamus Ryan. But after that, I'm Esso from Zarfa back in the lab
8:10
recording, you know? So I think there's an identity that, you know, sometimes you have to go into your
8:17
alter ego and go into your bag and start spinning rhymes and start working on beats and production
8:21
and so forth. And then it's time to shift and be a dad, you know? Now, because you positioned
8:27
yourself as an expert, I got to test it, okay? We have three questions. And these three questions
8:38
will tell me who you are, Esso, for real. The first one is, name your top five cartoons
8:46
whether it was after school cartoons or Saturday morning cartoons. What were your top five? This
8:51
is how we know your G. Let me know. Okay. I liked Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends from 1980
9:01
I liked Spider-Man, the solo show from 1981. I liked Challenge of the Super Friends from the 70s. I liked Spider-Man from 1966. And let's switch it
9:17
up. I liked Johnny Quest. I like Dynamite and Blue Falcon. I like everything, all the animated
9:26
shows from the 70s and 80s and even the 90s, you know what I mean? Like the X-Men, animated X-Men
9:30
We could talk about this for a long time. Oh, so you didn't even say Thundercats? Oh, Thundercats
9:36
Oh, Panthro. I love Panthero. You didn't even say Transformers? We could talk about Transformers all
9:43
day. Soundwave, Megatron, Ravage, Rumble, Optimus Prime, Megatron, Bumblebee. I love all that stuff
9:52
But your top five is all the Spider-Mans. All the Spider-Mans and Super Friends. One of the Twin
10:00
Powers, Activate. That's it. That's right. That's right. Activate. There we go. Boom
10:07
It's funny. Our first, to segue, our first single from our first Czarface record
10:14
it was called Air Em Out. And Inspector Dex set it off by saying
10:18
one of the Twin Powers, Activate. Form of some fly shit. And I was like, oh, that's dope. And
10:25
so that's kind of, you know, set it off from there. I'm a twin. So that's our, that was our
10:30
thing. Like we were running around, shape up. And we would argue over who had to be the water
10:35
and who could be the animal. The water is whack. Like who wants to be ice? Shape up a waterfall
10:45
And then if you in a water pail, you needed the other, the girl to be a falcon to carry you. Like
10:51
come on. Nobody wants to be the water. Yeah. That's a good call. That's a good call. That's
10:56
funny. And that's why I really started to think like, oh, Wonder Woman is messing with both
11:01
Batman and Superman. I could tell. I could tell. Yeah. Well, yeah. I mean
11:07
she had an invisible jet, so she was obviously very stealth with her, her moves and everything
11:14
So the second question, the second question. The top five comic book characters, superheroes. Okay. I like Wolverine. I like
11:30
a silver surfer, Galactus, Dr. Doom. And, and I know, you know, I got to say Spider-Man cause
11:37
he's just, you know, he's obviously an icon, but I mean, I can't front Spider-Man, Venom
11:42
Batman. I could go on forever. I just too many Magneto. Yeah. But you said the five
11:48
and I knew it was going to be there. What is it about Spider-Man that attracts you so much
11:54
And have you pulled from any of his spider senses for your, in seeing abilities
12:01
That's a great question. I think we can all relate to Peter Parker in a sense
12:05
because he's just an everyday kid with his, with his, you know, issues that I think a lot of kids deal with. You know, my son is in high school now he's
12:13
he's 15. And when you picture Peter Parker, you picture him going through high school
12:18
you know what I mean? And, and have maybe having an eye on a girl or maybe avoiding a bully and
12:22
maybe figuring out how to do better in school and maybe make some money. And then, you know
12:27
you're all of a sudden blessed with these powers from a, from a radioactive spider
12:31
And then you get to do everything you really want to do and things that the bullies can't do and
12:35
and, and jump from building to building and swing around town and stuff. So I think he's
12:40
you know, just an action packed character, really, you know, same with Miles Morales
12:46
and, and they got the, you know, just a unique thing that attracts, I think
12:52
the casual fan, the obsessive fan, everyone can get into Spidey, you know, there are some other
12:59
people like Daredevil, it might be an acquired taste. But Spidey is probably my top guy
13:06
I like that Spidey is kind of like, everybody can connect to the kind of
13:11
you know, being an outcast, but then having, if you really knew who I was, you wouldn't be
13:17
fronting on me like that. That kind of thing. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's, that's, that's
13:23
you worded it better than me. Well, you know, I'm a wordsmith. I'll be doing the word stuff
13:29
But not like you guys, let's talk about the new single. That's right. Okay. How did you guys
13:36
come up with the concept for this video to be really a comic book, a virtual comic book
13:41
Yeah, we've always wanted to incorporate a lot more animation into our
13:48
videos, into the music, so forth, because every album cover, like the identity of a lot of the
13:54
albums is the artwork of Czarface, whether he's in some situation in peril, or he's
13:59
he's flying through the sky, or he's victorious, or he's losing it. The comic books from back in
14:03
the day, everyone would see the cover, and that's what makes you pull the trigger and buy the book
14:08
first, you know what I mean? Because you're not looking through the book, you're just looking at the spinner rack, and you're like, oh, okay, Black Panther, boom, that's a dope cover. Jack
14:16
Kirby drew it, you want to get that. However, it shakes out. So I think the heavy comic book
14:21
influence with Czarface made it kind of a no brainer to tell a story in the video that kind
14:29
of runs concurrently with the song. And it's a girl, the conclusion is there's a girl who is
14:36
actually being creative herself, and using an old comic book with some corny heroes and changing the
14:43
whole thing by being creative, cutting out little pieces of Czarface from different elements and
14:49
making her own collage with Czarface being victorious in the book. So there's a few themes
14:54
that are running along in it. And we're really happy with how it came out. And the best thing
14:58
about it is you didn't have to look at my face throughout the whole thing, you know? Oh, here you go. What I love about it is that you guys are bringing back the thinking element of
15:10
hip hop. How important is it for you? And you don't have to be critical of newer art, younger
15:17
artists, or artists who've, you know, adopted different styles of MC and it doesn't require
15:23
a lot of pensive activity. But you guys, you don't require, you make people think
15:30
you don't require, they just start thinking. It's really artsy, it's an artistic expression
15:37
How important is it for you guys to be a thinking woman's cup of tea
15:44
I think what's important is that we love what we do. And I think that that's what gets, you know
15:52
tickles our brains really is to try to come up with something clever, play on words, maybe an
15:58
intricate rhyme scheme, something that's challenging. And that's the way that our brains
16:03
probably work. And that's what appeals to us. You know, if you take, inspect the Dex verse from
16:07
Triumph, which everyone kind of hails as, you know, one of the greatest verses of all time
16:13
You look at some of the, yeah, the word play and the multi-syllabic structures
16:18
that's kind of a blueprint for, you know, you get all these visuals that he's throwing out there
16:22
when he's rhyming and it stimulates your brain, you know, whereas I think there's also a place for
16:31
non-lyrical hip hop, I guess, because the focus would be the melodies. And I mean, I listen to
16:38
there are a lot of rock songs and I guess, you know, all songs that I don't even really hear
16:44
the lyrics, but I catch a vibe from and they mean a lot to me. Like, Sunflower
16:52
that song I love because I associated with my daughter, she loves it. But I just know a couple
16:57
words from it. I don't really even, but I know it when I hear it and I enjoy it and it puts me
17:02
somewhere. So there's a place for something like that. But the stuff that we do is more trying to
17:07
chop your head off with the mic, you know. When you don't get radio play, because there's only 20
17:13
songs on the radio. Yeah. Is it helpful for a group like, for an act like Zarface to have this
17:22
niche following and to tap into comics, cosplay, crap like this, you know, to reach people like me
17:36
who, ah, fire, fire. I think I'll have that somewhere. I'm not going to do that for Get It
17:46
but I think I have the public enemy. I also got the Biggie Buddha. Go for it. Oh, yeah, yeah
17:51
I got a Biggie Buddha. I've seen that online somewhere. These are my guardian angels is
17:57
Ida B. Wells, Madam CJ Walker, Rosa Parks, Dulce de Medea lady, and then Stacey Abrams
18:04
Like I just got. That is very cool. Like while I'm doing my stuff. Yeah. Do you feel like
18:12
that you guys are able to target and reach this people like me by not doing what's on the radio
18:20
like going to the maybe I'm assuming you guys also go to comic cons and you you follow that
18:26
kind of space to kind of market yourselves. We do. We do. And I think, yeah, it's important
18:33
to acknowledge that the you know, the world is a much bigger place than what's on the radio
18:39
You know what I mean? There are fans that are fanatical about the things that we do and they
18:45
don't they couldn't even name the top 20 songs on the radio because it's not not in their interest
18:51
group. You know what I mean? It's just such a wide world. You just when people realize that
18:55
and you know, when I talk to peers or like in-laws or somebody and they might be thinking like
19:01
why are you making a record like this where, you know, you stand a better chance of being in
19:07
the top 40? You know, some people can't figure out why people make music if you're not trying
19:12
to make the number one record in the world. And I think knowing your audience is just it's just
19:19
as important. And, you know, I think we know ours and we try to cater to ours, but at the same time
19:25
catering to ourselves and doing what we like. And I think that resonates with the fans because
19:29
they know that what we're doing is authentic. And, you know, Deck grew up with comics. We met
19:34
the man and, you know, we did, too. So I think there's a lot of common ground there and it
19:39
reflects in the music. It does reflect in the music. And I love that you guys still love music
19:48
still love it, right? Because you can tell that some people just don't love the art. They just
19:52
do it because it's the bag connected. But you would do this. No, I'm not going to say that
19:57
I wouldn't say that you would do it without the bag. Well, you could say that. Yeah, I think
20:02
because we've done it without the bag for not Deck so much because he's been a lot more successful
20:06
with Wu-Tang throughout the years, of course. But we've been doing this without, you know
20:10
without a significant bag for a long time. So there are a couple of screws loose up here
20:16
But if you love it, you just keep going. And, you know, I'll probably be one of the emcees that
20:22
you know, like if somebody works in construction or work, I don't know, fixing cars
20:29
when they retire, they'll still be looking for ways to be construction, to do construction around
20:36
the house or odd jobs or fix cars because they can't stop because they like doing it so much
20:40
you know. And I think that I'll be one of those guys that will just be rapping when
20:44
unfortunately, people, you know, we have an audience that want to hear us now, but I still be rapping. I don't think it's something I could turn off. You know what I mean
20:51
No, that's right. So this is the last question. Okay. I'm enjoying this one
20:58
It's the top five questions. I'm gonna ask you a top five question. My guardian angel here too
21:05
Which one is that? Is that Peter or is that Miles? It's, this is Peter. This is from the seventies. So
21:11
Oh, that's Peter. Hey, Peter. Yeah. Yeah. I thought your honor said hi
21:18
So the top five. So I want you to tell me your top five MCs of all time, but also name what
21:29
comic book character would be most connected to them. Would they, would they be
21:33
Oh, wow. Okay. This is, this is quite a, quite a question. Top five MCs of all time
21:44
And then I have to associate them with a comic book character. Well, Deck has always been one of my favorite. I know that's an easy answer because I'm in a
21:53
group with him, but he's always been in my top five and he's swinging through the town like
21:57
the neighborhood Spider-Man and it's his lyrics. So I'm going to have to go with that one. That's
22:00
an easy lift. I say KRS-One. He reminds me of the thing. Cause when he's on the mic, it's
22:05
clobbering time. You know what I mean? There's nothing, you know, he's going through walls
22:09
seeing him live. It's just like the wall should fall down in any venue he's in. Cause he's just
22:13
he's just so hardcore with the mic puts on such a good show. So Deck, KRS-One
22:19
Jay-Z. So Jay would be like Tony Stark, I guess. He'd be like Iron Man in a sense
22:24
Cool Keith. Cool Keith would be like Doctor Strange and MF Doom. Doom would be like Doctor
22:36
Doom. You know, it's, you caught me on a, I could go, I could have to, I'd have to really think
22:46
about this, but that's my five for now, but it always, you can always bring Chuck D in there
22:50
I could always bring Eric Sermon, Redman, Feral Monch, Guru from Gangstar. I got so many
22:59
Shout out to Guru. People don't, people don't, people don't give him that respect that he
23:04
deserves. Guru was different. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. He was different. He was different. He was
23:11
different and he sounded different. And as he said, most, it's mostly the voice. That was one
23:15
of the, the Gangstar joints and his voice was just, you know, a lot of that monotone delivery
23:20
and just like set him apart from so many people, you know? And, and, and as we, you know, wind down
23:26
this 50th anniversary, people weren't talking about Guru. People weren't talking about Heavy
23:30
D. They weren't talking about Big L and some of your favorite rappers, they were their favorite
23:36
rappers. So that's kind of wild. Well, this was wonderful. I'm so glad that I was able to meet you
23:42
You too. You too. I feel this vibe. Like we've been here before
#Urban & Hip-Hop