Beats - DJ Muggs
MC - GZA/The Genius
Guests - Raekwon and RZA individually then together with Sen Dog. Masta Killa and Prodigal Sunn on the fourth
Intro done... and we're in. This record is good, though perhaps competent is a better word - it doesn't scale the same artistic heights of, say, a Madvillainy, another collaborative record, but it's still pretty enjoyable.
As is perhaps betrayed by the title and certainly by the cover art, most of the metaphors on Grandmasters are chess related, which very loosely wraps the record around a vague concept. (In between the songs you'll find samples of chess pros talking up their game.)
GZA is an excellent rapper and lyricist - he has a knack for couching his tales-of-gritty-street-life™ in interesting metaphors and for populating those same stories with enough details to help lend an air of realism to the whole affair.
Of course, that doesn't stop some of the songs from being, what, tacky? "Queen's Gambit" uses gridiron as a metaphor for sex and is clever only in that it incorporates the names of different football teams in the lyrics. Unfortunately, this is now the third song in which GZA has done this, albeit with different narratives, and it just isn't as impressive or clever as it was the first time.
Muggs, for his part, does pretty exceptional work throughout the record. The beats and the music are pretty solid, though not extraordinarily different to what you might have heard on something like Muggs Presents... The Soul Assassins. This isn't a criticism, mind, I'm just placing everything in context.
There are some inspired moments, though. On the aforementioned "Queen's Gambit," whilst GZA is busy fucking three chess enthusiasts, Muggs drops a pretty spectacular bass line that comes close to salvaging the whole affair. Additionally, every once in a while, just to keep things interesting, Muggs breaks the music down and mixes things up in some very thrilling ways. This coupled with GZA's rhymes makes for a pretty decent purchase.
why when we are young, we're told it's right to love
told it's human nature and that it comes from God above
Reviewed on Thursday, 8 June 2006