Czarface Shares “You Know My Style” (ft. Nems) From Upcoming ‘Czartificial Intelligence’ LP

It’s been 10 years since the Boston duo of DJ 7L and MC Esoteric teamed up with WU-Tang‘s Inspectah Deck to form the project Czarface. More than just a supergroup, Czarface is somewhat of a superhero group, represented by a shiny metal anti-hero co-created/designed by artist, Lamour Supreme as their collective avatar. Along with endless comic and pop-culture-related references and themes permeating the bulk of their material, they’ve gone out of their way to offer merchandise ranging from action figures and a lunchbox to graphic novels and throwback read-along book-and-record sets. They even did a Saucony shoe collab. Throughout this time, the trio has proven surprisingly prolific with their musical output, releasing a pair of EPs, a few instrumental LPs, and 7 studio albums which include one collaborative project with Ghostface Killah and 2 more with the late MF DOOM. Their latest studio album, Czartificial Intelligence was just announced today as full evidence that these guys have zero intention of slowing down.

Although Czarface is without a doubt a collective fueled by a team effort, it’s always been clear that this project is Seamus “Esoteric” Ryan‘s baby. Arguably the creator of some of the greatest verses in hip-hop history, Inspectah Deck is as sharp as ever in his role with the group, but he’s also currently on tour with WU-Tang Clan. Meanwhile, all of the extracurricular activities outside of the main studio albums have Eso‘s name stamped all over them, even if it’s simply in an executive producer role on the instrumental releases that 7L is at the helm of. Nobody is more invested in the overall vision or success of the project than Seamus. He shows up at conventions, wrote the Czarface graphic novel and comics, and heavily promotes everything from his personal Instagram account that, essentially, also doubles as the official Czarface account. That means that, as followers, we’re seeing a lot of behind-the-scenes footage of the rapper’s daily life with his family, while feeling as if we’re receiving the inside scoop on any new Czarface info whenever he posts about it. The truth of the matter is that, with all of the endless things that he’s juggling juxtaposed against the more leisurely aspects of his life that we’re exposed to, it’s easy to get the impression that there’s plenty of downtime and, if something was happening, we’d definitely know about it. The truth of the matter is that these guys can keep a secret and we’re never going to completely know shit until they’re prepared to launch the whole thing in full force. Czartificial Intelligence was only just announced today, and there’s already quite a bit to sift through.

A couple of days ago, the news came out that, after a decade of releasing their work independently through their Silver Age label, Czarface had signed a global deal with Virgin Records. After posting the announcement, Esoteric uploaded an IG story directed toward any family members who just learned about the news from the internet, explaining that he didn’t want to mention anything prematurely and light-heartedly justifying that it wasn’t really that big of a deal, since they don’t always share with him if they got a raise or something at their jobs. The Rebel INS captioned his IG post about the news by stating, “I’m from that school that don’t talk about it until it’s done and then we still don’t talk about it. So with that being said I ain’t said nuthin…” What I didn’t notice at the time was that Deck had also included the hashtag #czartificialintelligence. The caption on Eso‘s post simply read, “Happy Friday, Czarface signed to Virgin Music” while promising that “new🔥cometh.”

We get the first taste of that fire today with the single “You Know My Style” featuring Nems. Those unfamiliar with the Nems aka Gorilla Nems as an artist may know him from roasting people on the streets of New York with his catchphrase “Don’t ever disrespect me..” The Coney Island rapper crushes his spot on this track, as does Deck, from his typical lead-off position, but one particular line that jumped out at me came from Esoteric when he says, “We caught a deal in ’23 without a face tat.” Clearly, this deal has been in the works for a while, but everything is rolling out together right now. Check out the lyric video for “You Know My Style” below.

The announcement of the new album accompanies the unveiling of this year’s Record Store Day Black Friday titles. Czarface has a long history of participating in the event, regularly offering the initial drop of their new releases on Record Store Day first — whether it be Black Friday or the main RSD in April — before following up with a standard variant at a later date. Czartificial Intelligence follows in this tradition with the standard pressing slated for a December 1st release date and the Black Friday RSD exclusive variant hitting independent record stores a full week prior on November 24th. The RSD version is being referred to as the “Stole The Ball edition.” Featuring alternate cover art by Lamour Supreme and pressed on “Czarbury Orange” vinyl, the hype sticker advertises that it includes “2 Bonus Tracks Exclusive On Vinyl For RSD.” The description on the Record Store Day site promises slightly less, referring to these simply as “vinyl-only bonus tracks.” I questioned if these bonus tracks would be available on further vinyl releases as well, but from what I’ve seen, the bonus songs in question — “One Eleven Chelsea” and “Live From Czarnegie Hall (feat. Kool Keith)” — aren’t listed on the other tracklist that I’ve located. Kool Keith does appear on another song from the album, but an extra track with Black Elvis aka Dr. Octagon / Dr. Dooom /  Keith Turbo / Poppa Large / Keith Matthew Thornton… etc. etc… I’m going to need both of those. Hopefully, one day, we may even see a full-length collaboration.

You can check out the provided tracklist and description from the RSD website following this alternate cover art.

Immerse yourself in CZARFACE’s latest action-packed odyssey, CZARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. Weaving together the unfiltered essence of OG braggadocio, introspective storytelling and high-flying superheroes, Wu-Tang Clan’s Inspectah Deck, Esoteric and 7L create a dynamic synergy that’s as engaging as flipping through the pages of your favorite graphic novel.

Esteemed guests such as Logic, Nems, Kool Keith and Frankie Pulitzer join CZARFACE on missions and side-quests, bringing enough power to warp the space-rhyme continuum. Through intricate verses and captivating production, CZARFACE invites you to journey alongside them, exploring the intersection of cosmic hip hop and comic book culture. This STOLE THE BALL EDITION LP is pressed on translucent Czarbury Orange vinyl with alternate cover art and features the vinyl-only bonus tracks “One Eleven Chelsea” and “Live From Czarnegie Hall (feat. Kool Keith).” Available at record stores first on RSD Black Friday 2023.

SIDE A:
1. Czarchimedes’ Death Ray
2. Blast Off
3. All That For A Drop Of Blood
4. You Know My Style – feat. Nems
5. Mama’s Basement
6. Frenzy In A Far Off World – feat. Frankie Pulitzer
7. Czarsenic

SIDE B:
8. Gatecrasher – feat. Logic
9. Sirens
10. Helicopter – feat. Godfather Don & Kool Keith
11. One Eleven Chelsea [Bonus Track]
12. Marvel At That (Road Trip)
13. Live At Czarnegie Hall – feat. Kool Keith
14. Together

In the middle of writing this, I came across this completely different variant (pictured above) being offered for preorder on the Czarface website. This limited edition D2C website exclusive ships on November 30th and is referred to as the “Red Alert” variant, obviously due to the colored splatter wax and the alternate colorway of the sleeve. The provided tracklist doesn’t list the 2 “vinyl-only” bonus songs that the RSD listing included. That said, the “Red Alert” vinyl is also available in various bundles that include the standard editions of the album on either cassette, CD, or both, so it’s possible the site is only listing the original non-vinyl tracklists on the product pages. Honestly, at this point, it could go either way. If you’d like to preorder one of these exclusives now, you can visit the revamped Czarface.com where 2 brand new t-shirt designs and a new poster have also been made available.