It was October 25, 2005. GZA, the Wu-Tang Clan’s lead rapper, had not released an album since the well received “Legend of the Liquid Sword” in December of 2002. DJ Muggs, the long time producer for Cypress Hill and House of Pain, had not released an album under his name since October of 2000, but had recently produced Cypress Hill’s last and worst album in March of 2004. GZA, also known as The Genius and a lyrical legend by hip hop heads was going strong and proving that he was Wu-Tang Clan’s most consistent member. DJ Muggs on the other hand had it a low in his career. The man who had once crafted the beats for House of Pain’s “Jump Around” and Ice Cube’s “Check Yo Self” as well as virtually every Cypress Hill song was now becoming just another producer. DJ Muggs HAD the perfect mix between Dr. Dre’s funkiness and Rick Rubin’s hard rock stylings, but this hadn’t been evident for a while.

When I saw an album by GZA and DJ Muggs in my local music store, I was still expecting to get mugged with genius (sorry about that one). I was anticipating legendary material. To me, the Wu-Tang stalwart and the Cypress Hill mastermind were a match made in heaven. With GZA and Muggs creating “Grandmasters”, they were ridding themselves of watered down RZA impersonators and the annoying vocals of Sen Dog and B-Real respectively. They were each ready to step their game up. Hell, they were making an album based around chess metaphors and chess samples. “Grandmasters” seemed as if it would BE the classic “Liquid Swords” with chess instead of martial arts. There were many signs leading to this. DJ Muggs was almost as respected as the producer for “Liquid Swords” named RZA. The cover art was awesome. There were guest appearances from fellow Clansmen and affiliates. I expected to be blown away…


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-Track List & Song Rankings-

1. Opening [Not Rated]
2. Those That’s Bout It [2 Stars]
3. Destruction Of A Guard (featuring Raekwon) [3 Stars]
4. Exploitation Of Mistakes [4.5 Stars]
5. General Principles [5 Stars]
6. Advance Pawns (featuring RZA, Raekwon & Sen Dog) [3 Stars]
7. Queen’s Gambit [5 Stars]
8. All In Together Now (featuring RZA) [4.5 Stars]
9. Unstoppable Threats (featuring Masta Killa & Prodigal Sunn) [3.5 Stars]
10. Unprotected Pieces [2 Stars]
11. Illusory Protection [1 Stars]
12. Smothered Mate [3.5 Stars]

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The album’s intro “Opening” is a triumphant instrumental with many vocal samples including those from some chess expert and an annoying a guy who keeps saying “the time has come.” It serves very little purpose to the album and should be skipped. The next track, “Those That’s Bout It”, features an annoyingly repetitive beat and a poor chorus by GZA, but decent lyrics. GZA brags about himself and talks about fake rappers, but is disrupted by random annoying sounds and voices which nobody in their right mind can appreciate. The production tries hard to sound like a Wu-Tang beat, but ends up sounding like some low-quality hypnosis song. The next track, “Destruction Of A Guard”, features an overrated fake mobster from the Wu-Tang Clan named Raekwon. He sings a typical gangster chorus over a beat that mimics the last track completely. The only difference that I could find within the beats is that on “Destruction Of A Guard”, the beat occasionally breaks for a poor vocal sample. GZA wonderfully describes the urban street life and details a couple of crime cases. He also makes a couple of clever one-liners such as when he says:

“Patriotic hustlers that kill for presidents/conceal the truth, but can’t hide the evidence”

The fourth track, “Exploitation Of Mistakes”, contains a somber piano led beat with faint vocal samples in the background. It features a well told story about the aftermath of somebody’s murdering. GZA intricately describes everything that happens after the murdering as if he were the detectives at the end of a Law & Order episode. The next track is one of my favorites. “General Principles” sounds like a stripped down version of Cypress Hill’s “Hits From The Bong”. GZA’s lyrics are very good as he brags, talks about hip hop all over America and represents Wu-Tang.

At this point in my “Grandmasters” listening experience, I am assuming that the rest of the album will be high quality and my expectations will be reached.

“Advance Pawns” features RZA and Raekwon of Wu-Tang Clan as well as Sen Dog from Cypress Hill. Unfortunately, RZA does not produce this track and he raps horrifically. DJ Muggs creates a repetitive yet over-produced beat with an irritating sample of someone saying “attention”. The Genius as well as Raekwon rap well to my chagrin, while Sen Dog simply speaks Spanish in the background during the chorus. “Advance Pawns” is a poorly executed clash of sounds, but the track after it makes up for it. “Queen’s Gambit”, much like “Exploitation Of Mistakes” contains a downtrodden piano lead beat and some vocal soul samples. It is a display of GZA’s storytelling and creativity in the same vain as the tracks “Labels” and “Fame”. For those who aren’t familiar with those songs, “Queen’s Gambit” tells a story that uses the names of all professional football teams. It is easily the best song on the entire “Grandmasters” album and helps save it from being flop.

The mood completely changes for the track “All In Together Now”. The beat sounds like an outtake version of a classic Cypress Hill song. It is party ready and serves as a good tribute to deceased Wu Tang member Ol’ Dirty Bastard who I happen to despise. The song is named after the group that RZA (who is featured on this track), GZA and Ol’ Dirty Bastard were part of before they formed Wu, but fails to recount any detailed experiences of the group. It also contains a vocal sample of some rapper saying “all in together now”, but I can’t put my finger on who it is.

Unfortunately, “Unstoppable Threats” sounds like an upbeat version of the mediocre tracks at the beginning of “Grandmasters”. GZA once again does his thing with a mix of braggadocios rhymes and fictitious stories. Prodigal Sonn and Masta Killa are both featured on “Unstoppable Threats” and they simply kill it. I had never heard Prodigal Sonn rap before, but he is really talented. Also, the beat becomes a baseline when Masta Killa raps and it sounds really cool. “Unprotected Pieces” follows “Unstoppable Threats” and has a menacing beat that if Muggs worked a little harder would actually be good. Unfortunately, it sounds over dramatic and GZA raps decently with his storytelling and random subject matter. His only flaw on this track is that he sings a poor chorus over a horrific change of beat by Muggs.

The next track, “Illusory Protection”, starts out with depressing church bells and some scary vocal samples, but the beat terrible. I can’t listen to it. It’s just so bad. It seems like Muggs was just pressing buttons on his beat making machine at random (I couldn’t think of anything more creative to say. Shoot me). No lyrics could save this song.

At this point in my “Grandmasters” listening experience, I am overly frustrated. The songs just aren’t good. I hope the last track could change my whole mind and pass this album off has decent…

“Smothered Mate” does not do what I wanted. The beat has a decent rock/rap/orchestral vibe, but it features poor vocal samples in the chorus. It also has this cool beat sample at the end that sounds like “Clap Your Hands” by A Tribe Called Quest. The lyrics bring an end to the album’s concept and are on par with all other GZA work. “Smothered Mate” did not save this overestimated disaster.

“Grandmaster” flopped in my eyes. I have lost all faith in Muggs. His glory days where he crafted beats that captured the weed vibe or gangster vibe are gone. Maybe he relied to much on sampling back then which now costs too much. Maybe, his beats were ghost produced. All I know is that he has fallen off. The leader of Wu-Tang Clan on the other hand has proved how consistent of a rapper he is, but shown diversity. I’m tired of his albums with one concept track (see “Queen’s Gambit”) and the rest of the tracks with him bragging and discussing hip hop. Why can’t he talk about heartbreak or how Turkey slaughtered millions of Armenians in the 1920’s? Once he talks about the Armenian Genocide, he will show me that he has reached the plateau of elite rappers. Until then, I will stay occupied by my suburban lifestyle.


******Album Statistics******

GZA/Genius: 4 Stars
DJ Muggs: 1.5 Stars
Guest Rappers: 2.5 Stars
Album Rating: 2.75 Stars
Final word: “Grandmasters” sucks


Recommended: No