Robert Christgau: Dean of American Rock Critics

Consumer Guide:
  User's Guide
  Grades 1990-
  Grades 1969-89
  And It Don't Stop
Books:
  Book Reports
  Is It Still Good to Ya?
  Going Into the City
  Consumer Guide: 90s
  Grown Up All Wrong
  Consumer Guide: 80s
  Consumer Guide: 70s
  Any Old Way You Choose It
  Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough
Xgau Sez
Writings:
  And It Don't Stop
  CG Columns
  Rock&Roll& [new]
  Rock&Roll& [old]
  Music Essays
  Music Reviews
  Book Reviews
  NAJP Blog
  Playboy
  Blender
  Rolling Stone
  Billboard
  Video Reviews
  Pazz & Jop
  Recyclables
  Newsprint
  Lists
  Miscellany
Bibliography
NPR
Web Site:
  Home
  Site Map
  Contact
  What's New?
    RSS
Carola Dibbell:
  Carola's Website
  Archive
CG Search:
Google Search:
Twitter:

DJ Muggs Vs GZA the Genius [extended]

  • Liquid Swords [Geffen, 1995] **
  • Beneath the Surface [MCA, 1999] *
  • Legend of the Liquid Sword [MCA, 2002] **
  • Grandmasters [Angeles, 2005] **
  • Pro Tools [Babygrande, 2008] B+
  • Pain Language [Gold Dust, 2008] **

See Also:

Consumer Guide Reviews:

Genius/GZA: Liquid Swords [Geffen, 1995]
gangsta as mystery, religious and literary ("Shadowboxin'," "Killah Hills 10304") **

Genius/GZA: Beneath the Surface [MCA, 1999]
He means the surface of a frozen lake, if I'm not mistaken ("Victim," "Crash Your Crew"). *

GZA/Genius: Legend of the Liquid Sword [MCA, 2002]
"Record execs wanna push the album way back?/And hold back my advance? They didn't pay that" ("Rough Cut," "Knock, Knock") **

Grandmasters [Angeles, 2005]
RZA-inspired beats, CSI-inspired rhymes ("Destruction of a Guard," "Exploitation of Mistakes"). **

GZA/Genius: Pro Tools [Babygrande, 2008]
Never thought I'd say this, but RZA isn't missed--the budget production enhances a master lyricist's specialty by subtraction. After dispensing with the "horrific torture by prolific authors" upsmanship, he's both factual, as on the doomed "Short Race" and "Path of Destruction," and fanciful, as on "0% Finance"'s renovated terraplane and "Cinema"'s scary movie. RZA re-enters rapping on the farewell "Life Is a Movie," in which a wild script takes off from humble facts but runs into trouble in production. B+

DJ Muggs & Planet Asia: Pain Language [Gold Dust, 2008]
The pain--and the violence--being criminal, political, and artistic ("Sleeper Cell," "Pain Language"). **