Every Hero Needs a Villain

Last updated
Every Hero Needs a Villain
Czarface Every Hero Needs a Villain.jpg
Studio album by Czarface
Released June 16, 2015
Recorded 2014-2015
Genre Hip hop
Length55:03
Label Brick Records
Producer The Czar-Keys
Czarface chronology
Czarface
(2013)		Every Hero Needs a Villain
(2015)		 A Fistful of Peril
(2016)
Singles from Every Hero Needs a Villain
  1. "Deadly Class"
    Released: April 7, 2015

Every Hero Needs a Villain is the second studio album by American hip hop trio Czarface, which consists of rapper and Wu-Tang Clan member Inspectah Deck and underground hip hop duo 7L & Esoteric. The album was released on June 16, 2015, by Brick Records. [1] The album's lead single "Deadly Class" featuring Meyhem Lauren was released on April 7, 2015. [2] The album features guest appearances from Method Man, Large Professor, JuJu, GZA, MF Doom, Meyhem Lauren and R.A. the Rugged Man.

Czarface, often stylized as CZARFACE, is an American hip hop supergroup formed in 2013 by underground hip hop duo 7L & Esoteric and Wu-Tang Clan member Inspectah Deck. They released their acclaimed debut studio album, Czarface, February 19, 2013. The album was followed by Every Hero Needs a Villain in 2015 and A Fistful of Peril in 2016, both of which were also praised by critics.

Wu-Tang Clan American rap group

Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip hop group from New York City, originally composed of East Coast rappers RZA, GZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God and Masta Killa. Longtime collaborator Cappadonna became an official member in 2007. Wu-Tang Clan are regarded as one of the most influential hip-hop groups of all time.

Inspectah Deck American rapper and producer

Jason Hunter, better known by his stage name Inspectah Deck, is an American rapper, producer, and actor. He is a member of the groups Wu-Tang Clan and Czarface.

Contents

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic 79/100 [3]
Review scores
SourceRating
The Boston Globe (positive) [4]
Exclaim! 8/10 [5]
HipHopDX Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [6]
RapReviews7/10 [7]
Record Collector Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [8]

Every Hero Needs a Villain received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 79, based on 5 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". [3] Kyle Mullin of Exclaim! said, "7L handles the no-frills production, which is rife with early '90s RZA homages on 'Night Crawler' and the aforementioned 'World Premiere.' But the Bostonian beatsmith also experiments with crunchy classic rock style guitar riffing on 'Czartacus' and 'The Great (Czar Guitar).' Those beats prove to be a dynamic soundtrack for Esoteric and Deck's shameless, endlessly entertaining punch lines, which are bizarrely charming enough to leave you rooting for the bad guy." [5] Justin Ivey of HipHopDX said, "Every Hero Needs a Villain is one of the rare sequels that matches the original in quality. The chemistry built on the first CZARFACE album carries over seamlessly to their second effort as Inspectah Deck, 7L & Esoteric seem tailor made to work with one another. 7L’s underrated production shines and perfectly complements the styles of Deck and Esoteric. CZARFACE may know they're playing to a niche audience who desires a return to glory days of the ‘90s, but the execution is where CZARFACE differs from most nostalgic acts." [6]

Music criticism

The Oxford Companion to Music defines music criticism as 'the intellectual activity of formulating judgements on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres'. In this sense, it is a branch of musical aesthetics. With the concurrent expansion of interest in music and information media over the past century, the term has come to acquire the conventional meaning of journalistic reporting on musical performances.

Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of media products: films, TV shows, music albums, video games, and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged. Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc Doyle, and Julie Doyle Roberts in 1999. The site provides an excerpt from each review and hyperlinks to its source. A color of green, yellow or red summarizes the critics' recommendations. It has been described as the video game industry's "premier" review aggregator.

<i>Exclaim!</i> Canadian music magazine

Exclaim! is a monthly Canadian music magazine that features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and cutting-edge artists. Content is based on the monthly print publication, which publishes 9 issues per year, distributing over 103,000 copies to over 2,600 locations across Canada. The magazine has an average of 361,200 monthly readers. Their website, exclaim.ca, has an average of 675,000 unique visitors a month.

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number 15 on the US Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums in the first week of its release. [9]

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999. The chart debuted in the magazine as Hot R&B LPs in 1965, and were also called Top Black Albums; from 1969-1978 they were identified as Soul charts. The US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums tracks the albums of quiet storm, urban contemporary, soul music, R&B, new jack swing, hip hop, and sometimes house music artists.

Track listing

All tracks are produced by The Czar-Keys

No.TitleLength
1."Don the Armor"1:18
2."Czartacus"2:37
3."Lumberjack Match"2:46
4."Nightcrawler" (featuring Method Man)3:22
5."World Premier" (featuring Large Professor)2:50
6."The Great (Czar Guitar)"2:25
7."Red Alert"3:46
8."Junkyard Dogs" (featuring JuJu)3:33
9."Sgt. Slaughter"2:10
10."When Gods Go Mad" (featuring GZA)4:16
11."Ka-Bang!" (featuring MF Doom)2:52
12."Deadly Class" (featuring Meyhem Lauren)2:59
13."Escape from Czarkham Asylum"8:18
14."Sinister"2:59
15."Good Villains Go Last" (featuring R.A. the Rugged Man)3:52
16."Deviatin' Septums" (Digital Exclusive)2:49
17."Sinister (Revenge of Yorgo Remix)" (Digital Exclusive)2:11
Total length:55:03

Charts

Chart (2015)Peak
position
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard) [10] 15
US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard) [11] 15
US Independent Albums (Billboard) [12] 19
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard) [13] 4

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References

  1. ↑ Grefe, Cliff (2015-04-21). "Czarface "Every Hero Needs A Villain" Release Date, Cover Art, Tracklist & Pre-Order". HipHopDX. Retrieved 2015-06-11.
  2. ↑ "iTunes - Music - Deadly Class (feat. Meyhem Lauren) - Single by CZARFACE". Itunes.apple.com. 2015-04-07. Retrieved 2015-06-11.
  3. 1 2 "Reviews for Every Hero Needs a Villain by Czarface". Metacritic. 2015-06-18. Retrieved 2015-06-27.
  4. ↑ Caballero, Martin (June 16, 2015). "Album review: Czarface, 'Every Hero Needs a Villain'". The Boston Globe. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  5. 1 2 Mullin, Kyle (June 16, 2015). "Czarface (Inspectah Deck + 7L & Esoteric) Every Hero Needs A Villain". Exclaim!. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  6. 1 2 Ivey, Justin (June 18, 2015). "CZARFACE – Every Hero Needs a Villain". HipHopDX. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  7. ↑ Shackleford, Sy (June 16, 2015). "Czarface :: Every Hero Needs a Villain". RapReviews. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  8. ↑ Bowler, Paul (September 2015). "Every Hero Needs A Villain". Record Collector. Retrieved August 30, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums : Page 4". Billboard.
  10. ↑ "Czarface Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Czarface Chart History (Top Tastemaker Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Czarface Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Czarface Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
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