Three years after his previous record, GZA releases his fifth studio album, his first collaborative, under the moniker GZA the Genius. The production is entirely entrusted to Cypress Hill producer DJ Muggs, who's helped by some live instrumentalists. Guests are Wu-Tang Clan members Raekwon, RZA, and Masta Killa, along with Prodigal Sunn of Sunz of Man and Cypress Hill rapper Sen Dog.
GZA focuses the whole album on the game of chess, from the title of the album to that of the tracks, to the lyricism: his lyrics are good, they're still solid, nevertheless, his delivery style is lifeless, drained of energy, sleepy, soporific, it seems like he doesn't want to rap anymore. Technically, he doesn't sound at his finest and his bars come out very slowly, with a listless and lazy style close to spoken word. The MC appears to be uninspired and finds brief bursts of energy only with the arrival of guests, including Raekwon and RZA, who have two contributions each. Ol' Dirty Bastard performs uncredited, Sen Dog adds little to the record, Masta Killa doesn't look at his best, while Prodigal Sunn is fine.
The other great protagonist of the project is DJ Muggs. The guy creates a soundscape that overall sounds as old as rapping, equally disappointing: Muggs creates simple, dark, gloomy, at times jazzy rhythms, with decent-good sound elements, trying to still create the Wu-sound of the mid-nineties, without much success. Even in the best musical moments of the LP, the flow of the major performer at his best sounds smooth, crisp, clean, but without commitment.
Released by Angeles and distributed by Fontana, the record is met with approval from critics and has a pretty poor score on the charts, coming out of artists who have both hit the top spots on the Billboard 200 with their respective groups in the past: "Grandmasters" stops at number 180 in the pop chart, just inside the top 70 of rap records and doesn't reach the top ten of independents. It should be an interesting collaborative album between Wu-Tang and Cypress Hill, however, it ends up being a disappointing experiment.
Rating: 6.7/10.
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