DJ Muggs Vs. GZA/Genius
Grandmasters

Here we are, when these unique gems present themselves before your eyes or, better yet, in your ears, you never know how to take them as the story traced by these two artists in the world of Rap is so unique and deep. Through a phone call proposed by DJ Muggs, aka Laurence Muggeroud, who also has Italian origins, GZA joins him in Los Angeles with RZA, Raekwon, Masta Killa, Prodigal Sunn, and Sen Dog joins the crew to finish the work of the guests. Thanks to their skills with the respective instruments, it takes no more than 8 days to finish this CD released with the independent Los Angeles records of Muggs’ friends.

Muggs' beats have nothing of Cypress and slightly resemble RZA's bases, mostly recalling those of "Soul Assassins", the only thing that brings him closer to the Clan's bases are those sampled sounds like the guitar riff in "All In Together Now", dedicated to ODB. Then Muggs' work focuses on creating exciting pieces full of strings, pianos, and ominous pauses that remind of "III: Temple Of Boom" by Cypress. The sharp blade of the NY MC is always full of metaphors and perfectly blends with the music, but in "Queen's Gambit" he talks about a woman using all the NFL teams, and this is already the third he proposes like this. The best ones are "Those That's Bout It" and especially "Advance Pawns" where the mic is passed to RZA, Raekwon, and Sen Dog. The single "General Principles" is the usual rap about the history of Hip-Hop, in "Unprotected Pieces" a drum loop is touched throughout the song, concluding with a very "Beastie Boys"-like track for the distorted guitars in "Smothered Mate".

The commercial side of the record for me emerges with the steady 4/4 rhythm that, from start to finish, is always the same and in my opinion, does not help GZA's rhymes except the most technical ever could have evolved on a more stylistically varied album, the finishing touches on both roles are magnificent hence why "VS." and not "With". Listen to it as if you knew nothing about them.