DJ Muggs Vs. GZA The Genius

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All Music Guide Considering that Cypress Hill's DJ Muggs and Wu-Tang MC GZA have been collaborating since 1997, when Muggs was releasing his first Soul Assassins record, it makes a lot of sense that the two of them got together to create a full-length record. DJ Muggs gave GZA a copy of 15 of his beats, and two months later they met up in L.A. to record Grandmasters. Of course, the attention of the record is focused on GZA's rhymes, as it should be, but Muggs, the skilled producer that he is, makes his presence felt without being blatant about it, and provides a very good, dramatic backdrop for the rapper. Grandmasters refers both to chess and hip-hop, the two main topics of the record. The song titles allude to situations encountered in a chess game (many of which are briefly described in interludes by Russian-accented speakers), but GZA and the other rappers featured on the record (Wu-Tang associates RZA, Raekwon, Masta Killa, Prodigal Sunn, and Cypress Hill's Sen Dog) use the titles as interpretations of life. As if this weren't obvious enough, GZA himself explains that his love of chess is due to "the great high" he gets from "the movement...war, capturing, thinking, strategy, planning. It's music, it's hip-hop, it's sports, it's life, it's reality." It's a kind of concept album, with the two "grandmasters" of the game explaining the rules to everyone else. Structurally, the record starts out aggressively and strong, with songs like "Exploitation of Mistakes" (with GZA gi

top songs

albums

Grandmasters

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Grandmasters (Instrumentals)

Grandmasters Remix Album

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Joker Brand Mixtape: The Soul Assassins (DJ Nino Brown Presents)

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Grandmasters (Explicit Version)

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Grandmasters (Remix Album)

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Grandmasters: Remix Album

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Grandmasters Remix

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Grandmasters: Instrumentals

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A Wu Tang Life NYC (think differently)

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Hot Wax

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2005er Tape

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