Jason S. Hunter (born July 6, 1970), better known by his stage name Inspectah Deck, is an American rapper and hip hop producer. He is a member of the groups Wu-Tang Clan and Czarface.
He has acquired critical praise for his intricate lyricism, and for his verses on many of the group's most revered songs. He has grown to become a producer in his own right, taking up tracks for fellow Wu rappers and his own projects.
Early life
Jason Hunter was born July 6, 1970 in The Bronx and grew up in Staten Island. Hunter routinely mentions the Park Hill Projects in Clifton, Staten Island, where he grew up and went to school with Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, and Remedy. Hunter's father died when he was six years old.
Career
Hunter developed a laid-back and quiet personality which he carried into his stage persona, as a low-key counterbalance to the antics of Method Man, Ol' Dirty Bastard, and RZA, His debut album Uncontrolled Substance was initially set for a 1995 release on Loud Records, on which he signed for $650,000. But after Loud was acquired by Sony, it was delayed and set to release in late 1997, however, this experienced several additional delays due to a flood in producer RZA's basement studio, which destroyed over one hundred beats, including all of the instrumentals made for the album. In September 1999, Uncontrolled Substance was released, and featured more of Deck's own production, and appearances from several lesser known affiliates. The album received generally favorable reviews from music critics, but failed to garner the reception attained by earlier Wu-Tang solo projects. Shortly after this release, Deck returned to the Wu-Tang fold for the group albums The W (2000), and Iron Flag (2001).
In 2003, Inspectah Deck released his second studio album, The Movement, which he would later state did not live up to his expectations,
Around this time he announced two new projects: an album called Czarface as a new collaboration called Czarface with Boston's 7L & Esoteric featuring the legendary DJ Premier and his up-coming solo album The Rebellion, confirming production from RZA and the Wu-Elements; it is now set to come after The Resident Patient II, and will reportedly be his final album as a solo artist. He has also mentioned his plans to release an instrumental album of his own production, entitled The Bodyrock Volume 1, which is inspired by the instrumental albums released by Alchemist, Ayatollah, and Pete Rock. On February 11, 2013, in an interview with HipHopDX, Inspectah Deck stated that he also has an upcoming album with producer Agallah in the works, and later confirmed during that year that he had renamed his "The Rebellion" album to Rebellion 2013. He recently confirmed via Twitter that he has again changed the name of his final album to Uncontrolled Substance II, a sequel to his debut album; that will be produced primarily by RZA along with The Wu-Elements.
After working with The Wu-Tang Clan on their sixth studio album A Better Tomorrow, he reunited with 7L & Esoteric for another Czarface album titled Every Hero Needs a Villain, which was released in June 2015, and again in 2016 for the third Czarface album, A Fistful of Peril, after Marvel Entertainment reached out to them to record a track for their Black Panther web-series.
Discography
thumb|Inspectah Deck performing with Wu-Tang Clan in 2007
;Studio albums
- Uncontrolled Substance (1999)
- The Movement (2003)
- The Resident Patient (2006)
- Manifesto (2010)
- Chamber No. 9 (2019)
;with Czarface
- Czarface (2013)
- Every Hero Needs a Villain (2015)
- A Fistful of Peril (2016)
- First Weapon Drawn (2017)
- Double Dose of Danger (2019)
- The Odd Czar Against Us (2019)
- Czar Noir (2021)
- Czarmageddon (2022)
- Czartificial Intelligence (2023)
;Collaboration albums with Czarface
- Czarface Meets Metal Face <small>(with MF Doom)</small> (2018)
- Czarface Meets Ghostface <small>(with Ghostface Killah)</small> (2019)
- Super What? <small>(with MF Doom)</small> (2021)
- Everybody Eats! <small>(with Kool Keith)</small> (2024)