X-Ecutioners - Revolutions

It should be no surprise that the third album from the X-ecutioners is more like a mixtape of great DJs producing tracks for MCs. Especially since Revolutions is their second on a major label and the only reason anybody who wasn’t already a fan found out about Built From Scratch was “It’s Goin Down,” the collaboration with Linkin Park. First of all, the repeat try on the rock collab, “Let Me Rock,” with Start Trouble, pales in comparison - mostly because it sounds like a retread. On the MC-featuring tip, “Live From The PJs,” featuring Ghostface Killah, Trife and Black Thought, and “The Regulators,” with Rock Marcy and Sly Boogie, are the best of the lot. The supposed remix of White Zombie’s “More Human Than Human” is only a remix so far as Rob Zombie sings the chorus and the guitar work and basic structure of the song don’t veer too far except for Slug from Atmosphere rhyming and, like the other MCs on the album, singing the praises of the X-ecutioners. Yet, the track turns out to be one of the standouts of the album. Of the five scratchcentric pieces, the slamming beat Blue Man Group provides for “The Countdown Part 2” does just that, “Like This” kills with Anikke singing the praises of the X-Men, and, almost disappointingly good, “Old School Throwdown” proves the three DJs are still among the best out there while the title proves they’re past it. If, as someone on the album says, a DJ that can’t scratch is like a wide receiver who can’t catch, then this album is better than most sort-of-mainstream hip hop out there. The X-ecutioners are still more human than human and more sicker than sick. If you compare it to their previous work, however, it’s hard not to be a little disappointed. [www.x-ecutioners.net]