Fade
The Beat Strangler
Administrator
illest o.g.
You would be a fool to argue the West Coast's significance to Hip-Hop's short but storied history. Simply look at the N.W.A. family tree: Dr. Dre begat - whether directly or by extension - Snoop, Nate Dogg, Warren G, Kurupt, Daz, Eminem, 50 Cent, and G-Unit. Ice Cube gave us WC and Mac 10, and together formed Westside Connection. The late Eazy-E gave us a group by the name of Bone Thugs N Harmony, one of Hip-Hop's biggest selling acts and one of the most unique group of artists ever. All of these acts have had their share of the spotlight, and while some of these artists are clearly not "West Coast" artists, it was West Coast artists who brought them into the forefront of their own careers. There are also less media-heralded acts such as Cypress Hill, E-40, Too Short, Ritchie Rich, The Luniz, Brutha Lynch Hung, DJ Quik, MC Eiht, Mac Dre, King T, Suga Free, Ant Banks - the list goes on.
The West Coast has also had a major role in cultivating the underground. Aside from the Gangsta element that has dominated the West Coast mainstream, the west is also fertile ground for the more traditional, artistic elements of the culture - the graffiti artist, the B-Boy, the DJ, and the MC. We have seen acts such as Jurassic 5, Dilated Peoples, Defari, Planet Asia, the Boston-to-Oakland transplants Mission (now known as the Crown City Rockers), Encore, The Beat Junkies, X-Ecutioners, Living Legends, and what used to be an underground super group of sorts, The Golden State Warriors. This group consisted of Saafir, Ras Kass, and a young artist by the name of Xzibit.
Xzibit has been somewhat of an amalgamation of all of these elements. He walks the fine line of Gangsta and Underground in beat, verse, and appearance. He encompasses the lyrical ability and conscious mentality of his underground brethren, as well as the raw aggression and understanding of harsh reality of his gangsta counterparts. He is both Yin and Yang in a land of opposing forces. His latest project, his sixth album entitled "Weapons of Mass Destruction" displays this most prominently.
A more appropriate name for this album, could be "Weapons of Mass Construction". While the album starts off with a well-done-but-obvious splice of President Bush telling us he is every bit the terrorizing power monger most Americans think he is, the album itself does much more building than destroying.
The first song is "LAX", which features a fast paced, cinematic rock tinged beat, is the perfect introduction for X-to-the-Z. It really is little more then a barrage of testosterone, a song about nothing but sending a clear message: I'M HERE. "Cold World" drops in next, after the radio dial changes, and we get three vivid stories of three different people and their respective situations. The chorus presents them with their options: "It's a cold, cold world / Niggas will lay you down and take your breath / One of two choices / You can give it up or you can just die with it..." It doesn't get much realer then that.
On the he initial single, "Muthafucka", X rides an addicting back-and-forth type of beat that should keep the clubs (and your girl) sweaty for some time. It is, essentially, ear candy and issues a stern "don't mess with me" warning. A perfect lead into the next track, "Beware of Us", which lyrically is really more of the same and features an old protoge in Phil Da Agony over a sugary-yet-sinister, bouncy synth track with an addicting melody. This is one of my personal favorite tracks, although the first MC doesn't really do it for me.
Judgement Day is the first of the album's two biggest jewels, and could well garner the type of rotation Jadakiss's "Why" received. A different flavor, to be sure, but a better one if you ask me. Xzibit gives us some of his most detailed, passionate verses to date over a relatively simple Gospel track complete with organ and choir. Peep some lines:
"There's no time to rehearse / The clock been tickin 'cause we all started dyin' at birth / I speak the truth and it hurts / It felt like I was dyin' of thirst / 'Till I was blessed with my voice and started moving mountains through verse".
"Mean Muggin" has an old school, feel good vibe that should also garner some serious commercial appeal and video play. I for one, would not be bothered to see some serious B-Boy activity in the video for this. "Ride Or Die" encompasses more of the gangsta side of the coin, and "Crazy Ho", featuring Suga Free, is a comical look at a girl who won't leave you alone. Suga Free offers a humorous line in the song's intro, hysterically pondering, "If I don't club her, I don't love her". This song is really more Suga Free and Strong Arm Steady - no Xzibit to be found.
The skit, "Big Barkin" is your typical at-a-distance gangsta callin' X up, and tellin' him how he's gonna merc him when he sees him, and is followed by the album's brightest highlight. Busta Rhymes is here in all his cameo, show stealing glory. A simple, tense, flute and bell laced, medieval sounding track provides the backdrop to "Tough Guy". Busta delivers a vintage performance and while X is solid, make no mistake, Busta makes this track a classic. The track ends with the fake gangsta cryin' on the phone "X, you didn't have to ride on me like that dog... I was mad at some other ish that day, and I just took my aggression out on your voicemail."
"Scent Of A Woman" is an ode to having a good woman stand by you - or rather, putting up with you and making you a better man. The track is good, though not spectacular-but anybody with a shorty can relate. "Klack" has an intense track, and while solid isn't much of a standout to me. "Klack" is another warning shot - "I'm not to be messed with".
The album ends on a high note in "Back To The Way It Was" on a Just Blaze-ish track, an absolute soundtrack for your frustrations complete with a painful wailing in the background as a culture, simply wishing for the days of "Five thousand, fucked up, rockin' out of unity". The hook is a bit of a chant, saying:
"You can hold your breath, 'till you're blue in the face / But you can never ever take my place / I stay strong, whether right or wrong / Through the struggle I will live on".
All in all, Xzibit has released a strong album. The only song that I would have omitted personally is "Saturday Night Live", which I honestly could not finish and didn't care for one bit. The West Coast has been little more then a continuous re-tread of the same artists for the last 15 years. While everyone is awaiting the Game's release and are hyping his album as the one that will "save" the West, Xzibit has quietly released an album that encompasses elements of all sides of California's diversity-rich Hip-Hop coin. Xzibit gave us an album that feels perfectly balanced on all sides, and more importantly he did it without sounding like he tried too hard to do it.
This album isn't a classic, but it is a very good one - and a significant one. Any new artist coming from the Left would do well to put aside their affinity for Too Short, Dr. Dre, Snoop or E-40 and adopt Xzibit as their patron West Coast saint. If the West Coast wants to get back to prominence, recreating what N.W.A. already did is not the way to do it in my book. Nor do we need another 'Pac. No, no, no, what we need is for someone to stand up and create their own niche. It looks like X-to-the-Z is several steps ahead of us in that department. Game may well win the MTV demographics, and the sales/posters/hype awards, but Xzibit is a true champion of the West Coast and is the one figure than garners credibility on all sides; he is as close to being all things to all people as an artist can possibly get.
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