In case you missed my last post covering the work of mr. Joiner, here's a quick recap. After finally pushing his way into hip-hop's inner ring via sheer brute force, joining the ranks of Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Eminem for the Up In Smoke Tour, as well as various collaborations across the biggest hip-hop releases of 1999 and 2000, Xzibit decided to barricade his way right back out of the limelight by releasing a simply terrible album entitled Man Vs. Machine, which not only contained a sample of Toto's "Africa", but also featured some frankly insulting verses from mr. X-to-tha-Z, who performed like someone who has suffered amounts of literal brain damage throughout much of this LP. The label he was on at the time, Loud Records, were so embarrassed by this disaster of an album that they decided to pack up shop immediately, leaving Alvin without a label home for the first time since his career ballooned in '95. Well, that's not the real reason the label dissolved, but you have to admit that Man Vs. Machine standing as the last project released on it is somewhat suspicious.
Thankfully, or perhaps not thankfully depending on how much faith you still had in him as an artist, Xzibit was still a big enough name in the industry that it wasn't difficult to find a new outfit to release at least one more project on, before his go at being a "rapper" officially ran out. It was Columbia who picked up the newly appointed Pimp My Ride host, and much to the man's pleasure, evident when he decided to record his most angry and hateful release yet to kick off his stint there.
Weapons Of Mass Destruction is a strange album in the Xzibit catalogue. It was well after his relationship with Tha Alkaholiks and King T had soured, but now also at a time where Dre, Snoop and Em had all had a collective finger slip and deleted Alvin's number from their contacts (literally in the latter's case, as X recounts on his more recent song "1983"), meaning for the first time we're seeing Xzibit without any mentors or superiors in the vicinity, allowing him to finally reign free and do whatever the fuck he wanted, within reason of course - in fact, he is the lone executive producer on here for the first time in his storied career. Guest are sparse - outside of the celebrity cameos inevitable on such a major label release (Keri Hilson, Busta Rhymes), Xzibit sees fit to include multiple appearances from his new proteges Strong Arm Steady, who would actually make waves around 2010, when they released the Madlib produced In Search Of Stoney Jackson to mild success. Back in '04 they were unknown though, and Xzibit here attempted to give them a leg up, one that failed miserably (I'm guessing Xzibit's older weed carrier Montage One got tired of blunt rolling around the release of Restless, as what the fuck happened to him?)
My memories of this effort are hazy outside of some of the bigger singles, but at least X's last release was so terrible that this one just has to be an improvement. Nowhere to go but up. Let's get to it!
P.S. Apparently that Xzibit logo on the front cover was designed by someone by the name of "Mister Cartoon". Hopefully that won't be a sign of how much effort was put into the actual album.
1. State Of the Union (prod. Thayod Ausar)
Lets everyone know that X isn't playing around anymore - this album is about to delve into some serious shit. While the project inevitably strays from the concept more often than not, I do think this intro is legitimately creepy, and one you probably won't want to skip. Also, Thayod Ausar is back!
2. LAX (prod. Sir Jinx & Mystro)
Xzibit starts proceedings with this anthem for "the war", rapping alongside a pulsating rock inspired beat and a catchy sung hook that make this one of the man's most streamed songs to this day. Lyrically Xzibit doesn't seem to have returned to his older, better style yet, instead ramping the homophobia up a notch within the first four bars, but still you have to admit that this one is entertaining. The production bangs, and will catch you by surprise when you go into the album, and you'll probably find yourself singing along to the hook too by the time the track is drawing to a close. I'd like to put my optimistic goggles on right about now, but unfortunately I'm reminded that the first song on Man Vs Machine was also very good, possibly better than this one. There's a long way to go yet.
3. Cold World (prod. Jelly Roll)
C'mon Xzibit - as a hip-hop veteran yourself you should know that this song title is off limits after GZA used it in '95 for his absolute classic album. You wouldn't want someone to name their song "Paparazzi" would you? Wait, hold on a minute. Anyway, the song itself is actually pretty damn good, even if Jelly Roll tries his hardest to fuck everything up with an inane hook. Xzibit spits three verses here, all describing different difficult situations that people in the world might find themselves in, spreading awareness like people with a voice should when the time is right. What's most surprising is that Xzibit takes things away from the hood in the final verse, and actually links back to the harrowing intro skit, describing a family who are unable to escape the American troops in war-ridden Iraq - and I really commend him for that. And all this over an instrumental that, despite being made by Jelly Roll, is actually quite pleasant. This was a really nice surprise.
4. Saturday Night Live (feat. Jelly Roll) (prod. Jelly Roll)
And after all that heartfelt stuff, Xzibit decides to hit us with this, an attempt at a club banger that's about as jarring as everyone cancelling Saturday Night plans last minute. Well at least the way it's sequenced is. The song itself is surprisingly fun, a lot better than some of the similar attempts at this sound that appeared back on Man Vs. Machine. I'm still not sold on Jelly Roll's singing voice, which makes the first minute or so of the song quite difficult to sit through, and Truth Hurts' uncredited performance is also rather clunky. But Xzibit sounds better on this instrumental than on anything else since Restless, and when he starts coming with all the random accents at the end you can't help but crack a smile. This song is a little disjointed, but I'd be lying if I said there weren't points where I was loving it. This album is actually going quite well.
5. Muthafucka (prod. Rick Rock)
6. Beware Of Us (feat. Strong Arm Steady) (prod. Khalil)
Kind of okay, although at this point you're left wishing we could get an instrumental that doesn't sound so dated. Goofy synths notwithstanding, the rapping on here makes everything go by smoothly, as X invites Strong Arm Steady to the booth for their first official appearance on the album (although Krondon did appear earlier on "Saturday Night Live" for a forgettable hook). Krondon actually sounds pretty good here, as does X, and while Phil Da Agony is merely passable, it's not like he's Jelly Roll levels of weak as a vocalist. Also, the hook is weirdly catchy, even though at this point Xzibit has done far too much singing for someone who's trying to portray themselves as a hardcore rapper whom you should take seriously on the microphone, despite his day job as an animated host for a ridiculous MTV car-pimping programme. Anyway, this song is alright.
7. Judgement Day (prod. Khalil)
Over a rather terrible faux-motivational beat, Xzibit rhymes about how he "move mountains with verse", all the while proving the opposite, as this song falls flat as a pancake. It's not that I don't appreciate Xzibit making something like this, but his gruff voice and general way of rapping things means everything just feels very engineered here, rather than coming together naturally like a good song should. The most memorable moment of this song is when Xzibit comes in with that "yes!" during the opening chorus, as though he couldn't stand to leave vocal duties to someone else for one singular fucking second. Sorry, this one is not good. Still, it's much better than "Heart Of Man", so there's that.
8. Criminal Set (prod. Battlecat)
Xzibit finally decides to stop taking things so seriously, resulting in the first all around good song on here since "Cold World", and one that might take the cake as the best yet full stop. Battlecat's instrumental is pure '90s nostalgia, with the banging drums and persistent Ice Cube vocal samples that sound dope as fuck whenever they come in. Xzibit's rhymes are mostly shit talking on here, although it does stand out when he says "lately I've been feeling like Will Smith / why bother with rap, when I can get 20 mill on a flick?" - perhaps that explains the shoddy pen game we've witnessed from X ever since the trainwreck known as Man Vs. Machine. "Criminal Set" is certainly a banger - although when inevitably compared with X's earlier work it really doesn't stand out much.
9. Hey Now (Mean Muggin) (feat. Keri Hilson) (prod. Timbaland)
10. Ride Or Die (prod. Mr. Porter, add-prod. J.R.)
Hmm. The song just played. It sounded fine. But I have absolutely no desire to go back to it. It's possibly the most by-the-numbers song Xzibit has ever made. Even the title is generic. Gah! What happened to the guy who made "Paparazzi", who was so unique and incredible? This song is just so bland!
11. Crazy Ho (feat. Strong Arm Steady) (prod. Khalil)
Apparently even Xzibit was so embarrassed by everything about this song that he decided to not appear on it at all, in some sort of protest. And that's good, because it means I can quickly move on from this trite and never think about it again. I'd happily listen to "Hit & Run (Part II)" a hundred times over if it meant I never had to hear this. Happily.
12. Big Barking
Goofy skit that sets up the concept for the next song.
13. Tough Guy (feat. Busta Rhymes) (prod. Hi-Tek)
Kind of funny, and does make a lot of sense as a collaboration, since Busta Rhymes and Xzibit not only had similar styles at this point in time, but were also both coming off of easily their worst works yet when the song was released (Busta probably still haunted by the memory of the now 2 year old It Ain't Safe No More...). Perhaps my being a big Busta Rhymes fan gives me some amount of bias here, but I do like this one quite a bit, even if threatening to kill me for an entire track would have perhaps been slightly scarier if it weren't the host of Pimp My Ride and the self proclaimed "Dungeon Dragon" who were spewing the aforementioned threats. Hi-Tek's beat is certainly clunky as well, far less smooth than what he normally cooks up, which means that this song is unlikely to make your chill hip-hop playlist. Still, Busta and X sound good on the beat, and the track is much livelier than the dreariness exhibited (get it?) on the last two songs. This one gets the pass.
14. Scent Of a Woman (prod. Hi-Tek)
Disturbing song title notwithstanding, this track is actually pretty interesting, if a little overlong - I think two verses could have gotten the message across just fine. The track details X going from being annoyed at his girlfriend at the beginning of the song, to at the end realising that she's actually a great person for him and he should appreciate what she does for him. It does seem a little insincere when only two songs ago we were discussing a so-called "Crazy Ho", but then again Xzibit didn't even appear on there, so how about that. Dion's hook that alters throughout the song is nice, and the instrumental from Hi-Tek is also dope, being kind of intense and depressing for such a subject matter, but oh well. This is pretty alright.
15. Klack (prod. Khalil)
Really? "Klack"? Who's idea was that? Still, this song does have kind of an interesting sound - the melody is unlike anything else I've heard on an Xzibit album. If only it was attached to better instrumentation and a more engaging drum loop. And a better song.
16. Back 2 the Way It Was (prod. Thayod Ausar)
After kicking things off with a phone call from Ras Kass straight from jail (explaining his absence on this project - not that anyone was desperate for another "Harder"), we get another rock-tinged instrumental, this one produced by the same man who cooked up "Paparazzi", and some other great moments on X's debut album. His work here is pretty good too - I've never been the biggest fan of mixing electric guitars and hip-hop, but the weird synthy sounds and the drums in this beat certainly help it move along a lot better than the beat on the previous track. Meanwhile, X gets personal here, rapping and singing (again!) about all the shit he's been through, his beefs, his family, his affinity for ploughman's lunches. The track is a typical rap album ending, with the poignancy and what have you - but it does feel emotional, and stands as one of the better tracks here. Good stuff.
Deluxe versions of this album came with a bonus track called "What U Can't C", but unfortunately I don't currently own that particular pressing. Perhaps someday I'll bless myself with it.
Unfortunately, upon relisten Weapons Of Mass Destruction is kind of a mess. Not serious enough to warrant the overly dramatic title and creepy intro skit, but not humorous enough to make that waste of a good title seem irrelevant. According to the liner notes Sir Jinx sequenced this project, and he certainly didn't do a very good job - I mean, "Saturday Night Live" right after "Cold World"? "Klack" towards the very end of the album? "Crazy Ho" appearing on here at all? It's just a complete mess, and on top of that almost every beat here has aged like an opened pot of double cream. The synths and the drums just sound so shitty a lot of the time, and on some tracks it's certainly enough to take you out of the experience, no matter what the quality of the rapping is. Still, this is an undoubted improvement over Man Vs Machine. I mean, for starters the only truly terrible song here is one that Xzibit doesn't even appear on, with everything else having at least something redeemable to hold it up, even if there is some pretty bland bullshit to wade through every now and then. That's an improvement. Also, there's quite a few songs on here that I would say I like, such as "LAX", "Cold World" and even the radio friendly "Hey Now (Mean Muggin)". Unfortunately, none of these songs are quite good enough to warrant my returning to them at any point - they're all just merely pretty decent. Weapons Of Mass Destruction saw Xzibit at a time of his life where he had alienated almost everyone, been dropped from the label that had been his home all his career, and had started to host a programme successful enough that rapping was no longer his main source of income. So it makes sense that this album is kind of lacklustre. But it's not an excuse. This project is still pretty mediocre, merely seeming to be pretty good because of how much better it is than its predecessor. Let's hope that Xzibit can make something actually worth returning to with the next project, because Weapons Of Mass Destruction sounds like something made merely to remind people of Xzibit's existence, not to introduce any new musical ideas to the table, like it would seem to on the surface. In short: ehhh...
Best Tracks: "LAX", "Cold World", "Criminal Set, "Hey Now (Mean Muggin)", "Back 2 the Way It Was"
Worst Track: "Crazy Ho"
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