The X-Ecutioners: Built From Scratch : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Nowadays, everyone respects DJs. They're de rigueur in rap-rock bands, and in the hip-hop underground, turntable wizardry is respected as both skill and art. Accordingly, for their second album, pioneering four-man DJ crew the X-ecutioners have pulled out the big guns. M.O.P. bring their signature bashing style to "Let It Bang," and Joseph Hahn and Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park import crunchy guitars and mild rapping on "It's Goin' Down." But these collaborations reveal one fatal flaw in the album's formula: All the imported noise makes the X-Men's delicate routines of cutting and juggling seem hopelessly obscure. Elsewhere, the X-ecutioners remake the seminal DJ cut "Marley Scratch," bring in Biz Markie to spice up their version of "Genius of Love," and, on "A Journey Into Sound" -- an impressive team-up with the stunning beat-boxer Kenny Muhammed -- nod heavily to M.A.R.R.S.' dance-floor classic "Pump Up the Volume." But DJ'ing is an act of finesse: When the X-ecutioners' sample sources jump off their vinyl and come roaring to life, the overwhelmed DJs are confronted with more than they can scratch.

JON CARAMANICA
(RS 893 - April 11, 2002)