Revolutions

The X-Ecutioners: Rob Swift, Roc Raida, Total Eclipse (rap vocals).
Additional personnel: Cypress Hill, Dead Prez, Fat Joe, Ghostface Killah, Aasim, Nikki , Rob Zombie, Slug , Trife, Roc Marse, Black Thought, Blue Man Group.
Recording information: 2004.
In hip-hop's nascent period, DJs from Grandmaster Flash to Jam Master Jay were given the praise and respect they deserved as the driving force behind the music. As rap exploded in the 1990s, the MC became more and more of the focal point, with the DJ fading into the backdrop. However, in the underground, a revolution was brewing, instigated by talented quick-draw turntablists, and at the forefront was the formidable and aptly named cutting crew the X-Ecutioners. As one of the first scratch units to secure a record deal, they slowly ascended to greater heights in the hip-hop world.
The group's fourth record, REVOLUTIONS, featuring scads of top-shelf MCs driven to the absolute limits of their game, exhibits the X-Ecutioners as masters of their art, with track after beat-driven track whipping old-school rap, rock, and deep funk into a sonic frenzy. While Rob Zombie's appearance on a reinvention of "More Human Than Human" may get the most attention, a toe-to-toe battle between titans Black Thought (of the Roots) and Ghostface on "Live from the PJs" should turn even more ears. REVOLUTIONS, with its apt dual-meaning title, spins on a level all its own and continues the X-Ecutioners' mission to further push the boundaries of hip-hop.