Xzibit follows Nas by blastin’ ace-disc

Fresh from presenting MTV EMA - where he did a decent job - Xzibit is back to what he knows best. And, it is back on form for his fifth album, ‘Weapons Of Mass Destruction’. The album sounds like the man set out to prove all the dissers who screamed accusations of selling out after the previous album, ‘Man Vs Machine’, two years ago.

‘WOMD’ is a look at the world with one’s bling-style glasses removed. Commencing with Prez G-Dub’s ‘State Of The Nation’ address about the said “weapons”, ‘LAX’ [Los Angeles’s International Airport] lands the laser into huge rhythms with pumping bass-lines to retune one’s heartbeats whilst vocals portray imagery that stinks of humanity: fear, paranoia, pretexts for politics of violence-as-defence, dysfunctions - human, social, global; home-truths of prejudice, pigeonholing, bigging himself up, rhyming some clichés…

‘Mutha*****’ starts like a warped musical, latter looping as a chorus, an amusing track that avoids parody by hitting at the right places. A catchy cut, its title and subject rule it out of ever being a single but the leadoff track ‘Hey Now’ is not a slouch; probably the most commercial track of the man’s career without being a contrived move to secure plenty of mainstream airplays.

‘WOMD’ rings with the socially conscious ‘Cold World’ [storyline paints three diverse pictures of life and its harsh realities - sexual harassment, a drug deal gone wrong, an Iraqi family stuck in the middle of President Bush's war], and many more topics close to the hood’s reality. Xzibit’s obviously not forgotten where he has come from; instead, he remains one of the West seaboard's premier emcees.

For best part of the album X flies solo but when he gets some guests in - it somehow dilutes the elixir: such case being the Busta Rhymes’ formulaic sh*t-talking effort on ‘Tough Guy’ or the man’s own Strong Arm Steady Crew failing to impress with their generic offerings throughout the album. It also appears that X can get confused [just like any fellow male, n’est pas?]: while ‘Scent Of A Woman’ [hard hitting drums and ambient violins, delicious!] celebrates strong woman in a [every great?] man’s life, ‘Crazy Ho’ offers another “b*tches ain't sh*t” look that’s become such a frequent currency among the West Coast rappers for the past ten years that should be avoided by all means.

Still, X is back on the mount and 'Weapons Of Mass Destruction' engages intellects by deep digging into his soul to create an epic proportioned disc with his signature Hi-impact tunes and street-hard Pacific Coast Hip-hop. It also demonstrates that there is more variety outside of the rap’s comfort zone. All a rhymester has to do is step out of it… Or, a little bit back, to connect with some past [‘Restless’ from 2K) that pointed to more directions than the one signposted ‘Fame/Bank’.

‘Weapons Of Mass Destruction’ combines emblematic songs, captivating production with Xzibit's trademark charisma on the mic; after eight years in the game, you can’t be serious if expecting much more. Alongside Nas’ ‘Street's Disciple’, one of the top rap albums of the year.

9/10