X-Ecutioners' 2002 major-label debut Built From Scratch brought turntablism to the masses, but at a heavy cost. A fairly naked bid for crossover success, the album scored a breakthrough hit with "It's Goin' Down," but only by getting into bed with Linkin Park and the lurching beast that is rap-metal. The overwhelming odor of commercial calculation and demographics-pandering that hung heavy over Built From Scratch's weakest moments lingers throughout the second half of the similarly crossover-friendly Revolutions, which all too often finds X-Ecutioners playing second fiddle to an outsized roster of uninspired guests.
The album at least gets off to a rousing start, with an early track pitting the auspicious pairing of Black Thought and Ghostface against a sunny Miami Sound Machine beat. Similarly cheesy but far less successful juxtapositions abound, most perversely "(Even) More Human Than Human," a head-scratcher of a collaboration that mashes up the Midwestern angst of Minnesota indie-rap heartthrob Slug with Rob Zombie's monster-movie metal. Not surprisingly, the track is more notable for its audacity than its quality.
An amped-up collaboration with Dead Prez gives the album's second half a much-needed kick, yet reinforces the notion that Revolutions is only as good as its guests, which bodes ill for "Let Me Rock," a cringe-inducing team-up with the undistinguished snot-rock band Start Trouble. Time-wasting skits (is there any other kind, really?) and forgettable pairings with Fat Joe and Cypress Hill drag the album down further, pushing it past the thin line separating eclectic from just plain random. With pop-damaged albums like this, X-Ecutioners and the turntablism subculture it represents run the serious risk of gaining the world—or at least the worldly rewards that come with airplay and platinum plaques—but losing their souls.