In this week's reviews, Xzibit continues to shatter his easygoing persona with his “Weapons of Mass Destruction,” the makers of the video game “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” turn to audio and BeBe Winans shares his “Christmas Prayer.”
“Weapons of Mass Destruction,” XzibitLike that smiling skydiver on the deodorant ads? Can’t get enough of his sunny joshing on MTV’s “Pimp My Ride”?
Prepare to meet the cunning, sometimes caustic musician Xzibit was before becoming an actor and TV personality.
The Los Angeles rapper begins his fifth album, “Weapons of Mass Destruction,” with a political statement in which President Bush’s words about WMDs are rearranged into a self-incriminating speech: “The tyrant is me.”
Cold.
From there, Xzibit delivers 14 songs that continue to shatter the easygoing persona he’s created outside music in recent years. “Beware of Us” and “Klack” are as grimy as those clunkers the custom auto shop guys are always transforming. Even one of the club songs has an unprintable title.
Xzibit does show his soft side: The single “Hey Now (Mean Muggin)” is a classic Timbaland rump-shaker and “Scent of a Woman” is a heartfelt (tough) love song.
Dr. Dre, whose Aftermath crew and trademark sound smothered Xzibit’s lackluster last CD, gets no love on this album.
Instead, lesser-known producers and the Strong Arm Steady gang of Krondon, Phil The Agony and Mitchy Slick bring a raw, underground West Coast style that balances out the sung choruses of “Ride or Die” and “Judgment Day.”
The X-man’s lyrics are peppered here and there with the politics of the Bush opener, on the Ice Cube-sampling “Criminal Set” and especially throughout “Cold World,” which links tales of a recovering addict and a street hustler who endangers his mother with a portrait of a doomed 13-year-old boy in wartime Baghdad. Bold.— Ryan Pearson
“Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas,” VariousThe video game business folks certainly are leaving no stone unturned in their search for profits. They’re selling game titles at a record pace (“Halo 2”), segueing into the motion picture business (“Resident Evil”) and now they’re easing their way onto record store shelves with a really good box set titled “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.”
These are the tunes that blare from the virtual car radio when you beat someone down and steal their ride in the GTA video game. In the game, when you’re tired of “K-DST” station and its mishmash of classic rock, you can flip the dial to “Bounce FM,” kind of a soul music party mix and continue pillaging.
This eight-disc box set really is a quite brilliant idea. Without the GTA branding, this would be a humdrum release. But it feels a tad cooler when visions of late-night streetlife mayhem from the video game are buzzing through your head.
The best disc is “Bounce FM,” thanks to Cameo’s “Candy” and Zapp’s “I Can Make You Dance.” These are fun, upbeat songs. Rick James “Cold Blooded” is on here as well, but I have to admit I got a serious case of the giggles listening to it as I recalled Dave Chappelle’s take on the late soul rocker.
The “Radio X” modern rock disc is full of good stuff too, much of it entirely appropriate to the car theft ring theme of GTA. Rage Against The Machine’s “Killing In The Name” and “Been Caught Stealing” from Jane’s Addiction run parallel to the video violence in the game. And they’re great songs.
The dud discs are “K-Jah,” a mixed bag of also-ran reggae talent, and “CSR 103:9,” a self-described New Jack Swing disc with underachieving tracks such as Guy’s “Groove me” and SWV’s “I’m So Into You.” I wasn’t into it.
But overall the package is a winner.
Expect to see more of this multimedia crossover amid the game-movies-music community. When top artists can get into the ears of the gaming community, like Incubus did with the track “Follow” on “Halo 2,” there’s bound to be another CD sale in the making.— Ron Harris
“My Christmas Prayer,” Bebe WinansBebe Winans’ warm, evocative voice brims with joy on “My Christmas Prayer,” an album that seems destined to become a holiday classic.
The album, recently re-released and available exclusively at Starbucks, shows Winans is still one of the best at combining gospel sentiment with crossover appeal. You’d have to hear it to believe it, but the smoothness of Winans’ velvet voice and the pop-rocker angst of matchbox twenty’s Rob Thomas blend for just the right balance of pensiveness and pleading on the title track, “My Christmas Prayer.” Delores “Mom” Winans gives the number a wiser tone when it’s reprised later.
Another guest, the Voices of Lee Choir, adds a touch of majesty to each song they appear on, thanks to their virtuosic capability to sound jazzy on one track and angelic on the next. A boisterous orchestral arrangement on “Joy to the World” promises to enliven any holiday gathering and the Brazilian treatment of “What Child is This” is a standout as well.
Winans also does a wonderful reinterpretation of George Harrison’s tender devotional song, “My Sweet Lord.” With a simple turn of phrase — from “Hare Krishna” to “Halle-lujah” — the sentiment remains beautifully the same, while the subject turns to Christ. “My Christmas Prayer” is a quality album filled with the true meaning of the season.— Aimee Maude Sims