For a group that just about everyone has heard of, the X-Ecutioners have really done very little to light up the UK in terms of success. Their most famous outing on this isle of ours had to be the Linkin Park collaboration It's Goin Down. But while Linkin Park have done a whole load of not much recently the X-Ecutioners have released two albums this year.
Scratchology gave hip-hop a timely reminder of what the mix tape is all about, while Revolutions is your more standard album. Although with tracks such as Like This, there's not a lot standard about it. Beginning with a bass line more suited to Skunk Anansie than hip-hop scratch masters it takes a turn into something similar to System Of A Down's Jonny.
All set over a sample from Fantastic Freaks' Fantastic Freaks At The Dixie, Like This has a very retro feel. Yet there's a freshness about it helped by the scratching and cutting that the X-Ecutioners do best. This is something to show the world that hip-hop isn't all about thumping bass and bling.
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