X Ta Tha Z (Restless - Xzibit)

Member Name: XICripZ

Product:	Restless - Xzibit
Date:	12/07/09 (37 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots of big tunes

Disadvantages: A couple of tracks are a little weaker

Following years of underground work with the likes of Tha Alkaholiks, "Restless" was the breakthrough album from the West Coast Rap act Xzibit. This third one found him working at a time when the West Coast Rap scene was on the final phase of its peak as it dropped in 2000, and had him work with the likes of Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Nate Dogg (all names the prime era of the region in known for in terms of Hip Hop).

1. "Restless" (Intro)

2. "Front 2 Back"

This was the first single to come off the album, and it has him blaze through in a big way with a hyped club tune which has him make big changes from the underground style of previous work by having him do things in a big way by having Rockwilder back him and get him in the right frame of mind to make a big impact as he wishes to breakthrough here.

**Four Stars**

3. "Been A Long Time"

DJ Battlecat, you had just come off work from the likes of Tha Eastsidaz and Snoop Dogg chose that he should aid Xzibit in something which, just as always, has him progressing the side of this region with something hardcore, to allow him to boost his material as something new for a more advanced sound for the Wes Coast.

**Four Stars**

4. "U Know"

Here you have Nottz come to work with Dr. Dre for some collaborative production, and with this pair it means that you are made to enjoy what goes down here as the pair of them come up with something heavy to get things bumping. It sounds like a West Coast variation on the head-bopping underground sound of the East Coast.

**Four Stars**

5. "X"

This track would probably be considered his real breakthrough single, and the one which made the most noise as you have him backed by all-stars as Dr. Dre, Scott Storch, Mel man and Snoop all come to aid him along the way as he does an eponymously-named track to show that with the club-styled beats, he can drop some freaky Gangsta Rap and do so whilst utilising the skills learned through his underground years with complex lyricism.

**Five Stars**

6. "Alkaholik"

To show that X truly has his stylistic roots in the East coast scene, you see that he is backed by the Def Squad and EPMD member Erick Sermon, who comes up with his freaky production to push him along, before he actually jumps on the mic(rophone) and gives it an Old School feel. Tha Alkaholiks also join him to show where he has come from, and it makes for one of the best here.

**Five Stasr**

7. "Kenny Parker Show 2001"

As KRS-One jumps on this oen to starts things off, you know that you are in for something very different, and evidently inspired from the earlier times in Hip hop, and this is just what you get from it as you have a track which takes on many techniques known mostly for their use back in the mid-eighties, and it worked very well for him.

**Five Stars**

8. "D.N.A"

Just as you got a little time earlier, on this one you have him talk about the type of thing he likes in life and what the general lifestyle of this region is about. It has him working alongside Snoop Dogg once again, and I found tha tin this case things were done very well to show that in spite of the fact they haven't done much else together, they worked together well then.

**Five Stars**

9. "Double Time"

Sermon is behind this one too, and in this one, you find that he comes with the same sort of stuff as what you get before s he shows that he is able to do just as well whilst attempting to appeal to the sound of a place he can connect with, but just didn't live with. They find similarities in their underground style, and it comes together very well.

**Five Stars**

10. "Don't Approach Me"

Here you have X working with another of Dre's protégés as in this one you see that Eminem backs him and both produces and raps with him, but I have to say that it really wasn't into this as a result as his style was so predictable, and it really took away from what was done by the main artist as his flows are big, but apparently undermined by Em's part in it all.

**Three Stars**

11. "Rimz & Tirez"

This is a funky West coast joint which is rally very much of-the-time, and I would say that this is much of the reason behind why I liked it so much as you find that Soopafly guides him along the way and shows how to do some of the late seventies/early eighties-influenced work to do what the West is really known for.

**Five Stars**

12. "F***in' You Right"

Here you find that he goes for a track which changes the feel of things as he does something which has a main the main contrasting quite heavily form the rest of it, and in order to make it stand out even more with some cartoony production and it allowed him to let down his guard and do much more care-free rhymes.

**Five Stars**

13. "Best of Things"

With strings part of the main loop, you know it is Dre behind this one, and it allows him to get back into even more of the hardcore underground material as he expresses his opinions on issues important to him in life. It is a fresh cut, and very similar to the feel of "X", although it is done in a very different way.

**Five Stars**

14. "Get Your Walk On"

This one has him getting back into the Gangsta Rap as he choose to appeal to the streets by doing some work which has him doing some club work were he goes hard with in-your-face rhymes which use strong lyrics to establish some complexly-constructed rhymes due to the ambiguousness of what is said.

**Five Stars**

15. "Sorry I'm Away So Much"

The title in this one indicates that we are in for a fairly significant change in the approach of his rhymes, but I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that he chose not to go for something predictable by dropping into something with soppy beats, and instead he gets into some fresh work from DJ Quik as he rhymes in a personal way towards his five-year-old son.

**Five Stars**

16. "Loud & Clear"

Ending the album, you have him getting into a track which tries out something new, and I wouldn't have said that this is really a good choice with such a banging album, but I felt that he was able to do it effectively, so it doesn't hurt it really as he drops into some rhymes which have him get into his journey whilst using beats which take from the Mafioso Rap of the East Coast.

**Four Stars**

This is a big album form X, and it proves that the singles weren't just fluky works from him, and in fact he really did have a record of tunes to back them up with. There's so much going on with it, and you can't really fault it too much as he comes off the hype of several significant West Coast albums from the time with one of his own.

Summary: Xzibit's third album