"You are a breath of fresh air in this world of sh-t"

I’ve forever been a bigger supporter of East Coast hip hop than West. Now no matter how hard people try to convince me I frankly believe that East Coast artists produce more intellectual and listenable hip hop music than West Coast artists. However there are exceptions to every rule. The exceptions in this case are Gangsta Dre, Kurupt, Ras Kass, Sly Boogy and of course Xzibit. Xzibit, or X-to-tha-Z, is one of those artists that reminds me of the likes of Redman. For years Xzibit has been producing consistent, intellectual, entertaining albums. But because of the people he’s associated with Xzibit it either scrapped off by many as commercial or simply just forgotten. While doing shows like Pimp My Ride doesn’t help his rapping credibility, many forget that ten years ago Xzibit stomped the onto the West Coast scene with what many thought was the West’s’ version of ”Illmatic”. Now though I believe this statement to be completely wrong ”At Speed of Life” contains something you rarely find in hip hop albums nowadays. And that’s passion and charisma. The time and effort put into this album is not only evident but much appreciated. While others lived life like death, Xzibit excelled, presenting a chronicle of Californian life, showing he was the best of the West.

Track Listing & Rating

1) Grand Opening (Interlude) Not Rated
2) At Speed Of Life 5 Stars
3) Maintain 4 Stars
4) Eyes May Shine 5 Stars
5) Positively Negative 4.5 Stars
6) Don’t Hate Me (Interlude) Not Rated
7) Paparazzi 5 Stars
8) The Foundation 5 Stars
9) Ms. Crabtree (Interlude) Not Rated
10) Birdseye View 4 Stars
11) Hit & Run (Part II) 1 Star
12) Carry The Weight 5 Stars
13) Plastic Surgery 4.5 Stars
14) Enemies and Friends 4 Stars
15) Last Words (Interlude) Not Rated

”At Speed Of Life” begins with its same titled track. This beginning is mellow and calm but truly shows the reader the type of album that they have tuned into. Producer Thayod Ausar begins the song beautifully with a clip from my favourite film of all time. Here he uses a sample from ”Taxi Driver” where Travis speaks of how he will stand up against the filth of the New York. The beginning is mysterious and full of tension but completely absorbing. From Travis’ words the listener understands that Xzibit is a man who will take no more and stand up against the filth of the rap world. From this light plucking guitar cords fall over the top with a clasping, hard drum loop slamming over the top. A flute flows over the top of both these instruments giving the finishing touches to the calming, relaxing production. If this wasn’t enough Xzibit wastes no time simply spitting some of the most intelligent, conscious and well executed lyrics on the whole album. ’The main goal to achieve, is to succeed, have it laid out for your seed. But the world gets colder every day by day, physically, mentally gettin drained by L.A. Trying to find piece of mind is like trying to find a gold mine’.

As we come to the fourth track on the album we ALREADY hit arguably my favourite song on the whole album ”Eyes May Shine”. Produced by E-Swift everything about this song screams classic! The beginning low violins that play over an old school vinyl scratch introduce the song in a way that its later direction would not expect. With this very slow and intense building of violins suddenly Xzibit jumps over the song pouring his heart out over a wailing hi-hat. With his rugged voice and fast, battle quick lyrics the song is a muse of different sounds. The chorus sample of Mobb Deep just excels the song further up the classic mountain. Using the famous ”You’re better off buckin’ yaself, you need to stop frontin’”, the violins twist amongst Prodigy’s voice putting the finishing touches to the song. Xzibit demonstrates tremendous wordplay leaping over the production with lyrics like ”Everything that come around go 3.6.0., longitude and latitude, It's all in the attitude. I'm in the mood to put a twist on things, Xzibit here to rock the planet 'till the fat bi-ch sings!”. Errr wow! His delivery is vivid and passionate adding depth to the song as a whole, showing that Xzibit is certainly nothing to mess with!

Okay so we’ve come to it. The song that is all time famous, the crème of the crop, the peaches to the cream, "Paparazzi". I’ve decided not to write too much about this as there are about seven other reviews on this site that all provide great detail in the break down of this song. But still Thayod Ausar come correct once again with some of the most beautiful production known to mankind. With church, choir voices playing over camera snapping sounds, a thudding drum loop clasps over strumming violins strings. It truly is amazing, so good that downloading the instrumental of this is worth it alone. However, without Xzibits commentary the song wouldn’t be the same. Here Xzibit comes with brilliant lyrics to all the rappers who only rap for the fame and not the love of hip hop itself. It’s a situation that unfortunately we know all too well, and is done in the best ever way.

”The Foundation” joins with ”Eyes May Shine” to be my joint favourite song on the album, I just cannot decide! On this track producer Muggs joins Xzibit pulling out some of the most haunting production ever known to hip hop. He pulls through light piano keys and a woman’s voice very quietly calling over the top. Over this Xzibit gets the most personal that we will probably ever see him. Here he talks to his son directly telling him all the life lessons he feels a father should tell his son. From all Xzibit’s own mistakes he takes his son through all the possible dilemma’s he will come across and how to handle them correctly. The song is extremely touching and shows the introspective and conscious side to the rapper. ”I remember hospital hallway pacin', I was anxious as fu-k to see your face shine, only to find that yours looked like mine, so it's like I'm livin' twice at the exact same time. In this life you can't press stop then press rewind. Gotta live to the fullest never follow behind no man, have your own plan, expand your mind”. Beautiful, truly beautiful.

This home run of brilliant music unfortunately comes to a halt with the awful ”Hit and Run (Part II)”. Here the unknown Craig Sherrad brings a VERY boring production scheme of an electronic backboard and a light drum loop. On top of this Xzibit talks misogynistic garbage about how he wants to have sex with all different types if women. When the chorus is ”All I want to do it fu-k these hoes” you know it’ bad it’s so bad. On top of anything it’s boring…yawn and skip please. Thankfully this is the only hiccup on the song and Xzibit hits straight back with a track very reminiscent of Ras Kass’ ”The Evil That Men Do”. On ”Carry The Weight” the Xzibit reminisces on his childhood and all the wrong situations he went to. Much like ”The Foundation” he pours his heart out over production by Thayod Ausar once again. Here signature West Coast keys play over a kicking hi-hat and progressing piano keys falling lightly in the background. The production is haunting but so suiting over these kind of lyrics ” I lost sight of my mother at the age of nine, didn't understand death, nearly lost my mind. But see life moves on and broke ni--as can't change it, age ten, new step family arrangement. At thirteen, I started gettin' hair on my dick, and noticed me and my sister were gettin' treated like sh-t!".

The album finishes on another good note with ”Friends and Enemies” produced by DJ Pen One. Here violins come in once again with a clasping drum loop. In the background a god like voice plays talking about the rules of friends and foes and also acts like a backing voice for Xzibit. The production is almost apocalyptic and Xzibit’s lyrics fit over this telling the truth about fake people. This seems to be a big topic for Xzibit on this album; the betrayal that people show and how you are alone in this world. This message is very sad but at the same time arguably true. With this in mind the quite amazing album is brought to a sudden end.

With the rating that I have given most of the songs on this album many will wonder why I have not given the album five stars, now let me explain. The album itself its beyond excellent but I do find Xzibit repeating himself in many songs. There seems to be a common theme of backstabbers and liers. Though Xzibits portrays is unbeatable, the subject does tend to tire. Also the album simply has too many interludes. Theres as many interludes as songs nearly. I won't mind so much if they added to the album but they don't really. And lastly, I simply cannot give this album five stars if it has one track that is one star in my opinion. "Hit and Run (Part II)" is a awful song and lowers the whole rating of the song for me. Pardoning these errors "At Speed Of Life" is a must have album. It contains everything an album, especially a West Coast hip hop album should have. The production is simply beautiful and unique and Xzibit stuns listeners with his ruff, socially conscious, emotional and ferocious lyrics. "At Speed Of Life" is an album of it's time a little bit of hip hop history, just for that it deserves to be owned by all.

Overall Rating

4.5 Stars


Great To Play While: Driving on a hot summers day.