Xzibit

Xzibit, “Just Maintain”

Before he was a tv host, before he was an ubiquitous (and now old) meme, before he was a famous rapper who appeared in video games, Xzibit was a promising young rapper who put out a couple albums that were pretty good. This is from the first of those records, from 1996, sounding every inch like it was from 1996.

Blue Meanies, “When We Were Queens”

I kind of poke fun at the Blue Meanies here quite a bit, because, well, they just doesn’t appeal to me much any more. But the horns sound pretty good here!

Some great songs today.

Wilco, “ELT”

You know, this might be the first time I’ve had a song come up on Five Songs after I had listened to it by choice earlier that day. This is not an interesting fact.

Anyway, Summerteeth is fantastic. Tweedy made a basically clean break entirely from the alt-country that had been present on all of his albums up to this point, and made just a straight up pop record. And it’s so good! Lush and orchestral at times, slow and contemplative at others, it’s a tour de force.

Six songs today!

Xzibit, “Carry The Weight”

Before he was on MTV, before he became a meme, Xzibit was a hardcore rapper, which sometimes kind of seems like it’s forgotten. His debut album, featuring production by E-Swift and Muggs among others, is a strong piece of work. Xzibit is a solid rapper, and his storytelling is very good here. It’s not essential, but it’s a good album that seems mostly forgotten at this point.