Four albums deep,
Xzibit's presence on the microphone rivals that of the better MCs of the latter day. However, on
Man vs Machine,
Xzibit seems to have lost some of the edge on his lyrical blade, which once tested in underground fires more than a half-decade before he hit the mainstream in 1999. The man who brought listeners "Paparazzi," "Foundation" (from his 1996 debut,
At the Speed of Life), and "What U See Is What U Get" (from the 1998 release
40 Dayz & 40 Nightz) managed to avoid the sophomore slump, but instead found the junior jinx with the disappointing 2000 release of
Restless, even with
Dr. Dre in his corner. While
X is still in cahoots with the good
Dre here, unfortunately
Man vs Machine is a continuation of his lackluster spiral rather than the masterpiece that
X fans thought to be inevitable when he linked up with the likes of
Dre,
Snoop Dogg, and
Eminem in the Y2K. Things start off with dark zest on the cleverly worded and sinisterly composed "Release Date," produced not by
Dre, but by East Coaster
Rockwilder.
Dre chimes in with lyrics for the awkward and clunky "Symphony in X Major" and beats for the delightfully raunchy "Choke Me, Spank Me" and the slightly above-workaday "Losin' Your Mind" featuring
Snoop Dogg. Also, taking a somewhat shameful page out of
P. Diddy's book, producer
Jelly Roll turns to early-'80s
Toto ("Africa") for inspiration on the painfully inane "Heart of Man." Things pick up some on the
Dre camp's retort to a
Jermaine Dupri dis on the
Eminem-produced "My Name" (featuring some patented Slim Shady punch lines and a G-hook from
Nate Dogg) and the cross-continental banger "BK to LA" featuring Brownsville sluggers
M.O.P. The heartfelt ode to his mother ("Missin' U") notwithstanding, after the floss and gloss of this release is peeled away, there's a lot more of
Xzibit the MC caught in the machine of the hip-hop industry than there is of
Xzibit the gifted man. ~ M.F. DiBella