Album: Mr. Xcitement
Release Date: September 13, 2005
Producers: DJ Homicide, The Produkt, Mike Baiardi, 4th Disciple, Letha Face
Review: Let's get it out of the way immediately: Mr. Xcitement is U-God's worst album, and one of the least impressive in the Wu catalog. Since U-God himself has expressed his disappointment with the record, much as Method Man did with the final result of Tical 0: The Prequel, I think it's safe to say this one didn't go as planned for Golden Arms. So what happened?
Comparing it again with Tical 0 (which came out just 16 months earlier and is a similar low point on the Map of Shaolin), we were able to pick through the producers, the guest stars and everything else to figure out that Tical 0 was more a product of Def Jam than it was a cohesive Method Man album. There are so many different factors that could've made Mr. Xcitement great or awful, I wanted to take a look at them one at a time to try to nail down where the problem is.
One of the many differentiating factors between U-God's sophomore release and most of the other Wu albums is an almost complete lack of involvement from any Wu-Tang member aside from the main artist. Only 4th Disciple makes an appearance to produce "A Long Time Ago" (one of the album's most salvageable tracks). However, it's unfair to criticize the album for a lack of Wu involvement, since Inspectah Deck's The Movement released two years prior absolutely annihilated and had little more contribution from the Wu fam than this (just Streetlife and Killa Sin guested on The Movement, although its producers Phantom of the Beats and Arabian Knight have occasionally popped up here and there with Wu-Tang).
Was the problem somewhere with the massive amounts of work on this album from Letha Face or DJ Homicide? Letha Face had successful (although maybe not mind-blowing) guest spots on U-God's previous album, Golden Arms Redemption, on the tracks "Glide," "Rumble," "Shell Shock" and "Knockin' at your Door." Likewise, DJ Homicide produced "Soul Dazzle" and "Night the City Cried" on Golden Arms Redemption and as I mentioned on Step 15 of the Map of Shaolin, they managed pretty well back then.
Others might blame the label, Free Agency Recordings, who seem to only have ever released Mr. Xcitement and a Prodigal Sunn album, for not doing their part, but if anything, their lack of involvement can hardly be blamed for Xcitement's failings. Curiously, it was released around the time of U-God's mysterious departure from Wu-Tang, and maybe his decision to leave - or his ultimate return - had something to do with this album?
It's a mystery. For whatever reason, almost none of the stars align for Mr. Xcitement. Here's what I'm talking about.
"Blow Ya Mind Intro" and "It's a Wrap" entertain for their part, with U-God's and Letha Face's lyrics bouncing off Homicide's lively beats, but "Hit 'em Up, Roll Out" and "Get Down" fall flat with vague braggadocio and forgettable hooks ("Get down, get down, bruh / I'm in ya town, bruh / That's how we do it I'm a stone-cold rider / I bust a round off / I'm a survivor / This is how we do it for you snake-ass connivers"). I also never dug the "slow music, fast vocal" sound that came out of Atlanta around this time (Ludacris, some of Outkast's weaker tracks, etc), and "Hit 'em Up, Roll Out" delivers it in spades (as does the later "Bump"), so it rubs me the wrong way.
"I'm Talkin' to You" has a fun hook, utilizing the retro rock sound that's livened up U-God's subsequent albums as well (eg "Stars" on The Keynote Speaker), but his verses don't sound like his heart's in it. Rhymes like "You and your brother is a dirty combo / You bird-ass niggaz, catch 30, pronto" drag it down. A guest verse from Ghostface would've brought some punch to it.
"Kick Azz," "You Don't Wanna Dance" and "Go Get Pretty Like Me" are a triple-threat of unimpressive tracks. And I hate to badmouth U-God; he's an underrated lyricist with a great voice. But at the same time it's hard to defend hooks like "There's no one in the city like me / No one gets pretty like me, homie / Big wheels spinnin' on D's / Go get pretty like me, Goldie."
Just when you're reaching for the Stop or Eject button, the mighty U-Godzilla grabs you again with "A Long Time Ago." It's heartbreaking to hear U-God's three quick verses about the only stories he has about his (real?) father - second-hand grievances relayed by his mother. The second verse concludes with "'He struggled all his life, got blood on his knife / Light-skinned, he had your eyes' / But my mother couldn't handle him / The liquor, the gambling, plus he had four wives." The third verse sadly declares "With his brother Big Harvey, he did a bank robbery / A car flipped and all the money spilled out / Before it was done, police caught him with some / Riddle of bullets, he died in a shootout." If you've been reading the Map this whole time, you know I'm a sucker for Wu-Tang's real-life street stories, but I still say there's good reason for it. "A Long Time Ago" is a real standout on this album, and it would be even among better competition.
The final two noteworthy songs are the reluctantly optimistic "Stop (Carry On)," which is steeped in a beautiful uncertain hope; and "Heart of Stone," which sounds lovingly retro ('80s keys and drum machines galore) and more alive than 90% of the album. "Heart of Stone" even throws in some good pop culture references here and there, eg "Don't fuck with no niggaz, I figured they wired / I set 'em on fire like they name was Pryor."
Legacy: I've heard U-God referred to as Mr. Xcitement sarcastically, and it's too bad that's likely the only lasting impression of this album for most. Long out of print, I had to special order my copy. With only a couple standout tracks and an imminent parting of ways from Wu-Tang, it's a damn miracle U-God came back with the much better Dopium in 2009 and the immensely satisfying The Keynote Speaker in 2013. This is really the third or fourth punch to the gut the Wu had taken in recent years (following Tical 0, Birth of a Prince and the hit-and-miss Iron Flag). I was afraid when I started the Map that this section of the Wu's career would start to come across as some serious hate-filled hipster angst, but then looking forward at some of the bombs that Wu-Tang Clan had yet to drop, I'm optimistic about the considerable return they forged hereafter. Stay tuned, Wu fans; a whole new era of the Clan is emerging in the coming weeks!
Recommended Tracks: A Long Time Ago, Heart of Stone.
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