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Marco Polo has been on a roll in recent years, producing bangers left and right for Masta Ace and Boot Camp Clik, among others. His previous full-length releases Port Authority and 2009’s Double Barrel with Torae were nearly perfect. Both featured incredible production coupled with some of the best emcees in hip-hop. Ruste Juxx has been a steady soldier on Duck Down, collaborating on BCC projects in addition to making cameos on Sean Price’s Monkey Barz, Master P and Jesus Price Supastar albums. Their collaboration The Exxecution is done so to near perfection.

The first two tracks of the album, both featuring DJ Revolution, come together more like an original and a sequel than as two separate songs. “The Exxecution Intro” is a dope introduction, with Ruste going off and Revolution cutting through the track like butter. As it ends, the track melts into the certified banger “Death Penalty”. My words really can’t do it justice, but it’s a perfect mix of producer, dj and emcee collaborating on a track. “Death Penalty” is the crown jewel of The Exxecution.

The production on The Exxecution is top to bottom incredible, which is not really much of a surprise. Tracks like “I’m on It”, “Bread on ya Head”, “Nobody” and “Watch Yo Step” are all winners with no real missteps. At this point Marco’s consistency is really more of an expectation than anything else. The real surprise, for this critic, comes from Ruste Juxx’s improvement as an emcee. This isn’t one of those collabo albums where the production shields the listeners from the emcee. Rustee holds up his end of the bargain. His improvement is displayed on the final track “You Can’t Stop Me”, where Rustee bears his soul, talking about his motivation and goals.

The Exxecution features guest appearances from Freddie Foxxx and fellow Duck Down artists; Heltah Skeltah, Black Moon and of course Sean Price. On “Let’s Take a Sec” feat Black Moon, Marco drops a beat that would have fit perfectly on Enta Da Stage. It’s another amazing track where Black Moon and Rustee work more like a team than as if it’s a guest appearance track. “Fuckin With A Gangster” feat Sean Price is another tight collabo and displays the chemistry that Ruste and Sean P. have developed over the years.

Sean Price steals the show and delivers a jab with the line: “I stay getting fresh, I don’t dress like Marco, Polo and Levi’s strictly…” On the flipside, “Take Money” feat Heltah Skeltah and Freddie Foxxx is disappointing. It’s not a bad track, per se, but definitely not what I expected.

Overall, The Exxecution is another strong release in 2010. Marco has described it as a “simple studio session to play beats [that] turned into Ruste Juxx recording 9 songs. For those who have heard Marco’s previous albums, this album is another trophy on the mantle that proves that it’s all in The Exxecution.


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0 Responses to "Marco Polo & Ruste Juxx – "The eXXecution" – @@@@ (Review)"
  • me1 says:

    Double Barrel nearly perfect…? Get the fuck outta here

  • Doug Mellow says:

    Ruste Juxx is to Marco Polo as is Rampage to the 1995-2000 era Busta Rhymes. And “Double Barrel” is nearly perfect.

    Going back to The Exxecution for a second, M.P. really didn’t seem that invested in the beats; then again, when you have an emcee who’s main rhyme scheme consists of over-pronunciation, empty threats and standard “I’m so hard/I’mma slap you” posturing that feel as forced as his flow, it’s hard to imagine MP wanting to give him the same quality of tracks as he did Torae or EMC …

  • MYK-ONE says:

    YA’LL NIGGAS CRAZY, THIS IS HARDCORE NEW YORK HIP-HOP AT IT’S FINEST

  • dj_osiris says:

    I agree with the 4.0 rating. Everything came together real nice, but it’s not an instant classic for me.

  • dj_osiris says:

    btw that video they made for ‘nobody’ is dope

  • Comments

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    me1

    March 29th, 2010 at 8:35 am