Z-Trip: All Pro

Z-Trip
All Pro
Decon
2007--07-3

DJ Z-Trip’s already put his mark on DJ culture. Uneasy Listening alone was enough to secure his place, and Shifting Gears made a strong official statement. So it’s okay if Z-Trip takes a little break, right? Not that there’s anything wrong with All Pro, the soundtrack to the new All-Pro Football 2K8 game; it’s just that we’ve come to expect more from Z-Trip. The disc probably succeeds in fitting in well with the game, but there’s little to separate it from the typical release. Rather than containing the fresh sort of mixes and mash-ups that Z-Trip built his reputation on, it frequently sounds like the same old rock-rap sound that we’ve been hearing. The most notable exception is “Let the Rhythm Hit ‘Em 2007,” where the DJ throws the classic Rakim vocal over a Chevelle track. But let’s face it — it’s easy to make a track sound good if Rakim’s rhyming on it. Even the final piece, a fun remix of Rush’s “Tom Sawyer” doesn’t stack up to, say, DJ Q-Bert’s version. Ah, well, let’s just take it as a temporary amusement for Z-Trip and let ourselves feel okay about it.

RATING 5 / 10