This came out in 2002 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
If you want to see how far you’ve come, sometimes you have look back at where you started. New York turntablist outfit The X-Ecutioners put that theory into supremely cool practice on their winning sophomore CD Built From Scratch.
Celebrating and honouring the roots and history of rap and hip-hop, the X-men kick it straight from the old school, skillfully and willfully applying their turntable tricknology to slice, dice, cross-fade and rework vintage hip-hop samples and classic breakbeats into killer tracks that sound like long-lost backing tracks for Run-DMC, Grandmaster Flash and Sugarhill Gang. Guests include everyone from Dan the Automator and Everlast to modern rockers Linkin Park, but even they can’t steal the spotlight away from the fab four’s needlepoint prestidigitation and back-in-the-day vibe. They built it, all right; and I bet plenty of rap fans will come to pay respects.
