Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

X Clan has been around a long time. An aggregation of Brooklyn rappers with a strong sense of fringe politics informing their tracks, the group has been around in various forms since 1990, surviving a break up or two and the ups and downs of commercial success. I’m not even going to try to list all of the members, let alone the guest appearances. In fact, the members all introduce themselves on the first track, titled, appropriately enough, “X Clan Album Intro,” which highlights this project’s biggest problem: these guys take themselves way too over-the-top seriously. I mean, they all seem to be named after comic book heroes. Jason Hunter, one of the founding members of X Clan, calls himself “The Grand Verbalizer Funkinbrother Brother J,” which will tell you why he hasn’t released a solo project recently. I thought he was a Muslim. Aren’t Muslims humble? Why doesn’t he take a Muslim name like Mahaat Macoaht? On the other hand, maybe it’s all a joke, at everyone’s expense. How else do you explain a group of supposed Muslims having a guest musician on RETURN FROM MECCA named “Christian” (New Orleans trumpetmeister Christian Scott) on “Prison.” Not a bad track, if they’d quit griping about all of the brothers in prison (hint: quit committing crimes, guys; that‘s one way to stay out). KRS-One doesn’t add much to “Speak The Truth,” either. They’re supposed to be all about positive message and the like having that guy on your disc full of “positive messages” is like inviting John Wayne Gacy to lecture at a seminar for day care operators. I mean, “Self-Destruct” and “Why U Doin’ That” carry a positive message, as does “Locomotion.” “Aragorn,” despite the potty mouth that crops up, is supported by a phat organ riff that almost, but not quite, drowns out an irritating balalaika that somehow found its way into there. The real surprise on RETURN FROM MECCA, however, is the appearance of St. Louis rapper Tech N9ne,on “Respect,” not the Otis Redding tune, but a hidden track tacked onto the very end of the disc.

There’s plenty on RETURN FROM MECCA to like, and enough to avoid, but on balance it’s not an awful CD. It’s just that Hunter‘s best work, from all appearances, is behind him. And that positive message thing? If that’s the aim Brother J, why are you touring this summer with Insane Clown Posse, professional wastes of skin and the worst examples ever?