The X-Ecutioners, originally known as X-Men, are a group of American

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

DJs/

turntablist Turntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating new music, sound effects, mixes and other creative sounds and beats, typically by using two or more turntables and a cross fader-equipped DJ mixer. The mixer is plugged into a PA syste ...

s from

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, New York. The group formed in 1989 and currently consists of three DJs, including Total Eclipse, DJ Boogie Blind, and DJ Precision. Original members of the group included Mista Sinista,

Rob Swift Rob Swift (born Robert Aguilar; May 14, 1972) is an American hip hop DJ and turntablist. He was an original member of the turntablist group The X-Ecutioners until 2004. Over his career, he has released numerous solo albums and collaborated w ...

, and

Roc Raida Anthony Williams (May 17, 1972 – September 19, 2009), better known as Roc Raida or Grandmaster Roc Raida, was an American DJ, turntablist and producer. He was also a member of the DJ group the X-Ecutioners. Biography Williams joined the X-Me ...

. Rob Swift and Total Eclipse formed a side project called Ill Insanity releasing one album together in 2008 entitled '' Ground Xero''.

History

The X-Ecutioners formed as a DJ crew in 1989 that originally included 11 members. The group's original name was the X-Men, named after the

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

superhero team The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as sta ...

. The "X-Men" name was chosen by the crew partly because of their

rivalry A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

with

DJ Clark Kent Rodolfo Antonio Franklin II (September 28, 1966 – October 24, 2024), known professionally as DJ Clark Kent, was an American hip hop DJ and record producer. His crew of DJs was called "The Supermen", and his DJ moniker was derived from the nam ...

and his crew of DJs, known as the Supermen, named after

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

. The X-Men later changed their name to the X-Ecutioners for trademark reasons. After the group's name changed, the crew was later reduced to members

Total Eclipse An eclipse is an astronomical event which occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three ...

, and Mista Sinista (named after the X-Men villain

Mister Sinister Mister Sinister (Dr. Nathaniel Essex) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Marc Silvestri, the character was first mentioned as the employer behind the team ...

) before releasing their debut studio album, ''

X-Pressions ''X-Pressions'' is the debut studio album by New York City turntablist band the X-Ecutioners, the first of its kind, according to ''Rolling Stone''. The album was released in 1997 for Asphodel Records and was produced by four members of the X-Ecut ...

'' in 1997. Sinista later left the group shortly after the release of their second studio album ''

Built from Scratch ''Built from Scratch'' is the second studio album by New York City DJ group The X-Ecutioners. It was released on February 26, 2002, through Loud Records and Columbia Records. The album was produced by Beat Junkies, Chris Frantz, CJ Moore, Dan the ...

'' in 2001. The X-Ecutioners have worked with many famous artists on their albums ''Built from Scratch'' and ''

Revolutions In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elemen ...

'' and are highly respected in hip hop for their turntable skills, being famous for the technique known as

beat juggling Beat juggling is a deejaying and turntablism technique in which two records are used to prolong an existing beat, or to create a new one. It is associated with the context of hip hop, but not necessarily limited to this genre. Definition Beat ...

. They have been known to do numerous collaborations, ranging from

Kool G Rap Nathaniel Thomas Wilson (born July 20, 1968), better known by his stage name Kool G Rap (or simply G Rap), is an American rapper. He began his career in the mid-1980s as one half of the group Kool G Rap & DJ Polo and as a member of the Juice Cr ...

Cypress Hill Cypress Hill is an American Hip hop music, hip hop group formed in South Gate, California in 1988. One of the first Latin groups to gain mainstream recognition in hip hop, they have sold over 20 million albums worldwide, and have obtained multi ...

Mike Shinoda Michael Kenji Shinoda ( ; born February 11, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and graphic designer. He co-founded the rock band Linkin Park in 1996 and is the band's co-lead vocalist, as well as rhythm guitarist, ...

and

Joe Hahn Joseph Hahn (born March 15, 1977) is an American musician, DJ, director, and visual artist best known as the DJ and creative director of the rock band Linkin Park, doing the scratching, turntables, sampling, and programming for all eight of ...

Linkin Park Linkin Park is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Agoura Hills, California, in 1996. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn, bass ...

Wayne Static Wayne Richard Wells (November 4, 1965 – November 1, 2014), known professionally as Wayne Static, was an American musician, best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, keyboardist, and primary lyricist for the industrial metal band St ...

from

Static-X Static-X is an American industrial metal band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1994. The line-up has fluctuated over the years, but was long-held constant with band founder, frontman, vocalist and rhythm guitarist Wayne Static until his d ...

, and co-released a collaboration album with

Mike Patton Michael Allan Patton (born January 27, 1968) is an American singer, songwriter, producer, and voice actor, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock bands Faith No More and Mr. Bungle. He has also fronted and/or played with Tomahawk, The ...

called '' General Patton vs. The X-Ecutioners''. The X-Ecutioners contributed a remix of

Run-DMC Run-DMC (also formatted Run-D.M.C., RUN DMC, or some combination thereof) was an American hip-hop group formed in Hollis, Queens, New York City in 1983 by Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels, and Jason Mizell. Run-DMC is regarded as one of the mos ...

's "

King of Rock ''King of Rock'' is the second studio album by American hip hop group Run-D.M.C., released on January 21, 1985, by Profile Records. The album was produced by Russell Simmons and Larry Smith. ''King of Rock'' became the first rap album to be r ...

" on the

Harmonix Harmonix Music Systems, Inc., doing business as Harmonix, is an American video game developer company based in Boston, Massachusetts. The company was established in May 1995 by Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy. Harmonix is perhaps best known as bein ...

game ''

Amplitude The amplitude of a periodic variable is a measure of its change in a single period (such as time or spatial period). The amplitude of a non-periodic signal is its magnitude compared with a reference value. There are various definitions of am ...

'', and the song "Like This" was featured in the

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

SSX 3 ''SSX 3'' (standing for "Snowboard Supercross 3") is a 2003 Sports video game, snowboarding video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports BIG label. It is the third installment in the ''SSX'' series. The g ...

''. Their Music and themselves were also featured in the game, ''

NFL Street ''NFL Street'' is an American football video game developed by EA Tiburon and published by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports BIG label. It was released for the PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox on January 13, 2004. Barry Sanders of the Detroit ...

''. As of 2007, Rob Swift, Total Eclipse, and Precision have formed a new group called Ill Insanity. Their latest studio album release, '' Ground Xero'' contains 14 tracks featuring the likes of

DJ QBert Richard Quitevis (born October 7, 1969) known by his stage name DJ Qbert or Qbert, is a Filipino American turntablist and composer who has heavily influenced the History of DJing. He was awarded America's Best DJ in 2010, was DMC USA Champio ...

, DJ Excess, and Grand Master Roc Raida. In 2008, the group announced the tour dates on both the X-Ecutioners' and Ill Insanity's Myspace Reunion Tour Blog. In a recent interview with E.Zee Radio,

Personnel

Current members

* Total Eclipse - turntables (1996–present) * DJ Boogie Blind - turntables (2004–present) * DJ Precision - turntables (2004–present)

Former members

* Mista Sinista - turntables (1989–2001) *

- turntables (1989–2004) *

- turntables (1989–2009; his death)

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

* ''Música Negra (Black Music)/Wordplay'' (1997)

Compilation albums

* '' Japan X-Clusive'' (1997) * '' Scratchology'' (2003)

Singles

* " It's Goin' Down" (2002)

References

External links

The X-Ecutioners
at ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

''
The X-Ecutioners
at

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

Music {{DEFAULTSORT:X-Ecutioners American hip-hop groups American hip-hop DJs Columbia Records artists