Z-Trip

A blind listen to All Pro will have you scratching your head thinking, "This sounds very sporty.” The crowd and whistle samples of the intro, the hard rock and rap fusion, and the undeniable urge to smash things will make sense when you learn that this is the soundtrack to a football videogame. Z-Trip has one ear for rap, one for rock and a head for this project. He produced, remixed and mashed up 12 songs that could pump up any locker room. It never loses fluidity, from the bombastic Chali 2Na and Keno 1 guided "Something Different” to reinvented Rush classic "Tom Sawyer.” Z-Trip takes artists out of their comfort zone to highlight their various capabilities. Sometimes the marriage works, sometimes it doesn’t. "Locked and Loaded” (Dead Prez and Deftones) distantly mixes the two genres, sounding like two songs with the same beat, while "Doing It Like This” (Clutch) twists the genres equally and hence sounds more aimed. Although the rappers donate their B-rhymes, the target of All Pro is to make your heart race. And it will for 45 minutes.