Exit Wounds

There's no shortage of anger on Exit Wounds. Even when the backdrop suggests a lazy dance-out, the war of the words comes screeching forth.

Outsiderz 4 Life lay down a placid rhythm track and then expletives fly. Lady Luck featuring Redman quote the Beastie Boys' "Hey Ladies" and turn it on its head with a 150-mile-per-hour rap.

The album's real star, however, is obviously Yonkers-bred DMX, who leads off the album with an attack on Bill Withers's "Ain't No Sunshine" with expected ferocity and is featured with Big Stan on the Casio-keyboard-stuttering drive of "Walk with Me." Previous DMX collaborators, the Lox, shade things ominously for the noir-ish "Bust Your Gun."

Queensbridge housing project's finest Nas keeps it raw with the appropriately titled "Gangsta Tears."