The ladies of legendary ‘90s R&B group Xscape are making new music for the first time in twenty years.
In early March, Xscap3 dropped Here For It, an EP released on their own label, Xscap3 Entertainment. The group’s reunion comes with some changes. They’re down from four members to three and a subtle update to their name — from Xscape to Xscap3 — highlights that they’re now a trio. The new Xscap3 includes original members Tameka “Tiny” Cottle and sisters Tamika and LaTocha Scott. Kandi Burruss, one of the group’s lead singers, has opted to pursue a career on Broadway rather than record new music with her fellow bandmates.
Longtime fans will be relieved to hear that, even with Burruss’s absence, the most fundamental elements of that Xscape flavor have stayed the same. Here For It delivers the fun lyrics and the skillful fusion of hip hop and R&B that defined them in the ’90s. They also manage to bring their sound into the 21st century by coupling their old-school lyrics with more modern production.
Xscap3 Shows Us How the Pros Do Hip Hop
Here For It confirms that the women of Xscap3 are hip hop pros, as if they had anything left to prove (Cottle and Burruss wrote TLC’s smash hit “No Scrubs” and every single one of the group’s past albums has gone platinum). Newer artists tend to stick to a single sound on their projects, but on this EP, each track delivers its own unique experience. Architecturally, Here For It starts out slow, then rapidly picks up energy before softening again as it closes out.
The EP opens with the dark, introspective “Memory Lane,” which invites fans to travel on a journey into the past with the band, then continues the dark sound with the suspicious “Dream Killa.”
The next two tracks up the energy significantly. In “Wifed Up,” the ladies apply their lyrical playfulness to the modern phenomenon of dating apps, instructing dudes to “Go ‘head get your wifey / minimize your swiping.” The album peaks with a shit-talking, club anthem “Here For It,” where the heavy beat pulses with the same confidence as Xscap3’s lyrics. In the chorus, the women rap, ”Been heavy with hip game / Bomb P, no propane.”
The album then starts to wind down with its least memorable song, “Craving.” Finally, it closes with the slow, vulnerable, “Last of Me.” This final track could be a message to a misbehaving man. But it also feels like a slight to people who didn’t expect to see the group back in the studio.
The women of Xscap3 have certainly proved those haters wrong.
