EVERYTHANG'S CORRUPT ALBUM REVIEW by DRAMA EN SABAH
Alright people, Sir William Brown dug me up to do a series of record reviews. The premise would be one where we reviewed albums of 3 long time emcees with new projects out; Chuck D, Method Man, and of course Ice Cube. The series of reviews would be known as Veteran's Month. First up Ice Cube.
In my opinion Ice Cube is one of if not the greatest emcee of all time. His work as an emcee and a writer has influenced millions of people across the globe. From the nihilism of NWA and his early solo work, to the Nation of Islam fueled politics of his sophomore masterpiece Death Certificate, on to the gangsta boogie of his time with the Westside Connection and of course the straight club banger that no one saw coming "You Can Do It" with Mack 10, and Ms. Toi. The breadth and depth of his work simply cannot be matched by any other emcee.
So believe me when I tell you I was hoping for a good album here, especially considering the lack of content that is currently flooding the airwaves. This album definitely strives to make a point with every single song. Cube was never one to "rhyme for the sake of riddling" and this album takes aim at what many people of his generation consider the ills of both society and Hip Hop specifically. This turns out to be a gift and a curse. On one hand you have an emcee who isn't trying to ride any current waves and still shows a passion for content driven music but on the other hand, well "YOU KIDS GET OFF MY LAWN".
No Ice Cube doesn't come off like an old curmudgeon while talking about the ills of kids on songs like "On Them Pills." but he also doesn't really inject any life into the subject matter either. Which ultimately is my problem with the entire project. While it's not bad it's not a needed addition to the Ice Cub catalogue either. He's kind of done all this before except now he's in his forties and you're not likely to get the hot takes that made him great. And really we probably don't need a forty something year old man revisiting the shock value of songs like "I'm Getting Faded" in any event.
This entire project is very middle of the road, not terrible but not great. Interesting to talk about but not entertaining to listen to. Not helped at all by the musical production, which is a series of g-funk light type beats. Again no terrible but not great. Cube maybe needed to challenge himself a bit more with the music selection.
I think Ice Cube was close to putting out a good record here I really do, but a swing and a miss is still a miss.
3 out 5.
william brown: eh yo...it's been along time, i shouldn't have left you, without a dope review to step to...drama and willy bee are back!!!...boo, applause...whatever...i was gone til november, getting my degree in ESP all sorted...anyway...check out this group of five...lil peep, lil xan, lil pump, xxxtentacion, tekashi 69...some teenager is listening to these dudes right now...wanna know what i grew up listening to...krs one, chuck d, big daddy kane, rakim, ll cool j, and ice mutherfucking cube...i'd rather listen to a 50 year old ice cube than those fucking pubic hairs...a number of years ago, drama and i were working on a top 50 mc's of all time list...my life was going sideways and i'd call him up, all liquored up and we'd throw names out...at some point i think we had ice cube as the number 1 rapper of alltime...he had an incredible run with NWA and then solo...no vaseline is one of the best diss tracks of all time...cube had some serious bite to his bark...i also liked that later release, raw footage...used to listen to that on my off grid porch in the kootenays...boom box plugged into a generator...smoking some homegrown mixed with nelson beer...liked that album...lots changed since that album dropped...i live on salt spring island now...two kids...don't drink or smoke...listened to his new album on spotify...fuck man, i give this album a 4 out of 10, 2 out of 5...and that's kind of generous i feel...i don't know...he's got a bunch of after school public service announcement songs...anti drug songs and anti trump songs...but when you are poor and your future is bleak you need to get fucked up...and behind trump there's another bush or reagan...they are all the same...even obama...so arresting the president ain't gonna change shit...if you're saying everythings corrupt then what are you suggesting as solutions...do we need to get rid of the current political system?...and replace it with what?...you want people to stop popping pills, then getting to the fundamental root causes of what makes a person need to get fucked up needs to be looked at...need to look at solutions to becoming more balanced and holistic...i'm not really seeing much substance in these raps, more bark then bite...whatever...i wouldn't give a fuck what he said if the beats banged...but they're one dimensional g funk boom bap...nothing special...gotta admit i like a couple of tekashi songs more than anything on this album...blasphemy
