I continue to revisit and give first listens to Spice 1 albums. This is one I had listened to before. From the jump, you can here the Ice Cube influence but also originality. I love the stutter style of rapping that Spice does on the opener which he also did on his self-titled album. I can't recall hearing that style from any other rapper. I think some of his later albums have a higher degree of higher moments, but this is a sizeable jump up from his previous album in all areas. The production is better, the songwriting is more memorable and his voice is more commanding. It finishes with a five minute track that is just Spice giving shoutouts that could've been left to the linear notes and the reggae influenced 'Smoke 'Em Like a Blunt' is the one other skip but the rest are worthy songs. A decent 3.5/5 Best Tracks: I'm the Fuckin' Murderer, Dumpin' Em in Ditches, 187 He Wrote, 380 on That Ass, RIP Beats: ★★★☆ Rapping/Bars: ★★★★ Hooks: ★★★☆ 1. I'm the Fuckin' Murderer 96\100 2. Dumpin' Em in Ditches 88 3. Gas Chamber 74 4. 187 He Wrote 85 5. Don't Ring the Alarm (The Heist) 73 6. Clip & the Trigga 82 7. Smoke 'Em Like a Blunt 60 8. The Murda Show 84 9. 380 on That Ass 87 10. Mo' Mail 80 11. Runnin' Out Da Crackhouse 83 12. Trigga Gots No Heart 77 13. Trigga Happy 74 14. RIP 90 15. All He Wrote 40

Car porn for fans with some lovely looking automobiles to gaze at and engine-gasmic audio to match. Apart from [spoiler alert] Jann crashing and killing the spectator, nothing surprises too much, although to be fair, with these kind of movies, the plot is generally by the numbers. The racing is incredibly unrealistic as well. You can't gain seconds in one lap unless you're in an F1 car and the other racers are in a mini. It doesn't happen, yet in nearly every race that he is successful in, Jann catches up way too quickly in too short a space of time. His PTSD from the accident also gets cured too easily by Jack, his racing engineer, mid-race by playing him some music and yelling at him. At times, the movie does feel like too much of an advertisement for the game as well. I guess that is in the name though. There was some decent emotion added between Jann and his dad and being based on a true story, and fairly accurately retold at that, is a plus. The racing is fairly well shot as well and looks authentic. Any time a movie features Moby's 'God Moving Over the Face of the Waters' you can't help but like it a little more. Overall, it's a fairly generic underdog sports film, but is entertaining enough for racing enthusiasts. 2.5-3/5.

The biggest problem with this game is the amount of bankrupts that are spun. It is completely outside of the laws of probability. You will land on bankrupt once every 3-4 spins. The other issue is that when you try to spin the wheel it doesn't work. You press X to spin and nothing happens. Those issues aside, it's a fine recreation of the famous television show but the amount of bankrupts does bring the game down.

My first impressions of this weren't great. I've heard his later '90s albums that I enjoy, but the production and hook game isn't on the same level here. There are more storytelling raps from Spice than he went on to do on future albums. Being an early '90s album, it still feels a tad too '80s in the production for me to love. 'Young Nigga' is one that does feel more like golden '90s production with the jazz rap influenced production and the scratched out chorus. E-A-Ski is on the boards there. Ant Banks produces most of the album though, and I will say that I do feel like he was a bit behind the times. You could never say his production felt ahead of its time. Aside from 'Young Nigga', other better moments are the more conscious 'Welcome to the Ghetto', 'Money Gone' where Spice does this stutter style of rapping that makes it standout over the funky instrumentation, and 'Money or Murder' that transitions enjoyably from the hook to the verses. The poorer moments are '1-800 Spice' where Spice does a Jamaican accent with boring production and '1-900 Spice' that begins with a belch, that is off putting enough, but the short 90 second tale doesn't do enough. Overall, his later albums from the '90s are better, with some more memorable catchy songwriting and better production as well. I feel like Spice's voice became a bit more menacing as well as he aged. Beats: ★★★ Rapping/Bars: ★★★☆ Hooks: ★★☆ Best Tracks: Money Gone, Peace to My Nine, Young Nigga, Welcome to the Ghetto, Money or Murder 1. In My Neighborhood 70/100 2. 187 Proof 62 3. East Bay Gangster (Reggae) 76 4. Money Gone 79 5. 1-800 Spice 57 6. Peace to My Nine 84 7. Young Nigga 93 8. Welcome to the Ghetto 80 9. Fucked in the Game 74 10. Money or Murder 90 11. City Streets 64 12. 1-900 Spice 60 13. Break Yourself 73 14. 187 Pure 64

I listened to this straight after listening to his follow up, 'The Black Bossalini', and less stands out here. Again, like all the Spice 1 albums I've checked out, which at this stage is just his '90s records at this moment in time, it's a solid, consistent body of work, but I don't come away with as much. 'Sucka Ass Niggas' takes it back to the '80s, with Spice borrowing some classic Run D-M-C lines. 'Snitch Killas ' borrows from Ice-T's classic 'I'm Your Pusha'/ Curtis Mayfield's 'Pusherman' for the hook. 'Faces of Death' feels odd. It kind of feels like a demo and is the worst song here. I give Spice credit for trying something a little different with it, but that one doesn't work. His albums either side of this one, 'AmeriKKKa's Nightmare' and 'The Black Bossalini' are better than this. As the ratings below show, it's mostly all good, but the production and hooks aren't as great. Beats: ★★★☆ Rapping/Bars: ★★★☆ Hooks: ★★★ Best Tracks: Mind of a Sick Nigga, Survival, 1-800 (Straight From the Pen), Ain't No Love 1. 1990-Sick (Kill 'Em All) 84 2. Dirty Bay 76 3. Mind of a Sick Nigga 89 4. Drama 70 5. Mobbin' 74 6. Survival 90 7. Tales of the Niggas Who Got Crept On 66 8. Sucka Ass Niggas 84 9. Faces of Death 54 10. 1-800 (Straight From the Pen) 90 11. Ain't No Love 89 12. Funky Chickens 73 13. Snitch Killas 80 14. Can U Feel It 84 15. 1990-Sick (Kill 'Em All) 84