I often talk about distinctiveness being an important aspect of being a great rapper and dropping a classic and Ice-T has that is spades. From his voice to his flow, to even some of the production he was backed by, there is some originality present here and throughout his whole discography. The start of this album is interesting as it almost begins with three intros before the first normal length song with 'Mic Contract'. From there though it's just consistent gangsta rap with good production. It lacks anything that belongs at the top of the genre but a number aren't too far off and the quality never dips. Ice's best album.
Beats: ★★★★
Bars: ★★★★☆
Best Tracks: New Jack Hustler, O.G. Original Gangster, Lifestyles of the Rich and Infamous, Body Count
First Ice-T album I've heard and I enjoyed it more than expected, after only seeing him as an actor. He has a unique style and this album portrays it. It is a touch hit or miss, but the best tracks are really enjoyable like the ones mentioned below. Nothing is terrible and there are a few songs that you may not check out after a couple of listens, but a lot of it's grown on me.
Best Tracks: Gangsta Rap, Dear God Can You Hear Me, Pray, Walking in the Rain, Code of the Streets, It's All Love
It's hard not to like Ice-T, he certainly has always had originality in his delivery and he creates some good stuff. While there is nothing brilliant here, and the content of his earlier albums is missing, this is an album where I could really use a .25 rating system as this often feels like a 3.75 to me, as it is arguably his most consistent, but it lacks outstanding songs. The production overall is fairly dark with Ice matching it lyrically on songs such as 'That's How I'm Livin'' that is one of the best here and one of his best songs. Close to a 4.
Best Tracks: It's On, Race War, That's How I'm Livin', I Ain't New Ta This, 99 Problems
Like a lot of '80s hip hop, the beats just don't do it for me. Due to this, for me Ice-T albums get better and better with each release up until O.G. Original Gangster/Home Invasion. ' Squeeze the Trigger' is dope and sounds a bit like something from an '80s action film and some of the storytelling is well done (see '6 'n the Mornin''), but as mentioned, the beats get repetitive partly due to some of the song lengths being too long as well.
Best Tracks: Intro / Rhyme Pays, '6 'n the Mornin', Squeeze the Trigger
1 Super OG (Intro)
2 Arrest the President - I like the beat and the hook here, given the title and the lyrics in the hook though, the content is severely lacking. I know it's only one bar, but who gives a damn about Trump's 'orange' skin colour? It's quite hypocritical given what so much of Cube's content has been about too. A lot of it just feels like brag rap.
3 Chase Down the Bully - He calls out right-wingers for talking about law and order but then beats up reporters on a song with this hook...[i]'String his ass up by his nuts with the pulley'.[/i] Similar to the previous song, catchy hook, decent beat. One of the better bangers due to the bridge and hook.
4 Don't Bring Me No Bag - An eerie like trap beat, anti-drug/trap house song. The rhyming of the hook reminds me of 'Ring the Alarm' by Naughty by Nature. The song works. I like.
5 Bad Dope - Brag rap with a tenuous anti-drug theme here, that is present on the run of songs.
6 On Them Pills - Despite still condoning weed, I love hearing this message. Anti-drug/prescription pills. Catchy hook. Probably my favourite here. I could do without the weird outro though.
7 Fire Water - Brag rap. Nothing much more to say. Some decent bars. I don't love the beat.
8 Streets Shed Tears - Brag rap, with some slight introspectiveness about his connection to the streets. The second verse begins with 'Sorry, y'all, I ain't got no haters'-a prelude to the following track.
9 Ain't Got No Haters - And this begins with 'Sorry, y'all, I ain't got no haters'. Anti-drug songs and now he is saying he 'doesn't have haters'! This is like the antithesis of most rap you'll hear. Laidback beat here with Cube and Too Short telling us about how they get love from all and they don't have/worry about haters.
10 Can You Dig It? - One of those throwback songs. Cube talks about the decades of the '70s, '80s and '90s in each verse.
11 That New Funkadelic - The sequencing of this album makes sense with more throwback feels here. Cube came up rapping over dope funk samples and this feels like a throwback to that. The lyrics are a bit repetitive and it's no match for greats like 'Bop Gun'.
12 One for the Money - This feels more like some older production Cube would've been on during the War and Peace era with some moving keys. It's mostly about 'bitches' trying to get his money.
13 Still in the Kitchen - Another brag rap track with different metaphorical language about Cube still creating and doing what he does.
14 Non Believers - Yep, more brag rap with one or two lines of commentary in here. One such example being about Zimmerman and racism. I like part of the chorus but it's one of my least favourite here.
15 Everythangs Corrupt - This was first released in 2012! One of maybe three songs with 'On Them Pills' and 'Good Cop Bad Cop' that is actually bars full of consciousness without the brag bars in between. Another banger.
16 Good Cop Bad Cop - Released about 18 months ago to coincide with Death Certificate's 25th anniversary. At times these days, I'm finding Ice Cube's rhyming too simplistic but parts of the wordplay in this are top-notch. The topic has been done to death but he does say things in a different way here providing a different take on the topic. Good beat too. Probably the most fresh-sounding of the 15.
Before I get into summing up my thoughts on this, I must ask where is the WC feature!? I expected a verse! I've enjoyed listening to this and have given it a number of spins. Everything is decent or better and nothing is too poor unlike his last album that had songs that really didn't feel like Ice Cube, but I'm not sure if there will be much to take away from this in the long term. Its biggest issues are that there is too much brag rap, the songs that should have more lyrical depth like 'Arrest the President' don't, and the beats feel safe and none go beyond that 4/5 star good level. I Am the West gets hate, but there are 4-5 on that to this day I enjoy going back to.
