This is the second straight album that my friend Spence introduced me to. Coincidence…or conspiracy? The first one. If you thought otherwise, stop visiting the wrong websites.
Disc 1461 is…. Amerikkka’s Most Wanted
Artist: Ice Cube
Year of Release: 1990
What’s up with the Cover? Ice Cube fixes his angry glare on…you! “Do you wanna rap battle me?” he seems to be asking. Assuredly not, Mr. Cube. The mic is yours.
Also of note, that building in the background looks like it says “Fashion Blog.” It doesn’t (the ‘D’ just looks like an ‘O’) but if that bit of text brought you here by mistake, intending to read a fashion blog, here’s a great one. And to quote that sites’ author, I link because I love!
How I Came To Know It: Early on in my rap exploration I was mostly an East Coast guy, and didn’t give much stuff on the West Coast my time. However, my buddy Spence would often put on tunes by N.W.A. and Ice Cube. Recently I finally got into N.W.A. after watching a documentary, which naturally led me to Ice Cube. But none of that would have happened if Spence hadn’t planted the seeds. Thanks, buddy!
How It Stacks Up: I have three Ice Cube albums (I don’t waste any time once I like something). I am still exploring them, so it is hard to say how they stack up. “Amerikkka’s Most Wanted” and “Death Certificate” seem tied for #1 in my mind, and I wont 100% decide until I’ve reviewed both. For now “Amerikkka’s Most Wanted” takes the gold.
Ratings: 4 stars but almost 5
If “Amerikkka’s Most Wanted” seems nasty, crude and violent, just imagine how it sounded when it came out. It is a testament to the album’s uncompromising brilliance that thirty years later, it still hits you like a hammer.
Yes, Ice Cube has a lot of nasty things to say. The record is laden with violence, teen pregnancy, crime and unflinching observations on race relations in America. Ice Cube tackles these topics in a way that cuts through any attempt at polite discourse. He’s not interested in a veiled conversation on these topics. His lines are artful, but they are drawn with a boldness that dares his audience to step over.
There are plenty of angry rappers in the history of the genre, but it isn’t anger or strong opinions that make a great rap record. To do that you have to have incredible beats, timely samples, a great flow and a flair for storytelling. “Amerikkka’s Most Wanted” sticks the landing on every point, while providing an unflinching glimpse into life in the projects for good measure.
The beats and samples are a tag team effort of Eric Sadler (famous for his work with Public Enemy) and producer/rapper Sir Jinx. Together, they create songs built for head bobbing and slow rolling in a convertible with the top down. I succumbed myself to the groove, albeit I was in a Jaguar and wearing a suit at the time. I’ll be the first to admit it is quite a juxtaposition, but good music is good music.
Rap albums often feature spoken word skits which, done poorly, can run too long and sap the album’s energy. On “Amerikkka’s Most Wanted” the skits are tight, short, and run naturally into the next track in a way that gets you excited, rather than impatient.
The album is funny in places, as long as you don’t mind your comedy dark, raw and adult oriented. On “Gangsta’s Fairytale” Ice Cube stitches together old nursery rhymes, classic Disney characters and inner-city life experience to create an R-rated, expletive laden reimagined folk story. It ends with a sample of Andrew Dice Clay claiming carnal knowledge of Mother Goose. Why would Ice Cube sample shock comic Andrew Dice Clay you ask? He’s trying to shock you.
And while Ice Cube is a brilliant storyteller, weaving clever character-driven narratives seamlessly into his flow, he is also one of the greatest to grab a mic. Throughout the record he delivers his rhymes in multiple styles with equal brilliance, before ending the record with the furiously fast “The Bomb.” “The Bomb” is one of those rap songs that is so intricate and breathless all you can do is bow your head, groove, and try to keep out of the way.
For all this record’s brilliance, Ice Cube is not for everyone. If you are easily offended – hell, if you are just offended from time to time – this is a record you will want to avoid. But if you like old school gangsta rap from one of the genre’s best, and by some miracle you’re like me and are just stumbling on it now, it is worth your time.
Best tracks: What They Hittin’ Foe?, Amerikkka’s Most Wanted, You Can’t Fade Me, Once Upon a Time in the Projects, A Gangsta’s Fairytale, The Bomb
No comments:
Post a Comment