Ice Cube – “Man Up” review

Los Angeles emcee, songwriter, actor, film producer, CubeVision founder & BIG3 founder Ice Cube not slowing down musically with his 12th album. The cousin of Del the Funky Homosapien & Kam, he started as part of the C.I.A. gained notoriety as a member of N.W.A until departing after their historic debut Straight Outta Compton. Cube later got his own Priority Records deal as a solo artist, teaming with The Bomb Squad for his own debut AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted & later Kill at Will. Death Certificate went on to become another west coast hip hop landmark due to some of its racially & politically charged content, with his Lench Mob Records debut The Predator mainly addressing a lot of the racial tensions in the United States at the time. Lethal Injection was more g-funk heavy and the War & Peace double-disc effort marked the end of the former Westside Connection member’s Priority contract. Laugh Now, Cry Later distributed by Virgin Music & EMI Records was a solid comeback almost 2 decades ago next summer after mainly focusing on acting during the first half of the 2000s & then Raw Footage had it’s highlights although it was decent as a whole. I’m the West became his most negatively received body of work & the Interscope Records-distributed Everythang’s Corrupt showed to be an improvement although still average. Man Down last fall was a pretty great homage to his Day 1s & the sequel Man Up is here 10 months later.

“Man Power” produced by E-A-Ski starts by asking if one has masculine abilities from within whereas “What You Gonna Do About It?” disses the kind of people who only speak of doing things instead acting upon it. “Freedumb” consciously discusses how people are getting spied on through their smartphones while “Guess What?” talks about being in the cut figuring out if the targeted suspects are either for or against him.

We have Cube making it clear as day that one should “Forget Me If You Ain’t wit Me” leading into the only single “Before Hip Hop” featuring Chuck D & LL Cool J on the remix talking about life prior to making music over Hallway Productionz cooking up the original instrumental & DJ Premier handling the remix. “Act My Age” featuring Scarface dabbles with trap a bit for an ode to MCs over 35 just before “Ratchet Ass Mouth” cautions about the kind of women you shouldn’t date.

“Respect My Space” poses the question if anyone wants to battle him while “California Dreamin’” gives off a g-funk vibe for a tribute to the sunshine state. “That Salt & Pepper” shows off his grown man status for 115 seconds over a funky Erick Sermon beat & after “Bring Everybody” charismatically talks about being untouchable, “All Work No Play” finishes with a message to the O.G.s who feel the same way he does.

In spite of what others have to say about Ice Cube’s music in past 2 decades or so & don’t get me started with War of the Worlds flopping, I’d say that Man Down is the better of the 2 albums we’ve gotten from him in the past 10 months although Man Up’s very much decent. I appreciate that he only got 1 guest on here in contrast to the amount Man Down had, but the production here is a little weaker as a whole.

Score: 3/5

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Ice Cube – “Man Down” review

This is the 11th full-length studio LP from Los Angeles emcee, songwriter, actor, film producer, CubeVision founder & BIG3 founder Ice Cube. The cousin of Del the Funky Homosapien & Kam, he started as part of the C.I.A. gained notoriety as a member of N.W.A until departing after their historic debut Straight Outta Compton. Cube later got his own Priority Records deal as a solo artist, teaming with The Bomb Squad for his own debut AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted & later Kill at Will. Death Certificate went on to become another west coast hip hop landmark due to some of its racially & politically charged content, with his Lench Mob Records debut The Predator mainly addressing a lot of on racial tensions in the United States at the time. Lethal Injection was more g-funk heavy and the War & Peace double-disc effort marked the end of the former Westside Connection member’s Priority contract. Laugh Now, Cry Later distributed by Virgin Music & EMI Records was a solid comeback in ‘06 after mainly focusing on acting during the first half of the 2000s & then Raw Footage had it’s highlights although it was decent as a whole. I’m the West became his most negatively received body of work & the Interscope Records-distributed Everythang’s Corrupt showed to be an improvement although still average, so hearing Man Down would be a I’m the West sequel had me hoping it would be far superior to the original.

“Rollin’ at Twilight” starts with a trap intro that Cassius Jay laced looking to make highlights with his real ones whereas “It’s My Ego” featuring Scarface on the remix takes the g-funk route instrumentally thanks to E-A-Ski talking about giving a demonstration in front of the nation. “So Sensitive” was the weakest single of the 3 decently giving Cube’s take on gender & modern etiquette, but then Mount Westmore gets together for the funky pop rap banger “She’s Sanctified” with October London on the hook discussing women.

Nottz gives “Not Like Them” more of a traditional west coast vibe to the beat feeling like the world doesn’t make sense this day in age while “5150” aggressively talks about this bitch being crazy. “No Cap” featuring Ishadon has to be one of the most underwhelming moments despite the Zaytoven beat & the theme of everyone doin’ boss moves in a cesspool just before the industrial/trap crossover “3 Lil Piggies” talks about 3 cops.

“Ghetto Story” strips the drums completely finding his glory & doing it all for the streets to get his bag while “Facts” featuring J-D of Da Lench Mob finds the 2 reuniting so they can talk about mobbin’. “Fighting for My Life in Paradise” featuring Kurupt hops over a soul sample explaining how good it feels living the lives that they do while the boisterous “Let’s Get Money Together” featuring B-Real goes back & forth with each other as they make paper.

As for “I’mma Burn Rubber”, we have Cube going from 0 to 100 over a hyphy instrumental prior to the self-produced “Especially You” hooking up some prominent synthesizers talking about needing everyone to head for the dance floors. “Break the Mirror” featuring Xzibit links up the pair for a hardcore west coast heater pointing out that nobody wants the truth anymore while “Talkin’ ‘Bout These Rappers” takes a jab at wack MCs over a Lil Jon beat.

“Scary Movie” pushes towards the end of Man Down by tapping in with Lench Mob Records in-house producers Hallway Productionz promising that breaking your shit is certain while “Take Me to Your Leader” moves like an eagle looking regal on top of a vocal sample that David Banner provides. The closer “Ego Maniacs” featuring Busta Rhymes & Killer Mike wraps it all up with an insane sequel to “It’s My Ego”.

Laugh Now, Cry Later was probably the last Ice Cube album that I enjoyed consistently top to bottom & Man Down over 18 years later as a dedication for all his Day 1s improves on his few LPs since 2008. The more consistent production than some of his past recent material eclectically ranges from g-funk to hyphy, trap & drumless enlisting a tight list of guests to help reaffirm his status as a west coast veteran.

Score: 4/5

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Mount Westmore – “Snoop, Cube, 40, $hort” review

Mount Westmore is a California west coast supergroup consisting Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, E-40 & Too $hort. Each member being veterans in their hometowns of Long Beach, Inglewood, Vallejo & Oakland respectively. We never heard all 4 of them on a track together until after they formed in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic & after releasing their full-length debut Bad MFs over the summer exclusively as an NFT, they’re finally putting it on streaming services 6 months later backed by MNRK Music Group & with some new cuts sprinkled into the mix.

“California” is a hyper opener produced by Rick Rock representing their home-state whereas the bouncy “Motto” lets everyone know what the maxim exactly is. “Big Subwoofer” blends hyphy with trap thanks to Kato dropping some braggadocio leading into “Too Big” pulling from snap music interestingly enough going back & forth with each other talking about just exactly how they prefer to do shit.

However with “Activated”, we have Mt. Westmore explaining that everything’s imitated rather than calculated over a g-funk instrumental just before “Have a Nice Day (Fuck You)” has a soulful boom bap quality provided by Fredwreck & Dem Jointz basically telling everyone to kiss their asses & I actually like the latter’s hook quite a bit although my only complaint is that the first verse he delivers was redundantly short. “Ghetto Gutter” brings back the hyphy courtesy of 40 Water’s son Droop-E with co-production from Ant Banks acknowledging that it’s how you come prior to the rubbery-synth-laced “Free Game” dropping precisely that.

“I Got Pull” returns to g-funk turf advising to ask your boss if you don’t know who they’re are while “Up & Down” comes through with my least favorite track on the album personally, as it happens to be an awkward ode to all the thick bitches out there. “Do My Best” picks things back up with a smoother ballad produced by Soopafly referring to themselves as champions while “Lace You Up” has a more peppy quality to the beat giving the listeners some advise.

Meanwhile with “Tribal”, all 4 of them talk about how it takes a village to raise the real ones over more hyphy production while the song “How Many” goes back to the g-funk spitting that gangsta shit. The penultimate track “On Camera” is an eerie trap cut feeling like that they’re being watched primarily because of how quick things tend to go around on social media these days & “Mash” is menacing closer getting quite mobbish.

I know some people were quick to write off the supergroup’s debut since it was initially released exclusively as an NFT back in June, but I knew they’d have to put it up on all streaming services at some point & I gotta admit that the material that we got out of it is pretty impressive. It’s interesting to hear how all 4 MCs’ unique deliveries mesh with one another & the production representing the state of California as a whole by blending g-funk with hyphy.

Score: 3.5/5

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Ice Cube – “Everythang’s Corrupt” review

Ice Cube is a 49 year old MC, songwriter, actor, film producer, CubeVision founder & BIG3 founder from Los Angeles, California who started as a member of C.I.A. in 1984 & disbanded 3 years later after gaining limited commercial success. He then became a member of the iconic N.W.A, but left after the release of their infamous debut album Straight Outta Compton to focus on his solo career. He dropped a handful of albums in the 90’s with his first 2 AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted & Death Certificate becoming West Coast essentials. But as the 2000’s came around, he began focusing on an acting career & his musical output was shortened. However, he’s coming back from an 8 year hiatus with his 10th full-length album.

After the Super OG intro, we go into the first song “Arrest the President”. It’s no surprise that he’s going at Donald Trump on here & despite his statements being valid, the mixing on here is ass. The track “Chase Down the Bully” talks about beating up Trump supporters over a thumping instrumental while the song “Don’t Bring Me No Bag” speaks out against snitches in the drug house over a mediocre trap beat.

“Bad Dope” sees Cube comparing himself to just that over a menacing instrumental while the song “On Them Pills” is talks down on the current drug trend over a nondescript instrumental. “Fire Water” contemplates how Cube is gonna die while the song “Streets Shed Tears” talks about his respect in the hood over a churchy instrumental

The track “Ain’t Got Haters” with Too $hort sees the 2 brushing off their naysayers over a smooth instrumental from DJ Pooh while the song “Can You Dig It?” talks about being old school referencing WWE Hall of Famer Mike Tyson over a funky Hallway Productionz beat. “That New Funkadelic” serves as a pretty solid sequel to “Bop Gun (1 Nation)” off his 4th album Lethal Injection back from 1993 while the song “1 for the Money” talks about why he’s still rapping over a piano & strings.

“Still in the Kitchen” talks about drug dealing over a chaotic beat from E-A-Ski while “Non Believers” reminds the listeners to bow down to him over a thunderous beat with a sitar. The title track touches down on the political system over a bustling rap rock instrumental from Fredwreck & “Good Cop Bad Cop” advises all of the officers who do their jobs correctly to stand up for those who abuse their badge over a somewhat funky beat with some triumphant horns.

It’s been a long 8 years & while it’s not perfect, it’s a solid comeback for the West Coast icon & certainly more of a consistent listen than his previous & worst LP I’m the West was. It’s the most lyrically conscious that I’ve heard him in a while addressing the current state of politics, society & culture even if I feel like the production could’ve been better at certain points.

Score: 3.5/5