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JennYIce Cube - Raw Footage Album Review
August 28th 2008 21:57
Genre: West coast hip hop, gangsta rap, political hip hop
Length: 64:34
Label: Lench Mob
Ice Cube is back and more raw than ever with his eighth studio album Raw Footage. The rapper/producer/actor stated that this album is more political then his previous record, Laugh Now, Cry Later. We'll see how that goes in a track-by-track review.
The album starts with the song What Is A Pyroclastic Flow? You can call it an intro to Raw Footage.
I Got My Locs On featuring Young Jeezy is this record's second track. It's more of a banger than a political song. The song starts with Jeezy on the chorus, repeating the title. I think Jeezy's voice in his verse was a little weird, he seemed to have a smaller voice than before.
It Takes A Nation is a marching song; it makes you want to take a baseball bat and fight. The text shows Ice Cube's lyrical genius, and the beat is perfect with his voice. The chorus is very catchy and will probably stay in your head for days and days. You're not going to stop listening to this song until you find something better.
The first single, Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It is the basis of the entire album; this is the political song. The lyrics are smart and true. In the video, you see various clips of troubling issues around the world, and Ice Cube says that we shouldn't blame gangsta rap for all the troubles. Look around, there are other bad things in the world.
Gangster Rap Made Me Do It
Hood Mentality is a song about life in the 'hood. This track uses a sample from one of Twista's songs, I don't think it was such a great idea because Ice Cube's song sounds exactly the same as Twista's except that it's Cube who's rapping. The lyrics were all right.
Why Me? features Musiq Soulchild on the chorus. The beat sounds a little old school, and so does Ice Cube's rapping style. I really liked it, both the beat and the lyrics were smart.
Cold Places sounds like a club song because of the snare. I didn't really enjoy this song, it sounded a little ordinary. The lyrics were average.
Jack N The Box sounds like the soundtrack of a race car movie. The beat was nice, Cube was nice, the chorus was nice, you can call this song NICE.
Do Ya Thang is the second single of the album. It was a good choice – it's both a banger and a smart one. Once again, the chorus sticks in your head, and you can't stop nodding your head to the beat.
Do Ya Thang
Thank God starts with a speech, and has a loud beat. I didn't really like this one. There was too much noise, fortunately Ice Cube managed to control it with his voice which was neither too high or too low compared to the beat. The lyrics were average, but the chorus was really good.
Here He Come is the eleventh track of the album and features Doughboy. Once again, the beat was too loud for nothing. If you try to be too G, it's going to sound ugly.
Get Money, Spend Money, No Money is an average soong. The beat is dark, the lyrics are pretty ordinary, nothing special on this track really.
Get Used To It featuring WC and The Game is the song that sparked the rumor about the three rappers becoming the new West Coast Connection. This is the straight classic West Coast G song, all three Mcs came hard on this one. The beat is really good, being both a club banger and a street banger, and the chorus is great.
Tomorrow goes back to the loud beat.The song's subect was pretty smart, so it comes as no surprise that the lyrics were pretty good. The chorus was good too with women singing.
Stand Tall has an African drum and some trumpet. This track is the slowest song of the album, switching the vibe of the record for a little bit.
The last song is called Take Me Away. The beat is, again, loud, the lyrics were smart, and the chorus had Butch Cassidy singing.
These days, when you think Ice Cube, you usually see the big movie actor/filmmaker. This album shows that he still keeps it G, and still has skills on the mic. Raw Footage was a great listen,the lyrics where thought-provoking, the only flaw would be that the style didn't change much throughout the album. This is hip hop, people. I give this album 4.5/5 (9/10).
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