Ice Cube - Raw Footage (2008)

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Let's make things clear, Ice Cube "The Actor" is a totally different entity from Ice Cube "The MC".

One must forget about Are We There Yet? and Anaconda and allow your brain to see Ice Cube as a founding father of the West Coast gangsta rap movement, and more importantly, a man who likes to speak his mind.

"Raw Footage" shows that Ice Cube is still as angry and politically / socially charged as ever.

There is perhaps a more mature perspective on the world here than there was when the young raw minded South Central social critic first changed the face of hip hop with Dr Dre, Eazy E, Mc Ren and Dj Yella - but the maturity definitely hasn't suffocated the fire. 

... If anything, it's just restricted it to a controlled burn which has resulted in "Raw Footage".

People who check out the inside cover may indeed find it hard to take the militant images of Ice seriously. But rap is a lot about a stage persona, and on listening through the tracks it becomes obvious that the machete baring figure who glares out from these images is the voice of the album. As he spits on It Takes A Nation:

"Y'all know what I represent, the only rapper that wanna fist fight the president."

The production is mammoth, as is often expected from West Coast hip hop, so flick that bass expander on your amp and experience the album the way it is intended.

The influence of club friendly sounds from the dirty south feature regularly on the album, in tracks like I Got My Locs Own (feat. Young Jeezy) and Get Money, Spend Money, No Money. It is a sound which seems to currently be the standard for the production of mainstream hip hop tracks.

The lyrics and delivery, however, are definitely Ice Cube...

The album opens with an apocalyptic voice over from Keith David proclaiming Ice Cube's flow is like a 'pyroclastic flow'. The simile is not far off, Ice Cube has a Vesuvius like baritone which commandingly punches out consecutive couplets that wouldn't have a problem moving Pompei.

They are not complex lyrics but they are mixed into an effortless rhyming texture that is easy for the ears digest. So when he talks of Obama, the ludicrous allegations against gangsta rap or the hood the listener actually hears it.

This is no seminal album, but it is solid and is evidence that Ice Cube "The MC" has still got it. For those who don't like it, the man himself delivers a message on Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It:

"... All ya niggas that don't do gangsta rap, don't get on TV talking about gangsta rap, cos 9 times out of 10 you don't know what the fuck you're talking bout"

Fair enough.

RATING: 3 out of 5

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