12. Ice-T: ‘Gangsta Rap’- "The rapper’s latest album, released in 2006, features Ice-T and his Playboy model wife Nicole Coco Austin complete naked sprawled across a bed presumably after the act of love-making. Unsurprisingly, some sales companies and stores objected to the artwork and refused to stock the record."
Though "Gangster Rap" seems destined to be more or less ignored the way all of Ice-T's albums in the last ten-plus years have been (in it's first week of release the album is ranked 6,000 in Amazon CDs and Best Buy isn't even stocking it at any of their stores in my area), Ice and his fans can take some solace in the fact that the album is Ice's most invigorated sounding disc- and his most professional, tightly produced disc - since 1993's "Home Invasion" - and if you didn't care for that one (I know a few fans who didn't) we might as well give this one the ultimate praise of his best since the landmark "O.G. Original Gangster" album from 1991.
While nothing here scales the heights of almost anything on "O.G.", it is important to remember it is a different time than Ice's heyday and that the rap game and sound is far different. Ice is smart enough to know that even his greatest albums would not be looked at as revolutionary today the way they were back in the mid to late 80's; so he has crafted an album that caters to much of the rap sound and production techniques of today, but lyrically Ice is still bringing us the kind of gangster rhymes that put him on the map. This isn't always a positive since, judging by the evidence submitted by his recent albums, it means almost every album includes a host of predictable tracks: the boastful tracks about how hardcore he is, the explicit sex jam, the umpteenth telling of his upbringing; how he used to hustle, pimp and rob jewelry stores; and his most obnoxious habit of beginning almost every other song by shouting his name, the year and the title of the album we are listening to and punctuating all three with an expletive ("Yeah! Ice-T. 2006. Gangster Rap, bi_ch!"). But most of the time Ice is so good at writing these kinds of rhymes, repetitive or not, the songs usually work. Rappers write about what they know and have seen, experiences that most of us should pray we never have to endure. This writing has become something of theatre in the rap world these days (you never know if today's rappers have lived through what they rap about or if they are just mimicking their idols or telling outlandish, exciting stories to sound hardcore, top the competition and sell more records), but Ice-T and all the rappers that broke out around the same time back in the day were the real deal, and the reason they - and rap - caught on was because no one had ever so bluntly told these stories before in music. So if we've heard all of Ice's gangster tales before, I suppose all he can do is try to dress them up in new ways and move them around in different directions to keep them fresh. On this album, for the most part, he accomplishes that.
Like his last outing, 1999's "Seventh Deadly Sin," this album is a tad uneven. There will be a great song, then two or three that don't really do anything for you, but then a pair that are good enough to stand along side Ice's best stuff. Unlike "Seventh Deadly Sin" though, there are far more high points here (I'd say ten or so of the albums 16 songs will get some heavy rotation in my CD player for a while) than low, this album is not as ugly and underground; even though the lyrics are often as hard as we have come to expect, Ice and his producers have turned their attention to the music; a lot of the tracks have a bounce to them that Ice has maybe never displayed before - surely not since his heyday.
But there are a few route outings. The first track is fun for a few minutes, with Ice name dropping all the old school rappers he came up with, but it grows tiresome and track two, like a few others here and many on past Ice albums, is a perfect example of what I'm talking about when I refer to some of Ice's lazy, boastful and unconvincing attempts to keep reinstating that he is the greatest and you better not step to him (isn't this the guy who, on his "Power" album, said braiging about yourself on your records is "weak s--t from a weak mind... why don't you talk about somethin'/you're just talkin' loud and sayin' nothin'."?). In my humble opinion the album should have kicked off with the third track, "New Life." Here, Ice settles down a bit, let's some of the music do the talking - or at least help him out, and declares he's back, he never went anywhere, and is never going anywhere; well written with good rhymes. He follows that with another high point "Dear God Can You Here Me." Again, good use of music and beats; Ice raps it louder the usual, if there were rock guitars on the track it might feel like a Body Count tune. This song is also the first of three to feature KRYST. All of the songs with his hand in them are among the better ones on the album. With track six, "Pimp or Die," more of that standard issue rap that Ice is better than, and seven, "Pray," a song featuring Mrs. Ice-T (and the album's cover girl), Coco, that is well intentioned but unfortunately grows obnoxious, we are starting to realize the pattern this album will take; giving us a few good songs followed by a few that you can simply move past. Track nine, "Real Talk" has some funky musical chops on it. Ice raps in a low, relaxed Snoop-ish tone. This track is this album's comin' up/what-I`ve-accomplished-in-the-game-thus-far opus, and not bad. It's also got Kryst on it again. "Walkin' in the Rain" is this album's best shot at a single. If Ja Rule and Ashanti can have a hit with that stupid ballad they had out a few years ago, Ice certainly deserves one for this. Thug love has rarely sounded so genuine. Set it to a sample of Barry White's old tune of the same name and you've got something. Similarly, "Everything's Gonna Be Alright" sounds like an old Curtis Mayfield tune. It's one of the smoothest beats Ice has ever laid vocals over. He has a hand here from Smoothe Da Hustler, who sounds like a slightly less gravel-voiced version of DMX. If "Walkin' in the Rain" wouldn't make it as a single, this one just might be Ice's other shot. Also good are two gangster anthems that recall the good old days of "O.G." and the like, "Code of the Streets" and "It's All Love" (there's Kryst again). "My Baby" is this album's sex jam. It's decent as these things go. The album ends with "Twice the Game." This isn't as tiresome as "Ridin' Low," "Pimp or Die" and the like, but it is more of the same. However, when Ice ends an album this solid by declaring he is twice the game, you really can't argue.
Ice-T fans don't need to be told to check this one out, but one-time fans who have lost track of Mr. O.G. over the last decade and are curious about how Ice sounds now, or those who have taken to VH1's "Rap School" and have seen the promos for this new disc and wonder what Ice's legacy is all about will not be disappointed if they give this one a try. It won't set the world - or Ice-T's career - on fire the way it may have at one time, but that is mainly due the sorry state of rap at this point and the fact there doesn't seem to be much of a push to get this album - or most new Ice - material out there these days. A shame considering that some of these tracks could stand up to 50 Cent and the like. (Amazon review by "By Boss Fan")
Double O.G. indeed, Ice. Keep it up.
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