ice cube - lethal injection

for a supposed capitulation to g-funk fashions, it's not very hedonistic about its nihilistic tendencies. surly about the politics of pleasure, can't enjoy them.

Toure has always been a prick. I guess that's comforting, in a way.

Oh yeah, voted 'You Know How We Do It' for the super good Evelyn Champagne King sample.

the main problem with this record is it hedges it's bets, its tentative and muddled instead of being forceful and cohesive. Lyrically the best tracks - Really Doe, Ghetto Bird, Li'l Ass Gee, Enemy, When I get To Heaven - work because they're focused, there's a narrative or a central idea driving the songs. But when he feels compelled to just slap some raps over a smooth 2nd-rate G-funk beat, for the most part it doesn't work. (I do like "You Know How We Do It" but "Make It Ruff, Make It Smooth" and "Down for Whatever" are directionless; the former might've been redeemed by a better hook/foil but K-Dee is no Nate Dogg). Production-wise it was hard to hear a lot of this as anything other than an admission of defeat in the face of Dr. Dre's overwhelming success from the previous couple years, and the second-string guys Cube jettisoned Sir Jinx, Pooh etc. for were just not up to the task. You could see Cube trying to adapt to a sound that subsumed any anger and explosiveness into a sort of narcotized nihilism, and it didn't suit him. I don't think he was wrong to change with the times - every decent artist has to grapple with that - but with this album you can hear him splitting the difference between smoother party jams (and I actually *like* Bop Gun quite a lot; at least Cube actually got George and Bootsy and paid them rather than just rip them off like Dre did) and his older, gritty incendiary sound and the juxtaposition is awkward. If he had loaded this album with some of the better b-sides/tracks he gave away from the same era (My Skin is My Sin, U Ain't Gonna Take My Life, Robbin' Hood, Lench Mob's Mellow Madness) and swapped out Cave Bitch, Down for Whatever, Make it Ruff, Make it Smooth it would've at least flowed better and seemed more coherent, even if it might have sounded dated by a couple years. Cube never quite regained his footing musically after this (primarily because it's hard to imagine him giving a shit when he's got Friday and then Barbershop) so it wouldn't have been much of a commercial loss anyway - at least it would've been a more solid artistic statement to go out on.

I have always wondered if his move to Minnesota was also a contributing factor - he left LA as king of the scene, turns his back for a second and everything is different and Dre/Snoop have totally taken over

What Can I Do? is one of my favorite Cube songs. Eastside remix is p cool too.

I prefer the remixes for that and You Know How We Do It myself

west coast remix is a little too customary. the og version is more understated but it plays more to my sensibilities. sounds like a west coast organized noize beat.

I do like this record more than Toure did - even if I did feel it was a letdown when it came out. It does feel like its low points are lower than the ones from previous albums, just less energetic and engaging. The tracks I had the biggest problems with from the previous albums were all content-related - here (apart from Cave Bitch, which really is awful), its not so much that the bad songs are offensive as much as just lazy. Even so, it's like 2/3rds of a great record.

is there more than one? I only know the one w Mack 10 on Bootlegs and B-Sides

(xp)

east remix is p stock east coast as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p11eE48e-k4

haha wow yeah I had not heard that. v Diamond D or something

sounds v beatminers to me, sounds a lot like who got da props

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Lol

Come on, who voted for cave bitch

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