Anyone got this

just listening to it - first song (Gangsta rap) sounds like Dr Dre is involved in the beats - almost slim shady-esque




EDIT: Up to track 4 - Dear God can you hear me


so far so meh
Last edited by comedyfish : 24-10-2006 at 10:36

I would doubt Dre is involved in it since he's been working on his own album, Detox, for about 5 years and can't even find beats for most of the people on his own label (The NWA reunion ?Rakim? Stat Quo? Ice Cube?). Probably someone replicating the whole Dre sound, unless it's done by Mel Man or other of those other guys who used to ghost-produce with Dre.

Body Count had a new album out over the summer too. Not heard it myself but reports tell me it was terrible. Much much change from old Body Count there then, eh?

His best album is easily O.G. Shame that it seems to be almost forgotten these days when similar West Coast gangsta-rap albums from the same era like EFIL4ZAGGIN by NWA and Death Certificate by Ice Cube are being reappraised and are now healded as 5 Mic classics.

There were a couple of decent songs Ice T did with Brooklyn rappers Smoothe The Hustler and Trigga The Gambla (of Broken Language fame, one of the biggest and hardest NY records of the mid 90s) under the group-name S.M.G from about 5 years ago. Their album never officially came out but some of it was leaked to the internet.

By the way, did you get your Too $hort mix cd? I got mine but i got it from the Juno website.

I recently picked up another mix by the DJ Eleven fella who did the Too $hort mix :

DJ Eleven - Best Of The Bay Area

A 70 song double cd mix of artists from the Bay Area in California - everything from Too $hort to Digital Underground to E40 to Souls Of Mischief to Luniz to Latryx to Mac Dre to Keak Da Sneak to DJ Shadow.

It's pretty excellent stuff. You can get it for £10.99 from Fat City :

http://www.fatcity.co.uk/fatcity/sho...sp?itemid=9639

I doubt it is Dre too - I didn't realise the album isn't out yet so can't find any info on it.

Yeah I got my too $hort cd - nice - Eleven invited me to his show in Brixton after i bought it - seems like a nice guy - I couldn't go tho' unfortuantely -

I'll def check out that 'Best of the Bay area' cheers for the pointer

Ahhhhh I just wrote a track by track breakdown of this very mediocre and in some cases incredibly cheesy album - but lost it all

EDIT: Album review part one


Gangsta Rap - I'm Ice-T the real Ice-T all the other Ice-T's are just imitating - not an overly strong opener I have to say - he mentions that this is not R&B however one of my main gripes about this album is there is far too much R&B warblings!! download but don't expect it to be a fave

Ridin' Low - Some guy called Feddy is on main rap duties here, leaving ice in the background doing his best Snoop Dogg impression - not bad but nothing wow here - as above

New Life - you can prob guess the sample (not the muse version), nothing amazing happening here - I'm a gangsta ni*ga you ain't kind of thing, the staccato piano might get annoying - it could be some kind of subliminal morse code i guess -

Dear God can you here me - Shouty rap a la Midnight (time for a homicide) but without the witty lyrics - what it does have is some R&B dude crooning over the chorus - next!!

Please believe me - 'I like how this is going down too daddy' - some very unsexy girl whispers unbelievably - only too be replaced by more R&B rubbishness - avoid this song - rubb-ish

Pimp or Die - typical Ice talky intro - then goes into a boring rap that really didn't grab me again sounding like Snoop again - boring - next!

Pray - Cover of the MC Hammer classic - (i joke of course) sounds like Ice is rapping over a cross between the Matrix and Harry Palmer, verse is quit eintersting then once again a rubbish chorus!!

Step Ya Game up - best song for me - has a kind of 'Peel their Caps back' feel for some reason, instantly liked it - only one on the album that did that - download it you will enjoy

Real Talk - Interesting panpipe flute type thing, over Schooly-D sounding beats, rap style: 6 in the mornin' - this is very nice. Almost ruined by the chorus again!!
Last edited by comedyfish : 24-10-2006 at 11:49

Walking in the rain - Oh my F*ckin' Lord - what is this? Girls singing about 'walking in the rain' - then Ice starts rapping (ironically) like LL on I need Love 'I gangsta for you and you gangsta for me' - avoid like the plague - this will not even last on on my hard drive - delete!!!

Twice the Game - Classic Ice story of violence - this time him being assassinated in a club - presumably for playing the track above!! Ice informs us that 'Anyone can get touched up' then some other rappers come along and bore us

It's all Love - Interesting violin sample, quite funky little track - I can imaging Ice bending over the Bond violin girls and LGBNAKing them - one of the better tracks but still far below what we would expect

Code of the Streets - again kinda boring - not bad but nothing to write home about - lazy sample, uninspired vocals - Ice rapping about 'the code of the streets' from his 80 million pound mansion in the hills - sorry Ice you are nearly 50 - I'm not buying it (rather like this album I might add)

Everything is going to be alright - Reminiscent of Ice's Power era - definite curtis Mayfield kind of vibe here (no bad thing) - again ensemble rap duties - this is nice.

My Baby - it's a LGBNAK for the noughties - not bad but again so what

Twice the game - this is more like it - Ice telling the newbies to shut up - he's still the man type of thing - probably the second best song on this album,


Overall a bit of a disappointment - Ice seems to have been influenced by a lot of stuff that's out there rather than being an influence himself

the two stand out songs are:

Step ya game up

Twice the game


also download

everything is gonna be alright

Real Talk

It's all love
Last edited by comedyfish : 24-10-2006 at 12:25

Ah, nice one. Good review. I may download those tunes and i'm glad you got that Too $hort.

Favourite Ice T tunes?

6 In The Morning (pretty much the birth of gangsta-rap and a fine piece of storytelling)
Squeeze The Triiger
Soul On Ice (this is one of the best yet under-appreciated storytelling rap songs ever)
Colors
High Rollers
Girls Like To Get Butt Naked And F**k
Ya Played Yaself (over the same James Brown sample Nas used on Get Down a few years back)
The Iceberg
Lethal Weapon
Peel Their Caps Back
Mind Over Matter (love the beat on this one with that I'll Bet You by Funkadelic sample)
New Jack Hustler
O.G
Midnight (great sequel to 6 In The Morning and over a hard-as-nails Black Sabbath sample to boot)
Pulse Of The Rhyme Flow
The Tower

..so many great tunes.

And no Ice T thread can be complete without mention of his then wife Darlene in the swim suit on the fold-out cover of the Power LP.
Last edited by Mart F : 24-10-2006 at 14:32

All great tunes - I will forgive you for getting LGBNAK wrong

Haha.

I forgot 99 Problems, the tune Jay Z jacked the chorus from for his tune with the same name, off the otherwise patchy Home Invasion album from '93. That tune was a killer but that was the last Ice T album i checked for. 1993 was all about Wu-Tang's first album, Midnight Marauders by A Tribe Called Quest, Doggy Style by Snoop and '93 'Till Infinity by Souls Of Mischief for me.
Last edited by Mart F : 24-10-2006 at 14:39

Same with me - Ditched after 'Home' as well - although I went via the guitar route

Download it and let me know whatcha think