Ice Cube - Raw Footage
[Lench Mob]

Once again, he's back; the infamous West Coast rapper and actor, Ice Cube (real name O'Shea Jackson). He returns with his ninth solo album, 'Raw Footage', which is his second to be released on his own label, 'Lench Mob Records'. He's stated that this is much more politcal in nature than his 2006 release, 'Laugh Now, Cry Later'.

Originally due for release back in June, it was delayed but is now finally out. The number of tracks on it depends on where it's bought from; the official number is 16 but it comes with bonus tracks when purchased from iTunes and Best Buy.

'Raw Footage' sees featured guests like Young Jeezy, Musiq Soulchild, WC and The Game, Doughboy and Butch Cassidy. Producers on the album include DJ Toomp, Emile, Da Beatsmith, Maestro, Embeatz, Tha Bizness and a few others.

The first single released off the album, 'Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It', came out back in January. It takes on the fact that gangsta rap is blamed for so much at present; everything, no matter what it is we say or do, is gangsta rap's fault. Lyrics like "If I f**k up the planet, ain't nothin' to it, gangsta rap made me do it," back this up. He then speaks out at the very end of the song and gives a message to all the "n****z that don't do gangsta rap" by telling them not to go on TV talking about it as they don't have a clue what they're saying the majority of the time. He closes the track with the lyrics, 'Talk about that bulls**t rap you do, stay the f**k out of mine.' The song speaks for itself, with Ice Cube giving us a taster of what's to come on the rest of the album. More recently, a remix of the track has been leaked which features Nas and Scarface.

'Do Ya Thang' is the second single to be released off the album and it came out with the video on June 24th. South Florida hit maker extraordinare Palumbo Beats takes the pleasure of producing this one. You can see this being a club hit; it's a classic Ice Cube party track, with the lyrics, "Ice Cube would ace it, I'm built for success (f**k a rock star), we wanna party like a rap star." The lyrics are catchy and the chorus consists of just two different lines, one of which is repeated six times, making it easy to sing along to. The beats are solid and definitely done in the right way to get people dancing.

In May, the track 'It Takes a Nation' was released on iTunes but never officially as a single. Emile produced the song and its leakage got fans excited at the prospects of a new album. Ice Cube lets rip on the track, ending the first verse with the lyrics, "A lunatic, y'all know what I represent, the only rapper that wanna fist-fight the president." He continues with lines stating how Hollywood thought they could tame him, but basically he knows what the game is. Even NBA refs get it as he compares their cheating ways to others. Another strong moment of the track is when he spits the lyrics "You're scared of the government, they scared of me - now what?". In all, the track is extremely powerful, making digs at certain people, companies and situations. It's reminiscent of Nas' 'Sly Fox', which slammed Fox News and was released just over a month ago.

'I Got My Locs On', the second track on the album, is produced by DJ Toomp and features Young Jeezy; as the song kicks off you would think it was one of his or T.I.'s tracks playing but, as Ice Cube kicks in, it all falls in to place. Ice brings a bit of old school to the track and it really works. He describes his status in hip-hop; being modest, he says of himself, "It's legendary status sitting behind these glasses." People could say he is being arrogant with the lyrics but nobody can say the track doesn't work.

'Hood Mentality' takes a look at the way young people growing up in the hood behave. Produced by Da Beatsmith, it starts with the statement, "The hood mentality is a crippling diesease, it attacks your nervous system, it makes you nervous of the system." He finishes the bold statement by emphasising, "The hood is where I'm from but it's not what I am." The song is very powerful and tries to get the message through that we will never become anything if all we care about is being a gangsta, having money, 'bitches' and chains. The verses especially mimic the way of the hood, saying things like, "f**k school", "love money, love jail, love that penitentiary mail", "love to see my momma cry, love to see my baby struggle." It's a very brave statement to put out there as a lot of his fans might feel betrayed and insulted.

'Thank God' is another track that starts out by saying how gangsta rap is blamed for everything, like poverty, people dying in Iraq and starvation in Africa. He then says to the people making the criticism that it's their fault for creating all these conditions because without them, he wouldn't have anything to rap about. 'Thank God' is another good track produced by Da Beatsmith, with the chorus having the true lyrics of 'Thank God, the gangsta's back, and we ain't got to put up with this brainless c**p'. Which is a fair point.

As well as the above, there are a few other stand outs on the album. In 'Tomorrow', Ice Cube talks about the downfall in sales of hip-hop due to illegal downloading. 'Stand Tall' is a shocker, produced by DJ Crazy Toones and David 'Dizmix' Lopez. The beat does not sound like a typical Ice Cube track, but turns out to be a nice surprise. 'Raw Footage' finishes with a bang. 'Take Me Away', featuring Butch Cassidy, wraps it up nicely; the track is definitely one of the good surprises on the album.

The whole thing just works and was worth the wait. Ice Cube has proved he is still at the top of his game with this latest offering. The fact that it was set back a couple of months won't matter because once people hear it, I'm sure they'll let him off. With his greatest hits album due for release on September 16th, 'The Essentials' will feature one song off this album, which up to now is set to be 'Cold Places'. Fans of Ice Cube should feel lucky, they're definitely being spoiled this year.