I Am The West

The past couple of years had been fairly odd for Hip-Hop, specifically mainstream. Half the artists fell into a generic pool of club bangers implementing Autotune. The other half went happy, light and artsy, rapping about positive thinking, with very happy, major sounding beats. While at first, I couldn’t complain about the latter, by now it's getting too saturated, as if Rap has lost its edge.

Enter Ice Cube's "I Am The West". If I had to describe this album in one sentence, I'd say, "It's pretty standard for Ice Cube." And compared to the state of music as I just mentioned, this is a breath of fresh air. West Coast Hip-Hop hasn't been dominating mainstream for a long time, but it's still very much around, and as far as content goes, Ice Cube is still N.W.A., assuming you know what it stands for.
While Raw Footage was overall dark and political, I Am The West finds its way back into the more catchy and accessible beats. That's not to say this album is shallow, Ice Cube is still addressing the poor living conditions of lower class California, as he always had, on songs such as "Life In California", and "Your Money or Your Life", which are plenty dark and political, and scrutinize life in the hood. As with every Ice Cube album, this one still has its more upbeat tracks, including this album's first single, "I Rep That West" and "Nothing Like L.A."
Particularly unique, however, are tracks like "She Couldn't Make It On Her Own," and "Urbanian." Both have beats that get close to being annoying, but overall they just sound weird, which is not necessarily a bad thing. They're definitely ear catching and interesting.

In terms of lyrics, this album doesn't really bring anything particularly new to the table. Ice Cube is as charismatic as ever. A bit disappointing though, is the lack of notable guest appearances. With Ice Cube's previous two albums, we had some fairly high profile guest appearances including Snoop Dogg, Lil' John, Young Jeezy and The Game, no such luck on I Am The West. As with the previous two albums, WC appears on this one as well, on three songs, no less. But apart from him, other songs feature Jayo, Doughboy, OMG and Maylay. Have you ever heard of them? Neither have I. I'm not saying they're bad, but personally I prefer to hear familiar guest appearances. A few tracks including "I Rep That West," include uncredited guest vocals on the chorus. But as I've said, apart from WC, I don't recognize any of the guests.

As I've said, content wise, this is a pretty standard Ice Cube album. When it comes to sound, however, I don't believe that there is such a thing. Every Ice Cube album has its own very distinct atmosphere, and this one is no exception. While not as dark and provocative as Raw Footage, it's still deeper and darker than Laugh Now, Cry Later, while maintaining a catchy and colorful tone. I won't compare it to Ice Cube's earlier albums, because there's no point. Ice Cube changed and evolved with the times, and there's really no point in expecting to hear another Death Certificate. The question is, does this album contain classics? Does it have songs that will be remembered and listened to by Ice Cube fans? I’d say yes, as much as any of his other albums. My favorite track is the aforementioned “Your Money Or Your Life,” which not only has serious and provocative lyrics, but also a dark, and yet extremely catchy chorus that I still get excited listening to. That is one noteworthy thing about many songs on this album. While I became a fan of Ice Cube for his lyrical ability, and his verse delivery, I always felt like he had underwhelming choruses. So if I had to pick one thing that Ice Cube did better in this album than his previous, it’s stepping up his chorus game.

All in all, this is as classic of a West Coast album as it gets in this day and age, and that's something I can't complain about. Ice Cube is a rapper that deserves to be listened to. And if you've never listened to him, then this is as good of an album to start with as any. And if you are a fan and are craving more Cube, you won't be disappointed. Either way, this album will have you rocking to the beat all the way through. While overall, I don't think it's quite as good as Raw Footage, I'd still consider it one of Rap's highlights of 2010.