Ice Cube - Raw Footage Review

Posted by Patrick Robinson on 08.24.2008

Oh, so Pyroclastic Flow = Album Of The Year?

Few rappers could begin their careers as part of “The World’s Most Dangerous Group”, take a break from rap for six years to make a handful of ‘child friendly’ movies, and still manage to achieve Gold certification upon their return to the genre. Ice Cube went from being on top of the hip-hop world to Are We There Yet?, to collaborations with Lil Jon on his previous album, Laugh Now, Cry Later.

Whilst that album featured some standout tracks that showed that Cube hadn’t lost his political edge or social commentary abilities, it did feature a man in his late 30s trying to capture the sound at the time with questionable songs like “Go To Church”.

As an old-school N.W.A. and solo-Ice Cube fan, the album was both encouraging, as one of the legends of rap had made a comeback, but disappointing when the final product was released.

In interviews before the release of Raw Footage though, Cube assured us that this album would feature more political and fiery raps, a throwback to his early days. Indeed, Cube even likens his rapping abilities to that of a volcanic lava flow. Will this album be hot magma, or hot garbage?



Tracks

1. What Is A Pyroclastic Flow?
2. I Got My Locs On Ft. Young Jeezy
3. It Takes A Nation
4. Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It
5. Hood Mentality
6. Why Me? Ft. Musiq Soulchild
7. Cold Places
8. Jack N The Box
9. Do Ya Thang
10. Thank God
11. Here He Come Ft. Doughboy
12. Get Money, Spend Money, No Money
13. Get Used To It Ft. WC & The Game
14. Tomorrow
15. Stand Tall
16. Take Me Away Ft. Butch Cassidy

The album’s Intro serves as an introductory to the concept of a ‘pyroclastic flow’, explaining that Cube still has a sharp tongue and edgy lyrics. It also sets up the mood for the majority of the album, as the CD plays out almost like a documentary following the mysterious creature known as Ice Cube. It gives us insight into its thoughts and feelings and how it’s upbringing has shaped the way it is today. It ties in quite nicely with the 'raw footage' concept in that sense.

Having said that though, the first song off the bat is a bit of a misstep. “I Got My Locs On” with Young Jeezy isn’t a terrible track by any means, but neither is it up to the lyrical standard set by the majority of the other tracks. After having listened to it a couple of times, it would probably sound better on a Young Jeezy album with a little tweaking.

Immediately after though, we’re hit with three heavyweight tracks. “It Takes A Nation” sounds like it was pulled straight out of the early 90s, with a 2008 twist both in terms of the lyrics and production care of Emile. “Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It” was the lead single for the album and features a screwed line from “Child Support” (”you n***** know my pyroclastic flow”) in the hook, which, alongside Maestro’s almost Dre-ish production presents us with a social commentary track on how gangsta rap is perceived by the world at large. It serves as both a sarcastic imitation on many of the things gangsta rap is blamed for as well as a warning for aspiring gangsta rappers.

“Hood Mentality” is another outstanding track, again taking the sarcastic approach, something that Cube manages to do REALLY well without coming off as irritating or foolish, comments on the ‘hood mentality’ that captures youths in the hoods. Again though, he switches between the perceptions of life that the kids today have (”f*** school n**** if I grow a little taller / er’body tell me, I’m gon do it, I’m gon be a baller”) to encouraging people to shake off the ‘hood mentality’ (”you can go be a pimp, you can go be a ho / but you only gon get, paid off what you know”).

One problem that plagued Cube’s previous album was the production didn’t feel like something Ice Cube would rap over. When you’ve got tracks by Lil Jon, Swizz Beatz, Diddy and Scott Storch, you’d think that it would be a surefire thing. Well, that might be for someone who hadn’t debuted over 20 years ago, as Cube sounded almost uncomfortable at times. When the track listing was released, there was a distinct lack of ‘big name’ producers with the exception of perhaps Maestro, which can make you worry.

However, those fears were unfounded as the production from start to finish is damn near perfect for Cube. Loud, aggressive production backs tracks like the aforementioned “It Takes A Nation” as well as “Tomorrow” whereas some softer beats allow Cube his reflective moments on tracks such as on “Cold Places”, “Stand Tall” and “Take Me Away”. The truly amazing feat though, is that the beats don’t delve into the R&B territory, managing to be quieter, without sacrificing or dampening Cube’s message.

There are only a couple of other faltering moments on the album apart from “I Got My Locs On”. “Here He Come” has a powerful beat but lyrically, is a step below most of the other tracks on the album, not terrible by any means, but the hook can get a bit annoying after a while. On the other hand, “Get Money, Spend Money, No Money” suffers from some better lyrics, but a somewhat bland beat. Finally, “Get Used To It” has an odd beat that might be off-putting for some but does feature good guest verses from WC and The Game.

The best track on the album to me was “Tomorrow” and I think that if you had to pick one track to summarize the album as a whole, it would definitely be it. Backed by outstanding production that sounds influenced by the early N.W.A. Dr. Dre work, Cube sounds aggressive without posturing, teaching but not preaching as he talks about people getting caught up in their futures.

The 411: I’ll readily admit that I didn’t think that Cube could bring that lyrical ferocity from his glory days of Death Certificate for a whole album but this is one case where I was certainly happy to be proven wrong. Raw Footage is an excellent and mature album that encompasses the aggression and frustration of Cube without sounding like an almost 40 yr old blowing hot air at today’s youth. This album is already on my shortlist for Album Of The Year and I highly recommend you give it a go.

Final Score:  9.5   [  Amazing ]