Its been a long time awaiting. Legendary rapper Ice Cube of N.W.A is back after a six year delay since the release of the albums lead single and title track. I'm unaware of what took so long to finish the project but to be fair, I wasn't anticipating much. Its decades since the West Coast rapper's hay day but approaching fifty years of age Cube can still deliver tight rhymes with his strong persona on the mic. Between a fair amount of braggadocio he gets into the state of affairs, addressing the American president, the latest statures of political correctness and events like Charlottesville.
Everythang's Corrupt is topical and current, Cube can deliver coherent verses, reasonable hooks and choruses over a distinct production style marked by electronic bursts resembling trumpets and horns that form the key melodies and tunes. A fair amount of Trap drum aesthetics and patterns creep into the percussive construct. Lots of synthetic instruments bring textural tones for the looping melodies that make its crispy clean production sounds sterile at times. Through the sixteen songs everyone is bound to find a selection of preferred cuts however Ain't Got No Haters and That New Funkadelic stand out as a break from the norm with Cube's classic laid back G-Funk vibes being resurrecting for shadows of his best work like Today Was A Good Day.
There is a lot to digest lyrically. Fifty five minutes of verses all of which are pretty coherent to follow dive into various topics and Cube's prominence on the microphone makes for no weak links however he resides firmly in the realm of expectation and thus not to many rhymes schemes leap out at you. He does try out a couple of slower paced, short line flows but not to much effect. Essentially this is a very established rhyme style however the last couple of tracks end on a high. The title track has an amazing energy thanks to the electric instrumental and it rolls into Good Cop Bad Cop which has Cube flowing with a little spice and passion in his voice that hails back to the immediacy of his youth, Its got some of the records best rhymes on it.
This record might be written off by some as an old timer coming back with a routine record for fans but I think Ice Cube's skill as an MC holds up. The instrumentals are infectious with repetition and perhaps some curation condensing this record to its best would of made for a tighter listening experience as their is plenty to enjoy here. Ive liked it more with every listen and I think I will continue to enjoy it until that steam runs out. When trying to hold together some objectivity listening I find that Cube has such an amazing persona on the mic that I always feel lured into whats going on.
Favorite Tracks: Chase Down The Bully, Ain't Got No Haters, That New Funkadelic, One For The Money, Everythangs Corrupt, Good Cop Bad Cop
Rating: 6/10