AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted

Female Lives Matter. Fuck you, Ice Cube.

Not bad, but the misogyny is... a bit much. I get that this is the 'brand', but in my opinion it's hypocritical and undermines the message of the rest of the album. How can you critique the oppression of black people and at the same time promote the oppression of women? (I feel the same when it's the other way around, which also happens way too often, but that's a different story). Still gets 2 stars for the political songs.

Not my thing personally. I can see why it's so influential, but probably agree with the original Rolling Stone review - "The relentless profanity grows wearisome, the Bomb Squad beats lose steam, and Cube's attitudes toward women are simply despicable."

It does what it does well, but my patience with that level of unashamed misogyny these days is pretty much non-existent. Good delivery, sickening content.

+1 stars for misogyny

It's not my favorite flavor of hiphop but this album is solid. I mean, Ice Cube has always been ready to get up in faces and speak hard truths. That is very much on display here. Commentary on race, violence, inequality, culture, etc. is delivered with agressive poeticism. The biggest issue is that the beats are hella dated. SUPER dated. A related issue is that every track sounds so similar to the last that that my ears are worn out by track four.

Love how this site's users constantly complain about misogyny and violence in hip-hop albums but never about misogyny and violence in rock and metal. I wonder why...

“Amerikkka’s Most Wanted” by Ice Cube (1990) I’m marginally familiar with this artist and lyrics (Ice Cube: “political hip hop” [TAR, 416]), especially “The Nigga You Love to Hate” and “This Is a Man’s World”. Most people are not consistently aware of the fact that socio-political propaganda has two dimensions. First, obviously, propaganda includes the promotion of set of views, which may or may not involve deception. But there is a second, more hidden dimension in which propaganda seeks to employ devices of socio-political power to downplay, distort, demean, or deny a voice to the views of others. The first dimension can be simply recognized as free speech (or advertising). But it is the second dimension that should be the focus of our analysis. Ice Cube’s lyrics, to state the obvious, are intentionally and self consciously angry, shocking, and offensive—entertainingly so. For this dimension of Ice Cube’s propagated views he gets five stars. Without question this album is a well executed, innovative, influential, and well performed expression of socio-political sentiment. Good poetry, vocals, production values, which still, 30 years later, have a solid fundamental appeal. Excellent listening experience. On the other hand (second dimension), these lyrics scare white people. They should. They are intended to. And apart from the fact that some racially aware white people (I’d like to think I’m one of them) feel guilty about how white people treated black people for at least the past 400 years, artists like Ice Cube have, using the second dimension referred to above, learned how to effectively tell white people to STFU. Out of unironically serious respect to the artistic integrity of this artist and album, therefore, I will. 3/5

Good flow, but I couldn't make it through the violent/sexist/explicit tracks. Big yikes!

When Ice Cube split from N.W.A after the group's seminal Straight Outta Compton album changed the world forever, expectations were high, too high to ever be met by anyone but the most talented of artists, and at his most inspired. At the time Cube was just that. With AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted the rapper expanded upon Compton, making a more full-bodied album that helped boost the role of the individual in hip-hop. Save the dramatic intro where a mythical Ice Cube is fried in the electric chair, his debut is filled with eye-level views of the inner city that are always vivid, generally frightening, generally personal, and sometimes humorous in the gallows style. Ripping it quickly over a loop from George Clinton's "Atomic Dog," Cube asks the question that would be central to his early career, "Why there more niggas in the pen than in college?," while sticking with the mutual distrust and scare tactics N.W.A used to wipe away any hopes of reconciliation ("They all scared of the Ice Cube/And what I say what I portray and all that/And ain't even seen the gat"). "What I'm kicking to you won't get rotation/Nowhere in the nation" he spits on the classic "Turn Off the Radio," which when coupled with the intoxicating Bomb Squad production and Cube's cocksure delivery that's just below a shout, makes one think he's the only radio the inner city needs. The Bomb Squad's amazing work on the album proves they've been overly associated with Public Enemy, since their ability to adapt to AmeriKKKa's more violent and quick revolution is underappreciated. Their high point is the intense "Endangered Species," a "live by the trigger" song that offers "It's a shame, that niggas die young/But to the light side it don't matter none." This street knowledge venom with ultra fast funk works splendidly throughout the album, with every track hitting home, although the joyless "You Can't Fade Me" has alienated many a listener since kicking a possibly pregnant woman in the stomach is a very hard one to take. Just to be as confusing as the world he lives in, the supposedly misogynistic Cube introduces female protégé Yo-Yo with "It's a Man's World" before exiting with "The Bomb," a perfectly unforgiving and visceral closer. Save a couple Arsenio Hall disses, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted is a timeless, riveting exercise in anger, honesty, and the sociopolitical possibilities of hip-hop.

One star for excessive language & disrespect to women. The music etc was just ok for me as well. Don't get me wrong I love rap, hip-hop etc, but only if it is good. This was NOT good.

Has aged very poorly

Good continuity, solid beats, but gets monotonous, plus increasingly misogynist and trite.

I love hip-hop, but I don't generally fuck with gangsta rubbish. NWA's Straight Outta Compton is one exception, so let's see if Ice Cube's solo stuff will click.... No. It's shit. Production is pretty catchy, but repetitive, and full of irritating skits with unfunny jokes. Ice Cube's flow and delivewry are alright. Lyrics are the usual misogynistic rubbish about kicking pregnant women in the stomach and so forth. Man, he really likes talking about his dick. What artistry. Yeah, we could say it's raw and aggressive because it's the art of the disenfranchised urban poor. But let's all remember that this style of hip-hop was successful throughout the 1990s because largely white audiences lapped up increasingly extreme stereotypes of the exoticised African-American man, like a modern and aggressive version of minstrelsy. I will defend hip-hop as a genre, but this is crap. "Endangered Species" featuring Chuck D is tolerable, though it's offset by a shitty Flavor Flav appearance later. To be clear, I don't need my hip-hop to be sanitised. But it needs to have something (anything) that lifts it above the level of hateful hyper-masculine posturing. 1/5 To end on a positive note, here's a great hip-hop album from 1990 that should be on the list: Master Ace - Take A Look Around (1990)

Love this album. Social commentary, great tracks from start to end, and one that deserves a listen straight through.

"You're the type of girl that I can't pass over Give me one chance, and I'll bend your ass over Just call me the plumber at the end of the night 'Cause a nigga like me'll lay plenty of pipe" When I saw I got Amerikkka's Most Wanted a few hours ago I knew today's review was going to be very very long or very short. I went short. I don't feel like writing a novella this morning. Too much to say about this album & most (if not all) has been said before & better than I ever could. If you like rap music, you NEED this album. That's unarguable- just so we are clear. Need not want. It's miles above 98% of all rap music ever released in fact top of my head I can't think of a better one (Eazy-Duz-It is way up there but Amerikkka's Most Wanted still beats it- I think) even if I like the back catalog of other rappers (Run DMC for one) much better than Ice Cube's back catalog - Amerikkka's Most Wanted is in a class of one. On paper no way should 'Amerikka's Most Wanted' appeal so strongly to a privileged 16-year-old white girl (the age I was when I first heard it) whose favorite band is The Beatles, but it does & I think it's because great art is timeless and make no mistake this is great art. A game changer when many thought that the games was over. - Chelsea M. So that's it. If you want to read about the history of rap, I can't praise the late great Ed Piskor's Hip Hop Family Tree comic book (now collected in one volume) highly enough.

It seems like both Ice Cube and the N.W.A had trouble evolving once the split happened. While N.W.A continued on and produced a second album, it had nowhere near the impact or quality their debut had; it was missing Ice Cube as an absolutely vital ingredient. His blunt lyrics and aggressive rap style were essential to their sound. Ice Cube's solo debut, in a similar situation, has all of the trademark style that makes him an intriguing figure yet lacks the exciting and inventive production featured on 'Straight Outta Compton'. It's a classic situation of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Regardless, the question here is "is 'AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted' a good album? It’s okay. It's not that much different from what he knew back in the late 80's. He's angry, he doesn't mince his words, and his overall theme of pointing out racial injustice is both self righteous and, quite frankly, much needed in pop culture; both back then and now. But the overall listening experience is tiring from a musical perspective. As I mentioned above it's missing the bells and whistles of early Dr. Dre production, which tended to compliment him perfectly. It results in an album that feels like it very much belongs in 1990 and hasn't aged all that well. There's also the question of some heavily outdated, and downright worrying, views on women; along with many, many instances of the glorification of the gangsta lifestyle (which ‘Straight Outta Compton’ was very much guilty of, too). Out of all the hip hop albums I have gotten on the list so far, this is by far the weakest. There's very little innovation - as if Ice Cube simply wanted to air his lyrical ability over basic beats, some callback samples, and uninventive instrumentation. The dude had talent, but I feel like rap music creatively succeeds or fails on the production table. Maybe it's a case of starting from what you know and evolving from there - because Ice Cube definitely has better material than this in his overall discography. His debut feels more like a rethread, rather than a true branching out moment. It’s a constant reminder of what came before, rather than moving forward. Maybe I’m wrong, seeing as this album was critically and commercially successful. But that’s the beauty of different opinions and tastes, I guess. 2/5

I’m giving this one star because of the misogynistic lyrics and general tone which has dated really badly. If we are rightly holding TV from the 50s and 60s accountable for its obvious racism then we have to also hold early rap accountable for its horrendous sexism.

The production on this record…holy fuck. The lyrics, also holy fuck…but in the opposite direction.

Production and assembly is great, and it's a (rightly) angry album, but the shameless sexism is not a good look now.

J'ai trouvé le texte de l'album très riche, je vous le joins dans sa totalité ci-dessous : ♫ Boom, bap, boom, bap n-word, fuck, drugs, gang !! Boom bap bap boom, encore n-word, fuck, de nouveau le n-word !! Boom bap motherfuck et revoilà le fameux n-word accompagné du mot fuck... Encore !? Un n-word de plus mon gars et bah ouais, l'album dure une heure, fuck motherfuck bam boop, n-word comme par hasard et m-word maintenant pourquoi pas, gun, fuck ! Gang ! C'est tout pour moi je m'appelle Ice Cube !♫

Ice cube at the height of his powers in terms of lyrical content. You can literally see the birthing pains of gangsta rap. His subject is the oppression of African Americans and the weight of the system. But is also outrageously misogynistic and a bit hung ho. Would probably be quite tame by later standards and still has some meangingful politics in there. He is a splendid rapper mind and the tunes are quality bass heavy hip hop from it's golden years.

This album is basically an opener of what the hip hop of the 1990s would be like. Groups like Public Enemy and N.W.A opened the way, in the late 1980s, for rappers to take the spotlight in the next decade. In this sense, this first Ice Cube effort goes everywhere, but finds things to say in every corner it touches. Great lyrics, beats and samples overall. Songs that are more political and have social commentary are the highlights, like "AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted" and "Endangered Species (Tales from the Darkside)", but the rawness of "The Nigga Ya Love to Hate" is also very interesting.

It's not my favourite genre in hip hop, but this album is solid. Ice Cube speaks hard truths. That's very evident here. Comments on race, violence, inequality, culture, etc. are delivered with aggressive poetry. (7/10) FT: AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted

Hooray, another dose of violent misogyny. This one goes straight in the trash next to Dr. Dre.

Wow. This is just pure energy. Everything I like about hip-hop and more. Ice Cube really was at the top of his game here and the soul funk beats are just sublime. A word on the album’s misogyny. It’s a bit of a commonplace to diagnose this symptom in hip hop, but interestingly while “You Can’t Fade Me” unquestionably leaves a bad taste in the mouth, it exists in this strange tension alongside “It’s a Man’s World” towards the end of the album. That is truly the kind of confrontational paradox that this genre often avoids. In a word: masterpiece.

I’ve heard this before. As I said before I like this era of rap even with the misogyny and violence involved in it. The dominance of a few James brown drum breaks over this period made some kickass jams. I always got a Public Enemy feel from these songs and I found out the Bomb Squad worked on this album, so that explains it. It’s a great album besides the issues I got with the lyrics. Once again I’m knocking it down a point for the misogyny.

Ice Cube and the Bomb Squad made a siege machine, blunt, unstoppable, indifferent towards material or feeling, uncaring in its blows, nasty or funny or plain sick or political. Conflating author with subject is hard to avoid here - cruelty played for laughs, misogyny and amuse bouche to homicide - but Chuck D’s framing of hip hop as Black CNN applies here. The overwhelming density of sound and idea reminds me of Tik-tok’s demented #corecore Tik-tok: it pulls so much material into the mix that it defeats understanding and outpaces irony.

Ice Cube is a talent. His career is a marvel. He's part of NWA and also a children's movie icon. He can do it all. The misogamy in this genre does not age well, not that it was ok then. What Cube does though is create a persona that allows him to dip in and out of otherwise increasingly wicked ideas and statements. Performance is the key. And he is able to build up commentary on race, society, culture, and the industry. This is an incredible debut for a Ice Cube as well. His role in NWA was huge and then he was able to jump out and put this together.

This must have been Ice Cube’s bad day.

The beats are great, but the misogyny takes me out every time.

Dude has a song about killing a pregnant woman for saying that her baby was his.

I feel like I need to preface this by saying I love a lot of hip hop, because I see a lot of unnecessary hate laid on the actually good hip hop albums on this list. However, for me to actually enjoy hip hop (no matter how good the flow or the production), the lyrics have to be clever and insightful, or at least funny in a tasteful way. I mostly prefer political hip hop, and I can tolerate a good bit of bragidoccio. But I draw the line at the sort of horrible misogyny on display all over this album, not just You Can't Fade Me. There's just no excuse for it, and we don't have to perpetuate it by immortalising albums like this. Elements of this are noteworthy, and I did enjoy the Chuck D feature. But overall, it doesn't bring anything to the table that N.W.A. hadn't already brought with Straight Outta Compton, and it has aged even worse than that album.

I think I exist in a parallel universe to those who like this stuff.

Good beats, but much weaker than The Predator. Lyrical content is just terrible, with the social messages overshadowed by one-note misogyny

Too much style and strong lyrics. So much to assimilate

18. Nunca quis ser mais alto, maisrápidomaisFORTE. Vivo p'ra cair na merda, tipo Vítor Norte. MotA: Endangered Species "Was America willing to maintain order... No matter what the cost?"

One of my favorite rap albums of all time. Bangers from start to finish.

It's the best of the 90s Ice-based rappers! Ice Cube knows his flow, has some great production behind him, and is a pretty great storyteller. Obviously from a political perspective the lyrics have aged about as well as the rest of the gangsta rap records of the era, unfortunately, especially regarding the relentless misogyny present (the biting commentary on racialized violence notwithstanding). It's clearly sort of being half-satirical about it but it's a bit much. That said, some really impressive production/sampling in the back of basically every track and there's some really impressive lyrical tongue-twisters all over the place that he powers through with precision and aplomb. Fav tracks: AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, Endangered Species, Who's The Mack?

For the record, I could name 25 albums on this list that are more misogynistic than this one. People on this site are just incredibly racist. That being said, it's a pretty good album. It's a lot funkier than a lot of stuff from the same year, but I could do without a few of the shorter songs. The skit about that's just stock gunshot sound effects was pretty funny, though. I also appreciate someone finally deciding not to make their album CD-length because they can. I feel like there's definitely better 90s rap albums on this list, but to be fair, the competition is 2Pac.

310/1001. Can this album be fun and gangsta at the same time? I’m pretty sure Ice Cube has some real life experiences to tell, but am not sure if this eased out any possible white-black relations. And I suppose that never was the purpose of the album. Antway somehow the Public Enemy production takes the album to a whole new level. Not perhaps music I would be listening to very often or playing to my friends and and family, but that’s another reason to respect it.

This was good but not quite NWA level

A moment in time, for sure, but what a moment it was. A lot of this has not aged particularly well, but it is undeniable that Ice Cube was a hell of a performer in his prime.

Solid west coast rap. The rhythm section on this album really stands out with classic soul and funk lines. Overall this album is very well balanced. My biggest issue is the portrayal of women in this album though Yo-Yo’s inclusion is a good counterbalance to his misogyny. Ice Cube’s flow is good with moments that break out of contemporary patterns and anticipate the more creative rapping to come

After NWA, Ice Cube showed he could still deliver with a strong debut solo album. There's no doubt that The Lench Mob brings a-game production for the album, but it's Ice Cube's attitude and lyricism that really cements this as a hardcore hiphop album for all time. NWA deserves praise on their own, of course, but Ice Cube clearly did well for himself after the group. I'll say that the first half of songs are better than second half, but the whole thing is still cool af.

A powerful and angry hip-hop album that established the genre's footing in the industry. Ice Cube's debut is for sure my favorite after Death Certificate and for a very good reason. He's let out his anger at injustice and top lyrical ideas into one compact album. Ice Cube is a lyrical genius, who's storytelling skills draws you into the setting and mood, while also conveying the underlying message. This is best demonstrated in "The Nigga Ya...", "AmeriKKKa's...", and "Once Upon a Time...". I also love how he incorporates humor and imagination, as in "You Can't Fade Me" and "A Gangsta's Fairytale." And then there's the Bomb Squad production which serves to reinforce and complement the power of Ice Cube's messages. It's reminiscent of what made Public Enemy so special. I did feel the second side was weaker than the first, but still amazing tracks one after the other.

A great hip-hop album. At times the songs feel like they can blend together and that might have to do with the beat, but I have no real complaints about that. Ice Cube has some important things to say, and they're still relevant to this day.

When you think of Ice Cube over the past few years, you think of movies like Ride Along, Barbershop and other somewhat wholesome offerings. This album, and specifically the lyrics, is a bit of a contrast to that. The beats are funky. More funky than I remembered, to be honest. Most "gansta rap" of this era was a bit more raw and gritty, but is a bit more polished and, well, funky. This album also wears it's Public Enemy ties and Parliament Funkadelic influence on it's sleeve, featuring Public Enemy's production teams, The Bomb Squad/Da Lench Mob, as well as appearances from Chuck D and Flava Flav. This is most definitely a west coast rap album, with skits between songs, racial and misogynistic lyrics in full effect and a slathering of political ranting. Some of the themes still ring true today, while others are definitely from a bygone era (this album actually turns 31 in 4 days, so...yeah.) One thing is for sure...this is still a damn good record, regardless.

After the first couple of tracks I worried this would feel samey. Wrong. Deep grooves in the samples, Cube's in-your-face delivery and a dollop of humour and self-awareness made for a very enjoyable listen.

Interesting to think that this album could have been produced by Dre. I think this album benefits a lot from the East Coast style production combined with Ice Cube's West Coast rap style. Every song is good, with Cube alternating between Cube attacking the beat and smoothly following behind it. The pervasive funk samples on this album really make it a breeze to listen to 4/5

Hey if you idiots gave Eminem 3.5, and this guy only 2.whatever, there's a problem, because they're both gross as hell and this guy actually has things to say.

West coast meets east coast production. Definitely feel the Public Enemy’s production team on this album. Cool backstory with Ice meeting Chuck D and Chuck D dropping him off in a warehouse in Long Island filled wall to wall with records for 10 days and have him pick out his records for the album. Dr. Dre nowhere to be found to hand him the beats. Ahhh the days before the East Coast West Coast beef. Great record and his 1st stepping away from NWA and heading east.

Very listenable but nowhere near as creative as Dr Dre or others of the same period; cartoonish fun but too long

This album is more historically important than actually musically enjoyable. Ice Cube is no Dr Dre.

Too much Ice, not enough to drink. Honestly, I appreciate this album more than I like it; it’s a landmark for sure, and songs like Once Upon a Time in the Projects and It’s a Man’s World bump so fucking hard. But Ice Cubes flow get old pretty fast without the rest of NWA to back him up. The mostly unremarkable beats certainly don’t help, either. It has some great stuff, but it is too bloated for his charisma to carry it alone.

I am going to start a crowdfunding campaign to create an AI tool that automatically translates words in songs to be tailored to the listener. For this album it would translate the following to make it easier to listen to: Bitches = women Ni**as = chums Guns = party poppers Ax = ask Who’s in? Just me?

AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted Bit of a funny one. On the one hand there is quite a bit of cliched misogyny, guns, bitches, dick sucking and beef, but there is also a lot of storytelling of the reality and experiences of the environments he talks about. Things like Once Upon a Time in the Projects, Endangered Species and Rollin’ with the Lench Mob are excellent, angry diatribes about the futility and violence of that world, but things like Get Off My Dick and Tell Yo Bitch to Come Here, Who’s the Mack and the terrible It’s a Man’s World are depressingly cliched and nasty. I’ve always liked Ice T’s delivery though, and he has some great rhymes, but with the misogyny, cliche and the slight sense of insincere anger the whole album does get a bit tiresome after a while, and pushing through to the end is a bit of a struggle. I like the Bomb Squad production, it sounds a bit more polished and soulful than on Public Enemy albums, with more of a West Coast sheen and less of their usual frenetic, kinetic energy, and some great grooves, like Once Upon a Time in the Projects, or the fast paced rush of The Bomb. In NWA he helped birth some of those gangsta rap tropes, but, to sound like a massive knob, they had a visceral thrill to them, talking about a world so far removed from my experience. But on here aside from a few exceptions, it doesn’t carry that same power, undermined by a thread of cynical misogyny. I think a 2, as I don’t think I’ll come back to it 🇺🇲🇺🇲 Playlist submission: Once Upon a Time in the Projects

Absolute garbage, as will all other albums of this genre that I've encountered here

the misogyny is gross

Couldn't get through it with the misogyny.

This just embodies everything that sucks about rap. I say that as a big hip-hop fan. Ice Cube was lauded for his lyricism at the height of his career. I know he ghost wrote for a lot of other rappers at the time. But the truth is that the subject matter is all misogyny and violence. There's nothing of substance here. The rhyme schemes are simple and he's a one trick pony when it comes to his rapping style. He has the same flow on every track.

Ik ben woke.

I really wish I'd died before hearing this

An interesting reflection on that period of time. I found it really fascinating how a deep message of the album was about the racism in America and police brutality and really took a firm stance towards equality yet in the same vein was so so deeply misogynistic- I guess again of that time but the level of misogyny meant I couldn’t enjoy this album at all or any of the songs really. Would never put this on or listen to it again. It was a really hard one to finish.

Yeah, no. Horrible on many levels, it's almost a caricature of gangsta rap. The one song is off the charts misogynistic with ridiculously graphic imagery. And most of this is standard bravado with a few commentaries on racism. An ordeal to get through with nothing positive to say about it.

This album reeks of small dick energy

Really did not like this at all. Ugh.

Absolutely not. I saw this album and immediately knew this album is not for me, it was not made for me and I am glad I never have to hear it again. This album is unnecessary and I'm upset I had to listen to it for this generator. There's not much I can say about this album other than how much I hate it.

More promotion of guns violence and mysogyny the final straw was "9 months later, I wish I hadn't banged, got me reaching in my wardrobe for a coat hanger" tongue in cheek maybe but not really funny of any time period not for me although there are some genuinely cool flows and beats 8 can't get past the subject matter

Bad

I love the beat but the profanity and attitudes towards women are over the top for me and cloud his message. 1

I was never a fan to begin with but this has aged very poorly. The lyrics just seem juvenile and very misogynistic to the point of being unlistenable.

The misogynist content is so disagreeable that couldn't even think about enjoying anything else. I took the advice of a different review and listened to Masta Ace's album, Take a Look Around. I enjoyed it! (I found it on YouTube.)

I’m not one to appreciate misogyny

no.

Really? So annoying to hear, vulgar language and misogynistic. Would give it -1 if I could.

Strap in, boys. This one's gonna be rough. ...Yep. The lyrics are blatantly sexist ("Women, they're good for nothing, no maybe one thing / To serve needs to my ding-a-ling", among countless others). Per another reviewer: "How can you critique the oppression of black people and at the same time promote the oppression of women?" That's exactly my thought when listening to the majority of 90s hip-hop/rap entries on this list. Of course, Ice Cube is just following the trend of whatever sells the most in the moment – which is fair, I guess – so I guess the onus is on the audiences to avoid listening to and promoting Ice Cube and artists like him. Can audiences please stop rewarding this genuinely harmful and hypocritical music under the pretence of "haha rebellion fun"? At least with harmful rock music (e.g.), a lot of listeners misinterpret the lyrics to mean something more innocent. That isn't possible here. And I have no problem with this music existing. I just have a problem with it being touted as "important" in album compilations like this one. The opening track, The Nerd Ya Love To Hate, leaves little to pay attention to aside from the lyrics. So congrats, Ice Cube. You've forced me to do something I don't usually do. Let's look at your poetry, eh? "That's from the nerd ya love to hate / Fuck you, Ice Cube" Yeah. Thats pretty much the central message of the song. Other people hate you, and... you wear it as a badge of pride? (He does it again in Turn Off The Radio, and various other songs.) Why? Is there something enticing about being an unlikeable villain ("shooting out the window of a drop-top Brougham", "peace, don't make me laugh... I'm a nerd, gotta live by the trigger")? No. Glorifying violence is not the answer, nor is supporting artists who do. I get the anti-racism sentiment, especially for the police-brutality-ridden times of the early 90s, but there are much better ways of expressing it. The backbeat in You Can't Fade Me is pretty sweet. Just tune out the vocals, and you encounter a sick bassline with some well-placed brass/synth fills. The following song, Once Upon A Time In The Projects is also surprisingly groovy. The interludes also aren't as terrible as they could be, and a lot of them blur the line between interlude and full-length track. In that regard, Ice Cube's doing pretty well. There just isn't enough melody, good lyricism, chord progressions, or good instrument combos in the album to make it worth ever listening again. 1/5 Key tracks: You Can't Fade Me, Once Upon A Time In The Projects, Who's The Mack?

Sexist, Racist, Crude, and all the other things. How did this guy build a network TV acting career?

As a woman I am against anything mysognistic, and unfortunately in a lot of gangsta rap there is excessive mysogny like in this album. The beats were okay, though not as good as many other hip hop albums I listened before. It's a very angry album, and I get the importance of the political messages but I can't rate this album higher than 1 star.

Dude, you're not a victim. In fact, you're the opposite of one.

A classic of the genre but dated to my ears in 2025. I really hate misogyny in rap music. I've never heard a good excuse for why it's so prolific other than it's cultural - which...isn't the argument they think it is. I won't listen to this again if I can avoid it. Rap skits are cringe.

If this album (or any of the so-called-classic records from this genre of hi hop really...) was released today, I wonder how it would be received? My guess is that it would be immediately panned. I mean I guess that shows how far we've come in some respects over the past 30 years. But it's interesting listening to this because basically all of the racial and social problems from this album are just as bad now. Probably worse. But it's another one of these hip hop albums that promotes violence, degrades women, and serves as basically a vehicle for boasting about yourself based on some weird idea of what you think would impress people. I really don't get why people like this. I’ve said it before, true here, this is objectively bad music and I wonder what Ice Cube would honestly think about it today. Every time one of these hip hop albums come up I resignedly sigh and question my vow to listen to every album on this list all the way through. 1/5

Grotesque misogyny.

It's hard to imagine this man would go on to be a kids movie star, and Trump bootlicker. The music is good. But I won't separate art from the artist.

Wow. I guess I'm not a gangsta rap girl. I appreciate some diversity in the albums (finally!) but... Such profanity and tough talk mixed with some good ol' misogyny. He's angry, and probably justifiably so (there is literally a drive-by as one of the tracks) but I still did not like this.

Hard hitting out the gate; of the original NWA members vocally Ice is crisp, Dre laid back love both. Public Enemy produced? Damn. Little Isaac Hayes, RUN/DMC Chuck D and Flav, James Brown. YoYo! Cube references the uzi which is apt cause the lyrics are spitting tight and fast, spraying his truth all over. Sensational album. Full of the fury. And no vaseline wasn't even on this album. What a great mix of all genres and styles and Cube was the mouthpiece of NWA as much as Dre backed the beats. Easy 5 EEEEE.

Great album! A stunning debut from Ice Cube! It has very socially aware lyrics, mostly about racism and the mistreatment of African-Americans. A quintessential rap album! Marvelous!

This was an excellent listen. Keeps you engaged throughout. Fairplay lad

Hell yeah I love the raw attitude in this album. This whole thing was fire. I loved it! I'm giving this one 5 stars. I especially liked the history around this album. This is Ice Cube’s first solo album after leaving N.W.A., and that context is everything. He had already been one of the sharpest voices in gangsta rap, but this album is where he proves he can stand completely on his own. Instead of staying with the West Coast production sound people expected, he went to New York and worked with The Bomb Squad, who were known for producing Public Enemy. So you get Ice Cube’s L.A. rage and street perspective over dense, chaotic, sample-heavy East Coast production. That combination is a huge reason the album made the list. The sound is aggressive as hell. The Bomb Squad beats are not smooth or minimal; they’re crowded, noisy, funky, and confrontational. Horn stabs, sirens, funk samples, scratches, hard drums, voices flying in and out — it can almost feel like the music is arguing with you while Cube is rapping. That fits the album’s mood perfectly: angry, political, funny, vicious, paranoid, and totally unwilling to make anyone comfortable.

One of the best

Hip Hop is not my thing. And gangster rap is my least favorite style. And despite all that, I love this album. It is sonically engaging and interesting throughout. (Made before a Federal Judge in New York decided that any sample of longer than one second triggered an obligation to share song-writing royalties, destroying the magical sample-collage track building style of the late 80s.) And lyrically, though he checks the misogyny and egotism boxes that seem required of the genre, his narratives reveal a creative depth and command that is incredibly rare in every style of music.

I was living in Long Beach when this came out. I listened to it a lot. This style of rap was exciting and dangerous back then. I mean really, killing yourself off on the first track and your final words are, "fuck all y'all" is pure genius. This album is filled with classics. Rock that shit homey, rock that shit.

Злой как черт вернулся. Фит с Yo-Yo просто топ песня. За это 5.

A monster of an album. Ice Cube gets electrocuted and comes off spitting power immediately in the ** You Love to Hate. Classic track with some serious funk care of the Bomb Squad, and an announcement to the world that leaving NWA didn't do anything to stop his rage and lyrical force. Tracks like The Bomb and Gangsta's Fairytale are classic too. This isn't necessarily my favourite Cube solo album--I have a soft spot for Lethal Injection's funk-ridden beats. But it's definitely a very important album in the development of rap music. 5/5

To all the people who are hot and bothered because of the misogyny...did you expect a 90s rapper from LA to speak from the heart about rainbows and butterflies? I'm just grateful that this isn't the 5000th brit pop album I have to listen to because of this list. I would understand if ice was still rapping about choking a bitch in 2026 but did we collectively forget he started in the family favorite are we there yet? Went in thinking this album would be bad, came out pleasantly surprised at the message and Ice cube's ability to mix good beats with great bars. I don't envy the position of black people 20th century america, having to deal with nonstop injustice, but then also being seen as "animals" the moment they fight back. This album is a stark reminder of the inequality present in America, and a sad truth that much hasn't changed in the 30+ years since this album released

Really loved the west coast funk running through this. Simultaneously hilarious and serious.

Bomb Squad + the conscience of NWA…Glorious.

My favorite thing about 90s hip-hop is often how many different breaks and vocals that are sampled in tandem to create a sort of poly-rhythm during the parts where the MC isn't rapping, I don't know if you call it a bridge or a instrumental break, but I just love the endless amount of unique grooves you can get with that technique. This album has a lot of that, plus very dense lyrical matter that I haven't even listened to or read yet but still recognize the effort put into that pen game which I don't know shit about. What a trip, I love it.

Excellent rhymes, beats, etc.

I love this era of hip hop. Ice Cube is top 3 favorite rappers for me