Amerikkkas Most Wanted [Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered]

Ice Cube | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 25, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 1990
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Priority Records
• ASIN: B00008BL44
• In-Print Editions: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #54,930 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ice Cube at his BEST, April 5, 2004

By 

Wayne Maye (Petersburg,VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Amerikkkas Most Wanted (Audio CD)

Man, did Ice Cube REALLY drop a bomb on the hip hop nation with this debut album. After leaving N.W.A., Cube went solo and nothing would ever be the same again. Not many artists can come HARD like he did on their first albums. Ice Cube came harder than anyone else at the time in 1990, and he did it with ease and gusto. One of my personal favorite albums, this album defines what Ice Cube is all about. Here's the review:

Album Highlights: The ENTIRE album.

Production: Thumbs up, one of the first true times that the east and the west hooked up, and the results were AWESOME

Lyrics and Subject Matter: Thumbs up, like i said, NO ONE was spitting this hard in 1990, ask N.W.A., as they became nonexistant in hip hop after Cube left

Originality: Thumbs up

The Last Word: AWESOME album. One of the greatest albums EVER, Ice Cube represented here, and it shows. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND this album, and as an added bonus, you get the AWESOME Kill At Will EP in its remastered form. Buy this album NOW if you don't own it.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ice Cube breaks away from N.W.A. in the height of their success, November 2, 2005

By 

Alan Pounds "Minnesota Hip-Hop Fiend" (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Amerikkkas Most Wanted (Audio CD)

If you ask this reviewer, Ice Cube's solo career remains the best of the N.W.A. collective (which included Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, MC Ren, and Ice Cube). After all these years, "AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted" sounds just as raw as the day it was released. The album dropped one year after the landmark album "Straight Outta Compton", and builds on the political and cultural commentary, bringing it to a higher level.

Ice Cube holds absolutely nothing back on his solo debut. His unapologetic lyrics touch on several topics; including street life, gangs, drugs, kids, a woman's place in the hip-hop world, and politics (among others). Standouts include the riveting title cut, the hilarious story-telling of "You Can't Fade Me", the enthralling production of "JD's Gafflin'", "A Gangster's Fairy Tale" where Ice Cube talks to the kids, "Endangered Species (Tales From The Darkside)" featuring Chuck D from Public Enemy, "Who's The Mack?", and the interesting commentary about a woman's place in hip-hop "It's A Man's World" featuring (female emcee) Yo-Yo.

Overall, those who thought Dr. Dre's "The Chronic" was the best thing to come out of the N.W.A. collective should check this out. If you think "The Chronic" is slightly overrated (like myself), you should definitely check this out. Don't be caught sleeping.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Six Seminal Hip Hop Records Panned By Rolling Stone, August 22, 2006

By 

Ashley M. Blanchard "Fly Fever" (Syracuse, New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Amerikkkas Most Wanted (Audio CD)

As a big fan of the book, "Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists", there was a section where certain seminal hip hop records were bashed by Rolling Stones. Ice Cube's monumental gangsta rap debut was one of them. Critics said, "the relentless profanity grows wearisome, bombsquads production loses steam, and Cube's attitude towards women are simply despicable". However, "Amerikkka's Most Wanted" (A suberbly provacative title) is criticized for all the wrong reasons. Most critics based assumptions on shock value and profanity but Cube's message was loud and clear. He was going to shut down racist white Amerikkka with one of the most visceral and revolutionary records that I have ever heard.

Straight out the box, Ice Cube is not out to make friends with, "The N***** Ya Love To Hate". Reality is a hard thing to digest and he let people know by dropping jewels like, "When I'm shootin let's see who drop/ The police, the media, and suckers that went pop/ And mother******* that say they too black/ Put 'em overseas they be beggin to come back/ They say we promote gangs and drugs/ You wanna sweep a n***** like me up under the rug/ Kickin s*** called street knowledge/ Why more n****** in the pen than in college. It was like Huey Newton speaking from a gangsta figures perspective and collaborating with Public Enemy... he became the black CNN. Songs such as "Turn Off The Radio" could never happen on a major label again. He was saying, "Program directors and dj's ignore me/ because I simply said F*** top forty/ Top thirty, top twenty, and top ten/ Until you put more hip hop in/". Most happy songs didn't make much sense on radio (still don't) and Cube knew hip hop was a weapon that people could see in the broad.

"Amerikkka's Most Wanted" also cemented Ice Cube as one of the genres greatest storytellers. The way he freaked nursery rhymes, for the kids, on "A Gangsta's Fairtale" was unbelievable. It was informing kids to watch out for scandolous women and stds. "Once Upon A Time In The Projects" was so vivid, it brought you straight to Compton, as if Ice Cube was saying his rhymes right beside you with an angry expression on his face. "Endangered Species" is one of the most politically intense charged rap songs ever on wax. "Every cop killer goes ignored/ They'll just send another n***** to the morgue/ A point scored; they could give a f*** about us/ They rather catch us with guns, and white powder/ - If I was old, they'd probably be a friend of me/ Since I'm young, they consider me the enemy/ You should listen to me cause there's more to see/ Call my neighborhood a ghetto cause it houses minorities/".

Overall, it's easy to see why hip hop purists say hip hop today just isn't good as that old school s***. Hell, even Rolling Stones, who dismissed this record, realized the records greatness and later gave this debut a 5 out of 5 stars rating. What's more amazing is the aforementioned songs aren't even my top two favorites. The title track and "Who's The Mack" knocked me off the edge of my seat. You can find gangsta rap anywhere today but this had such a powerful message with such proper beats, that unlike its modern day contemporaries, stands the test of time. Like rapreviews.com said, "One of the most important records ever made...if someone says to you rap is simple, throw this on and dare them to write something better - - none of them ever will".