Customer Reviews

Lethal Injection

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have to admit, I listened to this album constantly when it came out. It's what I think of as Ice Cube's g-funk album. I say that because I think this was his answer to "The Chronic" and "Doggystyle". A few tracks I don't care for much, but the better ones make it worth owning. "Really Doe" and "Ghetto Bird" are both great, and "You Know How We Do It" is a cruising classic. "Bop Gun" is a sweet party track, because of it's length, and the fact that George Clinton is on it. I also dig the groovy "Make It Rough, Make It Smooth", "Down For Whatever", and "When I Get To Heaven". All on the mellow side. As for the bonus tracks, I don't think they're half as good as the bonus tracks on "The Predator", but with the remastering I'll take 'em. This is also another Cube disc that's heavy on the pro-black/anti-white thing, fyi. Still though, a must for bigger fans, others can probably stick with the "Hits".

In late 1993, Ice Cube releases his 4th full length album (5th if you count Kill At Will EP). He still has some heat in his often angry social and political lyrics. But, he does chill a litle more, as do the beats. Beatwise, this is my favorite Cube album. Sir Jinx, Laylaw (Above the Law), QD III, Madness 4 Real, 88X Unit, and Brian G lace cube up with some smokin' G-Funk beats. His previous albums had some funky beats that were more pre g-funk and more raw, while these are more polished. QD III laced "You Know How We Do It" is one of my favorite g-funk songs of all time. The beat is sunny and laidback with a touch of soul, and there is a piercing whiny synth making the joint a great one to roll to. Cube's rhymes add to the relaxed effect of this classic. "Ghetto Bird" is a pulsating joint where Cube flees the cops, ducks the police chopper, jacks someone's ride, and goes to his woman's house and digs her out. The beat is bouncy with another whiny synth. "Make It Ruff, Make It Smooth" (f/ K-Dee) is a raucous good time. Cube is the ruff loc, and K-Dee is the smooth mack over a bouncy, twangy lowrider beat. "When I Get To Heaven" is a little more controversial. He discusses the corruptness and emptiness of the church declaring it "nuthin' but a fashion show." He knocks on religion. Take it how you want you to. The beat is chill and twangy and has a cool vibe with a flute in the hook. "Lil A-- Gee" is a tale of a younster growin' up fast and causin' trouble and panic mad young. "Cave B----" is an angry, controversial, and somewhat humorous knock on white women and how Ice Cube wants nothing to do with them. The beat has a little more East Coast bump to it and sounds dope in the system. Then we have the full album version of "Bop Gun(One Nation)," a p-funk meets g-funk classic with George Clinton adding his gruff vocals and Ice Cube gettin' it crunk, a dope g-party jam. This version is 11 minutes long! The beat "Enemy" has the early Ice Cube vibe to it with angry lyrics and an old-school beat sounding circa Death Certificate. Ice Cube still uses the c-word towards white folks like on the older albums here. This is the 2003 re-release, and there are 4 bonus tracks- mixes for "What Can I Do" (Westside Mix, and Eastside Mix), the former a lowrider ready bouncer, and the latter a jazzy a-la-Tribe Called Quest, QD III's awesome remix for "You Know How We Do It," and N.O. Joe's Eerie Gumbo Funk mix for "Lil' A-- Gee," and his version has that Texas Mobb style he is known for and a sick whiny synth. As for the album, I feel it's a classic for anyone lovin' gangsta rap, G-Funk, controversial and social aware rap because it caters to all those milieu.

Ice Cube's 4th full album Lethal Injection would produce more great results comming off his most commercial LP (back in the early 90's) The Preditor. Compared to albums such as Amerikka's Most Wanted/Kill At Will and Death Certificate, a more older Ice Cube would come on this album with less gang related topics and less pro-black rhyme structure. Hooking up with a producer named q d III most parts throughout the album come off sucessful, and at the same time, more laid back (I guess Cube's production skills wern't in full swing yet back in '93). "Really Doe", "Cave B***h" (despite how racial you think that song is), "Lil A** Gee" would be the only few songs that will take you back to the early days of Ice Cube. The latter would be a song on the effect on little kids getting caught up in gangbanging. "Ghetto Bird" is an ode to those high speed chases that often occur in Los Angeles. The soft atmosphere occurs on most tracks as songs like "You Know How We Do It", "Make It Ruff, Make It Smooth" and "When I Get To Heaven" would play off well, but at the same time, might have left old Cube fans scratching their heads ("Down For Whatever" couldn't have been any slower). Despite the eleven minute long song "Bop Gun", that will make you nod your head to the uplifting p funk tune of George Clinton's (who ironically appears on this track) "One Nation Under A Groove".

If you purchased this after 2003, you would get four extra tracks (mostly taken from his Bootlegs & B Sides album) of remixes of the hits. ATCQ's Ali Shaheed Muhummad would remix "What Can i Do" with a beat that doesn't sound like Cube would be confortable with but pulls it off anyway. Cube himself would remix "You Know How We Do It" making it sound better than the origonal.

Overall, this album is solid release from Cube that I enjoyed at most parts. No he doesn't carry the same tone as he did back in his NWA days, but hits us with something more relaxing. People say that this is Cube's worst album that he released between 1990 and 1993, but that doesn't mean that it's a bad album (personally I believe The Preditor was his worst), and has been sucessful in many points, reading that it was his second most selling album behind The Preditor. This one I recommend picking up, it carries its weight for the majority.

Lyrics: B+
Production: A-
Musical Vibes: B
Overall: B+

Favorite Tracks: Really Doe, Ghetto Bird, You Know How We Do It (both origonal and remix), Cave B***h, (Bop Gun) One Nation, When I Get To Heaven, What Can I Do (Remix), Lil A** Gee (Remix)

Ice Cube comes back with this darker sound after the predator. a lot of people don't feel this album, i think because it is so much darker and crazier. the sound is still funky, and personnally i really dig it, some of ice cube's best work on here (see song two "really doe").
all in all, highly recommended

people have said this is 'cubes worst album', 'he got bigheaded' and so on, firstly this album is second only to amerikkka's most and secondly hes got a right to be big headed, puttin out cuts like he does, im gonna do yall a rundown of the albums tracks with a score /5, and its what i think so if yall dont like it....

1. The Shot- Just an intro

2. Really Doe- Not a bad song 3/5

3. Ghetto Bird- Best gangsta beat ever, QDIII got it right here, most of yall will recognise the beat from Menace II Society- phat film,watch it 5/5

4. You Know How We Do It- Nice Beat, another QDIII masterpiece 4/5

5. Cave Bi**h- Racist to white girlies, but its got sum phat azz bass, great song pump it up 4/5

6. Bop Gun (One Nation)- Featuring George Clinton, sampling Bop Gun (One Nation Under A Groove) straight funk master,this is a funky tune 4/5

7. What Can I Do?- Ill tell yall what ya can do, turn up this dope cut 4/5

8. Lil Ass Gee- Tellin the kids to stay in school, dope tune 3/5

9.Make It Ruff, Make It Smooth, Cube is the ruff side, KD from Da Lench Mob is the smooth side, a nice fly song 4/5

10. Down For Whatever- My Fave from the album, got phat bass one of the dopest cube records 5/5, nah 10/5 its the bomb

11. Enemy- Not bad, cool song 3/5

12. When I Get To Heaven- Yeah a fly cut 3/5

I wont bother with the remixes they were all dope but dont match the originals.
This is one album you should buy, nah should have already, cmon it came out nuff time ago it is a hot album dont listen to people who sleep on it they dont know hip hop

This CD has some fine moments on it, but it lacks the cohesion, confidence and conviction of Amerikkka and Death Certificate. It used to seem real but by this album it just sounds like Cube's trying to capture a market demographic and watching Cops for lyrical inspiration. And while it's musically more diverse, wasn't it Ice Cube derisively suggesting newcomers like Warren G new-jack swing on his nuts for trying to change things up a bit? It's a good record but it's not a good Ice Cube record.

Ice Cube continues the conscious music/gangsta rap path on this 4th album Lethal Injection. Let's see how many gems we can pull out of this one. Tracks like Really Doe, Ghetto Bird, What Can I Do and YOU KNOW HOW WE DO IT show you that Cube still embraces that gangsta side of him while giving you some insight like how he did on Ghetto Bird. CAVEB***H(RIP Khalled Abdul Mohammed) is a song that is just about that. WHAT CAN I DO, LIL A** GEE, WHEN I GET TO HEAVEN are more gems and the intro before When I Get To Heaven cracks me up till this day. Filler: Make It Ruff, Make It Smmooth is weak plus K-dee's verses were kind of corny) and Enemy sounds like it was put together on the spot. Bottom Line: Lethal Injection is not a garbage album like these crackpots want you to believe. The production was westcoast tight and Ice Cube's lyrics are sharp and to the point. Songs like What Can I Do, Lil A** Gee, When I get to heaven and Cavebitch still ring true to this day. Definetly collection material here.

Lethal Injection is Ice Cube's fifth CD to drop and coming off of a disappointment on The Predator, Cube kind of goes back to his roots from the first couple of albums. This time he hooks up with one of the greatest producers of all-time in the rap game(QDIII) to put together some dope tracks. His first release off of the CD "Really Doe" sounded like a song off of The Predator CD but was good but then the CD takes a turn for the better with "Ghetto Bird"(the opening theme to the classic movie "Menace II Society"), then the classic cut "You Know How We Do It" in which QDIII puts down a paralyzing beat and of course Cube does the rest. Also another classic hit "Bop Gun" which is g-funk at its finest with George Clinton doing what he always do. "What Should I Do" is another great song in which Cube kind of links us back to the Death Certificate CD with a message to let us know about how the prisons is where we send our failures and how society continues to fail miserblely. My favorite cut on here is "Make It Rough, Make It Smooth" with the smooth cat from Da Lench Mob K-Dee who brings to us the smooth laid back side of the side while Cube give the ruffneck-gangsta side of the track. Another track to note is "When I Get To Heaven" which also gives shades of the Death Certificate CD where he talks about how during the times when blacks were being oppressed by christian and catholics, now I agree with some of it but I don't with some of the contents that he says about christians but the song is still cool. This is overall a great comeback album that was very underrated to a lot of rap critics and does deserve a lot of props. Personally I will say that QDIII is far better than Dr. Dre on his best day. Quincy Jones should reward his son for great work instead of someone that is just a pop producer. Great piece of work Cube again.

Ice Cube is one of rap's most talented rappers. His words are strong and he has always kept it true to the game since '87. Take a look at hits like Straight Outta Compton, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted and Death Certificate. Those albums truly put Ice Cube on the map and still he's on top of the game to this very day. Lethal Injection is like the rebirth. In his previous albums, Ice Cube was VERY political and kind of lost the touch of the gangsta. I state this as his rebirth, resurrection because Ice Cube is nothing but a straight up gangsta, the wrong nigga to f*ck wit.

I can't stress just how incredible this album is. Even though it's Ice Cube's most underrated and ignored album, it's one of the tightest gangsta rap albums I've heard. The production in this kicks more ass than a donkey. It's incredible, you won't believe it. Take a look a Ghetto Bird, a track produced by one of my favorite rap producers, QD3 (son of Quincy Jones). It makes you wonder, "how the hell did this guy come up with a wicked as beat like this?" You won't believe what you hear when you hear that song, I can honestly say that's one of the best gangsta rap beats I've heard.

The songs are incredible. Ice Cube is still writing raw rhymes and still is causing major havoc in society. Ghetto Bird is a street slang for helicopters from the law enforcement. His lyrics are very true, which makes this song even better. Really Doe is an alright track, I just don't like the chorus where the women are singing as it is REAL annoying. Despite that, the beat is very eerie and chilling and Ice Cube's voice is very rough that blends in with the beat well. You Know How We Do It is one of the most laid-back songs Ice Cube has done. An excellent song. One song I loved is Cave B*tch, a song that truly speaks the truth. How many white girls are out there, trying to be black? Doesn't that fact annoy you because it sure as hell annoys me. It's the follow-up from his classic Horny Lil' Devil (on Death Certificate) and the beat is very, very heavy. Other tracks I really enjoyed were Enemy, Down for Whatever and When I Get to Heaven. The skits in Enemy and When I Get to Heaven is funny but points out something for the world.

Lethal Injection is an album not to be ignored on. Probably Ice Cube's third best CD, I don't understand why hardly anyone enjoys this CD. It's not a rap classic but sure as hell is a good album.

This is the best Ice Cube CD yet. Ghetto bird is the best song on hea. Buy this CD. Its ill.