Ice Cube

The Source (5/00, pp.212,214) - 3.5 mics out of 5 - "...He returns to his incendiary roots and delivers a strong album....Cube sounds invigorated here....quality hard-core music....He still reigns as one of hip-hop's most insightful - and important - artists."
Vibe (5/00, p.172) - "...Travels between gangster stylings and conscious rap....Ice Cube provides something for 'all' of his fans....VOL. 2 is a free-flowing smattering of styles..."
Rolling Stone (5/11/00, p.131) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Makes an argument for Cube's longevity....We see the badass spiritual resiliency that made Cube so worth imitating in the first place."
Q Magazine (5/00, p.110) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Ice Cube is still angry. At least he's trying to be....A forefather of gangsta rap....[He] sounds like an old man edging out of a young man's game. Deep down, he knows it..."
Entertainment Weekly (3/24/00, p.102) - "...rough-and-tumble celebrations of gangsta life....Cube's stern vocal presence dominates. No, movie stardom hasn't dulled his edge..." - Rating: B-
Wire (4/00, p.53) - "...[Cube] celebrates his irritation with industry hangers on, record company CEOs, and hustling young rappers....Production is fat and sassy with plenty of slick moves..."
CMJ (4/3/00, p.35) - "...Easily his dopest sh*t in years, ...PEACE takes to the dancefloor with the energy of landmark works such as KILL AT WILL and DEATH CERTIFICATE..."

"I started this gangsta shit," says Ice Cube at the opening of War and Peace Vol. 2, "and this
the motherfuckin' thanks I get?" We've heard similar whines from dozens of platinum
rappers, but few would begrudge Ice Cube his righteous fury. It sucks being an elder
statesman at thirty (even if you're also a Young Turk movie producer). War and Peace Vol.
2, an improvement on 1998's scattershot Vol. 1, makes an argument for Cube's lo... More >

Good ol' Cube, taking time off from his busy schedule as Hollywood honcho and Backstreet Boys stablemate to produce an unimaginative if not notably hateful marker in the "Keep it gangsta, dog" game while preparing a complex rhyme for Eminem's ass: "I'm still comin' with that underground gangsta sh*t/No matter how many n*gg*s say we ain't the sh*t." In a year when hards from Cam'ron to Trick Daddy illed with enough self-critical ambivalence and sly style to keep moralists off balance, Cube's boasts and threats are as utilitarian as Chucky Thompson's emailed-in beats. With faking the gat life no longer a realistic possibility, he's down to pretending his penis is a lethal weapon. And lest you hold his nonexistent sense of humor against him, the honcho orders up a Chris Rock cameo. (Grade - C+)