O.G. Original Gangster

Я дуже люблю хіп-хоп 80х і 90х, тут якраз альбом на стику декад.

Конкретно щодо айс ті я ніколи не був фанатом, тексти (як і в багатьох тогочасних реперів) постарішали поганенько, але все одно мене легко купити тогочасним хіп-хопом.

Looking at the track listings and awful titles of the songs this is going to be a very hard listen.

Favourite song:
Least favourite:
Album artwork: I wont be hanging this one up at home.

We get it - you're hard. You're a bad boi. You're angry. You don't like the cops

But jesus this was too much. Repetitive and too long

Beats were decent, and I really liked the guitar on Body Count. The rest of it was bad

2 ⭐️

I genuinely liked this album and I'm shocked. It is definitely not meant for me a white boy from middle America, but at the same time it's directed to me? It's so interesting how much he can change the tone even within the same song. It's hilarious to see how he ended up, but taken as a snapshot, it's a great time capsule of 1991 and frightening how relevant it still is.

joitain hyviä biisejä (mind over matter erityisesti), mut tyypillisen ysäri-rap-levyn tyyliin liian pitkä et jaksais kuunnella kokonaan putkeen. 2.5/5

Like it far better than I expected going in. Surprised this one never hit my radar given the timing should have worked better for me as a youngin. 4/5

Not the worst rap album I've heard. It tells a story, even if it's a lot of crap. And as rap goes, it's easy to follow, and hear what he's saying, so that's always a plus. But I still wouldn't choose to listen to it again.

Van begin af aan is het duidelijk. Dit wordt een klassiek rauw rap album. Dat vind ik zelf altijd wel fijn. Het eerste nummer laat ook horen in welk hoekje binnen het genre we het moeten zoeken. De rap wordt begeleid door een flinke (wederom rauwe) beat. Nog iets meer in mijn straatje.

Daarna wordt duidelijk dat we weer kunnen sample-spotten.

Binnen de geschetste afbakening schiet het album toch nog heel wat kanten op. Af en toe heeft het de dubieuze kwaliteit van een Osdorp Posse plaat (Midnight). Maar vaker doet het mij denken aan bijvoorbeeld Public Enemy (Lifestyles of the rich and infamous). Hij breekt de plaat nog een keer met een metaal-plaat ter promotie van zijn andere band. Best een prima nummer.

Al met al heel fijn plaatje om te luisteren.

3.64

I say this every time I get one of these classic rap albums, but old 80s/early90s rap sounds so dated and quaint, it's hard to take it seriously. The bottom line with this album is that it's better than I expected it to be, but it's WAY too long. No goddamned reason for this to be 24 songs and over an hour.

A microcosm of the album is the song Body Count. Ice-T slipped in a hard rock song by his rock band on a rap album. That's creative, and interesting, and brave! The song is more than 5 minutes long - that's too long!

I'll give it a 3. It is catchy, but man. Too long.

One of the greatest old-school rappers in my opinion. Also, the song Body Count was the start of the band with the same name, which is fucking great, therefore this record is great just because of that alone.

I keep trying, but I can't do anything with rap and hip hop. This album is no exception. I played a few tracks and quickly moved on.
1/5

I’m not much of a rap connoisseur, but I liked the music tracks and found the raps interesting.

I call this style of music “Dr. Suess Rap”

Do you like green eggs and ham?
I could not give a mother-f**king damn
Would you eat them with a fox?
I’ll put you in a freaking box.

This one filled my "bad hip-hop" bingo card pretty quickly; cringe braggidoccio, mysogeny, annoying skits, 20 mins too long and dated production. Don't see this one as essential at all. How did this make the list, but no MF Doom?

I don’t hate or even dislike any of it, but I find it to be quite boring. His flow is fine, but his timbre is unspectacular. And it’s soooo long. I can’t imagine sitting through this whole thing again.

2.5/5

2.5

Razor-sharp and witty in some places; puerile, immature, and absurdly misogynistic in others. Some of it is just talking and it's far too long.

Typical 90s hip hop. It's got excellent storytelling. If I'm not mistaken, Ice T samples Black Sabbath's - Black Sabbath in the song Midnight.

Favourite songs: Lifestyles of the Rich and Infamous, Fly By, O.G. Original Gangster, Mic Contract, Midnight, Bitches 2, Straight Up Nigga, Ziplock

Least favourite songs: First Impression, Evil E - What About Sex?, Ya Shoulda Killed Me Last Year (fuck skits), M.V.P.s, Street Killer

4/5

Classic early 90s west coast gangster rap, braggadocio is the order of the day as Ice raps about people being bitches (both genders), gangster hustle shit, and guns going bang. Plenty of mid song skit style breakdowns but Ice changes things up with the hard metal "Body Count" that would be spun off into a legit side project by the same name. They are, of course, infamous for the "Cop Killer" song, but then Ice-T would spend the last 23 years playing a cop on TV, really makes you think...

Oh, and fuck Tipper Gore and the PMRC