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The Essentials (Ice Cube album)

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The Essentials
Greatest hits album by
Ice Cube
ReleasedSeptember 16, 2008 (2008-09-16)
Recorded1990–2008
GenreWest Coast hip hop
Length1:11:51
Label
Producer
CompilerFrank Collura
Ice Cube chronology
In the Movies
(2007) 		The Essentials
(2008) 		10 Great Songs
(2012)

The Essentials is second greatest hits album by American rapper Ice Cube. It was released on September 16, 2008 via Priority Records, making it his fifth compilation for the label and overall.

Composed of 18 songs collected from all the Ice Cube's solo projects (from the 1990 debut AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted to the most recent at that time, 2008 Raw Footage), the compilation was produced by Frank Collura. It features hip hop production from the Boogiemen, Bud'da, Sir Jinx, The Bomb Squad, 88 X Unit, Chucky Thompson, DJ Muggs, D'Maq, Hallway Productionz, Laylaw, Lil' Jon, Loren Hill, Rich Nice, Scott Storch and Ice Cube himself, as well as guest appearances from WC, Das EFX, Kokane, Lil' Jon, Snoop Dogg and DJ Crazy Toones.

Critical reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
MSN MusicA-[2]
Pitchfork7.6/10[3]
PopMatters5/10[4]
RapReviews0/10[5]

Robert Christgau of MSN Music gave the album "A-", saying "it leads with two of hip-hop's great anti-moralizing sermons, the Snoop- and Lil Jon-powered "Go to Church" and the grinder's credo "A Bird in the Hand", then proceeds to his greatest song, the fact-filled paraplegic memoir "Ghetto Vet". It closes with "Dead Homiez" and "Cold Places", two distinct and convincing arguments for keeping ya head up and ya ass off the street".[2] AllMusic's David Jeffries considered it a "big blunder" to have "Cold Pieces" instead of "the superior 'Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It'" and the absence of "Bop Gun", but found that the "release dates are shuffled into a running order that makes sense" and called Soren Baker's essay "informed and insightful".[1] Ian Cohen of Pitchfork resumed: "against the odds, the latest Ice Cube career comp mostly succeeds in balancing his MTV hits with the trenchant deep cuts that actually made him essential in the first place".[3]

In his mixed review, Mike Joseph of PopMatters saw the album as "a horrible introduction if you're being introduced to Ice Cube for the first time, but it's hard to give a thumbs-up to an album that calls itself The Essentials when there's so much essential material missing".[4] Steve 'Flash' Juon of RapReviews gave the album a derogatory 0 out of ten score, summing up with: "absolutely not essential. Important songs missing, unimportant songs included".[5]

Track listing

[edit]
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Go to Church" (featuring Snoop Dogg and Lil' Jon)
Lil' Jon3:51
2."A Bird in the Hand"
2:12
3."Ghetto Vet"
Bud'da4:38
4."Greed"
  • Jackson
  • Anderson
  • Ice Cube
  • Bud'da
4:28
5."Supreme Hustle"
3:37
6."It Was a Good Day"
DJ Pooh4:20
7."Spittin' Pollaseeds" (featuring WC and Kokane)
5:02
8."Rollin' with the Lench Mob"
3:44
9."The Wrong Nigga to Fuck Wit"
  • Sir Jinx
  • Ice Cube
2:49
10."When Will They Shoot?"
4:35
11."Why We Thugs/Smoke Some Weed (Live)" (featuring WC and Crazy Toones)
6:15
12."Givin' Up the Nappy Dugout"Jackson
  • The Boogie Men
  • Ice Cube
4:13
13."A Gangsta's Fairytale"
  • Jackson
  • Sadler
  • Ice Cube
  • Sir Jinx
  • The Bomb Squad
3:01
14."Check Yo Self" (featuring Das EFX)
3:42
15."What Can I Do?"
88 X Unit4:20
16."War & Peace"
  • Ice Cube
  • Bud'da
2:58
17."Dead Homiez"JacksonIce Cube3:53
18."Cold Places"
  • Jackson
  • Teak Underdue
  • Dee Underdue
Hallway Productionz4:13
Total length:1:11:51
Sample credits
Notes

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Jeffries, David. "The Essentials - Ice Cube | Album | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved October 3, 2024.
  2. ^ a b Christgau, Robert (September 2011). "Expert Witness". MSN Music. Retrieved October 3, 2024 – via www.robertchristgau.com.
  3. ^ a b Cohen, Ian (October 3, 2008). "Ice Cube: The Essentials". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 3, 2024.
  4. ^ a b Joseph, Mike (November 25, 2008). "Ice Cube: The Essentials, PopMatters". PopMatters. Retrieved October 3, 2024.
  5. ^ a b Juon, Steve 'Flash' (September 23, 2008). "Ice Cube :: The Essentials – RapReviews". www.rapreviews.com. Retrieved October 3, 2024.

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ The original versions of "Why We Thugs" and "Smoke Some Weed" (with respective credits) are taken from the Lench Mob Records release Laugh Now, Cry Later, while the medley was recorded live at Metro City, Perth, Western Australia
[edit]

Ice Cube – The Essentials at Discogs (list of releases)

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