Ice Cube Lethal Injection CD

In 1993, Ice Cube released his third solo album, LETHAL INJECTION. By this time, the dominance of the West Coast rap scene had started to fade, as East Coast hip-hop artists like the Wu Tang Clan and the Notorious B.I.G. started to pull listeners away from the left coast. Hanging tough, Ice Cube released another masterful performance with LETHAL INJECTION. Tracks like "You Know How We Do It" and "Ghetto Bird" are deep-rooted in the classic West Coast sound and bounce. Filled with funk and smooth synth pads, LETHAL INJECTION is an album sometimes overlooked in the lengthy career of Ice Cube. Check out "Bop Gun (One Nation)," on which funk master George Clinton himself makes an appearance. Some of the album's other excellent tracks include "Make It Ruff, Make It Smooth" (featuring K-Dee), "Really Doe," and "Down for Whatever."

Following the relentless intensity of his early-'90s albums, particularly his post-Rodney King statement, The Predator (1992), Ice Cube reclined a bit and put his rap career on autopilot beginning with Lethal Injection, the last album he would record for five years. Yes, it's a disappointing album, but it's not terrible by any measure. Even if Ice Cube is a little devoid of substance here relative to his rabble-rousing past, he's still a talented rapper, and he has one of the West Coast's premier producers, QDIII, joining him for almost half the album. Unfortunately, much of what made Ice Cube's early-'90s albums so electric -- his thoughtfulness, wit, hostility, energy, and social consciousness -- is sadly in short supply. For compensation, Ice Cube offers a few standout singles, namely "You Know How We Do It" and "Bop Gun (One Nation)." The former follows the successful template that worked a year earlier with "It Was a Good Day" -- a laid-back G-funk ballad laced with an old-school funk vibe; the latter clocks over 11 minutes, an epic ode to George Clinton's P-Funk legacy. These two songs undoubtedly rank alongside Ice Cube's best work ever. There are a few other songs like "Really Doe" and "Ghetto Bird" that also stand out, but even these songs sound rather lackluster relative to Ice Cube's previous work. He's obviously not interested in making an album as daring and ambitious as The Predator again, and you can't really blame him. After all, Ice Cube had delivered three brilliant albums, and a similarly brilliant EP as well, Kill at Will (1990), in just three years, not to mention his then-burgeoning role as an actor. He deserved a break. But at least he took the time to craft two standout singles that alone make this album worthwhile for fans. [The 2003 reissue of Lethal Injection has four bonus tracks: "What Can I Do? (Westside Remix)," which is remixed by Laylaw & D-Maq, "What Can I Do? (Eastside Remix)," which is remixed by Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called Quest, Ice Cube's remix of "You Know How We Do It," and "Lil Ass Gee (Eerie Gumbo Remix)," which is remixed by N.O. Joe Johnson. The disc also has expanded liner notes and a fold-out poster featuring a blown-up image of the album's cover.] ~ Jason Birchmeier

Audio Mixers: Daryll Dobson; Raymond Silva; Rob Chiarelli; Bob Morse .

Audio Remasterer: Kris Solem.

Audio Remixers: D-Maq; Ice Cube; Laylaw; Ali Shaheed Muhammad.

Recording information: Echo Sound; Gumbo Kitchen; Skip Saylor's; Westlake studios.

Editor: John Moran.

Photographers: William Hames; Dan Arsenault.

Personnel includes: Ice Cube (rap vocals); George Clinton (vocals); K-Dee.

Producers include: Sir Jinx, Laylaw & Derrick McDowell, QD III, Brian G, Ice Cube.

Q (1/94, p.97) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...another series of compelling ghetto portraits....It [has] a beautifully sustained mood of bleakly romantic despair..."
NME (Magazine) (12/4/93, p.27) - 7 - Very Good - "...LETHAL INJECTION is the thickest, widest sound he's achieved yet--an intoxicating P-Funk brew..."