In spite of the title's promise, Ice Cube's new Raw
Footage contains
not a single audio outtake from Are We There Yet? or The Longshots. Part-time MC Cube remains a pale shadow
of his former self: Where he once radiated danger, the best he can muster here
is the boyish bluster of "I Got My Locs On" (featuring Young Jeezy) and "Do Ya
Thing," where he boasts, "We get lap dances from nuns / They put away their
crucifix and say 'Ice Cube, you da shit.'" That goofball humor plays a lot
better than Cube's fuzzy stabs at political commentary, and the production is
as forgettable as the subject matter—though the introspective "Stand Tall"
smartly borrows the sad majesty of William DeVaughn's "Be Thankful For What You
Got." The amusingly misguided "Tomorrow" begins with a deliciously tardy attack
on downloading, at one point raising the terrifying prospect of song-stealers
getting their "ass beat by Erykah Badu." It's a blast from the past that only
underlines how irrelevant Cube has become. The rap legend's second
independently released solo album is a long way from AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, but the old man is still
good for a larf.
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