Ice Cube
Laugh Now, Cry Later

THE REVIEW

Laugh Now, Cry Later is the comeback album of rapper Ice Cube after several years of inactivity. It's a comeback in grand style, an album with many tracks focused on social issues. This CD also features two other West Coast heavyweights: Snoop Dogg and WC, although in this album Ice Cube raps with other artists in only 6 tracks out of 24, including the bonus tracks.

Yet in my opinion, it's a genuine bombshell: powerful beats combined with the extraordinary talent of the Compton rapper make this one of the best works in the Rap scene of the last decade.

It begins with a brief intro: ''Definition Of A West Coast G'' and continues with ''Why We Thugs'', a track where he criticizes the ghetto system, pointing out how little has changed from his childhood to the time of writing the piece. The concept is also expressed that drugs and guns are what frighten those outside the ghettos, but few people ask who brought these problems into the neighborhoods (if you look into it well, you'll understand too..). 

It continues with ''Smoke Some Weed'' whose subject is easily guessed; in my opinion, the beat is spot-on, a bit relentless but conveys the content well. Then come ''Dimes & Nicks'' and ''Child Support'', the latter containing quite heavy critiques of modern rappers, the most apt being ''all you can rap about is pussy and money'' (=all you can rap about is money and pussy).

Then there's a brief interlude where phrases related to significant moments in Ice Cube's career are spoken, and it resumes to reach, after 2 decent songs, the phenomenal ''The Nigga Trapp'' where the Californian revisits the theme of dignity stolen by the police as well as by the ghettos which he defines as ''a trap for blacks'' as the title suggests, aimed at extinguishing African Americans.

 The next interesting track is ''Growing Up'' where the former N.W.A recounts the milestones of his career in the '90s and mends fences with Eazy-E thanking him for everything he taught him and I believe even the tough Ice Cube must have been a little moved writing those verses. Closing out the album, I'd highlight ''Steal The Show'' which is a very powerful track, and among the bonus tracks, ''Race Card'' definitely deserves attention. This latter track talks about racial prejudices and naturally invites to break them down.

I conclude by inviting you to reflect on the anti-racist messages and the system discussed in this CD. Or more simply, to listen to it thoroughly because it truly deserves it!