Release: October 10, 1989 Production: Ice-T & Afika Islam. Label: Sire/Warner Bros.
Tracks:
Shut up, Be happy
In this intro America has been put under marshall law, it features Jello Biafra [of Dead Kennedy’s] speaking on the new rules of society, it basically says, Here we’re giving you the country you want, you dont have to do anything, but there is a price to this – Freedom.
The Iceberg
It starts off with some mellow flute type sounds to make you think its a soft love song but then comes the old skool funky sounds of Afrika Islam, This a layed back mellow beat and Ice-T kicks some cool-as-Ice flows. He speaks on this crew and himself…He lets you know his crew is the illest. This is some funky shit.
Lethal Weapon
Ice comes with a nice flow on this, Ice plays with the words and for squares listenin’ to this there gonna say “oh hes talkin bout guns”…but no, hes talking bout his mind, “My lethal weapon is my mind”…this is a real track, one of 1989’s best.
You played yourself
This is a tight anti-drugs/anti fakes track, it has afew jazzy notes and a funky OG beat. Ice talks about the fake emcees in the game, he speaks about wannabe macks and fools taken drugs on the streets and the results of doing that…to quote a line: “Society’s fault? No…Nobody put the crack into the pipe, Nobody made ya smoke off your life. You thought that you could do dope and stay cool?!? fool you played yourself”. A classic track with a real message.
Peel their caps back
This one has Ice talking about gang warfare and the reality of what gos down after the news cameras have gone, one of Ice’s cats gets killed so Ice and the gang roll to get some payback, its midnight and Ice and the crew go looking to find the cats that killed his buddy so they have a shoot out and Ice gets hit. He gets into the gangsta mentality in this one and answers the question “Why?”. Hopefully this track will make these kiddies think before they start wearing there rags behind there computers. It aint cool.
The girl tried to kill me
I like this one, Its a rock n roll beat and Ice puts it down, it sounds perfect. Ice gets with a chick and the ***** is a freak…He basically talks about a sex freak and all the freaky thangs she does with Ice with whips, baby oil and tying him up [..shes trying to kill me] and at the end of the track the chicks husband comes in [..trying to kill me]. Peep
Black n decker
This is the first skit on the cd, it starts with Ice reading an article that says the Syndicate is only about volience and blood. So Ice and the Syndicate get a drill and use effects to make it sound like they drill thru a mans head. [gives the suckers what they wanna hear]
Hit the deck
We get fast paced on this one, it has a Rakim sample in there and is a party track. The flow matchs the beat and the cuts are timed well, he gives afew words to up-and-coming emcees and breaks down some of his own styles, this track has some great DeeJay cuts too.
This ones for me
Another jazzy beat with a laid back flow, Ice speaks his mind on this one, he speaks on haters, fakers and sell outs, he talks about the Public Enemy situation and how cats didnt support them but on this Ice makes it known he’s supporting them. He also speaks on the drugs game in the streets and how cats are killing each other over that shit. this is a nice relaxed track.
The hunted child
Ice plays the role of a 17 year old killer from South Central and raps about why this kid killed and he touchs on cats killing each other on the streets, this beat has got some nice bass to it.
What cha wanna do?
What cha wanna do? Party!! man this a 1989 party track, if you ever have a party at your place and need an old skool throw back track then this is the one to peep, this is a Syndicate cut with the Syndicate putting down a rap and each member adds his own style to the track, the result is a dope old skool party track.
Freedom of speech
man this is the beat track on the whole cd, he speaks about censorship and the PMRC, Ice talks about how they are trying to hold back the freedom of speech of recording artists and he uses some creative words to express his feelings which surely caused peoples panties to get wrinked up in 1989. I agree 100% with the message in this track, we need freedom of speech and we should be able to say anything, Ice-T fought alot of battles for what he believed in and what you may not know is that he played a major role in helping recording artists to be able to say anything without being banned or censored. This is without doubt one of the greatest Hiphop tracks ever. Listen, repeat and listen some more.
My word is bond
T and the Syndicate raps about fake cats and the bullshit they do and some bragging is throwin’ in for good measure, its a ligth hearted track, if you dont understand it you’ll miss the whole point of it.
Overall:
As you can guess im Ice-T’s #1 fan, this rates as his best work. Its old skool and has meaningful messages and many views on censorship, sex, rap and of course drugs. If you want to step into the world of reality rap this is a good starting point. This is a prime example of what Rap used to be about, its hardcore but not fake and it has powerful messages and strong view points. I havent said there is a wack tracks, which is rare but i feel all the content is worth listening to. The only thing that i can think of that would hold people back from buying this cd is the fact that some of the beats may sound alittle too old skool for them, but regardless its a classic album and reality rap at its best. Ice-T is one of the only rappers to start real and stay real, everything he said on this album he remained true too and thats something only the very best of emcees can do, sure Ice-T doesnt freestyle and he doesnt make rnb complex rhymes and all that bullshit but that aint the point. This music is real.