Why is Ice Cube's "The Predator" so annoyingly hit and miss? It contains some of the great West Coast hip-hop songs in my opinion, but it contains some real shit as well. It's so very frustrating. I remember hearing this album for the first time (through my friend Adam in Year 11) and being blown away by some of the tracks, in particular "When will they shoot?", "Wicked" (later covered by Korn) and "It was a good day". Songs like "The Predator" and "Check Yo Self" are also great. And I think this paragraph from Wikipedia is spot on;

Although it is sometimes mistakenly classified as a G-Funk album, the album derives its sound from the Public Enemy/Bomb Squad production template, in contrast to Dr. Dre's definitive G-Funk album The Chronic which is largely based upon Parliament/Funkadelic-derived rhythms, slow-rolling basslines, and layers of whiny synthesizers, mixed with snips of live guitar and flutes.

I just wish the album was more consistent. Less of the talk show / skit stuff inbetween tracks. Cull a couple of the filler songs ("Gangsta's Fairytale" and "Don't Trust 'Em" are prime examples). Regardless, I think it's Ice Cube's best album.

Labels: Music