Average for Ice-T

For me Ice-T is one of the best rappers ever and I've spent long hours listening to his hardcore gangster rap. Kind of odd for a middle-aged white guy but what can I say? His in your face, pro-freedom of speech attitude is one that I hold myself. He is one of the founding fathers of gangster rap and one of it's most innovative lyricists. I've seen Ice-T do his rap act only once but have seen him with his band Body Count four times and he puts on a tremendous show.



Return of the Real is not a bad album but I scratch my head and wonder what in the heck Ice-T is trying to sing a ballad for. The album gets a little tedious at times but it listenable (can I create a new word?). But there are no outstanding songs on this album.



Unfortunately this album gets 0 stars. There are not songs worthy of star rating. But none of the songs are bad either.



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Ratings: CDs are rated simply by how many good songs are on the album. Great songs get two stars, and good songs get one star. Songs that get no stars are those that I might like but not enough to give it a star or ones I find boring or actively dislike. CDs are not penalized for songs that I don't like because they are easy enough to skip over. There is no maximum number of stars a CD can get, but of course the more stars it gets, the better the CD.



As with all reviews, these are my subjective opinions on the album.

Capable of better

Rhyme Pays,Power,Iceburg,O.G.,Home Invasion and Classic collection are better,but this is worth owning just to hear ice-t's voice.

Sad signs of decline

As the title suggests, this is Ice-T's return. But the return to exactly what? It could be viewed as either the return to the forefront of hip-hop, or the return to his roots, end of the 80s style of hip-hop. While I'm sure Ice thought of the former, the resulting album doesn't quite achieve any of the two "Return to" targets.



There are two very notable changes in Ice-T style here. First is in the lyrics department. While Ice is as intelligent and witful as ever, he has toned down his verses a lot. Gone is the almost uncontrolled aggression of "Home Invasion". Instead we have mostly slow to mid-tempo tracks, most of which deal with the topics of either rap game and its rules, or warns against being a gangster. This change is quite understandable for a man about to turn 40 years old. The lyrics are mostly good and to the point. Though I must admit I still find the 2 love ballads here to be somewhat out of place.



The other notable change is in the music. It has advanced from basic beats and noises towards more rich soundscape. Most of the tracks, especially the slower ones, attempt to develop a feeling of uneasiness and tension, and most of the times it works.



So why do I think this album is one more step on the way down? Because taken as a whole, it lacks the focus and a sense of general direction that "O.G." maintained perfectly. Not a single time did I cringe, realizing that this or that track is just a filler ("Forced To Do Dirt", anyone?). Another turn off might be that old-school feeling of the whole attempt, which simply sounds out of tune with the general development of rap. Clearly Ice-T wanted to put himself back in the game. But as much as I respect his previous efforts, more often than not I vision a man in his late 30s who is generally unsure as to what kind of music really works in 1996, and his songs often sound strained and entirely forced out.



That being said, for long time fans, which I am one of, this is generally a nice little album, that is worth to be listened to occasionally. But it's far from being a mandatory purchase.