Search - Wc :: Guilty By Affiliation

2-1/2 stars -- If you're from California, skip this review

Anthony Rupert | Milwaukee, WI | 04/26/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Westside Connection attempted a comeback in 2004 with Terrorist Threats, and even though that album went gold, I still wasn't impressed with it because it seemed like the trio ran out of things to say. But Ice Cube's solo comeback Laugh Now, Cry Later was actually pretty solid; it's too bad WC didn't fare as well with Guilty by Affiliation.



This is another one of those cases where I looked at the other reviews and now I wondering if we all listened to the same album. The first two tracks ("This is Los Angeles" and the Game-assisted "West Coast Voodoo") ARE excellent, though, as is the interesting title track. Ice Cube does the chorus to the latter, and he shows up a few times elsewhere on the album (no big surprise, considering he's on the album cover), but sometimes he can't save the material (see "Addicted to It" or "Keep it 100"). I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but nowadays you can hear WC rap a verse and then you'll be asking yourself, "WTF is he talking about?" This is especially evidenced by "Jack and the Bean Stalk", where the first verse contains uncomfortable similes like "I'm harder than Michael Jackson's d in a daycare" and "who got `em shakin' like Parkinson's disease?"



There are other missteps as well. Snoop Dogg and Butch Cassidy add nothing to "Dodgeball", "'80s Babies" is a metaphor that doesn't even make sense, and "Side D" is just plain disgusting. And the "Crazy Toones 4 President" interlude serves no purpose. WC might have been around in the mid-`90s when rap could still be hardcore without sounding manufactured, but his skills seem to be long gone, so Guilty by Affiliation isn't worth picking up.



Anthony Rupert"

Underrated King of West Coast

Richard Hawkins | Los Angeles, CA | 02/05/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"WC by far has been the most underrated artist from the West Coast and probably the U.S. He could lyrically and physically kill any artists at anytime yet for some very odd reason he's been overlooked for lesser talent. Real WC fans know what I'm talking about and this album was one of his best, esp. since this is his first solo since Ghetto Heisman. WC comes hard on every track and kills its with his witty/gritty lyrics and socially-conscious commentary. If you don't know about him or remember him from Westside Connecition, WC and Maad Circle, or hell even Low Profile, you know what he's capable of and this is THE album to get. Guilty by Affiliation-the biggest Gangsta album of '07 and you need this esp since hip hop and gangsta rap is nearly dead."

WC sounding like it's the 90's once again!

Philip Y. | Israel | 10/20/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"WC is a West Coast legend, and he's been doing his thing ever since the late 80's, making him a true vet in the rap game. Everything he did in the 90's (The Low Profile album, His 2 albums with the MAAD circle, The Westside Connection project, and his best solo ever "The Shadiest One") is a straight classic. In the 2003, Def Jam, which had signed WC a few years before that, finally released WC's long expected album "Ghetto Heisman". As usual, Def Jam never promoted that album (just llike it hadn't promoted any West Coast artist album on their label) and it didn't sell well. It was a good album (with a few bright spots), but you felt it wasn't the WC we were all used to, you could feel there was a lot of Def Jam influence on that album, and at times some song just didn't fit WC's style. After that record, WC left Def Jam and joined Ice Cube on his label Lench Mob Records. After 2 great guest appearences on Ice Cube's comeback album "Laugh Now cry later" it was time for a WC album as well.



From the moment you take a look at the album, you realise that WC is back! A black cover, with nothing but WC giving you one of his hard-a** looks, with Cube in the background. No fancy throwback jerseys, no chains, no Bentleys in the back - you can feel you are getting something different than what rappers are putting out these days. And indeed, "Guilty by Affiliation" proves to be a straight West Coast Gangsta Rap album, just like the good ol' days, when West Coast was running the charts, and rappers actually had a lot to say. Unlike "Ghetto Heisman" the production is straight West Coast, fitting WC's style like a glove. The beats are hard-hitting, with thick and loud bass-lines, they hit you in the chest so hard! No RnB type of beats on that one either. It's straight gutter and hardcore, handled by Jelly Roll, Mr. Porter, Ice Cube, Emile, Laylaw, Teak, Nottz and a few others. And it's not only about the beats. The biggest change is WC's rapping. On this album, WC sounds 10 years younger, rapping with the same rage, power and emotion he displayed in the 90's. I can't explain it, but at the age of almost 40, WC sound HUNGRY again! And when WC is hungry, you better take cover, because he just rips songs appart with his powerful voice (this man definitely has on the top 5 powerful voice in rap mucic!) and hard-hitting, straight in-your-face delivery. Just listen to songs like "Paranoid", "Gang Injunctions", "Addicted to It" and every other song on that album and you'll remember the good old WC we all loved. WC dispays, rage, emotion, and he's just being, well... hardcore to the fullest. In fact, I think this is the hardest album WC has ever recorded, both musically and lyrically. It seems that working with Cube brings the best out of WC, and he sounds better than ever. Lyrically the album is gangsta to the fullest, just like the good old 90's. No songs about flossing, Bentleys and Rolex watches. It's all about the streets, representin' Lench Mob and the West Coast. WC makes a couple of songs about sex, and they are not bad too. And of course he also touches a few social issues, mainly rapping about the strugles in life. WC's presence is so powerful that even though he has the 3 biggest rappers on the West Coast on his album (Ice Cube, The Game and Snoop Dogg), he outshines them with ease, and you get a feel that he could even handle the album all by himself (how many rappers these days can do that?). To sum it all up, "Guilty By Affiliation" takes you back to the good old days, the 90's, when gangsta rap ruled the charts, and the artists were doing their thang, and didn't have to follow some formula in order to get radio play. WC sounds hungry, fresh and angry, and with such an artist, when you get this over great production, you don't need anything else. You just sit and enjoy the album, from begining to the end."