Quite possibly the hardest working man in Hip-Hop from rapping to acting to directing his own movies now, Ice Cube does it all these days. Now he has finally gotten back to the music and given up the other half of his latest project, War & Peace. Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc) in Ice Cube's words was supposed to be different than anything he has ever done. In reality is it just typical Ice Cube.

Kicking the door wide open at the start we get the smokin' NWA reunion track "Hello." Produced by Dr. Dre and Mel-Man, this track hits you off right away. But the problem is that Ice Cube gave you the best right away and the rest of the album just doesn't live up to it. "Supreme Hustle" and "24 Mo' Hours," are decent tracks but we have heard Ice Cube do songs like these plenty of times. Then songs like "You Can Do It" and "Can You Bounce?" are tired attempts at club tracks that don't have that same punch that the "Player's Club" did.

The real problem with the, though, is production. Ice Cube used to lead the way when it came to West Coast production. People would wait to see what he would do so they could follow the leader. Now Cube's beats are just run-of-the-mill average "G" beats. Don't get e wrong there are banger tracks but that is to be expected with any Ice Cube album. "Record Company Pimpin'," and "Waitin' Ta Hate" are classics with stern message, and hype production even though they are just remakes of old EPMD tracks. And that is what makes them work because they are proven hits. But there just aren't enough of those songs to break up the mediocrity.

This album had the potential to be a classic as does every Ice Cube album. There is no doubt Ice Cube still has it because he can still make songs like "Nigga Of The Century." But he just can't see to replicate that for an entire album any more. I guess when you try to do everything some things are going to slack. And now that his acting and directing are getting better, I guess it's finally time for his music to take a back seat. Oh well, he will always be one of the best and we still have Death Certificate and Amerikkka's Most Wanted so we can't really complain too much.

By JC