Ice Cube
Laugh Now, Cry Later
Release Date: Jun 6, 2006
Genre(s): Rap
Record label: Lench Mob
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Album Review: Laugh Now, Cry Later by Ice Cube
Very Good, Based on 2 Critics
Based on rating 7.5/10
Ice Cube :: Laugh Now, Cry LaterLench Mob RecordsAuthor: Steve 'Flash' JuonIce Cube fans have been waiting for this one a long time. O'Shea Jackson hasn't released a new album of his own material since 2000's "War & Peace Vol. 2," and his last album as part of a group was Westside Connection's "Terrorist Threats." Reactions to both were mixed - the latter being something of a pleasant surprise but doing little to re-establish Westside given their seven year layoff, while the former was panned by many rap writers who said Ice Cube had "gone Hollywood." This writer didn't have that much of a problem with either one, although I think we're all in agreement that the days when Cube made albums like "AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted" are LONG gone.
Based on rating 7/10
As Ice Cube's 2006 Laugh Now, Cry Later was landing in stores, all the chatter was about whether or not Cube was back, and whether or not he could recover from a couple of lackluster solo albums that came out years ago. Did his major contribution to Westside Connection's satisfying 2003 album Terrorist Threats slip everybody's mind and do we have to consider that release "slept on"? Laugh Now picks up right where Terrorist Threats left off, and while Cube does a little "this is why I'm important" posturing on the excellent "Child Support," this isn't a forced "I'm back" effort in the least. After a short intro, Cube goes right for the upper classes' throats with "Guns and Drugs," a track that acknowledges that there was a George Bush in office when he began his solo career, there's a George Bush in office as he returns to it, and he doesn't much care for either.