As it is with the vast majority of hip hop records, this one also opens with an introduction. The intro is titled A Boy Was Conceived in which we hear the statement: “A boy was conceived, whose lyrics would change the world”.

In Ice Cube’s case this is true; his impact on hip hop culture is immeasurable. Lyrically he went into uncharted territory, punching holes in boundaries which were yet to be breached. So with that in mind after hearing the previously mentioned statement, you expect Cube to come at you firing off insightful and hard-hitting lyrical bullets from both barrels.

But when the first track Soul On Ice features lines like “Cool like a fridge and you shaking like Jell-O, mad cause my life is like a marshmallow” and a repeating hook-line which plays as “You ‘bout to smell my cologne”, you start to wonder if your iPod might have shuffled it’s way over to a Ludacris album by mistake.

Unfortunately it hasn’t. These are the “powerful” statements which Cube first brings to the table in his latest record I Am The West. On a positive note though, this track does contain one of the better beats on the album, a big orchestral sounding synth. It’s a shame he couldn’t have done little more with it.

With a title like_ I Am The West_ it seems clear the feeling Cube is trying to achieve throughout the record harks back to the early nineties, when West Coast hip hop was at its peak. But instead of G-funk, the majority of the beats throughout the first half of the album end up sounding as if they have been lifted from an Atari gaming system. Especially through tracks like She Couldn’t Make It On Her Own, Ya’ll Now How I Am and Urbanian. The latter contains the hook, “Google me bitch, won’t cha Google me bitch” – the less said about it the better.

Too West Coast hears a booming 808 coming through your headphones. Relief is at hand. The beats and the rhymes in this track signal a slight shift towards a strong finish for the rest of the album. I Rep That West and No Country For Young Men also help steady what sounded like a lost cause through the opening joints.

Hood Robin’ finally brings the lyrical genius which Cube is best known for. Now I’m not saying Cube needs to continuously be political, but it does seem that he writes his best lines when he is speaking on a subject of some substance. In this track he spits meaningful and clever lyrics over a laidback piano based beat. This song makes a serious play for best track on the album.

Nothing Like LA is probably as close as this album comes to getting the West Coast feeling I think Cube was after when recording it. Based around a soulful hook with an underlying G-funk style synth beneath the chorus, it stands out in a good way.

As you would have gathered by now, I don’t think this is one of Cube’s best efforts by any stretch of the imagination, but the many Ice Cube fans out there should appreciate the second half of the record. And who knows, he might pick up some new ones with the stuff he is doing in the opening half.

I Am The West is out now on Lench Mob through Inertia.