I Am the West by Ice Cube
I Am the West is the ninth studio album by American rapper Ice Cube. It was released on September 28, 2010. Ice Cube has said this album will be different than any one of his other albums, having a different direction for the album. The album was released independently under his label Lench Mob. Ice Cube stated that "being independent is beautiful because we can do things 'out the box' that record companies would usually frown at. Instead of working from a ready-made cookie-cutter marketing plan, we can tailor make a marketing plan specifically for me". In a recent interview with Baller Status, Ice Cube speaks on two songs that are going to be on the album, "Man vs. Machine" and "Hood Robbin". "'Man vs. Machine' is talking about our obsessions with machinery and how it's taking over," he said in an interview. "Automation is taking over human beings in all our relevancy in this world. Pretty soon, machines are gonna take over and that's just real...['Hood Robbin'] is talking about how big corporations is now stealing from the poor and giving to the rich. It's a whole thing about the things we're going up against with housing and medical insurance ... just everything people are going through. Real shit that ain't got nothing to do with money, cars, and all the shit most rappers talk about." Young Maylay has made guest appearances on the album. Ice Cube confirmed that Dr. Dre would no longer be on the album in August.. He received beats from West coast veteran producers such as DJ Quik, Dr. Dre, E-A-Ski, and Sir Jinx, not having worked on a solo album with the latter in nearly 20 years I Am The West, like several previous Ice Cube/Westside Connection albums, features interludes by Keith David.
