WC - Guilty by Affiliation

As rap has become ubiquitous, its artists have moved slowly but steadily away from the street-centered mentality that made the music so potent in the 1980s and early 1990s. Realizing that rap has lost its edge and intensity, Los Angeles rap icon and Westside Connection member WC returns rap to its creative roots -- exemplary lyricism, conceptual greatness, bone-crushing production -- on his masterful new album, Guilty By Affiliation. Album Description

EVERY track is DA BOMB!

I don't need to go into a long review to let you know EVERY track is fun to listen to. I ripped EVERY track to my computer so I don't have to put the CD in. This rarely happens to me as I, at most, usually rip 5 songs from a 12-15 track album. BUY THIS NOW! October 11, 2008

Skip skip....

WC is what rappers are trying to be. This is not a surprise coming from Dub, Cube n Toones... Classical s**t. Pain dues ma brotha. Mack come back home the game needs WSCG. Keep these dudes in check, ya know... peace. June 8, 2008

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

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 April 26, 2008

under-rated!

dub-c has always been under-rated, along w/ 3-6 mafia. dis was 1 of the greatest albums of '07, but w/ no promotion he wont get his recognition, except for us tru fans!. if u like hard-core rap, then please go cop dis album, u wont b disappointed, trus u wont! February 24, 2008

Underrated King of West Coast

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. February 5, 2008

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