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NME -Mount Westmore – ‘Snoop, Cube, 40, $hort’ review: rap supergroup overstuffed with ideas and personalitiesThe hip-hop veterans unite for a muddled, but sometimes brilliant, cruise down Sunset BoulevardAlthough hip-hop legends Ice Cube, Too $hort, E-40 and Snoop Dogg have spun the rotating wheel of collaboration for about 30 years, a full-length album from pioneering elder statesmen was an unexpected, but welcome, development. First teased in late 2020, NFT enthusiasts were treated to the group’s official debut album, ‘Bad MFs’ in June of this year, when the album was released via blockchain. ‘Snoop, Cube, 40, $hort’ reads like a fleshed-out, retooled version of that; West Coast rap fans are serviced well here.The LP opens with the Rick Rock-produced ‘California’. Sharing the third and final verse with Cube, Too $hort’s verbal volley of explosives overpower the potent kicks and snares: “And we ain’t throwin’ no signs (oh god), just a clip and a nine / One bullet to the head, put some shit on your mind”. But despite the brilliance shown early on, ‘Snoop, Cube, 40, $hort’ is restrained by its own ambition, catering to the four emcees’ needs sparingly. ‘Have A Nice Day’ sees Snoop open with Antarctic levels of cool before a stilted chorus by Dem Jointz and Jenn Em melts any momentum the cut once had.Dr. Dre pops up for a welcome cameo on ‘Too Big’ and mid-album treasure ‘I Got Pull’ is nothing short of G-Funk perfection. With a tempered bassline and liquid synths reminiscent of DJ Quik’s ‘Rhythm-al-ism’ and Warren G’s ‘Regulate… The G Funk Era’, highlight ‘I Got Pull’ beams listeners into a palm tree-covered, westside wanderlust as E-40 spits: “Wake up man, wake up / 40 here with some brand-new game / Like I said when I’m all up in her brain / She think I’m a cloud, want me to make it rain”.Awkwardly, ‘Up & Down’ is an unworthy successor. The attempted “thug romance” number sees our four leads concoct a sour and repetitive snooze-fest. “Nipples pokin’ out like missiles (missiles) / When I whisper in her ear / she get tickled”, rapped by E-40 comes across as juvenile. The record teeters on self-parody with ‘How Many’, a creatively skint club record with sparse replay value. As a result, listeners may cast their minds back to $hort’s blazing club anthem ‘Blow the Whistle’, Cube’s era-defining ‘Death Certificate’ LP, Snoop’s funk-driven ‘Doggystyle’ and E-40’s thug autobiography ‘In a Major Way’ for refreshment.‘Snoop, Cube, 40, $hort’ isn’t completely devoid of praise; having to accommodate four distinct styles and personalities is no simple task. But while there are moments of brilliance, it’s clear there are too many chefs in the kitchen.
Rolling Stone -Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, E-40, and Too $hort Are A Super Group For Graying Rap FansWith their new project Mount Westmore, these West Coast legends stay away from current hip-hop trends without sounding like grumpy old-schoolers The album title consists of four names that need no introduction: Snoop, Cube, 40, $hort. These rap icons justly claim themselves as architects of West Coast hip-hop. As Mount Westmore, they’re a supergroup whose presence is etched in the California landscape.Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, E-40, and Too $hort also represent a wave of old-school rappers sustaining recording careers well into their 50s, long after the hits have subsided, and fans have moved on to fresher trends. (Tellingly, they snark about “IG” and TikTok.) New work by first-wave golden-age heroes tends to be throwback affairs that hearken to the past – Chill Rob G’s recent Empires Crumble is a recommended example – or pop confections where the elders gamely try to party with the kids. Throw Snoop into the latter category: last summer, he scored a top 10 Billboard hit with BTS and Benny Blanco on “Bad Decisions.”Yes, Uncle Snoop’s guileless ability to personify the “How do you do, fellow kids” meme is what makes him so beloved to everyone. It may also be why he sounds slightly bored on Snoop, Cube, 40, $hort. This is very much an Ice Cube affair, and he sculpts this album in his loud, punchy, hard-funkin’ style. Too $hort acquits himself well, too, striking a balance between musty pimp raps and surprisingly effective community-oriented lyrics. E-40 remains a style ambassador, gliding with his liquid, off-center flow. Snoop is a dutiful presence by comparison, though he occasionally gets a good verse in, like when he reminisces about attending the legendary Fresh Fest arena tour in the Eighties as a young hog on “Do My Best.” All four men are multimillionaires with innumerable business ventures, and this Mount Westmore project was originally planned for release in 2021. One gets the sense they had to align their busy schedules before they found time to drop it.Thankfully, Snoop, Cube, 40, $hort doesn’t dabble in newfangled gimmicks like trap and drill. The music is no frills G-funk and mob music. Part of the fun is scanning the credits for all the OGs who contributed, like Rick Rock, Soopafly, Battlecat, Fredwreck, Droop E, Ant Banks, and Simon “ProHoeZak” McKinley, whom some diggers may recall for his Nineties single as C-Funk, “Coconut in Ya Lime.” Even Cube’s old NWA partner Dr. Dre drops in to say what’s up on “Too Big.” Incidentally, that song might be the album’s best concession to current tastes since it’s produced by P-Lo, an East Bay star who also garlands Otherwise, this is a grown folks’ party. There are some goofy lines from the four GOATs about threesomes on “Motto.” “We burn rubber, me, her, and her lover,” raps Snoop. Ice Cube keeps making references to old pop lore like TJ Hooker and Clash of the Titans. “It’s a new day, still got the AK/If these bitches want to take it back to 88,” he warns on “Big Subwoofer.” The quartet settles into a zone about midway through the 16-track album, and “Have a Nice Day,” “Ghetto Gutter,” and “I Got Pull” all satisfy. They also offer plenty of “Free Game” to the kids who happen to wander into the room. “I see the homies outside, sellin’ crack/There’s no way out if you stuck in the trap,” raps Too $hort on “Ghetto Gutter.”The beats are generally good, but the choruses are often perfunctory excuses to get from one verse to the next. The days when these four could drop hooks like a gut punch have largely passed. And Ice Cube, whose political storms include a “Contract with America” meeting with former President Trump, remains prone to saying shit like, “We’re victims of elites” on “Have a Nice Day.” However, it’s also a ridiculously thrilling moment. Cube talking reckless, Too $hort as the pimp with a heart of gold, E-40’s deep slanguage, and smooth ol’ Uncle Snoop: this is Mount Westmore’s appeal to their graying base.“If I had four of my favorite rappers on a track/I would expect it to have some slaps that sound like hella far back,” raps E-40 on “Do My Best.” “I would expect it to have some shit like this to make me reminisce/When I was up in the dope game, having my money, getting rich.”
Mount Westmore is “Snoop, Cube, 40, $hort” (Album Review)Mount Westmore is a west coast supergroup consisting Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, E-40 & Too $hort. Each member being veterans in their hometowns of Long Beach, Compton, Vallejo & Oakland respectively. We never heard all 4 of them on a track together until after they formed in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic & after releasing their full-length debut Bad MFs over the summer exclusively as an NFT, they’re finally putting it on streaming services 6 months later backed my MNRK Music Group & with some new cuts sprinkled into the mix.“California” is a hyper opener produced by Rick Rock representing their home-state whereas the bouncy “Motto” lets everyone know what the maxim exactly is. “Big Subwoofer” blends hyphy with trap thanks to Kato dropping some braggadocio leading into “Too Big” pulling from snap music interestingly enough going back & forth with each other talking about just exactly how they prefer to do shit.However with “Activated”, we have Mt. Westmore explaining that everything’s imitated rather than calculated over a g-funk instrumental just before “Have a Nice Day (Fuck You)” has a soulful boom bap quality provided by Fredwreck & Dem Jointz basically telling everyone to kiss their asses & I actually like the latter’s hook quite a bit although my only complaint is that the first verse he delivers was redundantly short. “Ghetto Gutter” brings back the hyphy courtesy of 40 Water’s son Droop-E with co-production from Ant Banks acknowledging that it’s how you come prior to the rubbery-synth-laced “Free Game” dropping precisely that.“I Got Pull” returns to g-funk turf advising to ask your boss if you don’t know who they’re are while “Up & Down” comes through with my least favorite track on the album personally, as it happens to be an awkward ode to all the thick bitches out there. “Do My Best” picks things back up with a smoother ballad produced by Soopafly referring to themselves as champions while “Lace You Up” has a more peppy quality to the beat giving the listeners some advise.Meanwhile with “Tribal”, all 4 of them talk about how it takes a village to raise the real ones over more hyphy production while the song “How Many” goes back to the g-funk spitting that gangsta shit. The penultimate track “On Camera” is an eerie trap cut feeling like that they’re being watched primarily because of how quick things tend to go around on social media these days & “Mash” is menacing closer getting quite mobbish.I know some people were quick to write off the supergroup’s debut since it was initially released exclusively as an NFT back in June, but I knew they’d have to put it up on all streaming services at some point & I gotta admit that the material that we got out of it is pretty impressive. It’s interesting to hear how all 4 MCs’ unique deliveries mesh with one another & the production representing the state of California as a whole by blending g-funk with hyphy.Score: 7/10
RIFF -ALBUM REVIEW: Mount Westmore delivers the message with ‘Snoop Cube 40 $hort’What happens when four of California’s most legendary MCs come together to form a hip-hop supergroup for the ages? You get Mount Westmore, featuring Angelonos Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg and the Bay Area’s own Too $hort and E-40. Snoop Cube 40 $hort is the group’s debut LP—not including a prior collection of songs previously set loose exclusively on a blockchain-based streaming platform.Snoop Cube 40 $hortMount WestmoreDeath Row, Dec. 98/10Fans who got the chance to listen to that collection, called Bad MFs, will recognize a number of tracks on Snoop Cube 40 $hort. However, there’s an equal amount of fresh material, making it a worthwhile listen regardless. The album opens with “California,” a G-funk banger with synth fading in and out like the doppler effect. All four rappers express their love and pride in the West Coast hip-hop scene, with E-40 giving a standout verse with his iconic unmatchable delivery.“Motto” follows suit with low keyboard synths, light clapping snares and bass drum pickup as each MC states his life motto of living hard while living large. “Big Subwoofer” comes on as a more playful party joint, with Snoop, E-40 and Too $hort delivering braggadocios bars—while Ice Cube takes a harder shift into a sort of action movie role. P-LO, of The HBK Gang and also a Bay Area local, takes the lead on the hook for “Too Big,” as Mount Westmore reflects on the members’ legendary status as hip-hop icons and their larger than life personas.An organ flourish opens “Activated,” as heavy bass pickup is followed with clapping snares. Each MC talks about needing to know when to step up to defend his status as the greatest. The song focuses on the nature of critics and challengers as “paper tigers,” seldom posing any sort of threat to these heavyweights. “Have A Nice Day (Fuck You)” features gorgeous vocal performances from Dem Jointz and Jenn Em. The low bass melody is graced with the occasional soft electric guitar strumming overlaying the slow, swinging percussion.“Ghetto Gutter” has all four MCs appreciating how growing up in the hood built them into who they are today, with keyboard strikes and hand percussion paired with clapping snares. Grand piano chords kick off “I Got Pull,” where a playful bouncy tempo rides in and Mount Westmore raps about the overwhelming sphere of influence it holds locally—Too $hort is about to get a street named fifer him in Oakland!—and abroad. “Do My Best” is exactly the kind of motivational track that the title spells out for itself, with a dripping keyboard melody that melts in your ears.The quartet then imparts some wisdom on”Lace You Up,” where soft plinking tones turn into a low keyboard melody and heavy bass. Each rapper gives insight into the realities of the harsh world that young people tend to overlook due to feelings of invincibility, without ever coming off as patronizing. The whistling tones and strong snare and kick drum pairing make for a memorable hyphy joint on “Tribal,” followed by the rumbling synths and claps of “How Many.” Both tracks deal with street politics, with the former discussing loyalties and the latter exploring the risks of snitches.As the album winds down, “On Camera” offers eerie string plucks and a taunting chorus. The group explores the wide plethora of ways mass surveillance has infiltrated our lives.With its debut album, Mount Westmore more than lives up to the high expectations, crafting an exceptional embodiment of West Coast hip-hop.
But that's the way the album turned out, and I'm cool with that.
I will say though that whenever there’s a producer tag on a beat it can make an album sound like a mixtape at times and cheapens the listening experience.If you have to tag your beats your production isn’t unique enough!
what was the tracklist on the nft “bad mfs” album?
01 - California02 - Ghetto Gutter03 - Mt. Westmore, Pt. 104 - Sinister Slap05 - Activated06 - Too Big07 - Tribal08 - Aim Squeeze Bust09 - Bad MFs10 - Big Subwoofer11 - Free Game12 - Lace You Up13 - Have A Nice Day (Fuck You)14 - I Quit
so this one’s better?
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