Notes & Personnel Info |  | Personnel: Mack 10, Snoop Doggy Dogg, AllFrumtha I, The Comrads, E-40, Ice Cube (rap vocals); James "Tre" Raab (guitar). | | Producers: Tray, Binky, Bob Cat, Ant banks, Mack 10, Soopafly, Ice Cube. | | Personnel: James "Tre" Raab (guitar). | | Audio Mixer: Carlos Warlick. | | Unknown Contributor Roles: D. Thomas; Too Short; E-40; T. Horn; G. Brown; R. Bell; Anne Dudley; Richard Westfield; Robert "Spike" Mickens; Snoop Dogg; C. Smith. | | When Mack 10 returned in 1997 with his second album, Based on a True Story, the West Coast gangsta movement had began to simmer in the aftermath of Death Row's dissolution, 2Pac's death, Too Short's retirement, Dr. Dre's confusion, and Ice Cube's move to Hollywood. Mack gladly fills the void with a spirited album that's proudly Cali and proudly gangsta, and he brings along a few select guests -- Cube, Snoop, and producer Ant Banks -- who further rally the remaining West Coast fan base. Perhaps most importantly, though, Mack maintains a lighthearted attitude here that emphasizes good times and sunny, loping G-funk rhythms rather than the sort of menacing, hardest-of-the-hardcore one that so many of his West Coast peers had turned toward in the post-2Pac era. This lighthearted attitude is evident throughout, particularly on the album's highlights: the early-album party-starter "Backyard Boogie," the Ant Banks-laced E-40 duet "Can't Stop," and the Snoop-Cube-Mack team-up "Only in California." Mack furthermore throws in a trio of especially fun interpolations: "Mack 10, Mack 10" (U.T.F.O.'s "Roxanne, Roxanne"), "Inglewood Swingin'" (Kool & the Gang's "Hollywood Swinging"), and "Dopeman" (N.W.A.'s "Dopeman"). Amid all of these standouts, Mack throws in a few skits and guests along with some fine if unexceptional filler, keeping the album overall quite lean at just under 50 minutes. Based on a True Story is one of the best West Coast gangsta rap albums of 1997, an otherwise lackluster year for the style. ~ Jason Birchmeier | | BASED ON A TRUE STORY is full of straight-up gangsta rap and tales of guns and drugs and gang bangin', west coast style. Mack 10 teams up with some high-powered company on this one, as Ice Cube lends a hand on two of the tracks. The themes are predictable enough; ghetto life, revenge and retribution, drug dealing and the consequences of crossing the wrong man. But musically, Mack 10 does has some intriguing ideas. "Chicken Hawk 2" uses some interesting samples, including bird calls, staccato horns, and synthetic strings. "Inglewood Swingin'" is a tribute to Mack 10's home turf, while "Mack 10, Mack 10" makes sure that 1) we spell the man's name right and 2) we know who, in fact, "the man" is. Another attractive feature of this disc is the beats, which are well-matched to the raps, and all achieve a certain degree of funkiness. |
Engineer: M. McLaren; Carlos Carlos Warlick |
Musical Guests | | Ice Cube | | Snoop Dogg | | E-40 | | Too Short | | WC | | The Comrads | | AllFrumTha I | | AllFrumThal & The Comrads |
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