Westside Connection - Terrorist Threats (CD)

All Music Guide

A long seven years after the gangsta rap supergroup Westside Connection released Bow Down, one of the definitive West Coast gangsta rap albums of the '90s, they reunited in 2003 for a second goround, Terrorist Threats. Of course, the state of the rap union had changed a lot since 1996, which was the height of the original gangsta era, back when 2Pac and Biggie were still taunting the world from the streets (rather than doing so from the grave). So it's a little unsettling to hear the trio of veteran gangstas in Westside Connection Ice Cube, WC, and Mack 10 still trying to rally the "Gangsta Nation" circa 2003, the year of young gunners like 50 Cent and prettyboy skirtchasers like Chingy. Yet on the other hand, the oldfashioned gangsta growl of Westside Connection seems all the more poignant as a result as if they are ghosts of gangsta past, back to haunt listeners especially on songs like "So Many Rappers in Love," where these O.G.s call out their much younger, "21 Question"asking ...contemporaries. Not everything on Terrorist Threats is gruff and bitter, though. Standout songs like "Gangsta Nation" and "Lights Out" have plenty of feelgood swerve, especially when the likes of Nate Dogg and KnocTurn'al grace the hooks. But besides the PFunky hooks here, Westside Connection are back to make a point, not just to make you Crip walk, and while you may often prefer to Crip walk rather than actually listen up, the overall message is nonetheless clear. In 2003 rappers weren't making gangsta rap like they used to, and if you're indeed nostalgic for the oldschool gangsta posturing of the '90s opposed to the fauxgangsta stunting of the 2000s, Westside Connection have come back to keep it real, so recognize. - Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide Read more Less