Based on a True Story

• Artist: Mack 10
• Rating:
• Release Date: September 16, 1997
• Total Time: 50:08
• Type: Contains explicit content, Lyrics are included with the album
• Genre: Rap

Review

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, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Mack Manson (Intro)		Mack 10	(:54)
Chicken Hawk II	D. Rolison	Mack 10	(2:43)
Mack 10, Mack 10	D. Rolison, T. Anderson	Mack 10, AllFrumTha i	(4:00)
Bangin Gears [Insert]		Mack 10	(:48)
Backyard Boogie (Lyrics)	B. Ervin, D. Rolison	Mack 10	(4:19)
Can't Stop (Lyrics)	Ant Banks, E. Stevens, D. Rolison	E-40, Mack 10	(4:25)
Tonight's the Night	Ant Banks, D. Rolison	Mack 10	(3:16)
Aqua Boogie [Insert]	Bernie Worrell, Bootsy Collins, George Clinton	Mack 10	(:57)
The Guppies	Ice Cube, D. Rolison	Ice Cube, Mack 10	(4:52)
Inglewood Swangin' (Lyrics)	B. Ervin, D. Rolison	Mack 10	(3:59)
Dopeman (Lyrics)	Ant Banks, D. Rolison, O'Shea Jackson	Mack 10	(4:03)
What You Need? (Dopeman '97) [Dopeman 97]	D. Rolison	Mack 10	(3:24)
Only in California (Lyrics)	Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, Priest Brooks, D. Rolison, Delmar Arnaud	Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, Mack 10	(4:40)
Gangster Poem [Insert]		Mack 10	(:53)
W/S foe Life (Lyrics)	D. Rolison, Otis Jackson, Jr.	Mack 10	(2:40)
Based on a True Story	Ant Banks, D. Rolison	Mack 10	(4:15)

Credits

Ant Banks (Producer), Ice Cube (Producer), R. Bell (?), Snoop Dogg (?), Michael Miller (Art Direction), D. Thomas (?), Mack 10 (Producer), Snoop Dogg (Performer), Robert "Spike" Mickens (?), Richard Westfield (?), Bob Cat (Producer), M. McLaren (Engineer), C. Smith (?), James "Tre" Raab (Guitar), AllFrumTha i (Performer), Brian Gardner (Mastering), E-40 (?), Binky (Producer), Ice Cube (Performer), Carlos Warlick (Mixing), E-40 (Performer), Too Short (?), Soopafly (Producer), Anne Dudley (?), Tray (Producer), T. Horn (?), Carlos Warlick (Engineer), G. Brown (?)

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