Bow Down

• Artist: Westside Connection
• Rating:
• Release Date: October 22, 1996
• Total Time: 48:12
• Type: Contains explicit content, Lyrics are included with the album
• Genre: Rap

Review

Following Lethal Injection, Ice Cube's career began to sag slightly, both in terms of sales and critical respect. As a response, he formed Westside Connection with fellow West Coast gangsta rappers Mack 10 and WC -- the first hip-hop supergroup ever formed. Bow Down, the trio's debut, is everything you would expect from this pedigree, for better and for worse. Musically, the record is fantastic, with tight, slamming production that alternates between driving hardcore rhythms and elastic booty-funk. Similarly, all three rappers give brilliant performances, rhyming with fierce venom and grace. The problem is, the trio -- who have all demonstrated exceptional observational skills and social commentary in the past -- have decided to abandon their conscious for a spirited defense and celebration of gangsta rap. If anyone has represented the best gangsta has had to offer, it would be Ice Cube, Mack 10, and WC, but none of their lyrics here illustrate this; instead, they simply make half-hearted excuses for the violence and no political attacks at authority, which renders it nearly devoid of content. Nevertheless, Bow Down is filled with so much exceptional music that it ranks as one of the finest latter-day gangsta rap records. Listening to it, however, it's hard not to believe that it is an epitaph for the genre. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
World Domination (Intro)		Westside Connection	(1:17)
Bow Down (Lyrics)	Ice Cube, Mack 10, Westside Connection, Bud'da	Westside Connection	(3:26)
Gangsta's Make the World Go Round (Lyrics)	Ice Cube, WC and the Maad Circle, Mack 10, Cedric Samson	Westside Connection	(4:32)
All the Critics in New York (Lyrics)	Ice Cube, WC and the Maad Circle, Mack 10	Westside Connection	(5:34)
Do You Like Criminals	Ice Cube, WC and the Maad Circle, K-Dee, Mack 10, Bud'da	Westside Connection	(5:00)
Gangsta's Don't Dance (Insert)		Westside Connection	(:21)
The The Gangsta, The Killa and the Dope Dealer	Ice Cube, WC and the Maad Circle, Mack 10, Bud'da	Westside Connection	(4:11)
Cross 'Em out and Put a 'K (Lyrics)	Ice Cube, WC and the Maad Circle, Mack 10, Bud'da	Westside Connection	(4:55)
King of the Hill (Lyrics)	Ice Cube, Mack 10, QDIII	Westside Connection	(4:17)
3 Time Felons (Lyrics)	Ice Cube, WC and the Maad Circle, Mack 10, Bud'da	Westside Connection	(5:09)
Westward Ho (Lyrics)	Ice Cube, WC and the Maad Circle, Mack 10, QDIII	Westside Connection	(5:12)
The The Pledge (Insert) [Take]		Westside Connection	(:14)
Hoo-Bangin' (WSCG Style) [Mix]	Ice Cube, WC and the Maad Circle, K-Dee, Mack 10, The Comrads, AllFrumTha i, D. Rolison	Westside Connection	(3:57)

Credits

Michael Miller (Photography), Binky (Producer), Ice Cube (Producer), Bud'da (Producer), Manuel J. Donayre (Design), Art Sho-G (Design), Cedric Samson (Producer), Steven A. Wills (Illustrations), Ice Cube (Mixing), WC (Group Member), Art Sho-G (Art Direction), Mack 10 (Group Member), Manuel J. Donayre (Art Direction), Fernando Perdigao (Programming), QDIII (Producer), Ice Cube (Engineer), Keston Wright (Engineer)

Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The verb has 2 meanings:

Meaning #1: get into a prostrate position, as in submission
  Synonym: prostrate

Meaning #2: bend one's knee or body, or lower one's head
  Synonym: bow

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