Soundtrack: Next Friday

Listening to Ice Cube's water-treading recent work, it's hard to believe that a mere decade ago, he was among the most vital artists working in any genre, a fire-breathing griot whose work seethed with anger and eloquent dissidence. But that was then. Cube '99, as reflected on the Next Friday soundtrack's first single "You Can Do It" and the N.W.A reunion track "Chin Check," is at best a competent gangsta rapper who's happy to abandon social criticism in favor of lazy posturing and party-hearty sloganeering. The N.W.A reunion (minus Eazy-E, of course, and the long-MIA Arabian Prince, and plus Snoop Dogg) is the main selling point for this disc, and it's a bit of a letdown. It would be impossible for N.W.A's music to have the same massive impact it did back in 1988, and "Chin Check" is a sadly familiar bit of gangsta misanthropy that matches a mediocre Dre beat to uninspired turns by MC Ren, Snoop Dogg, Dre, and Ice Cube. If this is the best a current-day N.W.A can do, maybe a full-fledged reunion isn't such a great idea. Elsewhere, Next Friday is the standard mishmash of big names, trend-chasing, and unremarkable collaborations. Big-name turns by Eminem, Wyclef Jean, The Wu-Tang Clan, and Pharoahe Monch don't disappoint. But the soundtrack's nod to the dirty south, a Big Tymers-Li'l Wayne-Mack 10 collaboration, is Cash Money by numbers, while Ja Rule's "We Murderers Baby" (how's that for subtlety) is an overbearing, underwhelming would-be gangsta anthem. Next Friday isn't bad for what it is, but considering the talent involved, it's kind of a disappointment.