Ice Cube has returned to his rap music roots with his latest album, “I Am The West,” his first album since 2008′s “Raw Footage.” To date, I Am The West is receiving a lukewarm reception from rap music critics, who charge that the former NWA star is sticking too close to home, while the rest of the rap music genre has moved on.

Rapper, Actor, Director, Producer

Ice Cube hasn’t been sitting still. His initial work in rap music put him on pace to release a rap album once per year, something he did from 1990-1993. After that, he released an album (War & Peace, Volume 1) in 1998, having spent the intervening time establishing his acting career, working steadily (and mostly) in films as both an actor and producer. He’s recently picked up a television series, “Are We There Yet” where he pulls double duty as a cast member and also serves as the show’s executive producer.

That schedule hasn’t left much time for music. He released War & Peace, Volume 2 in 2000 and Laugh Now, Cry Later in 2006. With I Am The West, critics say that Ice Cube is still spending his time producing gangsta rap when the rest of the industry has moved on. Today’s rap music, they say, is more than guns, women and drugs.

For his part, Ice Cube simply doesn’t care. I Am The West is a protest album of sorts. Ice Cube rails against contemporary rappers, whom Ice Cube plainly and decidedly says he’s not. He’s happy creating gangsta rap and knows that his latest music will appeal to his dedicated fan base. While today’s celebrated rap artists find more inspiration in human relationships than in drug deals gone bad, Ice Cube is happy to make the kind of music he’s always made – California-centric street rap.

While his music may have an increasingly limited popular appeal, the rap music industry needs more artists like Ice Cube –not because there’s a pent-up demand for gangsta rap (there’s not), but because Ice Cube is willing to make the music he wants to make without bowing to today’s rap music style.

Rappers who want to make their own music and who aren’t interested so much in what the critics have to say as they are in being comfortable where they’re at are the artists that will ensure that rap music is around for generations to come. Ice Cube’s lyrics may be less meaningful to the masses, but as an artist, he still possesses the power to move the genre forward.

Photo Credit: Philip Litevsky, via Flickr