Kill at Will explained

Kill at Will
Type:EP
Artist:Ice Cube
Cover:Icecubekillatwill.jpg
Released:December 18, 1990
Recorded:1990
Length:21:53
Label:Priority
Prev Title:AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted
Prev Year:1990
Next Title:Death Certificate
Next Year:1991

Kill at Will (titled At Will in its censored version) is an extended play by American rapper Ice Cube, released in 1990 via Priority Records. It was released soon after AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted and capitalized on Cube's newfound solo success.

Critical reception

Trouser Press praised "the lighthearted 'Jackin’ for Beats' (which bites EPMD, PE, Digital Underground, LL Cool J and others) and the devastating 'Dead Homiez', in which [Cube] solemnly contemplates the murder of a friend over an evocative mix of horn, guitar and piano."[1]

Robert Christgau stated: "I don't want to claim the criticism is getting to him--still talking tough on this interim EP, he remixes 'Get Off My Dick and Tell Your Bitch To Come Here.' But he's keeping his woman problem to himself and putting the gangsta shit in perspective: 'The Product' tells a young black con's story from his pops's nut, 'Dead Homiez' cops to a sadness a lesser outlaw might consider unmanly. With Sir Jinx running the board, the beats never work up to carpet-bomb density. And if Ice Cube keeps rhyming like this, you won't care."

Partial list of samples

"Endangered Species (Tales from the Darkside) (Remix)"

"The Product"

"I Gotta Say What Up!!!"

"Dead Homiez"

"Jackin' for Beats"

Later samples

Album singles

"Endangered Species (Tales from the Darkside)"

Charts

Year-end charts

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ice Cube . Trouser Press . 7 May 2021.
  2. Web site: Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums – Year-End 1991. Billboard. May 4, 2021.