Bow Down

The first album by West Coast gangsta rap super-group Westside Connection; it was released on October 22, 1996 and peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200 before going platinum.

The album features songs feuding with New York music critics (“All the Critics in New York”), Cypress Hill (“Cross ‘Em Out and Put a 'K” and “King of the Hill”) and Common (“Hoo-Bangin’ (WSCG Style)”).

Reviews were generally positive, although the review by New York critic Robert Christgau observed

If you think East Coast Illuminati fantasies are silly, wait till you hear the “gangsta rap in it’s highest form” that Ice Cube and two like-minded liars counter with. Not only that, they threaten to cut off the scrotum of “All the Critics in New York.” Gosh, I sure hope they don’t mean mine.

Other reviews include Vibe, The Source, and Rolling Stone, with Rolling Stone’s Kevin Powell observing that the album “may be the most ill-timed rap record in history.”