ALBUM REVIEW

ICE-T

“Home Invasion”

Rhyme Syndicate/Priority

* * 1/2

You can’t blame Ice-T for being a bit defensive and unfocused after what he went through last year. And sure, he’s entitled to vent a bit of steam, as he does in “It’s On,” a revenge fantasy against everyone who had bad things to say about him, starting with the cops.

But he wastes so much of “Home Invasion” defending his rap manhood and lashing out at enemies that instead of the career-defining album that might have been forged from his strife, he’s delivered a collection that rarely offers any real sense of lessons learned. Among the successes: “Gotta Lotta Love” (a warm but tough celebration of the L.A. gang truce), “Race War” (a plea for unity among minorities) and the dark “Addicted to Danger,” which would make a vivid sequence for a ‘90s blaxploitation flick. His love for that film genre also provides the sonic link of many of the best tracks, which have an atmosphere recalling Curtis Mayfield’s “Superfly” glory.

The only track that approaches greatness, though, is “That’s How I’m Livin’,” a straightforward, stark, reflective number that does more to explain the artist and his art than all the supposedly “real” gangsta docudramas he’s recorded, and makes his excessive boasts silly and superfluous. Why can’t he just be good, rather than always having to say how good he is?

New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).