1800skypager
New member
Good read
And BUY his albums if you don't already own them!
And BUY his albums if you don't already own them!
ICE-CUBE 1990-1994 was The Face, Spokesman and King EMCEE of Hip-hop
juan travolta
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Cube is a legend.
waterproof
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1800skypager;4250668 said:Good read
And BUY his albums if you don't already own them!
a damn good article, and that article give a better look about why there is a difference between NWA with Ice-Cube and PE.
NWA with Ice-Cube was just as social and political as PE, but NWA was black rage at its finest and didn't give a fuck about a blacklash. I forgot about how PE was shook about that "So-called Anti Semtism", that's the difference between NWA and PE. Ice-Cube gave his thoughts on the Jews and talked about them many of times on his album and he didn't give a fuck and didnt change up. Ice-Cube and NWA had backbone, Cube had Khalid Abdul Muhammad when he was a firing rod for NOI and was called a racist and Anti Semite and even NOI told him to calm down because Khalid was all in the news ABC Nightly News, Donahue for his firey speech. It's funny that Ice-Cube made an album that PE wanted to make but they was was pressured to calm down.
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waterproof
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waterproof
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Idiopathic Joker
Moderator
The white man is something I tried to study, but I got my hands bloody
waterproof
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I remember in 89 when Ice-Cube left NWA that shit was crazy, i was a youngsta and NWA was my favorite group and Ice Cube was my favorite emcee. I remember niggas was dissing Ice-Cube, it was either you rode with NWA or you rode with Cube, i was like im supporting them both but when it was said that Cube got a album coming out the whole left was eager. I remember after Easter Vacation in 1990 i saved some money up and went to the mall and copped that album some young dude at the register didn't even trip off my age and it was cool that i lived a block away from the mall. I ran to my boy house, like yeah boy look at here Cube new album, his mouth dropped and asked your mother brought it for you and i was nope got it at the mall and we was discussing rather it will be a NWA album and can cube do it, and we was young niggas having deep hip-hop conversations, we closed the door all sneaky and shit because we know it was some cuss words. We didn't say a peep through out the whole album and after it was done mouths dropped and mind BLOWN. we grapped the boombox radio put the tape in and was walking around the neighborhood blasting AMW all the other kids our age was in awe because we had that album. Older teenagers was coming up to us trying to take my tape, i was like get your own.
this song had Chuck D shook, he thought Cube should change the lyrics when he said "kick the bitch in the tummy"
=relmfu
BUT 1990 wasn't all Sweet for Ice cube because in August that year of 1990, THE WORLD MOST DANGEROUS CREW N.W.A. came back to show hip-hop that THE NIGGAZ IN BLACK aint went nowhere and still is the Kings of Hip-hop and dropped The Now classic EP 100 MILEZ and runnin. Yeah Cube suprised the shit out of everybody but now NWA is have to answer the question. Can MC Ren hold down NWA as the lead vocalist, will Dre step up on the mic to take some of the load. Those questions was answered Dre was now co-leading emcee of the group with Ren, Ren is more vicious on the mic, D.O.C. making Dre sound great and Eazy-E. But the shocker, Dr. Dre came out with a new sound, his production sounds nothing like STOC, Eazy DUZ It or Nobody Can Do It better. NWA was getting at everybody this wasnt the CUBE NWA social politcal this NWA was more aggressive, violent and didnt give a fuck.
oh yeah they was dissing Cube left and right on 3 of the 5 tracks.
100 Miles and Runnin' was the first N.W.A album after Ice Cube had left the group in December 1989, and the group makes numerous sardonic references to its former member. On the title track, Dre states:
"It started with five but yo, one couldn't take it / So now there's four 'cause the fifth couldn't make it".
Therefore dismissing Ice Cube as a coward, and on the song "Real Niggaz" MC Ren states "Only reason niggaz pick up your record is cause they thought it was us", referring to the success of Ice Cube's first solo album AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted which had been released earlier that year. Ice Cube would respond to these attacks on his 1991 album Death Certificate
and NWA 100 MILEZ EP WENT PLAT with out Cube [b]Although the album was released as an EP, it nevertheless hit the charts and sold over 500,000 copies, reaching gold status on November 16, 1990 before reaching platinum certification on September 16, 1992 for over 1 million copies sold.
but the drama didn't stop RUTHLESS RECORDS ABOVE THE LAW wanted some of Cube and the lynch mob
In September 1990, members of hip hop act Above the Law clashed with Ice Cube and his posse Da Lench Mob during the annual New Music Seminar conference, forcing the latter to flee the premises of Times Square's Marriott Marquis, the venue of the event.
this song had Chuck D shook, he thought Cube should change the lyrics when he said "kick the bitch in the tummy"
=relmfu
BUT 1990 wasn't all Sweet for Ice cube because in August that year of 1990, THE WORLD MOST DANGEROUS CREW N.W.A. came back to show hip-hop that THE NIGGAZ IN BLACK aint went nowhere and still is the Kings of Hip-hop and dropped The Now classic EP 100 MILEZ and runnin. Yeah Cube suprised the shit out of everybody but now NWA is have to answer the question. Can MC Ren hold down NWA as the lead vocalist, will Dre step up on the mic to take some of the load. Those questions was answered Dre was now co-leading emcee of the group with Ren, Ren is more vicious on the mic, D.O.C. making Dre sound great and Eazy-E. But the shocker, Dr. Dre came out with a new sound, his production sounds nothing like STOC, Eazy DUZ It or Nobody Can Do It better. NWA was getting at everybody this wasnt the CUBE NWA social politcal this NWA was more aggressive, violent and didnt give a fuck.
oh yeah they was dissing Cube left and right on 3 of the 5 tracks.
100 Miles and Runnin' was the first N.W.A album after Ice Cube had left the group in December 1989, and the group makes numerous sardonic references to its former member. On the title track, Dre states:
"It started with five but yo, one couldn't take it / So now there's four 'cause the fifth couldn't make it".
Therefore dismissing Ice Cube as a coward, and on the song "Real Niggaz" MC Ren states "Only reason niggaz pick up your record is cause they thought it was us", referring to the success of Ice Cube's first solo album AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted which had been released earlier that year. Ice Cube would respond to these attacks on his 1991 album Death Certificate
and NWA 100 MILEZ EP WENT PLAT with out Cube [b]Although the album was released as an EP, it nevertheless hit the charts and sold over 500,000 copies, reaching gold status on November 16, 1990 before reaching platinum certification on September 16, 1992 for over 1 million copies sold.
but the drama didn't stop RUTHLESS RECORDS ABOVE THE LAW wanted some of Cube and the lynch mob
In September 1990, members of hip hop act Above the Law clashed with Ice Cube and his posse Da Lench Mob during the annual New Music Seminar conference, forcing the latter to flee the premises of Times Square's Marriott Marquis, the venue of the event.
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waterproof
New member
1991 WAS THE YEAR OF THE CUBE, Cube coming off going gold in a month and plat in 3 months and having hip-hop album of the year and a classic album with AMW and then went Gold in a month with the classic EP KILL AT WILL, Cube was had bi-coastal love and was all over the place. But shit Cube wasn't slowin down he started his own Record Company "Street Knowledge Records"
But something was bigger John Singleton asked Cube to play a part in his movie BOYZ N THE HOOD, now that was a big buzz on the left coast and hip-hop when we learned that Cube was going to start in a Movie that had the Song Title to a song he wrote for Eazy-E and a popular NWA song BOYZ N THE HOOD.
WHEN THE MOVIE dropped it was a instant success, critical acclaim nominated for awards at the academy, movie was selling out nation wide and hip-hop was saying that Cube had a oscar worthy nomination. No other hip-hop artist at that time acted in a movie with a powerful performance, ICE-CUBE knocked the wall down and elevated hip-hop once again. Cube was all over urban and black magazines for his part as dough boy. The only downfall was brothas acting crazy and violence at the movie theaters, theaters was threating to pull the movie because of it. BOYZ N THE HOOD brought WHITE AMERICA to our neighborhoods and showed the war that was going on and that we are humans too. DoughBoy asked questions in th movies that uncovered the lies that we was just killers, and show how the crack game, poor schools, broken home and the racist police was apart of the blame. AND IT ALSO SHOW THAT WE HAD EDUCATED BROTHER AND FATHERS WHO LOVED THEIR SONS AND TAUGHT THEIR SONS HOW TO BE A MAN, AND SUCESSFUL BROTHERS IN THE HOOD
ICE-CUBE paved the way for Will Smith and Tupac for being legit and serious actors, before that was Krush Groove, the classic slapstickDisorderlies with the Fat Boys, Rappin, but Mario Van Pebbles and Blair Underwood was actors and had the lead role. Boyz N The Hood gave hip-hop a face for hollywood
BOYZ N THE HOOD had a classic soundtrack
Boyz N The Hood birthed Menace II Society, South Central, Poetic Justice and other's
[/img]
But something was bigger John Singleton asked Cube to play a part in his movie BOYZ N THE HOOD, now that was a big buzz on the left coast and hip-hop when we learned that Cube was going to start in a Movie that had the Song Title to a song he wrote for Eazy-E and a popular NWA song BOYZ N THE HOOD.
WHEN THE MOVIE dropped it was a instant success, critical acclaim nominated for awards at the academy, movie was selling out nation wide and hip-hop was saying that Cube had a oscar worthy nomination. No other hip-hop artist at that time acted in a movie with a powerful performance, ICE-CUBE knocked the wall down and elevated hip-hop once again. Cube was all over urban and black magazines for his part as dough boy. The only downfall was brothas acting crazy and violence at the movie theaters, theaters was threating to pull the movie because of it. BOYZ N THE HOOD brought WHITE AMERICA to our neighborhoods and showed the war that was going on and that we are humans too. DoughBoy asked questions in th movies that uncovered the lies that we was just killers, and show how the crack game, poor schools, broken home and the racist police was apart of the blame. AND IT ALSO SHOW THAT WE HAD EDUCATED BROTHER AND FATHERS WHO LOVED THEIR SONS AND TAUGHT THEIR SONS HOW TO BE A MAN, AND SUCESSFUL BROTHERS IN THE HOOD
ICE-CUBE paved the way for Will Smith and Tupac for being legit and serious actors, before that was Krush Groove, the classic slapstickDisorderlies with the Fat Boys, Rappin, but Mario Van Pebbles and Blair Underwood was actors and had the lead role. Boyz N The Hood gave hip-hop a face for hollywood
BOYZ N THE HOOD had a classic soundtrack
Boyz N The Hood birthed Menace II Society, South Central, Poetic Justice and other's
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waterproof
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BOYZ N THE HOOD
Boyz n the Hood is a 1991 American hood film written and directed by John Singleton. Starring Cuba Gooding, Jr., Ice Cube, Laurence Fishburne, Morris Chestnut, Nia Long, Angela Bassett and Regina King, the film depicts life in poor South Central (now South) Los Angeles, California and was filmed and released in the summer of 1991. It was nominated for both Best Director and Original Screenplay during the 1991 Academy Awards, making Singleton the youngest person ever nominated for Best Director and the first African–American to be nominated for the award.
The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival.[2] In 2002, the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.[3]
Critical response
Boyz n the Hood has received widespread critical acclaim. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 96% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 48 reviews, with an average score of 8.3/10, making the film a "Certified Fresh" on the website's rating system.[4] At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 73, based on 18 reviews, which indicates "Generally favorable reviews".[5]
BOYZ N THE HOOD SOUNDTRACK
Boyz n the Hood is the soundtrack to the 1991 hood film, Boyz n the Hood. It was released on July 9, 1991 through Columbia Records and contained mostly hip hop music. The album was very successful, making it to #12 on the Billboard 200 and #1 on the Top R&B Albums chart and was certified gold by the RIAA on September 12 of that year. The soundtrack also spawned one single, Tevin Campbell's "Just Ask Me To", which made it to #88 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #9 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks
=fvst
Boyz n the Hood is a 1991 American hood film written and directed by John Singleton. Starring Cuba Gooding, Jr., Ice Cube, Laurence Fishburne, Morris Chestnut, Nia Long, Angela Bassett and Regina King, the film depicts life in poor South Central (now South) Los Angeles, California and was filmed and released in the summer of 1991. It was nominated for both Best Director and Original Screenplay during the 1991 Academy Awards, making Singleton the youngest person ever nominated for Best Director and the first African–American to be nominated for the award.
The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival.[2] In 2002, the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.[3]
Critical response
Boyz n the Hood has received widespread critical acclaim. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 96% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 48 reviews, with an average score of 8.3/10, making the film a "Certified Fresh" on the website's rating system.[4] At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 73, based on 18 reviews, which indicates "Generally favorable reviews".[5]
BOYZ N THE HOOD SOUNDTRACK
Boyz n the Hood is the soundtrack to the 1991 hood film, Boyz n the Hood. It was released on July 9, 1991 through Columbia Records and contained mostly hip hop music. The album was very successful, making it to #12 on the Billboard 200 and #1 on the Top R&B Albums chart and was certified gold by the RIAA on September 12 of that year. The soundtrack also spawned one single, Tevin Campbell's "Just Ask Me To", which made it to #88 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #9 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks
=fvst
real_hh_rep
New member
Great thread yo! You have to give Cube props for storming the game with 3 classic albums during early 90's. Dude was everywhere, but it didn't change his hunger and creativity. Everything from AMW to Lethal Injection was fire, with Death Certifictae peaking Cube at the top of the game. Excluding disappointing War & Peace series, Cube could have the greatest catalogue in hip-hop history.
waterproof
New member
Ice Cube, AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted Retrospective [20 Years Later]
Twenty years ago today, Ice Cube dropped his classic debut, AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted. Following an abrupt split from N.W.A, the West Coast MC headed to New York in search of a new sound and wound up connecting with Public Enemy’s production team, Bomb Squad, which resulted in a musical combination that shook up the hip-hop world. Here, Cube retells the story of how it all came to be.
“You know, I had went to New York, back and forth with N.W.A, and ended up being real cool with [then-Def Jam executives] Russell [Simmons] and Lyor [Cohen]. And they would have me come down to Rush [Management Offices] and I would fuck with some of the biggest names in hip-hop at the time. EPMD came through; you’d see everybody walking through. From a person who was a hip-hop fan and then became entrenched in hip-hop as an artist it was cool to do. So when I went solo, I was like I wanted Dr. Dre to do AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted, but Jerry Heller vetoed that. So since he vetoed that shit—and I’m pretty sure Eazy didn’t want Dre to do it. But Dre did want to do it; we gotta put that on record. Dre wanted to do my record, but it was just too crazy with the break-up of [N.W.A]. The break-up snowballed into some shit. I was talking to Lyor because I wanted Sam Sever [to produce my album]. Sam Sever did all the 3rd Bass shit and their beats were the shit at the time. So I went out to New York looking for Sam Sever [and] the muthafucka didn’t show up to the meeting. So I’m out in New York like, ‘This muthafucka!’ So I’m mad now, but I ain’t trippin’. I’m up at Def Jam, so I ain’t trippin’.
I see Chuck D in the hallway, he’s like, ‘Yo, what you doin’ out here?’ You know I had consulted with Chuck before I broke up with N.W.A, so he had advised me on a lot of shit. [Actually] I ain’t gonna say he advised me on a lot of shit, we had one or two phone calls where I can vent to him and he would hear me out. So anyway I told him what I was doing, that I left the group and I was tryin’ to work on my record. He was like, ‘Yo, come talk to [Bomb Squad producer] Hank Shocklee, we over here at Greene Street Studios and we’re working on this song with Kane called ‘Burn Hollywood Burn’, do you want to be on it?’ I’m like, What? So that’s how that shit came together.
So I show up in the studio. It’s Chuck there, it’s P.E., dudes from Stetsaonic is there and shit, ya know, Daddy-O… Big Daddy Kane. You know, it was hip-hop royalty coming through. We out there doin’ ‘Burn, Hollywood, Burn.’ Hank comes; Hank, Keith Shocklee’s there, Eric Sadler; we all there and then I just start tellin’ them the story of what happened with N.W.A and that they caught wind that I was coming out to New York to do my album and everybody [in N.W.A] laughed [at me]. And when I said that they laughed at the fact that I came out to New York to get my album done. Something in Hank’s eyes turned on, like, ‘They laughed?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘We’ll do your whole album if you want us to.’” —As Told to Rob Markman
Twenty years ago today, Ice Cube dropped his classic debut, AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted. Following an abrupt split from N.W.A, the West Coast MC headed to New York in search of a new sound and wound up connecting with Public Enemy’s production team, Bomb Squad, which resulted in a musical combination that shook up the hip-hop world. Here, Cube retells the story of how it all came to be.
“You know, I had went to New York, back and forth with N.W.A, and ended up being real cool with [then-Def Jam executives] Russell [Simmons] and Lyor [Cohen]. And they would have me come down to Rush [Management Offices] and I would fuck with some of the biggest names in hip-hop at the time. EPMD came through; you’d see everybody walking through. From a person who was a hip-hop fan and then became entrenched in hip-hop as an artist it was cool to do. So when I went solo, I was like I wanted Dr. Dre to do AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted, but Jerry Heller vetoed that. So since he vetoed that shit—and I’m pretty sure Eazy didn’t want Dre to do it. But Dre did want to do it; we gotta put that on record. Dre wanted to do my record, but it was just too crazy with the break-up of [N.W.A]. The break-up snowballed into some shit. I was talking to Lyor because I wanted Sam Sever [to produce my album]. Sam Sever did all the 3rd Bass shit and their beats were the shit at the time. So I went out to New York looking for Sam Sever [and] the muthafucka didn’t show up to the meeting. So I’m out in New York like, ‘This muthafucka!’ So I’m mad now, but I ain’t trippin’. I’m up at Def Jam, so I ain’t trippin’.
I see Chuck D in the hallway, he’s like, ‘Yo, what you doin’ out here?’ You know I had consulted with Chuck before I broke up with N.W.A, so he had advised me on a lot of shit. [Actually] I ain’t gonna say he advised me on a lot of shit, we had one or two phone calls where I can vent to him and he would hear me out. So anyway I told him what I was doing, that I left the group and I was tryin’ to work on my record. He was like, ‘Yo, come talk to [Bomb Squad producer] Hank Shocklee, we over here at Greene Street Studios and we’re working on this song with Kane called ‘Burn Hollywood Burn’, do you want to be on it?’ I’m like, What? So that’s how that shit came together.
So I show up in the studio. It’s Chuck there, it’s P.E., dudes from Stetsaonic is there and shit, ya know, Daddy-O… Big Daddy Kane. You know, it was hip-hop royalty coming through. We out there doin’ ‘Burn, Hollywood, Burn.’ Hank comes; Hank, Keith Shocklee’s there, Eric Sadler; we all there and then I just start tellin’ them the story of what happened with N.W.A and that they caught wind that I was coming out to New York to do my album and everybody [in N.W.A] laughed [at me]. And when I said that they laughed at the fact that I came out to New York to get my album done. Something in Hank’s eyes turned on, like, ‘They laughed?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘We’ll do your whole album if you want us to.’” —As Told to Rob Markman
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waterproof
New member
"I CUT MY JHERRI JUICE INTO A BALD HEAD" 1991 ICE-CUBE riding high.....He USED to be apart of the world most dangerous crew and wildly popular NWA, STOC was a classic and co-wrote another classic EAZY-E "EAZY DUZ IT" 1988, 1990 dropped two classics and gain bi-coastal love with AMW and Kill At Will, Cube had hip-hop locked and sewn. Cube had even the NY hip-hop zealots bumping his shit, and he was scaring the shit out of middle america.
1991 BOYZ N THE HOOD dropped, Cube was now a house hold name. Now Cube was not only one of the best emcee in the game but he received loved from the mainstream for his acting in the movie, Cube put hip-hop on the map again and was the face of hip-hop.
But shiiiet, Cube is the nigga you love to hate, you would of thought Cube would act all hollywood and went pop and mainstream with his shit, now he got white folks in hollywood love.
Ice-Cube quietly got with his crew of West Coast producers he called The Boogiemen (Sir Jinx, Chilly Chill, DJ Pooh, Rashad and Bobcat) and came out with an album harder than AMW, did Cube sell out, hell fuckin no. Ice-Cube was still getting at the white man, but this time he went in depth about the life of the soliders in L.A. and "US" Ice-Cube but a mirrior to our face on the fuckery that we was doing. Death Certificate was one of hip-hop's most Social and Politcal album in history and it was still gangsta. Now Ice-Cube was breaking bread with NOI so he was speaking on taking matters of our community in our own hands.
Oh yeah, Ice-Cube released one of hip-hop's most vicious and greatest diss of all times, "No Vasline" damn near made NWA a laughing stock that earned Ice-Cube the respect of one of hip-hop's feared battle/diss emcee.
1991 BOYZ N THE HOOD dropped, Cube was now a house hold name. Now Cube was not only one of the best emcee in the game but he received loved from the mainstream for his acting in the movie, Cube put hip-hop on the map again and was the face of hip-hop.
But shiiiet, Cube is the nigga you love to hate, you would of thought Cube would act all hollywood and went pop and mainstream with his shit, now he got white folks in hollywood love.
Ice-Cube quietly got with his crew of West Coast producers he called The Boogiemen (Sir Jinx, Chilly Chill, DJ Pooh, Rashad and Bobcat) and came out with an album harder than AMW, did Cube sell out, hell fuckin no. Ice-Cube was still getting at the white man, but this time he went in depth about the life of the soliders in L.A. and "US" Ice-Cube but a mirrior to our face on the fuckery that we was doing. Death Certificate was one of hip-hop's most Social and Politcal album in history and it was still gangsta. Now Ice-Cube was breaking bread with NOI so he was speaking on taking matters of our community in our own hands.
Oh yeah, Ice-Cube released one of hip-hop's most vicious and greatest diss of all times, "No Vasline" damn near made NWA a laughing stock that earned Ice-Cube the respect of one of hip-hop's feared battle/diss emcee.
waterproof
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waterproof
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Death Certificate is the second studio album by American rapper Ice Cube, released October 29, 1991, on Priority Records. Highly anticipated with over one million advanced orders,[1] the album was certified platinum in sales on December 20, 1991.[2] The album sold 105,000 copies in its first week an debuted on the Billboard 200 chart at #2, and the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart at #1, while it eventually went on to sell 1,600,134 copies.
Due to some of its racially charged content, and Ice Cube's acerbic statements on drug dealing, racial profiling, and the right to keep and bear arms, Death Certificate was the source of much controversy upon its release. In 2003, Priority Records re-released Death Certificate with the bonus track "How to Survive in South Central," which originally appeared on the Boyz n the Hood soundtrack
While making Death Certificate, Ice Cube was said to be affiliated with the Nation of Islam, which had a large impact on the majority of the album's content, although he has denied being part of the organization. Death Certificate was roughly organized as two thematic elements of a larger whole, and opens with Cube's explanation: "The Death Side: a mirror image of where we are today; The Life Side: a vision of where we need to go." The first half, therefore, is replete with the tales of drug dealing, whore-mongering and violence expected of a gangsta rap album in 1991. The second half provided somewhat of a synthesis between that genre and the type of prescriptive messages more often found from artists wholly divorced from the gangsta image.[/b]
Due to some of its racially charged content, and Ice Cube's acerbic statements on drug dealing, racial profiling, and the right to keep and bear arms, Death Certificate was the source of much controversy upon its release. In 2003, Priority Records re-released Death Certificate with the bonus track "How to Survive in South Central," which originally appeared on the Boyz n the Hood soundtrack
While making Death Certificate, Ice Cube was said to be affiliated with the Nation of Islam, which had a large impact on the majority of the album's content, although he has denied being part of the organization. Death Certificate was roughly organized as two thematic elements of a larger whole, and opens with Cube's explanation: "The Death Side: a mirror image of where we are today; The Life Side: a vision of where we need to go." The first half, therefore, is replete with the tales of drug dealing, whore-mongering and violence expected of a gangsta rap album in 1991. The second half provided somewhat of a synthesis between that genre and the type of prescriptive messages more often found from artists wholly divorced from the gangsta image.[/b]
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waterproof
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Ice Cube Celebrates 20-Year Anniversary of Death Certificate
Ice Cube talks to XXL‘s Shaheem Reid about the impact of his classic 1991 album…
Ice Cube’s Death Certificate pulled no punches. He encouraged Eazy-E to murder manager Jerry Heller, he dissed rappers who shed their hardcore music for pop and mainstream ambitions. Hell, he even featured a toe-tagged Uncle Sam on the album cover. Cube was rap’s boldest, most prolific and arguably most influential voice when the LP dropped in October 1991 and he didn’t waste one second on the mic. Every song gave listeners some sort of analytical commentary whether it was hood-related, gang-affiliated or politically-based. In this writer’s humble opinion, Death Certificate is not just a top five of all-time LP because of Cube’s lyrical sledgehammer or the masterful, heavy handed sonic carpeting on the project, but it’s thematic weight and execution is practically unparalleled, even to this day.
Here, Cube breaks down his LP. He tells why he chose not to use The Bomb Squad who produced his classic debut, AmeriKKKA’s Most Wanted, how N.W.A egged him on to make a controversial diss record, and why a CNN interview ended a major controversy for him.—Shaheem Reid (@ShaheemReid)
XXL: Death Certificate is 20 years old. I remember having the cassette with the “Death Side” and “The Life Side.” What do you think about the album reaching such a milestone?
Ice Cube: The record kinda just came together. It told its own story. I knew I had records that was straight street and I knew I had records that were dealing with knowledge of self. Some songs I didn’t know where they were gonna land on—“The Death Side” or “The Life Side,” but it all worked out. I’m very proud of that record. That was my sophomore record. Most people usually have sort of a jinx during that time. Their [second] record can’t hold up to the first album. That record [Death Certificate], people loved it. I remember people standing out in front of the record store on line. It was lines wrapped around the store and all that stuff. It was to me, a record that needed to be done. It was a record where I was in transition. I was learning knowledge of self, our history here in America. I was trying to bring our fans along with it. Trying to show them you don’t have to stay straight hood, straight gutter. You could add some intelligence with it. You’d be better to navigate through this world.
What was it like writing the album because that point you’re coming off not just Amerikkka’s Most… and Kill at Will as a solo artist, but Straight Outta Compton as well. Those are three classics right there. That’s a career right there, outta the gate.
I felt energized. I felt that “in your prime.” It’s like you feel you know what hip-hop needs. It’s that feeling. That’s the kind of feeling that record gave me. I was coming off a lot of momentum. I was eager. People took longer to drop records before then. By coming out, with AmeriKKKa’s Most wanted, then dropping Kill At Will later that year, then having Death Certificate ready, it made people come out a little faster. It let people know you can’t just rest. A lot of people were surprised I had a record ready that quick and wanted to drop it. It was fun. I hadn’t worked with The Bomb Squad on Death Certificate; I worked straight with Sir Jinx and The Boogiemen which were DJ Pooh, Rashad and Bobcat. It was gonna be a straight West Coast record as far as production-wise. That made me a little weary, that I didn’t use The Bomb Squad anymore.
Why go in a different direction then? You and The Bomb Squad had made an undeniable classic with AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted.
They were going through their turmoil. The situation with [Professor] Griff had gotten real bad. They weren’t in position to produce the record. Things had gotten real fragmented. I had to kind of keep it moving and do what I had to do. Then we were successful with Kill At Will. Kill At Will wasn’t with The Bomb Squad. That was just me and Jinx putting that record together. It was like, “We can do it. We don’t have to have Dre, we don’t have to have P.E. We can still do a good record.”
What did you think when you saw the group you left, N.W.A, still being successful in the wake of your absence? Were you more fueled by the fact that Niggaz4life LP sold huge numbers or that the group had sent shots your way on the project?
The shots fueled me more than the sales. I didn’t care what they were selling. I’d figured I didn’t have nothing to do with it, so I didn’t care what they were selling. But them dissing, after I didn’t diss… AmeriKKK’as Most Wanted, there’s not one N.W.A reference at all. I was a little shocked that they would diss. I was real ferocious as far as being mad about it. With [The EP] 100 Miles and Running, they threw a little shot. I threw a little shot with “Jackin for Beats.” But on their actual album, they did a skit that was a little bigger. I was like, “I’m not playing. I’m gonna just go and come off my chest. Say what I feel.”
Who brought you the beat for “No Vaseline?”
I wanted the beat. I told them to loop the beat. I had the lyrics already and I was looking for a beat. I heard [Dana Dane’s] “Cinderfella” one time and I was like “nobody used that Dazz Band beat [“Brick”] in a long time. It’s about time to pull it out.” I knew using that beat on the song would be popular because everybody liked that shit at the time. I knew the beat was hot and the lyrics were personal. I knew the shit was gonna cause a lot of turmoil.
Another highlight off the album was “Summer Vacation.” That was an amazing story.
That song, before when we was with N.W.A, we would go out of town to do shows. But the way we were dressed, we would always get hemmed up in the airport by feds or airport police. They were looking for the niggas transporting dope. We looked like LA niggas transporting dope. They would sweat us, we had to let them know who we are what we’re here to do. I was like “this shit is bad. These LA niggas done went all over this country and turned these places out.” I wanted to write about it. “Summer Vacation” was the song where I just wanted to talk about it. It was like the art of story telling letting people know how this gang was spreading across the country. That’s why you got Crips and Bloods all over the country now, because of the dope game. It ain’t got nothing to do with movies or records. It’s just the dope game.
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New member
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New member
Ice Cube Celebrates 20-Year Anniversary of Death Certificate
Ice Cube talks to XXL‘s Shaheem Reid about the impact of his classic 1991 album…
At the end of a song that tells the story of a gangster such as that, the star of the song or the bad guy walks away in the sunset. On this particular record, you went to jail in your draws.
Yeah, well I done heard stories about when people went outta town. They always tell you the good stuff. “I went out of town and ran that shit.” They don’t tell you how dudes in the town shot they ass up, tore them up or whatever. So I wanted to tell a story that would… … I’m trying to impact the gangster. I’m trying to impact his psyche. I wanted to show, “Ok, these niggas may take and take and take, but as soon as the other dudes huddle up and figure out how aggressive they have to be to get y’all outta there, they gonna do it. They’re gonna get y’all outta there.” I was showing that and showing the consequences of the dope game.
The signature from the album, of course was “Steady Mobbin.” How did you come up with that?
We called ourselves Da Lench Mob. So “Steady Mobbin” was a take off of Da Lench Mob thing. It ain’t complicated rapping, talking hood stuff. But the music was so fly. Bobcat and Pooh, it was banging. Then you add the Parliament stuff “have you ever seen such a sight in your life.” But that sample… the beat sounded totally different. It just came together. I remember laying down in the studio, just laying back, when my eyes woke, I was like, “What the fuck is that?” Bobcat was like, “I’ma loop this little sample.” I was like “loop that bitch up!” That just made the song. It’s what you hear.
I was a shorty listening to the album. I didn’t have a pops around or a older brother, so I definitely picked up some gems from you. I have to ask you about two songs in particular that I paid close attention to, “Look Who’s Burnin” and “Nappy Dugout.”
“Look Who’s Burnin’,” “Nappy Dugout,” Them fun records. I was trying to tell the real. Take the real what people are going through and give people a song where they can be entertained and rock to it. So, “Look Who’s Burnin’,” couple of homies bwoooooy [Laughs]. Them stories they come back with, I had to drop that on them. “Nappy Dugout,” is that old famous parent who thinks their daughter is the angel. [Laughs]
The skits on the album were so crazy. Especially when the chick goes “what’s the matter, ya burnin?” Damn!
That’s Sir Jinx. Sir Jinx is the master of all the skits. He did Robin Lench,” the stuff with Dr. Khalid Muhammad. Jinx is the skit master. Even all the skits on AmeriKKKa’s Most he did that. We was just doing shit as we went along. I’d come in the studio a little later and they’d be working on a skits. He’d have all these people in there. The reception lady from the front desk of the studio. The security dude from outside. Anybody. He’d find a muthafucka from the street if they had a voice. “C’mon here say this. I’ll give you 100 dollars.”
Everyone in the hip-hop community loved the album when it came out. It’s still cherished. But it was such a nationally polarizing album. You had the love from the hood, but mainstream protested you. It was like they hated you and were scared of you. What was it like having so much love from one world and at the same time going through so much controversy with another world?
You know, Jerry Heller had took the album to the Simon Wiesenthal center. He was like, “Yo, he’s dissing Jews.” [He referred to] “You let a Jew, fuck up my crew.” That line. They came down on me. The editor of Billboard [at the time] told retail they should not sell my record. It was real heated. I had to do a lot of interviews to defend the record. It was real heated. I was like, “That album is saying a whole lot. And y’all are caught on ‘No Vaseline’ and ‘Black Korea.’ “Black Korea” I did that after Tasha Harlins thing when she got shot for the orange juice. Everybody was pissed.
I remember this. I was on a call on CNN, my voice and the Rabbi from the Simon Wiesenthal Center, he was on. They were asking us these questions. For one thing, I was like, “Let me ask this guy here. Are you condoning what Jerry Heller did to me? Are you saying it’s cool that old Jewish managers should fucking steal and get their young black artists to sign bad paperwork and do bad deals? That muthafucka hung up.The mediator that was on CNN was like, “Hello. Hello? OK, I guess that ends the interview.” From there, nothing else was ever said about it. All this turmoil one day and then it was like somebody turned off a switch. I always thought they tried to undercut my career in other ways. Other than just that. It was other left handed shit. You’d have to be an artist in my shoes to detect it, but I thought “that shit was funky.” They can’t stop you when the people love you.
