Death Certificate
I only had AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted
on cassette, so I've missed out on Ice's finest for years now
since my tape deck hit the skids. This one opens with a skit
like most early-nineties rap albums should. And then it's n-word
mutherfucker this and bitch that and fuck America/whitey/Koreans
that. Wow, what a dirty mouthed mutherfucker he is. Do you think
George Clinton was thinking
about gangsta rap when he wrote all those 70s classics? I mean,
really, how many words do rhyme with the word "cracka?"
Rapping about cops and drug dealers and shootings and all that
other stuff he had become too rich to hang with, Cube sounds
raw and tough on this album. This is the shit that scared white
America (and not Are
We There Yet?) Misogynistic? Oh, you bet. I mean the guy
has a little ditty called "Givin' Up the Nappy Dugout" that's
hardly about the clubhouse at Dodger Stadium. I just like that
he tries to rhyme "douche" with "Operation PUSH"
(pronouncing it "dush"). I honestly think this thing
is more consistent than that sucka MC Dr.
Dre's biggie, but what the hell do I know about the hood?
It is absolutely amazing that after releasing this album that
mainstream young adult society has allowed this guy to survive. |
Kill at Will
Amazon
Just a nice slice of pissed off between major
albums; this thing packs a real punch. Cube takes a break from
hating white people--sorry, "devils"--and takes it insular,
rapping about the bitches in the 'hood and the "Dead Homiez."
This was the EP he wrote to get the white college kids to forget
about him. Why, after all, would us white folks buy an album
that didn't make fun of us and call for our deaths every other
chorus? This one isn't as political or grandiose, but it certainly
feels just a little more personal and from the heart. It is
indeed, for his homies. |
Lethal Injection
So this album starts off with a skit where
Cube apparently shoots an innocent white guy at a doctor's office
who comes in to get a shot (well, he got what he asked for,
right?). Hmm, this feels just a little over-the-top and silly.
The production on this one does sound pretty good, and there
are bright spots (I like "Ghetto Bird"), but a lot of the songs
sound like rehashes and Dre rip-offs ("You Know How We Do it").
I mean really how hard did he try on the anti-white-woman rant
"Cave Bitch”? That's just dumb. Are white chicks really a threat
in some way to Cube's way of life? Me thinks he doth protest
too much. Smoothed out just ain't his style, and he tries it
a few too many times here. Where's society's angry commentator?
I guess there just isn't enough to get pissed about. Thank God
for Farrakhan and his idiocy. After all, who would interject
dumb shit in this album? Jargon and dogma just doesn't do anything
for authenticity. |
The Predator
Wow, this one starts off angry, too! Ice
Cube really hates this Uncle Sam guy. I mean what did he ever
do to the black people? "They're trying to fuck me with no Vaseline,
just match and a little bit of gasoline." What a paranoid freak!
Sampling everyone from the X-Clan to whothehell knows, this
album is just plain dense. There is a lot going on here, as
Ice Cube's sound gets heavy (repeated on his sort of side project,
Da Lench Mob). There is a ray
of light on his MTV hit, "It Was a Good Day," but overall this
thing is as dark as the LA riots were. There is also some kinship
with fellow Los Angelinos, Cypress
Hill, which becomes evident with this album. I believe DJ
Muggs appears on this album, so that makes sense. It's especially
interesting Cube ended up in Hollywood with his anti-Semitism
(or at least the mentions of him being anti-Semitic). I mean
look what happened to Mel Gibson… Oh. By the way, this spawned
my favorite saying of all time (and one that I use at work all
the time): "You can't trust a big butt and a smile!" |
Musical Connections:
Dr. Dre
Eazy-E
Da Lench Mob
N.W.A.
|
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