So I have gone back (For a couple years now) and bought up a lot of the old Rap records that I liked as a kid (RUN DMC’s Raising Hell for instance) along with other albums that I shunned and never gave a chance (or a listen to for that matter) because it was rap and I was a teenaged rock n roller and was all about punk and Metal and “fuck that rap shit (Not counting Public Enemy) I’m not gonna taint my metal and punk purity by listening to rap” teenaged mind set.
So, any way, I’m older, wiser and what not and I’ve since gone back and picked up albums that I remember were huge when I was in High School to see if they were actually any good or just some stupid hype to sell to stupid high school kids, and one of them was Ice Cube’s Death Certificate.
That album is the shit!!! I really like old Ice Cube’s albums (HAHAHA Old Ice cube is a young man and New ice cube is a old man!!! Funny how that works!)
So, a few tracks have been in heavy rotation for the last couple years the song I like the most off that Album is called Us. At the start of the Song there’s this sample taken from a movie (I think) With some mother yelling profanity at her little boy to come home, while the little boy is talking to “boneman” about how when he turns 14 he wants to buy a rag top trey that all tricked out with a big booty bitch to go with it.
I’ve tried off and on since I’ve heard the song to track down the sample and I can only find one source for this sample. Some people have posted that that sample comes from Don’t be a menace to South Central while drinking your juice in the hood. But that movie came out in 1996 and Cube’s Death Certificate came out in 1991. So there’s no way the sample came from that movie. Anybody know where that sample came from?
Fast forward to now. At least 350-450 GB on my 1 TB “jukebox” external hard drive is hip-hop (or rap, if you prefer). The obvious question is how did I go from one opposite to another? Two words: Death Certificate. First hip hop album I ever owned. I bought it because Cube played Lollapalooza 92, and at some point I got a bee in my bonnet about owning a little of everything from that tour. (Especially because it’s widely considered gospel that Ministry stole the show every - single - night.)
DC is not only one of my favorite rap albums, is not only one of the best rap albums ever recorded, but a strong contender for one of the best any-genre albums ever recorded. Not a bad track, and the seamless nature of the album holds together what could have been, in the hands of a lesser MC, a sprawling mess. Cube’s flow is perfect – he doesn’t try to impress in that respect, but can’t help doing it anyway, and he makes it sound easy when it’s anything but. The production is cinematic, and the result is a full-on masterpiece.
Ice Cube’s first three albums are essential. After that his discography is spotty (although occasionally still brilliant). But yeah, DC is one of the best albums ever. Thanks for making my day.
Thanks. I’ve thought this a couple times. and you’re probably right, especially since that album is so old that surely the movie would’ve surfaced by now.
Funny Death Certificate converted you. But if there is any album to do it, I’d vote for that one. What converted me was two things. I never really hated rap but it was more a segregation thing and I had chosen my side. Also, I have some black friends and when they start talking about music and I have no idea what they’re talking about, but should because the rap albums theyre talking about crossed racial lines back in the day, It sucks.
This is really it for me. His flow is beautiful. I’ve gotten some 2Pac CDs (2pacalypse Now, Strictly 4) because his records are supposed to be “so important”… Maybe his message is, but his lyrics are amateur and his flow is weak. I’ll take any cube record over a Pac record any day. His lyrics read and sound like weak high school poetry and it’s so bad I don’t really want to buy/explore anymore cds of his. Pac just wasn’t the MC that Cube is.
YEah, I’ve got Amerikkka, Kill At Will (EP), Death Certificate, The Predator, Bootlegs and B-sides. I think DEath Cert is the best out of all of them. Predator is my least favorite because he changes his delivery to sound like Cypress Hill. It doesn’t sound like a Cube album it sounds like Cube doing Cypress Hill covers. Which isn’t necessarily bad but Cube should do Cube.(Although, Now I gotta Wet’cha is fucking stupid!) AmeriKKKa is ok but for me doesn’t have the punch that DC has. Kill At will is kinda the same thing, but with different versions of the same songs. not better or worse, just different. Either way on all of these albums Cube is at full peak performance.
RIght next to Us for me on DC is Alive on Arrival. DAmn that song is fuckin’ excellent Doing dumb shit rounds out the top 3 for on that album. THere are a couple of duds for me on the album. I think no vaseline is pretty dumb. I thought Robin Lench and nappy Dugout were cool but I wore them out and can’t listen to them much any more.
AmeriKKKa was produced by the Bomb Squad, so it sounds… cluttered, might be the word I’d use. Which is not meant to disrespect the Bomb Squad, they’re amazing, but sheer anger alone doesn’t make the marriage of their busy production style and Cube’s patient flow any less jarring. Maybe that’s what they were going for. I felt DC had more “bounce” and that makes for greater accessibility. (One could say that’s a bad thing – case in point, “It Was A Good Day,” terribly overplayed. But in DC’s case, it’s just right.)
“No Vaseline” got Cube in some hot water over anti-Semitic lyrics. I don’t remember what he said but you can look em up and then decide for yourself. I couldn’t take it seriously enough to get mad. I mean, if he put out an album called “Kill Whitey” and used the sound of bullets for percussion instead of old soul samples, I’d still buy it, so “No Vaseline” gets a pass. Everything has its Achilles heel.
My favorite song is “My Summer Vacation,” whose rubbery production is Starburst-juicy.
Rap-wise, I mainly liked bands like Beastie Boys, Run DMC, NWA, and Public Enemy in the '80s. In the '90s, I wasn’t very interested in ‘gangsta rap’ or much hip hop, but I did like what I heard from groups like Arrested Development, and Above The Law’s track “Freedom Of Speech” (from the movie Pump Up The Volume). Ice T had some decent songs, and I liked Body Count at the time (saw them at the very first Lollapalooza concert in Phoenix in '91).
Another artist that I thought had some potential was Merlin. I have the ‘Just Say Da’ Sire compilation from 1990 (which has Ministry’s “Breathe (Live From The Gulag)”, and there is a song called “Drop The Pressure” by Merlin (Can’t find the correct remix on YouTube, which is much better than the original). His discography is short, 88-92, and then he just disappeared. Anyone know this song, or what happened to the guy?
Yeah, I have this CD as well. I like it. Still don’t like Mr. Wendell though
Ha Ha I loved this movie in High School. I have the soundtrack as well. Best track on that Album is The slow Wave of Mutilation Pixies track. True Story, my Daughter’s middle name (Nora) is a direct rip of Samantha’ Mathas’ character, Nora Deniro from Pump up the Volume.
Ha! I have this comp too!! Sorry I know nothing about Merlin.
I like a lot of rap. 80’s and 90’s stuff mostly. DMC, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, NWA, Dr. Dre, Snoop, Ice Cube, Geto Boys . . . .
I’m not into much from any new artists. It mostly seems lazy and dumb, but I’m not making any effort to explore anything too deeply or beyond what I hear mentioned or I see pics of on my beloved RAP SNACKS so I’m not going to condemn the scene as a whole. Maybe there’s some cool shit I just haven’t found.
Above all else, though . . . . I fucking LOOOOOOOVE Ice-T!
He’s seriously one of the coolest motherfuckers on the planet. Whether rappin’, rockin’, or actin’, he really can do no wrong in my eyes.
I love Body Count. I got into them a long time ago, when the first album was released, then kinda checked out for a few decades (!). Then “Manslaughter” came out about five years ago. I picked it up out of boredom and it was amazing. So was the follow-up. Can’t wait for March, when “Carnivore,” another BC album, comes out.
I saw Body Count at the Gramercy a few years ago. Someone in the mosh pit kept yelling “Leprechaun 4!” (which Ice-T was in). Finally, Ice-T yells “If you bring Leprechaun 4 up again, I’m gonna punch you in the face.” Then he stopped the show, sat down, and said, “Ok, let’s talk about Leprechaun. Did you like the movie?”
“Yes.”
“Did you like my performance?”
“Yes.”
“Did you like the leprechaun?”
“Yes.”
“Do you think I can get back to my motherfucking show now?”
“Yes.”
P.S. A friend of mine saw Body Count with Exodus at L’Amour’s many moons ago. Said it was insane. Some dude brought a hatchet and kept tossing it up in the air and catching it. Ah, L’Amour’s…
Awesome story hahaha…fucking leprechaun…I really dug Manslaughter also…I went in to that one with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised…its a fierce album…I love the Body Count/ Sabbath connection also even though it birthed a rather poor album in Forbidden…who would have ever thought Ice-T would be on a Sabbath album produced by Ernie C…you can’t make this shit up…and I realize it was only in name that is was a Sab album because it was just Iommi with a bunch of hired hands but still…
I didn’t find out about Forbidden until about six months ago, and I nearly shit myself in disbelief. I downloaded it and came to the same conclusion as you – not too good.
I wonder if it was a record label idea, or if Iommi just got really high on something one night and said, “I want the guitarist from Body Count to make my next record.” I mean, Ernie C is decent, but he’s not amazing. He got better over time – busted out a few difficult chords from “Maggot Brain” when I saw him play – but still…
Don’t forget Doctor Octagon and Deltron 3030, cuz. Doc Ock came out the same summer as OK Computer and Ween’s “The Mollusk.” The Prodigy’s “Fat Of The Land,” too. That summer was fucking amazing.