Ice Cube

ICE CUBE

Born: O'Shea Jackson; Los Angeles, California, 15 June 1969

Genre: Rap

Best-selling album since 1990: The Predator (1992)

Hit songs since 1990: "It Was a Good Day," "Check Yo Self," "Bop Gun (One Nation)"

Ice Cube was one of the most talented, successful, and controversial gangsta rappers of the late 1980s and early 1990s. As a member of N.W.A. (Niggaz With Attitude), his substantial writing and vocal contributions helped make them the seminal group of their genre. After leaving for a solo career, he recorded some of the most incendiary and articulate music ever to deal with racial and social issues in America. His bigoted stance was divisive, but his incisiveness brought critical praise and consistent platinum sales. By the mid-1990s and beyond, his burgeoning film career took precedence over music.

Despite growing up in the tumultuous South Central area of Los Angeles, California, Ice Cube (born O'Shea Jackson) was not involved in the heavy gang violence eventually portrayed in his lyrics. He was an above average student with parents who strongly encouraged his educational development. Though he was widely exposed to funk and soul music during his childhood, it was the advent of rap in the late 1970s that truly sparked his musical interest.

In high school, he began writing rap lyrics and formed a duo called CIA with Sir Jinx. During this time, he met Dr. Dre, who was creating music for a local group called the World Class Wrecking Cru, and Eazy-E, who had recently formed his own record label, Ruthless Records. The three of them formed N.W.A., a side project for them to make dirty party records for fun. Audience interest in their first three singles, though, made the group a bigger priority.

Inspired by the noisy and confrontational rhythms of innovative political rappers Public Enemy, the group revamped their sound, added MC Ren to the roster, and released the landmark album Straight Outta Compton (1988). By promoting misogyny, glamorizing gang violence, and advocating the murder of police officers as a reaction to brutality and racial profiling, the group ignited controversy and elicited condemnation from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Despite minimal support from mainstream radio or MTV, the album was an enormous underground hit that launched the gangsta rap genre.

Since Ice Cube had been involved in writing ten out of thirteen tracks on the multiplatinum-selling album and toured the country in support of it, he felt his contributions were worth more than the $30,000 he received. His dispute with manager Jerry Heller led to his unceremonious departure from the group.

Going Solo

Ice Cube went to New York and recorded his solo debut, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted (1990), with Public Enemy's production team, the Bomb Squad, and his new supporting cast, Da Lench Mob. With a more cacophonous rhythmic assault than N.W.A., and an equally profane lyrical palette, he positions himself as the hostile voice of change in an urban, black community oppressed by white-dominated America. As a diversion, though, he offers tracks like the darkly comedic and misogynistic anecdote about a sexual partner inaccurately claiming his paternity in "You Can't Fade Me," and the incorporation of classic fairy-tale characters into a life of gun wielding and promiscuous sex in "A Gangsta's Fairytale." The album was an immediate success with many critics and consumers, attaining platinum sales within a few months of its release and establishing Ice Cube as a premiere solo entity.

Naturally Ice Cube's expanding appeal raised fear and objections from many moral watchdogs and conservative groups, but when he raised the racial invective on Death Certificate (1991), he drew many more detractors. The songs "Black Korea" and "No Vaseline" garnered the largest backlash. The former issues a threat to burn down all Korean-owned liquor stores nationwide if the owners do not stop profiling black customers. The latter blames white, Jewish, N.W.A. manager Heller for breaking up the group and is full of homophobic and anti-Semitic references. The controversy only fueled quicker sales though, as the album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and went platinum in a month. Though chastised for its bigotry, the work was lauded for directly dealing with current black economic, social, and health care issues, without the gangster posturing of his previous efforts.

In 1991 Ice Cube also received praise for his role as Doughboy in the John Singleton–directed movie Boyz N the Hood. The critically acclaimed film was an unflinching and sobering portrayal of Los Angeles' inner-city problems. With his role as ghetto spokesman reaching a second medium, interest in Ice Cube's commentary became even more prominent on April 29, 1992, when riots broke out in Los Angeles after the announcement of the acquittal of three of the four policemen accused of beating black motorist Rodney King. His response was released in the form of his third album, The Predator, later that year.

With its dark and anxious tone, news sound bites relating to the riots and its aftermath, and Ice Cube discussing his prophecy of the riots, the album is an urgent document of its time. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and Top R&B Albums charts simultaneously and immediately went platinum. Surprisingly, it also contains his catchiest material and yielded his only two Top 20 pop hits on the Billboard Hot 100, the day-in-the-life reflection "It Was a Good Day" and the cautionary dance jam "Check Yo Self."

Going Hollywood

Though Lethal Injection (1993) was another strong commercial success, its laid-back vibe made it less vital than his previous efforts and foreshadowed his five-year hiatus between solo albums. By 1994 he was married with children and following the beliefs of the Nation of Islam. These events in his personal life had a calming effect and led to a new chapter in his professional life: film. Throughout the rest of the decade, he acted in several successful feature films, including Higher Learning (1995), Anaconda (1997), and Three Kings (1999). He also wrote, produced, and starred in the hit comedies Friday (1995), Next Friday (2000), and Friday After Next (2002) and directed The Player's Club (1998).

Though his film career began to eclipse his musical output, Ice Cube did stay busy by producing albums for artists like his former partners Da Lench Mob and Mack 10 and WC, with whom he formed the Westside Connection and released an album. He also directed several music videos and returned to his solo career with the release of War & Peace Volume 1 (The War Disc) (1998) and War & Peace Volume 2 (The Peace Disc) (2000). Both albums generated hits, sold well, and boasted solid production, but lacked the raw fury of his earlier work. Lyrically, he was still articulate, but his continuing Hollywood success, including starting his own film company, Cube-vision, reduced his credibility as the underprivileged voice of the streets. In the new millennium his most promising musical prospect was a potential N.W.A. reunion.

Ice Cube's intentionally confrontational and racially biased recordings were some of the most objectionable and frightening statements ever recorded. At his peak, though, his ability to identify and promote awareness of the social problems plaguing America's ghettos made him one of the most important voices of the late 1980s and early 1990s. His sharp-witted intelligence, candor, and business sense bolstered his ascent from underground revolutionary to mainstream celebrity.

SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:

AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted (Priority, 1990); Kill at Will EP (Priority, 1990); Death Certificate (Priority, 1991); The Predator (Priority, 1992); Lethal Injection (Priority, 1993).

With N.W.A.: Straight Outta Compton (Priority/Ruthless, 1988). With Westside Connection: Bow Down (Priority, 1996).

SELECTIVE FILMOGRAPHY:

Boyz N the Hood (1991); Higher Learning (1995); Friday (1995); Anaconda (1997); The Player's Club (1998); Three Kings (1999); Next Friday (2000); Barbershop (2002); Friday After Next (2002).

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

J. McIver, Ice Cube Attitude (London, 2002).

WEBSITE:

www.icecubemusic.com.

dave powers