Ice Cube is hailed as one of the greatest rappers alive, and its not hard to see why. Ice Cube has been an emcee for over 12 years, and given us tons of hit records. Ice Cube first appeared alongside Easy E, Dr. Dre, and MC Ren in the late 80s with west coast hip-hop pioneers N.W.A. (N*ggas with Attitudes). Ice Cube was quickly thrown into the forefront of the group due to his incredible song-writing skills and powerful, aggressive lyrics. After some problems with the group, Cube went solo and dropped his seminal debut album AmeriKKKas Most Wanted. His powerful lyrics never ceased to push the envelope and push the racial boundaries to their limits. His 1991 sophomore album Death Certificate soon followed and continued the trent. Many believe that Ice Cube's glory days are far behind him, however, and it's those old school days that I am going to examine here...

Ice Cube starts off with the venomous lashing out of lyrics on "The Wrong N*gga To F*ck Wit". This is exactly what i was speaking about: Raw, Aggressive, Angry, Ice Cube lyrics, backed by a powerful voice to make them that much stronger. This track is basically aimed at starting controversy on purpose, continuing the intelligent, yet powerful message that he planted seeds for on AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted. Ice Cube screams anger at his critics, as well as those who had a "problem" with his honest lyrics. With lines like: "And watch the devil start kickin, Run around like a chicken, grand dragon finger lickin, Yo, turn him over wit a spatula, Now we got, Kentucky Fried Cracker". One would think that Ice Cube is racist due to his constant bashing of "white power", but one must understand that Ice Cube has felt racial frustration during his life and is merely expressing his point of view. Ice Cube is far from being a racist, but i understand his hatred for "the powers that be".

"Givin' Up the Nappy Dug Out" finds Ice Cube straying away from anti-police, anti-white politics and focusing more on introspective, social commentary. Featuring a funk-inspired, uptempo beat, Cube raps about a serious issue, even though the song appears to make a mockery of itself. Ice Cube uses his ghetto storytelling skills to rap to a concerned parent about his underaged daughter who transformed into a hood rat and prostitute. Ice Cube chronicles how the girl went from having "straight As" to having sex every night and skipping school. Some of the song sounds serious, but at the end of the second verse, Ice Cube reveals that he is ALSO having sex with his daughter, and thats when you come to realize that this song is a joke (the condom raps at the end), with an underlining message. Classic.

Cube might be funny, but he will ALWAYS have something relevent to say... at least on Death Certificate. He decides to drop socially conscious, political street poetry on "A Bird in the Hand". Cube uses a mixture of storytelling and street-smart narratives to tell us a tale about his youth, attacking the I.R.S., politicians, racist government officials, and even the President himself (who was George Bush Sr. at the time). The main argument here is black oppression, which is something Cube has excelled at since his N.W.A. days. Over a scratch-influenced, metallic drum beat, Cube spits: "Now I remember I used to be cool, till I stopped fillin' out my W-2, Now senators are gettin' hired, and your plan against the ghetto backfired".

Cube calms down a tad bit on "True to tha Game". Production-wise, we get a very much different type of beat than what is normally found on this album. Instead of the powerful claps and energenic, fast tempo basslines, we get a laid-back, more funkish, slower-tempo song. Cube himself decides to chill out a little bit, even though its just a mask for his true underlining message: This track is a diss towards his former N.W.A. buddies whom he was beefing with. He mocks the fact that they sold out to the mainstream audience and lost their true street credibility and honesty found when Cube was in the group. He calls them "Oreo Cookies", basically saying that they are black on the outside and white on the inside, which is quite clever. Dope Track.

Death Certificate comes to close with one of the most destructive and venomous tracks in Ice Cube's career: "No Vaseline". After getting dissed by his former group members, Cube lashes out with some of his most well-written, embarrassing, and devilish lyrics to ever be concieved by a human being. Cube decides to touch on everything from Dre's lack of rapping skills, to Ren's lack of funds, to the N.W.A.'s recent sell-out-style of rapping, Jerry Heller's manipulation behind the scenes, and Eazy E's constant "b*tchmoves". Honestly, this is one of the best diss tracks I have ever heard, as we never find Cube slip up once on the track, showing that he truly was the heart of the group and that they were lost without him. Fear Cube... Fear him.