Die 15 besten Songs von Ice Cube
Ice Cube ist nicht nur ein großartiger Schauspieler und Filmemacher, sondern auch eine legendäre Figur des Westküsten-Hip-Hop, der dazu beigetragen hat, das Gangsta-Rap-Genre populär zu machen, und nie vor Kritik für die Ehrlichkeit seiner Songs zurückschreckte. Für diesen Artikel werden wir uns nur mit den Titeln beschäftigen, die er im Rahmen seiner Solokarriere veröffentlicht hat. Seien Sie also nicht böse, wenn die Hits von N.W.A. nicht in diesem Artikel auftauchen.
1. It Was A Good Day
It Was A Good Day was taken from Ice Cube’s 1993 album The Predator and became his most popular single on the Hot 100 at the time of its release. It peaked at number 7 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and reached number 15 on the Hot 100. VH1 included it in its list of the greatest songs of the ’90s, placing it at number 77, and Rolling Stone ranked it as the 36th best rap song of all time.
2. Check Yo Self
Check Yo Self went through several versions, from a censored and shortened radio edit to the official remixes that later appeared on Ice Cube’s Greatest Hits album. The video uses the remixed version, using almost every scene to play out the song’s lyrics and picking up exactly where the It Was A Good Day video left off.
3. Dead Homiez
A common stereotype is to pour a little alcohol for your deceased friends to remember them by. This is Ice Cube’s version, inspired by one of his neighborhood friends who was killed.
4. Why We Thugs
One of Ice Cube’s last albums, Why We Thugs, appeared on his seventh studio album, Laugh Now, Cry Later, in 2006. It marks his return from the silver screen to the recording studio. In it, the rapper addresses his problems with the government and his belief that the neighborhood is stuck where it is because it’s held together by it.
5. Steady Mobbin’
Steady Mobbin’ was released on Ice Cube’s Death Certificate album and is the A-side to No Vaseline, in which he makes fun of all things N.W.A. It is the first single from the album, which reached #3 on the Hot Rap Songs chart and #30 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
6. You Know How We Do It
You Know How We Do It is the perfect example of an incredible gangsta funk song. It was released as the second single from his fourth studio album, Lethal Injection, in 1994, and reached number 30 on the Hot 100.
7. No Vaseline
Ice Cube didn’t exactly end his relationship with N.W.A. on the best of terms. After putting up with the band’s criticism of him, he decided to hit back with No Vaseline, producing one of the greatest diss songs of all time by attacking each member individually.
8. Color Blind
Ice Cube has often used his platform to draw attention to social issues, and his music has really helped bring them to light for a large part of the world that wasn’t aware of them. Color Blind is, for some reason, one of the most underrated tracks on the Death Certificate album. It deals with the reality of gang violence, the colors of the title referring to the colors used to represent the different gangs.
9. Once Upon A Time In The Projects
The gangsta rap of yesteryear had a narrative element that has been somewhat lost in modern hip-hop hits. This is the first song produced for AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted, recounting the time he went to pick up his girlfriend and realized he was meeting her in the neighborhood drug house.
10. True To The Game
True To The Game was Ice Cube’s promise never to stray from his gangsta rap roots and never to betray the street as many other celebrities have done. It’s a condemnation of people who sell out to white communities, switching to pop or other genres, moving away from the hardcore sound that earned them their fame.
11. Jackin’ For Beats
Jackin’ For Beats was relegated to an extended play instead of an album due to the ridiculous amount of copyright issues it would have posed on a major release. It’s a huge remix of Ice Cube songs from the album AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted, rapped over beats by other artists.
12. Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It
Ice Cube was used to people blaming gangsta rap for society’s ills, especially after what he’d been through as a member of N.W.A. and what he’d seen happening around him. It’s clearly a facetious song, in which he pokes fun at anyone who thinks gangsta rap is to blame for people’s actions, or that it’s something bad for society, or those who claim the world was made of rainbows and butterflies before gangsta rap arrived on the scene.
13. You Can’t Fade Me
One thing that comes up quite often in Ice Cube’s songs is the importance of condoms. In You Can’t Fade Me, he tells the story of a girl in his neighborhood who claims he impregnated her, fitting in perfectly with his other gangsta rap songs. He expresses a lot of fear, but uses it as a lesson for others, so that they don’t have to go through the same thing as the song’s singer.
14. Wicked
The Predator’s first song, Wicked, was Ice Cu.