Death Certificate (album)

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This is the article about Ice Cube's album. For the document concerning a person's death, see Death certificate.
Death Certificate
Death Certificate cover
Studio album by Ice Cube
Released October 31, 1991
Recorded 1991
Genre Political, Gangsta Rap, hip hop, West Coast hip hop
Length 61:08
Label Priority Records
Producer Sir Jinx
Ice Cube
Boogiemen
Professional reviews
Ice Cube chronology
Kill at Will
(1990)		 Death Certificate
(1991)		 The Predator
(1992)
Singles from Death Certificate
  1. "Steady Mobbin'"
    Released: December 1991
  2. "True to the Game"
    Released: September, 1992

Death Certificate is the second solo album from rapper Ice Cube, released by Priority Records on October 31, 1991. Highly anticipated (with over a million advance orders[1]), the album was certified platinum on December 20, 1991, and to date has sold over two million copies.[citation needed] It was also the source of much controversy due to some of its racially charged content, and Ice Cube's acerbic statements on drug dealing, racial profiling, and the right to keep and bear arms. The Album itself is widely considered one of the greatest Hip-Hop albums of all time.

As a result of the controversy over Death Certificate, in 1992 the state of Oregon declared any display of Ice Cube's image in retail stores throughout the state illegal. This ban also included advertisements for St. Ides Malt Liquor, which Ice Cube endorsed at the time.[2] In 2003, Priority Records re-released Death Certificate with one bonus track, "How to Survive in South Central"; a track originally appearing on the Boyz N the Hood soundtrack.

Contents

[edit] Overview

[edit] Conception

Ice Cube began work on Death Certificate a few months after his last release, the Kill At Will EP. However, unlike his debut album, which featured booming beats by the Bomb Squad, the majority of tracks on Death Certificate were produced by Sir Jinx, Boogiemen, and Cube himself. This gave the album a slightly more West Coast-oriented sound in comparison to his debut. A number of the tracks also use samples taken from California-based acts such as Parliament, Zapp, and Fishbone

Death Certificate received a "meager" $18,000 promotion budget, and neither of its singles received much airplay, although the album's two singles, "Steady Mobbin'" and "True to the Game," received music video treatment..[3]

[edit] Music

[edit] Lyrical Content

The album was roughly organized as two thematic elements of a larger whole, and opens with Cube's explanation: "The Death Side: a mirror image of where we are today; The Life Side: a vision of where we need to go." The first half, therefore, is replete with the tales of drug dealing, whore-mongering and violence expected of a gangsta rap album in 1991. The second half provided something of a synthesis between that genre and the type of prescriptive messages more often found from artists wholly divorced from the gangsta image.

Both sides, however, provide a more introspective and encouraging outlook than fits with the common conception of gangsta rap. The Death Side's "A Bird in the Hand" laments a young man's slide into a life of drug-dealing after finding that the best jobs available to him with little education and a jail record simply won't pay the bills.

Do I have to sell me a whole lot of crack
For decent shelter and clothes on my back?
Or should I just wait for help from Bush?
Or Jesse Jackson and Operation PUSH?

There is no shortage of nihilistic or, at least, criminal posturing either, with the Life Side's "Black Korea" threatening rioting and arson alongside Black entrepreneurship as a response to the preponderance of Korean grocery stores in ghettos across the United States. The track was seen as a response to the death of Latasha Harlins, a 15-year-old Black girl who had been shot by a Korean store owner in March of 1991. Considering that the release of the track was in aftermath of the Los Angeles Riots, where many of the people targeted were of Korean descent, Ice Cube was accused of inciting racism by some groups.

The track "Look Who's Burnin'" tells of the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases in low income neighborhoods, while "Alive on Arrival" tells the story of a young man caught in the crossfire of a gang shootout who slowly bleeds to death while in a hospital waiting room. "Color Blind" preaches neutrality and brotherhood between gangs, such as the Bloods and Crips. The album is also famous for the bonus track "No Vaseline," a vicious "diss track" aimed at Ice Cube's former N.W.A band mates.

[edit] Reception

[edit] Acclaim

All Music Guide calls Death Certificate "even harder and angrier than AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted... It continues the sharp insights and unflinching looks at contemporary urban lifestyles that his solo debut only hinted at; in short, it's hardcore without any gangsta posturing." They also call it "funkier, noisier, and more musically effective (than AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted)."

  • Rating: A- "...20 tracks of the most visceral music ever allowed in public..." - Entertainment Weekly [4](11/15/91)[5]
  • Rating: Recommended "...adrenalin-drenched funk...integrates vitriolic politics with raw street knowledge...achieves an almost George Clinton-esque sense of celebratory freakiness..." - Spin (1/92, p.72)[6]
  • Included in Vibe's 100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century. - Vibe (12/99, p.158)
  • #8 on MTV's Greatest Hip Hop Albums Of All Time. [7]
  • #17 on the Greatest R&B/Hip-Hop albums as voted by the British public. [8]
  • Selected as one of The Source Magazine's 100 Best Rap Albums.

[edit] Controversy

Due to fear that laws against racial incitement in the United Kingdom could see the album banned, the United Kingdom release removed the tracks "Black Korea" and "No Vaseline." Island Records, the distributor of this version of the album, deleted these tracks with the consent of Priority Records, but not Ice Cube himself.[3] However, these tracks do feature on this album in the present day.

In the September 2006 issue of FHM, Ice Cube stated in an interview that he did not regret the controversial statements made on the album. Regarding the offense caused to Koreans, he said, "If there's still a problem, it's their problem."[citation needed]


Tracks 1-11 are The Death Side, while tracks 12-20 are The Life Side.
# Title Producer(s) Performer (s)
1 "The Funeral" Sir Jinx *Intro*
2 "The Wrong Nigga to Fuck Wit" Ice Cube, Sir Jinx Ice Cube
3 "My Summer Vacation" Boogiemen, Ice Cube Ice Cube
4 "Steady Mobbin'" Boogiemen, Ice Cube Ice Cube
5 "Robin Lench" Boogiemen, Sir Jinx *Interlude*
6 "Givin' Up the Nappy Dug Out" Boogiemen, Ice Cube Ice Cube
7 "Look Who's Burnin'" Boogiemen, Ice Cube, Sir Jinx Ice Cube
8 "A Bird in the Hand" Boogiemen, Ice Cube Ice Cube
9 "Man's Best Friend" Boogiemen, Ice Cube Ice Cube
10 "Alive on Arrival" Boogiemen, Ice Cube Ice Cube
11 "Death" Ice Cube, Sir Jinx Khalid Abdul Muhammad
12 "The Birth" Ice Cube, Sir Jinx Khalid Abdul Muhammad
13 "I Wanna Kill Sam" Ice Cube, Sir Jinx Ice Cube
14 "Horny Lil' Devil" Boogiemen, Ice Cube Ice Cube
15 "Black Korea" Ice Cube, Sir Jinx Ice Cube
16 "True to the Game" Ice Cube, Sir Jinx Ice Cube
17 "Color Blind" Ice Cube, Sir Jinx Deadly Threat, Ice Cube, J-Dee, Kam, King Tee, WC and the Maad Circle
18 "Doing Dumb Shit" Boogiemen, Ice Cube Ice Cube
19 "Us" Ice Cube, Sir Jinx Ice Cube
20 "No Vaseline" Ice Cube, Sir Jinx Ice Cube
21 "How to Survive in South Central" Ice Cube

[edit] Partial List of Samples

The following lists some songs and sounds sampled for Death Certificate.

The Wrong Nigga to Fuck Wit

My Summer Vacation

Steady Mobbin'

  • "Deep" by Parliament
  • "Love Amnesia" by Parlet
  • "After the Dance" by Marvin Gaye
  • "Reach Out" by Average White Band
  • "Sir Nose D'Voidoffunk (Pay Attention- B3M)" & "Theme from The Black Hole" by Parliament

Givin' Up the Nappy Dug Out

Look Who's Burnin'

A Bird in the Hand

Man's Best Friend

  • "Flash Light" by Parliament
  • "Atomic Dog" by George Clinton

Alive on Arrival

  • "The Big Bang Theory" by Parliament
  • "Hot (I Need to Be Love, Love Loved)" by James Brown

The Death

  • "A Funky Song" by Ripple

The Birth

I Wanna Kill Sam

Horny Lil' Devil

True to the Game

  • "Reach for It" by George Duke
  • "Outstanding" by The Gap Band
  • "You Can Make It if You Try" by Sly & the Family Stone

Color Blind

Doing Dumb Shit

Us

  • "Gamin' on Ya!" by Parliament
  • "Synthetic Substitution" by Melvin Bliss

No Vaseline

How to Survive in South Central

  • "Atomic Dog" by George Clinton
  • "West Coast Poplock" by Zapp
  • "Agony of Defeet" by Parliament

[edit] Album singles

"Steady Mobbin'"

"True to the Game"

[edit] Chart positions

[edit] Album

Year Album Chart positions
Billboard 200 Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums
1991 Death Certificate #2 #1

[edit] Singles

Year Song Chart positions
Billboard Hot 100 Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks Hot Rap Singles
1991 "Steady Mobbin'" - #30 #3

[edit] References

  1. ^ Ice Cube dot org - Ice Cube Lyrics, Pictures and more - Part of the Rapbasement Network
  2. ^ Ice Cube for St. Ides Malt Liquor - Commercials - SPIKE Powered By IFILM
  3. ^ a b Rock & Rap Archives: Number 94/January 1992.
  4. ^ Tower.com: The Planet's Entertainment Destination for Music, CDs, Movies, DVDs, Books & more
  5. ^ Tower.com: The Planet's Entertainment Destination for Music, CDs, Movies, DVDs, Books & more
  6. ^ Tower.com: The Planet's Entertainment Destination for Music, CDs, Movies, DVDs, Books & more
  7. ^ MTV.com: The Greatest Hip-Hop Albums Of All Time
  8. ^ TREVORNELSON.COM :: TOP 100

[edit] External links


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