No Vaseline

"No Vaseline" is a highly controversial song by Ice Cube from his second album, Death Certificate.^[1] The song was produced by Ice Cube and Sir Jinx. The UK release of Death Certificate omitted this song, along with the 46-second long "Black Korea".^[2]

Information

The song was a diss track aimed towards Ice Cube's former bandmates in the group N.W.A (which he left in 1989) and their manager, Jerry Heller.^[1] Ice Cube recorded this song after the comments N.W.A made towards him in their albums 100 Miles and Runnin' and Efil4zaggin. The first minute of the song is a reference to N.W.A's "Message to B.A.", in which they call Ice Cube "Benedict Arnold". Ice Cube then begins his full-blown diss on the group and their manager.

Ice Cube addresses Eazy-E and Heller with particularly harsh words, criticizing Eazy's decision to align himself with Heller ("Heard you both got the same bank account!/Dumb nigga, What you thinkin' about?!/Get rid of that devil real simple, put a bullet in his temple", and "It's a case of divide and conquer, 'cause you let a Jew break up my crew")^[1] and accusing both Eazy-E and Heller of unfairly exploiting the rest of the group ("You half-pint maggot, Eazy E-turned-faggot/With your manager, fella - fuckin' MC Ren, Dr. Dre, and Yella").^[1] Ice Cube also refers to his decision to leave Ruthless Records in the lyric: "You lookin' like straight bozos, I saw it comin', that's why I went solo ... You got jealous when I got my own company. But I'm a man, and ain't nobody helpin' me." Cube also references Eazy's appearance at the lunch benefiting the Republican Senatorial Inner Circle, hosted by then-President George H. W. Bush, repeatedly saying "I never have dinner with the president".

N.W.A. never responded to the song. Not long after the release, Dr. Dre left the group, citing lack of monetary compensation. This led to N.W.A.'s group's dissolution as its members went on to start their solo careers. Dr. Dre and his protégé Snoop Dogg later dissed Eazy-E in the song "Fuck wit Dre Day (and Everybody's Celebratin')" and Heller in the video, prompting Eazy-E to respond with "Real Muthaphuckkin G's". When Eazy-E was close to death in 1995 from AIDS, Cube and Dre claim to have visited him in the hospital in hopes of reconciling with him from their previous dispute.

The song appears on the Death Row Greatest Hits compilation album. Although the song was not released on Death Row Records, it is believed that Suge Knight included it as an act of animosity towards Dr. Dre as the song includes numerous disses towards him. The word "Jew" is censored on the album although it is not on Death Certificate (the introduction is also removed). "We're not asking Ice Cube to mask the reality of the streets," observed Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Los Angeles Jewish human rights organization, the Simon Wiesenthal Center. "By all means flag the social problems, but don't exploit them by turning a professional spat between a former manager and an artist into a racial dispute." "It's wrong for the rabbi to call me anti-Semitic," Cube responded. "I respect Jewish people because they're unified. I wish black people were as unified."^[3]

"No Vaseline" was track number 20 in the track listing of Death Certificate and was the b-side for the album single, "Steady Mobbin'".

Samples

• "Dazz" by Brick
• "Vapors" by Biz Markie
• "Atomic Dog" by George Clinton
• "Hit by a Car" by Eddie Murphy
• "Turn off the Radio" and "Better off Dead" by Ice Cube
• "It's My Thing" by Marva Whitney
• "To Da Break of Dawn" by LL Cool J
• "Dopeman", "8 Ball", "A Bitch Iz A Bitch," "Message to B.A." and "Prelude" by N.W.A

References

External links

• Full lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics