Those that know me know that this album is my all-time favorite. For a variety of reasons that aren’t all tied to its content. It’s all about where you were physically and mentally at the time of its release. We all have that one album. While writing this chapter I kept the album on repeat as a way to organically re-engage all of the emotions I experienced back in October of 1991. This is less of a nostalgia trip and more about a young man who began to unlock his thoughts through an album that contributed to the fabric of his personality.
CHAPTER ONE
I'd been a fan of rap music since before I can remember. My mother would always tell the story of her two year old son walking down them early eighties Brooklyn streets, rapping the lyrics to Sugar Hill Gang's "Rapper's Delight". Little did she know that that same boy, at the age of 14 would break her rule of "NOT" buying "cuss" music. I violated that trust when I picked up Ice Cube's sophomore album *Death Certificate*. Lyrically, the dirtiest album I could spend her hard earned money on. I wasn't a bad child. I was a spoiled child and when I wanted something, I was going to get it by any means necessary.
Ice Cube was my favorite rapper out of the legendary rap group N.W.A. I remember when he released his debut album Amerikkka's Most Wanted and the Ep Kill At Will. I didn’t have those records so I had to live vicariously through my cousin Will. He was a couple of years older than me, but he had no problem allowing me to listen to music that was mature beyond our years.
Now it's 1991 and I get allowance. It's my turn to pick up the latest from "The N*gga You Love to Hate". I remember I had $20 to spend and the plan was to get that album and the latest issue of The Source Magazine. Basically, I would certainly be broke but I'd be happy.
My only issue was the fact that I talked about my trip so much before I left the house, that I was afraid my mother would ask to see what I had picked up. Of course she did just that when I walked in. I was trying this new thing. You know, being honest. So I said to myself, I'm just going to show her what I got. Fuck it.
As she stared at the cassette tape, fear ate through my soul. I was preparing for the scolding. My mother then looked up at me and said, "There better not be any cuss words on here." Then she handed the cassette back to me. I paused for a second, smirked and said ok. You see, I thought my mother would have read the *PARENTAL ADVISORY EXPLICIT LYRICS* sticker on the album cover. I don't know if she saw it, understood it, or thought it was a part of the album title. I didn't care. It was a come up in my opinion and I was ready to binge.
Honestly, I wasn't ready for this album. First of all, Ice Cube cut the jeri curl and was now aligned with the Nation of Islam. A far cry from his first two releases and the image that most represented N.W.A. He's standing in what looks to be a morgue, next to a corpse. The toe tag reads "Uncle Sam." I was NOT ready.
The album opens up with a funeral. Initially I thought that this was merely an intro. Later I felt it not only represented the death of the old Ice Cube but the start of his journey on to "knowledge of self." Being 14 years of age, I was experiencing a ton of changes myself. Sometimes it's all about the timing of things.
One of the songs that I love till this day is "My Summer Vacation". A tale about L.A. gangbangers taking their hustle to St. Louis where the gang culture wasn't as prevalent. What's really dope about this song is how Ice Cube makes the story feel like a kid presenting his summer vacation essay in front of his classmates. It was that balance of familiar American themes and harsh realities that made Ice Cube a legend in the rap game.
"Damn G, the spots getting hot. So how the fuck am I supposed to make a knot? Police looking at me through a microscope. In a place where everybody and they mama sell dope." -Ice Cube (My Summer Vacation)
A very controversial album at the time, most of his messages connected with black youth in the ghettos of America. It was the people without a point of reference who didn't get why Cube would say such things. Accused of being racist towards Jews and Koreans, it was hard for me to understand the outrage at that time.
Sure, I was very familiar with racism but I took Ice Cube's lyrics as highlighting a select few rather than an entire race. Particularly those we've come in contact with in predominately African-American, and low income communities. Growing up in Brooklyn New York, we didn't have many Korean grocery stores in my neighborhood. We had Bodegas owned by Hispanics and that was usually love in the community. The record "Black Korea" spoke about racial profiling and gentrification of the business kind.
It shined a light on an ugly situation between the black community and some of its business owners. An ugly situation that would be immortalized in a scene from the Hughes Brothers film Menace II Society. I will say this, there are portions of this record where he made a couple of "calls to action" that I wasn't down with. Nevertheless, the song represented the frustration of a young black man who just wants to shop without feeling the judgement of racial profiling. Unfortunately, this is an all too common issue that still exists today.
Another record that stood out to me was the track "Us". With all that was said about Ice Cube's racist lyrics regarding others, this record turned the mirror on the black community. Specifically, it’s lack of unity. Damn I love this album! The song speaks about how we, as a people, are quick to blame someone else for our lack of progress. There is truth to the notion that there are many obstacles that can prevent the black community from prospering but we also hinder ourselves at times.
Cube does an excellent job of pointing out a number of issues that keep black folks struggling and he says, "There's no one to blame...but US". I was at a stage in my life when I began to think about what kind of man I wanted to be and records like these gave me perspective. Sure there were other roles models but Cube was schooling me from a distance and I was a willing student.
From records about gang culture in "Color Blind," the drug game with "A Bird in the Hand," and a coming to age story with "Doing Dumb Sh*t," there was no subject that was taboo for my favorite rapper. The fact that the album has a “light side” and a “dark side”, as it relates to the content, is genius in itself. More importantly, it is this duality that represents his personal journey to "knowledge of self."
No song on this album represented self more than the legendary N.W.A. diss record "No Vaseline". I thought the album was done until Ice Cube came on and said, "Oh yeah. It ain't over muthafuckas." Like I said previously, I was too young to own N.W.A.’s album when Cube was a member. I eventually became a fan of the group and I was well aware of the shots thrown at Ice Cube on their sophomore release Efil4Zaggin (Niggaz4Life). Even still, I wasn't prepared for his rebuttal.
So far, "Death Certificate" had already become a masterpiece in my eyes. Cube could of ended the album after the Us record. No Vaseline is ranked right up there with some of the greatest battle rap records of all time. Not only did he diss the group, but he blasted their recording contracts, management, finances, street credibility, and anything else he could think of. This wasn't exclusively about rap beef but a lesson in ethics and business.
This was empowering to me as a young man. Not only was I entertained by the content but I walked away enlightened on many levels. That's the true gift of lyrics in Hip-Hop. Regardless of how harsh the delivery, there has to be a message in the music. Death Certificate is Ice Cube's greatest album in my opinion. A relic from a time when lyrical craftsmanship, social commentary, and precise production were the expectation.
Shout out to Boogie Men, DJ Pooh, Sir Jinx, and the many collaborators on this Hip-Hop classic...
*Shoutout to my sister Stephanie Smith for the edits
Dope read family. Glad you finally got the tee lol