Digital DJPool Music for DJs

Ice Cube: Amerikkkas Most Wanted

One of Six Seminal Hip Hop Records Panned By Rolling Stone

As a big fan of the book, "Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists", there was a section where certain seminal hip hop records were bashed by Rolling Stones. Ice Cube's monumental gangsta rap debut was one of them. Critics said, "the relentless profanity grows wearisome, bombsquads production loses steam, and Cube's attitude towards women are simply despicable". However, "Amerikkka's Most Wanted" (A suberbly provacative title) is criticized for all the wrong reasons. Most critics based assumptions on shock value and profanity but Cube's message was loud and clear. He was going to shut down racist white Amerikkka with one of the most visceral and revolutionary records that I have ever heard.

Straight out the box, Ice Cube is not out to make friends with, "The N***** Ya Love To Hate". Reality is a hard thing to digest and he let people know by dropping jewels like, "When I'm shootin let's see who drop/ The police, the media, and suckers that went pop/ And mother******* that say they too black/ Put 'em overseas they be beggin to come back/ They say we promote gangs and drugs/ You wanna sweep a n***** like me up under the rug/ Kickin s*** called street knowledge/ Why more n****** in the pen than in college. It was like Huey Newton speaking from a gangsta figures perspective and collaborating with Public Enemy... he became the black CNN. Songs such as "Turn Off The Radio" could never happen on a major label again. He was saying, "Program directors and dj's ignore me/ because I simply said F*** top forty/ Top thirty, top twenty, and top ten/ Until you put more hip hop in/". Most happy songs didn't make much sense on radio (still don't) and Cube knew hip hop was a weapon that people could see in the broad.

"Amerikkka's Most Wanted" also cemented Ice Cube as one of the genres greatest storytellers. The way he freaked nursery rhymes, for the kids, on "A Gangsta's Fairtale" was unbelievable. It was informing kids to watch out for scandolous women and stds. "Once Upon A Time In The Projects" was so vivid, it brought you straight to Compton, as if Ice Cube was saying his rhymes right beside you with an angry expression on his face. "Endangered Species" is one of the most politically intense charged rap songs ever on wax. "Every cop killer goes ignored/ They'll just send another n***** to the morgue/ A point scored; they could give a f*** about us/ They rather catch us with guns, and white powder/ - If I was old, they'd probably be a friend of me/ Since I'm young, they consider me the enemy/ You should listen to me cause there's more to see/ Call my neighborhood a ghetto cause it houses minorities/".

Overall, it's easy to see why hip hop purists say hip hop today just isn't good as that old school s***. Hell, even Rolling Stones, who dismissed this record, realized the records greatness and later gave this debut a 5 out of 5 stars rating. What's more amazing is the aforementioned songs aren't even my top two favorites. The title track and "Who's The Mack" knocked me off the edge of my seat. You can find gangsta rap anywhere today but this had such a powerful message with such proper beats, that unlike its modern day contemporaries, stands the test of time. Like rapreviews.com said, "One of the most important records ever made...if someone says to you rap is simple, throw this on and dare them to write something better - - none of them ever will".