Tag Archives: ice cube

Ice Cube – Everythangs Corrupt

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Title: Everythangs Corrupt
Artist: Ice Cube
Label: Lench Mob/Interscope
Format: CD, Digital
Release date: December 7, 2018

 

O’Shea Jackson, aka Ice Cube, has been around forever and that is not a figure of speech. Depending on your age and generation, you know the name from some form of entertainment. For many, Cube came to our attention with the group NWA. After he departed NWA, he went solo and released what some believe to be his best work, the album AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted. I will get back to that later. He also helped launch careers for Yo Yo and Da Lynch Mob. Cube then went Hollywood, where Boyz In The Hood and the classic Barbershop films introduced him to another audience. Cube has even ventured into sports with his 3-on-3 basketball league. With the release of the biopic Straight Outta Compton a few years ago and his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it appears all has come full circle for the man who once referred to himself as “the Nigga you love to hate.” Continue reading →

Ice Cube: In the Movies

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icecube_in_movies.jpgTitle: Ice Cube: In the Movies
Artist: Ice Cube
Label: Priority Records
Catalog No: 09463 97253 28
Date: 2007

 

Ice Cube is one of the most legendary figures in hip hop music and culture. With N.W.A., Cube laid the foundation for gangsta rap. As a solo artist, he took rap music to new heights with his booming voice and chilling social commentary. Another avenue in which Cube has made a significant impact is film-as an actor, screen writer, director, and musician. Over the last fifteen years, he has made many notable contributions to the soundtracks of his own films as well as others. Ice Cube: In the Movies is a Priority release that compiles Cube’s best soundtrack work into a single disc.

The CD opens with Ice Cube’s three most commercially successful soundtrack singles, “You Can Do It” from Next Friday (2000), “We Be Clubbin” from The Player’s Club (1998), and “Natural Born Killaz” with Dr. Dre from Murder Was the Case (1994). After the lackluster “Anybody Seen the Popo’s” from XXX State of The Union (2005), his gangsta rap classics “Friday” from Friday (1995) and “How to Survive in South Central” from Boyz N The Hood (1991) are included back to back. The well-written and grossly overlooked “Ghetto Vet,” from I Got the Hookup (1998), kicks off the second half of the album. “Higher” from Higher Learning (1995) and the classic “Trespass” with Ice-T from Trespass (1992) rounds out the disc.

Aside from minor sequencing issues, there is nothing wrong with this compilation. Priority Records did a solid job of amassing Ice Cube’s best soundtrack work. In a genre where artists typically give their most mediocre songs to soundtracks, Ice Cube’s material stands out. Over the last few years, rappers Eminem and Three Six Mafia have won Oscars for their contributions to film soundtracks.1 Ice Cube: In the Movies proves that Ice Cube set the standard for hip hop soundtracks and deserves a lifetime achievement award if one is ever created for this category.

Posted by Langston Collin Wilkins

[1] On March 5, 2006, Three 6 Mafia made history as they became the first Black music group to win an Academy Award for Best Song and also became the first hip hop artists to ever perform at the ceremony. The group was nominated for the song “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” from the Hustle & Flow soundtrack. This marked only the second time a rap act has won an Academy Award, following Eminem in 2002. -cf. Wikipedia.