#187 Ice Cube, 'AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted' (1990)

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After Ice Cube’s acrimonious split with N.W.A. he immediately moved to record a solo record. The result was this, one of the most defining Hip Hop records of the ‘90s, in fact, of all time. Cube hooked up with The Bomb Squad, the production crew behind Public Enemy and together the put together an incredibly enjoyable record.

As is common with Hip Hop, the album was made on a foundation of samples. We’ve got the usual suspects; George Clinton/Parliament, James Brown, Sly & the Family Stone, The Meters. But then we also have more contemporary samples, Run-D.M.C., Beastie Boys and Ice Cube’s previous group, N.W.A. The album completely surprised me. I was expecting to hear a N.W.A. record but it was different. Ice Cube successfully went out on his own and defined him own sound. He was no longer one of the guys from N.W.A., he was decisively Ice Cube. The album’s socio-political commentary would go on to influence so many other rappers in the ‘90s, notably Tupac, The Notorious B.I.G. & Nas. My favourites off of the record were ‘Once Upon A Time In The Projects,’ ‘The Nigga Ya Love To Hate’ and the title track. ‘Turn Off The Radio’ is a pretty intense track, a song criticising, what he calls to the “Oreo Cookie,” a racial slur against black people that have “white tendencies.” It begins with a sample from Spike Lee’s ‘Do The Right Thing,’ which explains what white people think of black people; “You gold teeth, gold chain wearing, fried chicken and biscuit eating monkey, ape, baboon, big thigh, fast running, high jumping, spear chucking, three-hundred-and-sixty-degree basketball dunking, titsun, spade, Moulan Yan. Go the fuck back to Africa. Go the fuck back to Africa. Go the fuck back to Africa.” Full on. That’s the record. That’s its sentiment. No holding back. Ice Cube had arrived and he had something to say. He had a lot to say.

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