Hey look at this. I was cleaning out my nest and I found some old Ice Cube.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU8H9_YBM3A&rel=1]
The above song is one of my favourite songs from one of my favourite albums of all time: “Death Certificate.” Until the other day, I hadn’t listened to it in about ten years. Brings back some memories. Not good ones, really, but memories all the same. Mainly of dumb shit.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oJM22XG5hc&rel=1]
I really miss Ice Cube. I know he’s still around but he’s just not the same Ice Cube. There’s a whole generation out there that has never known a world where he wasn’t in movies; a generation that thinks Fiddy and his songs about lollipops and candy-shops are gangsta. No wonder hip-hop is dead. These days it wins Oscars.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLNPYwthRKQ&rel=1]
I remember a simpler time, when this shit was unapologetically vulgar, evil and (dare I say it?) funky. It was also smart without stopping every two seconds to tell you that it’s smart, which is what the bulk of so-called conscious hip-hip does. It was also bawdy; funny and serious at the same time. But, if you didn’t take it seriously, you never got the joke. Black or white, it was about us. Now it’s all about them.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=astFJUjy8G4&rel=1]
2 comments
Rachel
December 17, 2007 at 2:13 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I agree – with it all! It’s true, its just not the same! Old skool Ice Cube 4-ever!
Ryan Oakley
December 17, 2007 at 3:45 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Well, at least for another week until I’m bored of it. But for now — it feels good.