Ice Cube released his hugely successful second album, Death Certifcate, in 1991. The album combines hard gangster rap with angry, highly politicized themes. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 in 1991, following Ice Cube’s split from N.W.A and before his first solo album, AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted, was released and then certified platinum two months later. Ice Cube’s highly offensive, politically divisive content sparked immediate outrage and controversy, notably for anti-Korean themes only months before the 1992 Los Angeles riots. (The album was divided into two sides: The Light Side’s gangsta posturing and violence represent Cube’s perception of American culture of the day, while The Death Side explores his view for the future, featuring angry and political topics. By merging the dissatisfaction and desire for change of conscious rap with gangsta rap perspective, Cube managed to funnel his powerful ingrained contempt into a complex hip-hop epic, seizing the public eye.
Coming out of N.W.A, Ice Cube manifests an abraisive, gangsta ethos, and the first half of Death Certificate embodies the gangsta rap genre. Chock full of tales of Cube’s badassery and hardness, The Death Side establishes Ice Cube’s credibility as a founder of gangster rap with N.W.A. Cube brings the listener into his world: The Wrong Nigga To Fuck Wit is a bombastic example of pure gangsta posturing and braggadocio, Givin’ Up The Nappy Dug Out tells of sexual conquest, and Steady Mobbin’ combines the two. The Death Side uses Ice’s consistently ferocious lyrical ability to demonstrate a seriousness and focus that was lacking from his work with N.W.A. On top of Ice’s flow, Sir Jinx’s beats go quite nearly as hard as the Bomb Squad production did on AmeriKKKa’s. All in all, The Death Side would pull in any (and there were many) fan of Cube’s work with N.W.A. Once they’re in, The Light Side introduces a dramatic change of tone.
In Death Certificate’s The Light Side, one thing is abundantly clear: Ice Cube is mad. At the government, at society, at racial politics. Despite his laid-back west-coast flow, Cube’s lyrics pack a punch. Taking the localization of gangsta rap to a new level, he feels alienated as part of a fringe community, and develops an extremely societally reclusive mindset. True To The Game, one of the album’s two singles, uses the popular ‘don’t sell out’ trope as a broader attack on perceived Uncle Tomism in black American culture. Cube’s unique brand of afrocentricity encroaches on the territory of black separatism. In an ironic contrast to My Summer Vacation his critique on baseless gang violence, Black Korea is a scathing anti-Asian call to arms. the song opens with a memorable sample of Radio Raheem’s trip to Sonny’s market in Do The Right Thing, bringing directly into mind that movie’s violent conclusion. The album concludes with No Vaseline: taking his exclusionary attitude to a new height, the track disses his own former bandmates.
Though it combines motifs from different styles of hip-hop, Death Certificate is firmly a part of the gangsta rap canon. Cube brought influence from more-politicized strains of hip hop to augment his gangsta ethos, and the result is a powerful, gangsta magnum opus that illustrates the racial tension present in the Los Angeles community at the time.