Death Certificate [LP]

by Ice Cube

Overview

If Ice Cube's debut was a shocking attack that proved the N.W.A legacy would be stronger divided, his sophomore effort was a new kind of superstar pulling off the miraculous, a follow-up that equals its classic predecessor and tops it in some people's books. With a million copies of Death Certificate preordered, Cube was no longer the rock critics' darling. A million people listening was dangerous, especially since he was now slithering his influence into the suburbs. If the black rage didn't get you, the misogyny of "I'm gonna do my thing, with your daughter" probably would. Here, one of rap's greatest storytellers is able to draw hatred in under a minute with the short and direct "Black Korea," an angry protest song concerning Korean grocers that got him dubbed "racist" and "Ice KKKube" by some. The track is an extreme representation of how a much sharper and cutting this album is when compared with his debut, and even though the intro announces the full-length is divided into a "Death Side" and "Life Side," both are equally bleak. With the CD format, the two sides are indistinguishable and run over the listener with fast tales of drug dealing, drive-by shootings, and women who go from "Ms. Thing to Ms. Gonorrhea." This would be numbing if it weren't for the rapper's amazing lyrics, ground-shaking delivery, and insight like when "A Bird in the Hand" deals with the irony of selling crap to buy diapers ("Gotta serve you food that might give you cancer/Cuz my son doesn't take no for answer"). A bit of sweet relief comes with the brightness of the great single "Steady Mobbin'" and with the nostalgia and slow tempo of "Doing Dumb Shit." "True to the Game" ("Ain't that a bitch/They hate to see a young nigga rich") is arguably the quintessential Cube track and if all this weren't enough already, the N.W.A diss "No Vaseline" hangs off the album like a crowd-pleasing, Brick-sampling encore. Although next year's Predator would be a bigger hit, Death Certificate brings to a close the man's trilogy of perfect albums that began with N.W.A's Compton and explodes into a supernova right here. [Death Certificate was re-released on LP in 2015.] ~ David Jeffries

Product Details

Release Date:	02/24/2015
Label:	Priority Records / Virgin Emi
UPC:	0602547128034

Tracks

1. The Funeral
2. The Wrong Nigga To Fuck Wit
3. My Summer Vacation
4. Steady Mobbin'
5. Robin Lench
6. Givin' Up the Nappy Dug Out
7. Look Who's Burnin'
8. A Bird In the Hand
9. Man's Best Friend
10. Alive On Arrival
11. Death
12. The Birth
13. I Wanna Kill Sam
14. Horny Lil' Devil
15. Black Korea
16. True To the Game
17. Color Blind
18. Doing Dumb Shit
19. Us
20. No Vaseline

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Ice Cube   Primary Artist,Lead Vocals
Dave "Diz Mix" Lopez   Keyboards
Reginald Paul   Sax (Tenor)
Brandyn Phillips   Trumpet
Deadly Threat   Rap,Vocals
The Maad Circle   Rap,Vocals
King T   Rap,Vocals
Chris Johnson   Trombone
Dr. Khallid Muhammad   Vocals
Gerald Williams   Sax (Alto)
Kam   Rap,Vocals
J-Dee   Rap,Vocals

Technical Credits

Dave "Diz Mix" Lopez   Mastering,Remastering,Mixing,Engineer
Dewayne McKnight   Composer
Teak Underdue   Composer
Sigidi Bashir Abullah   Composer
Anthony Wheaton   Composer
Marcus Haas   Cover Art
Checkboy   Composer,Producer
Tony Davis   Composer,Composer
Sir Jinx   Mixing,Composer,Producer
Teren Jones   Composer
Andre Young   Composer
Bernie Worrell   Composer
Average White Band   Composer
The Gap Band   Composer
King Tee   Composer
Bobby "Bobcat" Ervin   Composer
Ice Cube   Mixing,Composer,Producer,Executive Producer
Bootsy Collins   Composer
Parliament   Composer
Curtis Mayfield   Composer
Donald "Duck" Dunn   Composer
John Greenham   Mastering
T-Mix   Composer,Producer
Gladys Knight & the Pips   Composer
Wilson Pickett   Composer
Tristan Jones   Composer
Donnie Sterling   Composer
Steve Cropper   Composer
The Maad Circle   Composer
Boogiemen   Composer,Producer
Booker T. Jones   Composer
Garry Shider   Composer
Lou Donaldson   Composer
Mark Jordan   Composer
Richard Bartell   Composer
Big Soj   Composer,Producer
Darryl Dobson   Mixing
Brick   Composer
Olasoji Adenuga   Composer
Davon Phillips   Composer
Peter Brown   Composer,Composer
Deadly Threat   Composer
Dr. Khallid Muhammad   Composer
Robert Rans   Composer
Ronald Dunbar   Composer
Roger Ball   Composer
Ronald Isley   Composer
Kam   Composer
Rudolph Isley   Composer
Mbaji   Composer
The Meters   Composer
Raymond Calhoun   Composer
J. Dee   Composer
O'Kelly Isley   Composer
Alan Gorrie   Composer
Al Jackson, Jr.   Composer
George Clinton   Composer
Harry Whitaker   Composer
Brian "Big Bass" Gardner   Mastering Engineer
DJ Pooh   Mixing,Composer
Ziggy Modeliste   Composer
Art Neville   Composer
Stoker   Recording,Engineer
George Porter, Jr.   Composer
Hamish Stuart   Composer
Dave Lopez   Mixing
Leo Nocentelli   Composer
Sigidi   Composer
Madeleine Smith   Music Clearance
Dr. Khallid Abdul Muhammad   Composer
Sigidi Abdullah   Composer
Boogie Men   Composer,Producer
Lorenzo Patterson   Composer
David Spradley   Composer
Bobby Ervin   Composer
J-Dee   Composer
Michael Hampton   Composer
Garry Marshall   Composer
Big Bass Brian   Mastering
Mario Castellanos   Photography
O'Shea Jackson   Composer
Harold Clayton   Composer
Dee Underdue   Composer