Amerikka's Most America
Year Released: 1990
Certification: Platinum
Label: Priority
Guest Stars: Chuck D; Yo Yo; Flava Flav
Death Certificate
Year Released:1991
Certification:Platinum
Label:Priority
Guest Stars:Sir Jinx, T-Bone, J-Dee, Shorty, Threi, Big Tom, Wess, Zulu Ed, Heavy, K-Dee, Kam, Chilly Chill, Yo-Yo, Taz, Big Cal.
The Boogie Men: D.J. Pooh, Bobcat, Rashad.
The Predator
Year Released:1992
Certification:2x Platinum
Label: Priority
Guest Stars:Das EFX; Bob Morse; Max
Lethal Injection
Year Released:1993
Certification:Platinum
Label:Priority
Guest Stars: George Clinton; K-Dee
Bow Down (w/ WC and Mack 10)
Year Released:1996
Certification:Platinum
Label:Priority
Guest Stars: N/A
War & Peace (War CD)
Year Released:1998
Certification:Platinum
Label:Priority
Guest Stars:Mr. Short Khop; Mack 10; Korn
War & Peace (Peace CD)
Year Released: 2000
Certification:Gold
Label:Priority
Guest Stars:Ice Cube, Mack 10, Ms. Toi, Krayzie Bone, Chris Rock, Jato Felony, Pain In Da Ass, One Eye
Biography
Ice Cube is one of the most enduring, versatile, controversial and engaging figures ever to emerge out of hip-hop, having established himself as a film phenomenon, acclaimed actor, screenwriter, director and producer.
Born O'Shea Jackson, Ice Cube caught the rap bug in the ninth grade when a classmate named Kiddo challenged him in typing class. "One day, he asked me if I ever wrote a rap before. I told him, you write one, I write one and we'll see which one come out better and I won", recalls Cube.
In early 1987, Cube wrote "Boyz-N-The-Hood" for Eazy-E and "Dopeman" and "8-Ball" for NWA and they went into the studio to record. NWA's singles sold hundred of thousands of copies, and after the seminal albums Eazy Duz It and Straight Outta Compton were released, the world would never be quite the same.
But by 1989, things were beginning to sour between Cube and Jerry Heller, then NWA's manager. Cube felt he was due more than the $30,000 that he received for records that had sold 3 million units. "I was broke before I jumped in that shit, so it wasn't hard to walk away," Cube recalls. "At the time the two producers that was worth fucking with was Dr. Dre and The Bomb Squad. If I couldn't get Dre, I was going to the Bomb Squad." He broke east and began collaborating with Public Enemy. Energized by the rush of liberation and inspired by the exchange of ideas with Chuck D and the other members of the Public Enemy camp, he turned in the stunning Amerikkka's Most Wanted. "I can never play out", smiles Cube, "because people are still biting my styles from that record."
The follow-up EP Kill At Will went gold just as quickly, and Ice Cube's second solo LP, Death Certificate had advance orders of over a million copies and debuted at number 2 on the Billboard Charts. Released just months before the LA riots, it singularly captured the tenor of the times, the feel of a generation. Also that year, The Predator debuted at #1 on the pop and R&B charts simultaneously and went platinum in four days. Cube had arrived as the chronicler of his generation.
Lethal Injection was his fourth album in four years, but Cube felt the rap game changing subtly. "At that time, nobody wanted to hear that kind of rap. That whole (conscious) era had peaked with the release of the Malcolm X movie. The G-funk era was coming in. People didn't want to take rap that serious," he says.
"I was doing movies, directing videos, trying to produce other groups," Cube says. Based on his amazing performance in John Singleton's "Boyz N The Hood", he was in demand. He went on to appear in "Trespass", "CB4", "Higher Learning", "Anaconda", and "3 Kings." After co-screenwriting the script "Friday" with DJ Pooh - a balancing, hilarious view of a day in the life of a couple of brothers from South Central - Ice Cube followed up with "Next Friday," which topped the box office charts in its first week of release.
Although hip-hop fans are notoriously fickle, Cube has stayed atop the game for over a decade. "I still sell the same amount of records. I still get a big reception," he says. "In hip hop, people always want new artists, but when I really get down, nobody put a record together better than me. So I'm a always be here. Long as I stay consistent and keep my heart in it, I'm a be here."