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Death Certificate
Studio album by Ice Cube
Released	October 29, 1991
Recorded	1991
Studio	Paramount Recording Studios (Los Angeles)
Genre	West Coast hip hop gangsta rap political hip hop hardcore hip hop
Length	60:59
Label	Priority
Producer	Ice Cube (also exec.) Sir Jinx The Boogie Men
Ice Cube chronology
Kill at Will (1990) Death Certificate (1991) The Predator (1992)
Singles from Death Certificate
"Steady Mobbin'" Released: August 9, 1991 "True to the Game" Released: September 14, 1992

Death Certificate is the second studio album by American rapper Ice Cube. It was released on October 29, 1991, through Priority Records. The album was produced by Sir Jinx, DJ Pooh, and Ice Cube. It was supported by two singles: "Steady Mobbin'" and "True to the Game".

Due to some of its racially and politically charged content, and Ice Cube's acerbic statements on drug dealing, racial profiling, and the right to keep and bear arms, the album was the source of both critical acclaim and much controversy upon its release. Death Certificate was a commercial success, debuting at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 105,000 copies in its first week. The album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in December 1991.

Background

The writing and recording of Death Certificate began in late 1990 and carried on throughout most of 1991. While making the album, Ice Cube was also heavily involved in several other projects, including Yo-Yo's debut album Make Way for the Motherlode, his younger cousin Del tha Funkee Homosapien's I Wish My Brother George Was Here, and perhaps more importantly, his film debut, Boyz n the Hood, in which he co-starred with Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Laurence Fishburne. Similar to AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, Ice Cube was very active in the album's production, though the overall sound differed. Unlike AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, which featured the Bomb Squad's hard edged beats, Death Certificate featured a slightly more West Coast-oriented sound in comparison, with heavy use of 70's Funk and Soul samples. A number of the tracks also use samples taken from acts such as Zapp (Ohio) and Fishbone (California).

Content

Death Certificate was roughly organized as two thematic elements of a larger whole, and opens with Cube's explanation: "The Death Side: a mirror image of where we are today; The Life Side: a vision of where we need to go." The first half, therefore, is replete with the tales of drug dealing, whore-mongering and violence expected of a gangsta rap album in 1991. The sleeve booklet also included the following quote from Ice Cube, which showed the influence of the Nation of Islam on his work.

The reason I say nigga is because we are mentally dead even in 1991. We have limited knowledge of self, so it leads to a nigga mentality. The best place for a young Black male or female is the Nation of Islam. Soon as we as a people use our knowledge of self to our advance we will then be able to become and be called Blacks.

The Death Side's "A Bird in the Hand" laments a young man's slide into a life of drug-dealing for economic survival.

Do I have to sell me a whole lot of crack

For decent shelter and clothes on my back?

Or should I just wait for help from Bush?

Or Jesse Jackson and Operation PUSH?

The Life Side's "Black Korea" threatens rioting and arson alongside Black entrepreneurship as a response to the preponderance of Korean-owned grocery stores in ghettos across the United States. The track was seen as a response to the killing of Latasha Harlins, a 15-year-old African American girl who was shot to death by a Korean-American store owner on March 16, 1991, in an altercation over a bottle of orange juice. Since the release of the track preceded the 1992 Los Angeles riots, in which many of the people targeted were of Korean descent, Ice Cube was accused of inciting racism by African Americans towards Asians.

"Horny Lil' Devil" was a track aimed at sexual relationships between White men and Black women. The producer Sir Jinx, who had worked with Ice Cube on much of the album, cited the track as an example of how he and Ice Cube went different ways, saying "I didn’t really wanna do music like that."

The track "Look Who's Burnin'" tells of the dangers of sexually transmitted infection in low income neighborhoods, while "Alive on Arrival" tells the story of a young man caught in the crossfire of a gang shootout who slowly bleeds to death while in a hospital waiting room, being questioned by police. "Color Blind" preaches neutrality and brotherhood between gangs, such as the Bloods and Crips. Although Ice Cube's previous album avoided direct attacks on N.W.A, Death Certificate contained "True to the Game" and most notably "No Vaseline", which were diss tracks aimed at his former bandmates.

Unlike Ice Cube's other albums, Death Certificate was not released in a censored version. The tracks "Steady Mobbin'", "True To The Game", and "Givin' up the Nappy Dug Out", were, however, recorded with clean lyrics and released for airplay.

Release

The album was originally released on October 29, 1991. It was highly anticipated with over one million advanced orders. In 2003, Priority Records re-released Death Certificate with the bonus track "How to Survive in South Central", which originally appeared on the Boyz n the Hood soundtrack. Death Certificate included the diss track "No Vaseline" which is a response to his former hip hop group N.W.A, and their album Niggaz4Life which included direct and indirect diss tracks and verses to Ice Cube. "No Vaseline" is considered to be one of the greatest diss tracks of all time due to its explicit and direct subject matter towards the members of the group.

The album was re-released for the 25th anniversary edition on June 9, 2017, by Interscope Records after Cube announced signing to the label in late May 2017.

Controversy

In 1991, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission banned a poster for St. Ides Malt Liquor, which Ice Cube endorsed at the time, that displayed Ice Cube holding a can of St. Ides and flashing a gang sign. In the September 2006 issue of FHM, Ice Cube stated in an interview that he did not regret the controversial statements made on the album.

Due to fear that laws against racial incitement in the United Kingdom could see the album banned, the original United Kingdom release removed the tracks "Black Korea" and "No Vaseline". Island Records, the distributor of this version of the album, deleted these tracks with the consent of Priority Records, but not Ice Cube himself. "We're very excited about Ice Cube", said Island MD Marc Marot, "but on a personal level I just could not take those two songs. I understand that self-censorship after the NWA case puts us in a strange position, but we're not going to support minority racism or antisemitism. We came to a compromise with Profile that was acceptable." The tracks have since been reinstated on a CD reissue readily available in the UK.

Critical reception

Contemporary professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Tribune
Entertainment Weekly	A−
Los Angeles Times
NME	8/10
Select	4/5
The Source

Death Certificate received critical acclaim. "His homophobia may be irksome", wrote Ted Kessler in Select, "but the shock value of these views has been blunted by lesser rappers. It's the sublime combination of '70s P-Funk and Ice Cube's excellent, taut delivery of rhymes calculated to jolt that pleases." Spin wrote that it "integrates vitriolic politics with raw street knowledge" and "achieves an almost George Clinton-esque sense of celebratory freakiness".

"There's a rule in music journalism at the moment", observed the hip-hop fanzine Louder Than A Bomb!. "It says that every Ice-T/N.W.A./Ice Cube record must be described as something like 'a grisly and uncompromising portrait of life in the ghetto'… O.G. was the last. Death Certificate is the next. you can't shut your eyes while listening and imagine the ghetto. It's just a lot of songs about shooting, shagging and N.W.A."

Death Certificate received a meager $18,000 promotion budget, and neither of its singles, "Steady Mobbin'" and "True to the Game", received much airplay, although they did receive music videos.

Retrospective professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The Austin Chronicle
Blender
Christgau's Consumer Guide	C+
Pitchfork	9.5/10
Record Collector
Rolling Stone
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
The Source
Spin Alternative Record Guide	10/10

In a retrospective review, AllMusic called Death Certificate "even harder and angrier than AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted ... It continues the sharp insights and unflinching looks at contemporary urban lifestyles that his solo debut only hinted at; in short, it's hardcore without any gangsta posturing." They also call it "funkier, noisier, and more musically effective (than AmeriKKKa)." Initially giving a four-and-a-half out of five "mic" rating, The Source retrospectively awarded Death Certificate full marks in a list of "5 Mic Hip-Hop Classics", in its 150th issue.

Accolades

• Ranked #8 in MTV's Greatest Hip-Hop Albums of All Time list in 2005
• Included in The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums list in 1998
• Ranked #12 in About.com's 100 Greatest Hip-Hip Albums list in 2008
• Ranked #5 in ego trip's Hip Hop's 25 Greatest Albums by Year 1980–98 list in 1999
• Ranked #20 in Dance De Lux's 25 Best Hip-Hop Records list in 2001
• Ranked #16 in The Village Voice's Best Albums of the Year list in 1991
• Ranked #37 in New Musical Express's Best Albums of the Year list in 1991
• Ranked #8 in Hip Hop Connection's reader-voted The Phat Forty
• Included in Vibe's 100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century in 1999
• Included in Rhapsody's list of the top "coke rap" albums of all time in 2010.

Commercial performance

Death Certificate debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 105,000 copies in its first week. This became Ice Cube's first US top-ten debut. The album also debuted at number one on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. On December 20, 1991, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of over a million copies. It was certified only two months after the album was released. As of March 2020, the album has sold over two million copies in the United States.

On September 4, 2015, Death Certificate went back on the Billboard 200 chart and ranked at number 99 with 14,000 sales in that week; also, Greatest Hits and AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted came back on the Billboard 200 in that week with Greatest Hits charting at number 118 with 11,920 sales and AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted at number 150 with 8,300 sales.

Track listing

Personnel

Charts

Certifications

See also

• List of number-one R&B albums of 1991 (U.S.)

References

1. "Death Certificate". AllMusic. Archived from the original on June 5, 2012.
2. ^ Richard Harrington (November 13, 1991). "War of Songs Escalates". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 19, 2020.
3. ^ "American album certifications – Ice Cube – Death Certificate". Recording Industry Association of America.
4. Harvey, Eric (November 27, 2016). "Ice Cube: Death Certificate". Pitchfork.
5. Van Nguyen, Dean (October 18, 2011). "True to the Game: Ice Cube's 'Death Certificate'". PopMatters.
6. Pareles, Jon (December 13, 1992). "POP VIEW; Rap After the Riot: Smoldering Rage And No Apologies". The New York Times.
7. Arnold, Paul (October 11, 2010). "Sir Jinx talks Ice Cube reunion, another Dr. Dre 'Detox' track with Jay-Z". Retrieved February 2, 2024.
8. Pareles, Jon (December 8, 1991). "POP VIEW; Should Ice Cube's Voice Be Chilled?". The New York Times.
9. Ice Cube dot org - Ice Cube Lyrics, Pictures and more - Part of the Rapbasement Network Archived January 12, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
10. "OLCC BANS POSTER FOR MALT LIQUOR". The Oregonian. November 6, 1991. p. E01. Oregon authorities Tuesday banned a poster for St. Ides malt liquor because it carries gang appeal and apparently was designed to attract minors.
11. Ice Cube Quote/Unquote: September 2006 Archived September 11, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
12. ^ "Rock & Rap Archives: Number 94/January 1992". Archived from the original on April 1, 2011. Retrieved June 8, 2007.
13. Select, January 1992
14. Corcoran, Michael (October 27, 1991). "Ice Cube, as radical as he wants to be". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on October 23, 2018. Retrieved March 30, 2010.
15. Kot, Greg (November 10, 1991). "Rage Cubed". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
16. Bernard, James (November 15, 1991). "Death Certificate". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved March 30, 2010.
17. Hilburn, Robert (November 3, 1991). "A Crucial Message, a Crude Delivery From Ice Cube". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 17, 2016.
18. McCann, Ian (November 23, 1991). "Dead Cert". NME. p. 33.
19. ^ Kessler, Ted (January 1992). "Ice Cube: Death Certificate". Select. No. 19. p. 72.
20. ^ Tewlow, Rob "Reef" (January 1992). "Ice Cube: Death Certificate". The Source. No. 28. p. 85. Archived from the original on January 24, 2000. Retrieved July 20, 2024.
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27. Harvey, Eric (November 27, 2016). "Ice Cube: Death Certificate". Pitchfork. Retrieved November 27, 2016.
28. McIver, Joel (October 2010). "Death Certificate | Ice Cube". Record Collector. No. 380. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
29. Caramanica, Jon (March 20, 2003). "Ice Cube: Death Certificate". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on July 14, 2007. Retrieved April 1, 2010.
30. Relic, Peter (2004). "Ice Cube". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 400–401. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
31. "Got Five On It". The Source. No. 150. March 2002. p. 175.
32. Dyson, Michael Eric (1995). "Ice Cube". In Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (eds.). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. pp. 189–190. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
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36. "Rap.about.com". Archived from the original on August 29, 2011. Retrieved December 9, 2009.
37. Jenkins, Sacha; Wilson, Elliott; Mao, Jeff "Chairman"; Alvarez, Gabriel; Rollins, Brent (1999). "Hip Hop's Greatest Albums by Year: 1991". Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists. St. Martin's Press. p. 333. ISBN 0-312-24298-0.
38. "The 1991 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". The Village Voice. March 3, 1992. p. S22. Retrieved July 20, 2024.
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40. Hip Hop Connection, July 1994
41. "The Vibe 100". Vibe. Vol. 7, no. 10. New York. December 1999. pp. 155–164. ISSN 1070-4701.
42. Album Guide To Coke Rap Archived August 31, 2012, at the Wayback Machine Referenced July 26, 2010
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44. "State fair welcomes hip-hop artist Ice Cube with special guest Ginuwine on Sept. 6". Kent Reporter. March 11, 2020. Retrieved December 19, 2020.
45. "N.W.A Takes Over Charts, Gets First Top 40 Hit on Hot 100". Billboard.
46. "Bubbling Down Under Week Commencing January 27, 1992". Bubbling Down Under. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
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50. "Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums – Year-End 1992". Billboard. Retrieved December 5, 2018.

Other sources

• Nathan Brackett, Christian Hoard (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide: Completely Revised and Updated 4th Edition. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.

External links

• Death Certificate at Discogs
• "Ice KKKube's Aesthetikkk Merit: Big Fukkking Deal" by Robert Christgau
• Album Review at RapReviews.com

• Ice Cube albums
• 1991 albums
• Anti-Korean sentiment in the United States
• Priority Records albums
• Political hip-hop albums
• Race-related controversies in music