Artist Playlists
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If Eazy-E was the visionary behind N.W.A, Ice Cube was the gangsta group's mouthpiece. After famously penning most of the lyrics on 1988's Straight Outta Compton album, he left the crew in a dispute and headed east to hook up with the Bomb Squad for 1990's solo debut, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted. Backed by pummelling beats, Cube dropped incendiary social commentary before moving into the realm of concept albums with '91's Death Certificate. When it comes to uncompromising hip-hop content, no one does it better than O'Shea. - Ice Cube is a worshipped deity to rappers with grit in their voices and righteous anger in their hearts. Would Killer Mike have been inspired to cut “Reagan,” his brutal smackdown of the 40th U.S. President, had Cube not been around to depict the stark reality of Reaganomics from the front lines? His passion was often scored by bass-heavy G-funk beats, which his Los Angeles descendent Kendrick Lamar nods to on tracks like “King Kunta.”
- Ice Cube's sharply focused intensity and virtuous anger rarely let up over the course of his records. Take “The Bomb,” where he spits fiery flows over the Bomb Squad's busy, dissonant funk. “Ghetto Bird,” meanwhile, finds the rapper starkly condemning the police helicopters that circle South Central Los Angeles as “the flying Nazi military force,” backed by a fat bassline and howling G-funk whistles.