Ice Cube - Death Certificate [Bonus Track] (CD)

All Music Guide

Death Certificate is even harder and angrier than AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, which is both a good and a bad thing, depending on your politics. If you're inclined to see Ice Cube as a spokesman and social commentator, Death Certificate will support your claims 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. If you're inclined to see Ice Cube as a bigoted, misogynist rabblerouser, Death Certificate will also support your claims "No Vaseline" contains explicit antiSemitic taunts directed at his former manager, there are homophobic slurs scattered throughout the album, and women are frequently either bitches or whores. However, if you look beyond the surface no matter what political viewpoint you happen to have you will find that Cube's rhymes do promote selfawareness and education. In short, they are some of the most incisive raps about life as a young black ...man since the advent of Public Enemy. Considering this, it's not surprising that Death Certificate bears the mark of Public Enemy's dense, abrasive soundscapes it's a funkier, noisier, and more musically effective album than AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted. Ice Cube had never before created a statement of purpose as coherent and incendiary as Death Certificate and, sadly, he never did again. [The 2003 reissue adds "How to Survive in South Central" from the soundtrack to Ice Cube's first film, Boyz in the Hood, which is a concise summation of the themes on the album as a whole.] - Leo Stanley, All Music Guide Read more Less