I’m in the car listening to a CD of some of my favorite albums. First one up is Amerikkka’s Most Wanted (AMW) by Ice Cube.
Because I have an MP3 player (have had one since 03), I generally don’t listen to full albums any more. At least I hadn’t. But then I just got the idea that I wanted to listen to Amerikkka’s Most again. I used to love the album and even though I’m not 15 any more, I figured I might still like it. I was wrong. I still love it.
Now to be honest, some of the still-love is nostalgia value. I’m certainly not the same person I was in 1990 when the tape came out. I’m more than twice as old and I have a grown-man’s perspective on the topics. So some of the songs on there are particularly odious to me; You Can’t Fade Me, in particular. At the same time, however, I can’t get past the fact that AMW is what so-called gangsta rap was supposed to be in the first place. I used to say it all the time: Jheri Curl Cube was the thinking man’s gangsta. He didn’t live the gangsta life, but he could describe it in crisp enough detail to make you think he had. Cuz I remember that back then, Ice Cube had people shook. But even more than that, he had an agenda. Yeah, he talked violence (somewhat), but with a point.
When I’m shootin’, let’s see who drop
the police, the media, and suckers that went pop
and motherfuckers that say they too Black
put ‘em overseas, they’ll be beggin’ to come back…
See that’s when so-called gangsta rap really was kickin the reality of the streets — not just “street” people, though. It wasn’t necessary to be a thug, or even a wannabe thug to identify with that. In one fell swoop, he’s getting at people to his right and his left. I was right there with him. And then, there’s the line from Turn Off The Radio:
now if you out there kickin’ it wit the brothers
you don’t care about lovers
you wanna hear a young nigga on the mic goin buck wild
throwin and flowin and showin new styles
That was my life. I wasn’t tryin’ to hear no love songs back then. Like I said, though, things are a little different now. My perspective is quite different. Nothin wrong with a good love song. Shoot, I even like the song that’s sampled as a part of the vanilla radio programming, House of Beauty by Isaac Hayes.
What makes the album so significant to me now is the level of detail in Cube’s descriptions. Being an English teacher, I love to see good writing. And Cube was an excellent writer. Once Upon A Time In The Projects is like a little cinematic vignette.
Once upon a time in the projects, yo
I damn near had to wreck a ho
I knocked on the door - “Who is it?”
It’s Ice Cube, come to pay a little visit to ya
And what’s up with the niggers in the parking lot
She said fuck em, cause they get sparked a lot
I sat on the couch but it wasn’t stable
and then I put my Nikes on the coffee table
Her brother walked in he’s into gangbangin
cause he walked up and said “what set you claimin”
I don’t bang, I write the good rhymes
The whole scenery reminded me of Good Times
I don’t like to feel bad or put in a rut
by a young nigga that needs to pull his pants up
Her mother came in with a joint in her mouth
and fired up the sess it was sess no doubt
She said “please excuse my house” and all that
I said yeah cause I was buzzed from the contact
Lookin at a fucked up black and white
her mom’s bitchin cause the county check wasn’t right
She had another brother that was three years old
and had a bad case of the runny nose
He asked me who I was then I had to pause
It smelled like he took a shit in his little drawers
I saw her sister that needs get her ass kicked
only thirteen and already pregnant
I grabbed the forty out the bag and took a swig
cause I was getting overwhelmed by BeBe Kids
They were runnin and playin and cursin and yellin
and tellin and look at this young punk bailin
I heard a knock on the door without the password
and her mom’s got the 12 gauge Mossberg
The nigga said “yo, what’s for sale”
and the bitch came out with a bag of ya-yo
She made the drop and got the 20 dollars
from a smoked out fool with ring around the collar
The girl I was waiting for came out
I said BITCH I DIDN’T KNOW THIS WAS A CRACK HOUSE
I got my coat and SUDDENLY …
(police breaking into house annoucing themselves)
The cop busted in and had a Mac-10 pointed to my dome
and I said to myself once again it’s on…
That’s precision. It’s the type of song I wish I could use in my classes because he doesn’t just tell you about the house, he shows it. Look at how tightly the camera is focused — the unstable couch. The gangbanging brother. The 3-year old (!) with soiled draws. The messed-up television. The smoked-out fool’s ring around the collar. Individually, they’re not necessarily that important, but taken together, that’s more than a sketch, that’s a near-textbook lesson on creating setting and to a slightly lesser extent, characterization. If I could get my kids to write like that, I would jump through the roof. Now topically, is this what I want my kids listening to? No. But my guess is that the stuff they listen to, while topically similar, ain’t as good quality-wise. Their favorite emcees are describing lavish wishes. It may be that part of the reason I can picture the place Cube is describing is that I’ve seen everything he talks about here. But I’m thinking that even if I hadn’t, I’d have a pretty good idea.
Part of the reason that I think hip-hop was better back in the day is because I’m getting old. I’ll concede that off the top. But until I hear somebody with the balance and dexterity that Cube displayed on AMW, I’ma keep believin it.
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