hip-hop connection on how ice cube and hip-hop sold it's soul

gumdrops

Well-known member
autobiography of ice cube
by andrew emery

when did hip hop stop being frightening and become just another commodity that only plays at being nasty? hhc points the finger...

It might be slightly harsh or unfair to pick out one man as indicative of raps fortunes, especially when youre arguing that those fortunes are largely on the wane. Even more so when youre saying that this mans’ career is entirely indicative of the development of hip hop, its shit from snarling threat to harmless money maker. But the key word is ‘slightly’. Ice cube can take it. Bear in mind that hes a multi millionaiure and doesn’t read HHC, so he’ll live.

The ‘autobiography of ice cube’, to borrow nas’s recent idea, isn’t just the facts, but opinion as well, and while its shot through with personal disappointment, it also reflects what many people feel. When did ice cube, and hip hop, stop being frightening? When did hip hop, and ice cube, become another commodity that only plays at being nasty?

Ice cube was just another rapper before nwa, the group that provided the cement for several disparate careers. After nwa however, ice cube was spoken of in the same breath as chuck d, albeit a slightly less polished, less political version. The unfocussed rage of straight outta Compton had switched to laser guided polemics by the time ice cube made amerikkkas most wanted, wisely side stepping nwa when they were becoming more obsessed with getting their dicks sucked than fucking the police. Ice cube was not only more articulate than easy, ren et al, but also angrier. Yet his scattershot approach to his bugbears was largely in keeping with most political rap at the time, which concerned itself more with slogans and display than organised lobbying or rallying.

Amerikkkas most wanted and its more professional follow ups death certificate and the predator add up to something special. You might, quite rightly, take offence at many of the things o’shea Jackson says. Some of the racism is sickening, the sexism ignorant, the score settling with old nwa chums irrelevant, and there is more contradiction than in a thousand and one krs one interviews. But when the dust has settled, and it really has by now, these are vital documents of black anger at America that deserve to be spoken of in the same breath as pe’s finest works.

Cube succeeded in articulating a more proletarian, less intellectual but no less valid view than that of chuck d, that of the frustrated ghetto dweller, railing at the chips that are stacked against him. This was at a time when hip hop, although selling very healthily, still had it in itself to stand in opposition. It attacked white supremacy, black on black violence, police corruption, job discrimination, anti-rap discrimination and much more. And while it wasn’t always done with precision, there was so much to rebel against, it had its hands full.

His near namesake ice t could easily have stood in for ice cube in this argument, as he was another rapper who could switch argument, as he was another rapper who could switch between scatology and raw protest music at the drop of a starter cap. But ice t was always slightly cartoonish, cube more real, the pseudo snarl a brilliant signifier for white america’s young black enemy. Meanwhile, his performance in john singletons boyz in the hood was an extension of his work, shedding light on an la that had only been glimpsed before in colours.

Perhaps that’s enough for one man to have done. That’s a pretty full cv for anyone. But no. its not good enough. What hip hop has become – exemplified by ice cubes decline (or more accurately, plummet), isn’t nearly good enough. When did this stirring music let everyone off the hook and just become something else to fill airtime, sell soft drinks and hawk sneakers? When did hip hop stop being angry about black on black crime and become almost entirely concerned with celebrating it? When did it become so fat and complacent? Over to you, mr ice cube.

We know its not just your fault. But you did it as well. You went from boyz n the hood to anaconda, swapping dignity for clownishness along the way. Your performance in the barbershop movies might be passable, but in the Friday series yourea buffoon and ther recent are we there yet is a breakneck descent into redundancy that has even surprised people who never liked you in the first place. You, like hip hop, have gone from being a focal point of anger and revolution to a cuddly Hollywood homeboy, a co-opted source of cash.

Yes, hip hop still has its rough edges, its interesting voices. And they don’t have to be political to be interesting, that’s not really the point. They just have to provide something that b boys and b girls cant get elsewhere within the culture – that’s what hip hop was always for. It was supposed to stand outside of everything that came before. And now, its within, its part of the machine. Hip hop isn’t frightening because rappers shoot each other and spend their time talking about doing so, or selling crack. That’s just idiotic. White boys wouldn’t buy 50 cent albums in their millions if they were scared of him. And they sure cant learn anything from him, so whats he for? Hes for money. Hes for fans to perhaps get a vicarious thrill about shooting without actually having to be shot. The same goes for thousands of other rappers who boast about their proximity to guns. Cube and nwa might have been talking straight out their arses, but at least they were talking about using guns for something other than capping each other. They were angry at something, rather than angry at nothing.

It doesn’t pay to be too angry in modern hip hop. It will scare people off. And ice cube, who hasn’t made a record that stands up to any kind of scrutiny since 1992, still trades off his hip hop persona despite all the anger long being sucked out of him. Theres an argument that hip hop us a young mans game, and that old b boys moaning about the state of the music should shut up, move on and leave the game to the new kids. No. its not the music that’s the problem. Much of it is wonderful. Its what the music stands for. And the people who supported that righteous, exciting music that hip hop once was deserve their say and deserve better. Sadly, that outlook isn’t promising. Hip hop has gone and done an ice cube. Its sold it soul.
 
Last edited:

petergunn

plywood violin
gumdrops said:
autobiography of ice cube
by andrew emery

when did hip hop stop being frightening and become just another commodity that only plays at being nasty?


umm, the sugarhill gang...
 
Top