The Predator (album)
| The Predator | |||||||
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| Studio album by Ice Cube | |||||||
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Publication |
17th November 1992 |
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| Label (s) | Priority Records / EMI | ||||||
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Format (s) |
CD |
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Title (number) |
16 |
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running time |
56:27 |
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Ice Cube, DJ Pooh , Sir Jinx , Torcha Chamba , DJ Muggs |
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The Predator is the third solo album by the American rapper Ice Cube . It was released on November 17, 1992 on Priority Records ( EMI ). It was the only number one album for Ice Cube on the Billboard 200 , and contains its most famous single, It Was a Good Day .
History of origin
The album and its songs were created against the background of the riots in Los Angeles in 1992 and are very combative. All over the country, according to Ice Cube, white police officers hunt black people “systematically and brutally” with the aim of “killing them”, of which there are of course no video recordings. "These police acts gave me a lot of material for this album." It criticizes both the way we treat black people in America and the social system in the United States . The title is based on the film Predator 2 , some samples of the film can be found on the album.
The album was produced by Ice Cube. Other producers are DJ Pooh , Sir Jinx , Torcha Chamba and DJ Muggs ( Cypress Hill ).
Track list
| # | title | Guest musician | Producers | length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The First Day of School (Intro) | Ice Cube | 1:20 | |
| 2 | When will they shoot? | DJ Pooh, Bob Cat, Ice Cube | 4:36 | |
| 3 | I'm Scared (Interlude) | 1:32 | ||
| 4th | Wicked | Don Jagwarr | Torcha Chamba, Ice Cube | 3:55 |
| 5 | Now I Gotta Wet 'Cha | DJ Muggs | 4:03 | |
| 6th | The Predator | DJ Pooh | 4:03 | |
| 7th | It was a good day | DJ Pooh | 4:19 | |
| 8th | We Had to Tear This Mothafucka Up | DJ Muggs | 4:32 | |
| 9 | Fuck 'em (Interlude) | Sir Jinx | 2:02 | |
| 10 | Dirty Mack | Mr. Woody | 4:34 | |
| 11 | Don't trust 'em | Rashad, Ice Cube, DJ Pooh | 4:06 | |
| 12 | Gangsta's Fairytale 2 | Lil Russ | Pocketts, Ice Cube | 3:19 |
| 13 | Check Yo Self | The EFX | DJ Muggs, Ice Cube | 3:42 |
| 14th | Who Got the Camera? | Sir Jinx | 4:37 | |
| 15th | Integration (interlude) | Ice Cube | 2:31 | |
| 16 | Say hi to the bad guy | Sir Jinx | 3:19 |
Music style and lyrics
Musically, the album is about classic West Coast hip hop with elements of P-funk and soul . The Check Yo Self with gastrapper Das EFX , which is accompanied by reggae sounds, provides variety . Furthermore, interspersed melodic passages carried by “powerful horns” or deep basses loosen up the “eloquent rap canonades”. Elsewhere this is done by " funk- oriented grooves with samples from Parliament , Ohio Players and the Isley Brothers ". Ice Cube minimized the humor and wrote a mostly angry, accusatory album. The lyrics are deliberately combative and angry. They attack so-called "white America" and contain explicit descriptions of violence. In response to the riots in LA, it is the police in particular who serve as a point of attack for the rapper. In particular, Say Hi to the Bad Guy describes a scenario that leads from police harassment to police murder. In addition to the political echoes, the lyrics also deal with the self-chosen gangsta image of Ice Cube. In the title track, Ice Cube attacks the industry magazine Billboard , which had denounced two of the songs on Death Certificate as xenophobic and anti-Semitic in an editorial .
Ice Cube himself stated that he was interested in naming grievances, but that he no longer wrote as tough and direct as on the previous albums, so that you could see how relaxed he could be, after all, he was not " 24 hours a day stinky, angry or angry ”, but just thoughtful. Breakbeat magazine also noted a “change in his person, music and texts” . He no longer "let go of his point of view and the resulting anger", "converted his anger into positive vibes", no longer offends others with dedicated criticism and thus becomes the "black Bob Dylan ". The Musikexpress also wrote of a transformed person who relied more on "descriptions of the state" than on "slogans of hate".
reception
Danyel Smith said in Rolling Stone 1993 that behind Ice Cube's machismo, its image and its relentlessly brutal-cynical portrayal of everyday gang life in South Central Los Angeles you could hardly see the real Ice Cube. The album received just two and a half stars out of five. It was rated one star higher in The New Rolling Stone Album Guide , but indicated that Ice Cube's star was falling.
Martin Scholz called the album in the Frankfurter Rundschau in his concert preview in view of the processing of current events "Reality Rap", which, in contrast to other, more comfortable, rap productions, grit your teeth. The Musikexpress said that the combination of the tried and tested and the trendy resulted in a successful album, which was rewarded with five out of six possible stars.
Jason Birchmeier of Allmusic described the album as Ice Cube's last important album in the 1990s and as by no means catchy, but as a serious album that contained some of his greatest hits.
success
The album reached number 1 on the Billboard 200 , making it the rapper's only number one album to date. All three single releases reached the Billboard Hot 100 placements . It Was a Good Day , which reached number 15 and is now considered a classic of the genre, became the biggest hit . Priority Records President Bryan Turner identified a combination of measures and events for success: The basis was formed by the recently strong core of the Cube supporters. The pre-release Wicked fueled curiosity about the album, the accompanying video was made with the prominent participation of Red Hot Chili Peppers members and participation in the Lollapalooza tour opened up new fan circles. The rapid succession of video and film publications with the artist as the actor did the rest. It did not matter that the offensive ( i.e. albums with parental advisory warning stickers) had to remain empty in the non-branch trade.
“The current success is a recognition of the quality and continuity of my work so far. And it shows that I was always on the right track. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Ice Cube . Powerful rap attacks. In: Print . No. 1/1993 , 1993, p. 6 .
- ^ A b c Günter Jakob: Ice Cube . The Predator. In: Musikexpress . No. 445 , February 1993, Dance, pp. 70 .
- ^ Greg Sandow: The Predator. Entertainment Weekly , November 20, 1992, accessed December 5, 2014 .
- ↑ Jimmie Briggs: POP RECORDINGS: The Rage and the Rhythm of West Coast Rappers . In: Washington Post . November 29, 1992, p. 10 ( HTML version ).
- ↑ a b c Allmusic : The Predator - Ice Cube | Songs, Reviews, Credits (English)
- ↑ a b Craig Rosen: Ice Cube's 'Predator' Debuts At No. 1 . Topples Brooks From Billboard 200 Perch. In: Billboard . December 5, 1992, Artists & Music, p. 12 and 96 .
- ↑ a b Uwe Buschmann: Say hello to the Predator . In: BAD . March 1993, p. 10 ff .
- ↑ Kutlu Yurtseven: Ice Cube . In: Breakbeat Magazine . No. April 16 , 2000, pp. 48 ff . (Source inaccurate1).
- ^ Danyel Smith: The Predator. Rolling Stone January 7, 1993, archived from the original June 19, 2008 ; Retrieved December 5, 2014 .
- ^ Nathan Brackett, Christian David Hoard (eds.): The New Rolling Stone Album Guide . Simon and Schuster, 2004, ISBN 978-0-7432-0169-8 , pp. 400 .
- ^ Martin Scholz: Ice Cube . In: Frankfurter Rundschau . April 3, 1993, Rock-Rundschau.
- ↑ Ice Cube on the Billboard Charts. Billboard.com , accessed December 5, 2014 .