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[ Cube Home ] [ Gallery ] [ Biography 1 2 3 ] [ Interview ] [ Lyrics ] [ Album Review ] [ Cubes Worst Job ]
RETURN OF THE PREDATOR
After four years of producing,
acting and directing, ICE CUBE returns to hip-hop with War and Peace
Ice Cube has always seemed to have an uncanny sense of timing. His records in the late 1980's with the group N.W.A. helped spearhead the entire gangsta rap movement and foreshadowed the issue-oriented content that became a key ingredient, not only in his songs, but in albums by rap artists like Public Enemy and Ice-T.
And when Cube stepped away from his recording career four years ago, he may have once again anticipated a trend that took fans away from the type of angry, politically charged and often graphically worded solo albums he made after he left N.W.A.--Amerikkka's Most Wanted, Death Certificate, Lethal Injection and The Predator.
"You know, rap moves, in a way," Ice Cube says when asked if rap music has lost some of its effectiveness as a social commentator on life for black America. "We haven't been around that long, but I've seen a pattern and I've seen what happens. When rap first came out, basically they were doing the style of rap that they're doing now, which is just bragging and boasting. You know, as rap grew it became a political influence. You could be able to say what you wanted to say and talk about social things that were going on. But as people got wore down by that and as people got tired of really being in school when they picked up a record, it went back to where we are now.
"But people get tired of partying too, and then it's going to take another phase," Ice Cube predicts. "And there's going to be another phase of political rap in the future. You can see it coming on led by the women, who are not really doing rap, but are doing songs, like Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill and those kind of people. They're kind of putting a social message back in the music, and the rappers are definitely going to reflect that in the future."
So wouldn't you know, just as a more message-oriented style of music is beginning to show signs of a comeback, Ice Cube is returning to the music scene with his unvarnished raps about life on the inner city streets. In November, he will release a new album called War, which is actually the first half of a two-CD project. The second album, Peace, will be released in late spring or summer of next year.
Both records promise to contain plenty of socially aware material. That's nothing new for Cube, who despite having drawn plenty of attention and criticism for his use of foul language, for the violent imagery in his songs and for what some have seen as his demeaning depiction of women in his music, has always had a message in his records.
Cube (real name O'Shea Jackson) didn't go into great detail about either of his new albums, but did promise they would reflect the gritty realities of urban life and would offer fans some fresh sonic treats.
"It's dark. I wouldn't use the word gothic, because that tends to throw people off," Ice Cube says. "But we've got a lot of experimental songs that we're doing...I don't know if what I'm doing is still considered gangsta rap, but I feel it.
"I would say it's just a whole different vibe," he elaborates. "I define War as being a dark record. The tone of the record, the feel of the record is dark. Peace is more of a look at how it could be, how it should be, instead of exactly how it is. I've got a song on there called 'The Game of Life,' how you play life, how you live it, how you win. There's a song on there like that. I've got a song on there called 'The Record Company Pimp.' It's just talking about how record companies pimp artists. There might be one or two solutions on that record to some of these problems...But it's not a soft record. It's still, to me, hardcore hip-hop."
What's more, Ice Cube hopes the War album puts him on the cutting edge of yet another trend in music--a movement toward blending the sounds of rap and hard rock. On the new album he and hardcore rockers Korn join forces on a bluntly titled song called "**** Dying."
Ice Cube returned the favor on Korn's newly released record, Follow the Leader, lending his raps to the song "Children of the Korn." In addition, this fall, Korn and Cube will take their collaboration a step further, headlining the Family Values arena tour, which Ice Cube sees as a further effort to bridge the gap between white and black music, while also exposing his music to fans who might not come to see him on an all-rap bill.
"I'm always trying to pioneer [something]. I always want to be the first one to do something," Ice Cube explains, turning his thoughts to the collaborations with Korn. "And the thing is with this--I'm not trying to lose my black audience. I want to put something together that's so good that everybody likes it. I'm so hardcore that hardcore rap fans are going to love it and hardcore rock fans are going to love it. If we can't make that perfect blend, we're not doing it right. Because if we do something that only the white audience likes, it's not right. If we do something only the black audience likes, it's not right. We've got to find that perfect blend. That's what's going to make it special."
This isn't the first time rockers and rappers have joined forces. Cube himself was on the Lollapalooza tour in 1992 with headliners the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Anthrax and Public Enemy once collaborated on a remake of the song "Bring the Noise." Rage Against the Machine and Wu Tang Clan briefly toured together last year, although Wu Tang dropped off the double bill early in the tour.
The 29-year-old rapper, the father of a daughter and two sons, thinks music fans have been ready for a combination like Korn and Ice Cube for some time.
"I think it's like a merging of fans," he says. "My extreme fans probably have a Korn album too. So it's kind of a blend that the fans have been blending more than the artists. The artists are just now starting to pick up on [this]. You're going to see some new music come out of this in the future just by us merging with these kinds of groups."
Ice Cube is also hopeful that his studio and concert collaborations with Korn will lead to further projects with the band. He even mentioned the idea of doing one or more full albums with Korn.
But for now, Cube is concentrating on his return to music with the War and Peace albums. That said, the years between his new releases and 1994's Lethal Injection, have been anything but quiet for Cube.
He returned to acting, a pursuit which had gotten off to a fast start with his acclaimed role in the 1986 film Boyz N The Hood. Over the past few years, he appeared in Trespass, Higher Learning and Anaconda. He also executive produced and starred in Dangerous Ground, then took his interest in film to a new level, writing, co-producing and starring in The Player's Club. Cube also did some production work. And two years ago, he joined forces with two other Los Angeles-based rappers, Mack 10 and WC under the group name Westside Connection and made the double-platinum album, Bow Down.
But while he enjoyed such projects, Ice Cube says he realized these pursuits were shortchanging his own music.
"I've got to say War and Peace is my best record in years just because I set everything aside, movies and producing and all that, to focus on me, my record and what I wanted to do, how I wanted to sound," says Cube, who during the interview frequently referred to the separate albums as a single entity--perhaps because he initially planned them as a double CD before deciding he had too much material for a single package. "For a couple of years I kind of lost focus by trying to do so many other things, and this record is focused.
"That's the foundation of everything I'm doing," he adds. "And if I let my music slip to the point where my core fan base don't like the records no more, then it could uproot everything else that I'm doing."
In fact, during the years between albums, Ice Cube's outside activities spurred rumors that he was ready to quit music altogether. Not only does Cube say he never intended to leave music, he's already looking toward beginning work on a CD that will follow Peace.
"Everybody screamed I'm about to retire. I'm not," Ice Cube says. "I still think I can rap as good as anybody. I figure why should I quit? Why should I stop? This record, War and Peace, has the potential to be my biggest record ever."