So I finally listened to Ice Cube's Death Certificate front to back!

[QU Hectic]

It's my fault. I was born in 1981 and was 10 when it came out and I was into rap.

I do know alot of Ice Cube from NWA, Wicked, Serial Killaz, Good day.

But never got around to sitting down and giving this a thorough listen.

I recently heard Dr. Dre's cut from Chronic Ho Hopper. That track - the vibe had me go out looking for that particular West coast sound. "1992 Dr.Dre" which defines west coast Dre to me.

So I finally checked Death Certificate.
I feel like a complete idiot.

I got my copy from a African selling bootlegs on 34th Street and Madison Ave. Don't judge me I was 11 at the time and didn't really have money like that and the day that I bought this, I bought a Super Soaker 100.
But I did get the re release with KIll At Will in 2003

 

[KingSol81]

@Crumple The fact you missed out on what is arguably the greatest hip hop album ever released scares me, it’s frightening to think of how many other classic albums you may have never even heard. What albums were you listening to 1990-1995? What albums from that era have you never heard?

 

[KnickstapeCity]

You want a cookie and a dap for listening to good music to huh fakkit?

lil bytch ass cac

 

[DaveyDave]

This takes me back brehs. I was the biggest Cube stan on the planet.

My big brother had bought AMW the previous year and we listened to that album back-to-back every single day for a whole summer.

Fast forward to '91, I'm 12 and don't know shyt about release dates or none of that. I'm at the Lakewood mall with Mom's and see the DC tape on the shelves in Sam's Goody

Asks Moms for ten bucks to buy a tape. Hid the tape in my pocket because of the parental advisory sticker.

Mom's like where the tape at? "Oh I didn't see anything I liked yet but I'mma keep looking, so let me hold that ten"

My favorite cuts were Alive on Arrival & Summer Vacation.

As a kid AMW was my favorite of the 2, but as I got older and begin to understand the lyrical content more, DC became my favorite. Still love both albums.

Content wise, DC is arguably the greatest Hip Hop album ever made.

Musically, Doggystyle might be the Goat.

I think Alive On Arrival is still my fav song on DC. Cube is neck and neck with Nas and Slick Rick for storytelling for me. No one else is competing with those 3. Can’t believe OP only just heard it last year, I didn’t cop when I dropped but I’ve been a Cube stan since I stole my cousins copy of Predator in about 92ish and had a fukked up dub of AMW back then too, The Bomb always played at double speed, don’t know what happened there.

 

[mindgawn]

Us is the realest

 

[Crumple]

@Crumple The fact you missed out on what is arguably the greatest hip hop album ever released scares me, it’s frightening to think of how many other classic albums you may have never even heard. What albums were you listening to 1990-1995? What albums from that era have you never heard?

I know and you're right. I just feel there's too many classic albums to check and too many new projects coming out. Then too little time as far as life balance to check out.

As A kid 1990 to 1995 and even re-visting I heard
All Wu-Tang
All Tribe Called Quest
All Tim Dog
All Mobb Deep
All Jeru The Damaja
All Krs One
All Redman
Most Jay Z
All Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg (No Dogg pound - fukk)

Then I got deep into independent rap from 1997 to 2004 - Mf Doom, Cage, Necro, Jedi, Big L, DITC, All Kool Keith, All Company Flow, All Eminem, Outsidaz, Young Zee etc)

Then after that Pusha T, Kanye etc

Then I revisted Slick Rick - great Adventures
All Ultramagnetic
Then singles from Schooly D, Doug E Fresh

Then Gucci Mane, rap from Texas etc

My next album I plan on reviewing is Ice Cube's Amerikka's most wanted.

I'm missing out on 2 Live Crew, Miami Hip Hop, more Atlanta, more Houston rap.

 

[Crumple]

I think Alive On Arrival is still my fav song on DC. Cube is neck and neck with Nas and Slick Rick for storytelling for me. No one else is competing with those 3. Can’t believe OP only just heard it last year, I didn’t cop when I dropped but I’ve been a Cube stan since I stole my cousins copy of Predator in about 92ish and had a fukked up dub of AMW back then too, The Bomb always played at double speed, don’t know what happened there.

It's my fault I didn't hear it front to back earlier.

On another note I care that people are bothered I or others didn't give this album a good listen much earlier. What I also think is scary is new music being flooded so much alot of people won't check the classics.

Someone made a post recently entitled "It's like Boyz 2 Men never existed" and that bothered me alot. I am not an rnb fan other than Boyz 2 Men Mary J Blige and then old soul. But to remember how big Boyz to Men were - he made a strong point. They have not been active to my knowledge recently at all - yet they are one of the greatest musical groups ever! And what I'm paranoid about is all these new kids with all their youtube and tiktok - not discovering them let alone the other countless classics due to the sheer volume of output! And not even crafted completed albums like Death Certificate or TM101 - people drop singles mostly.

There should be standard 20 album classic rap album must listen to list that most people agree on.

 

[KingSol81]

I know and you're right. I just feel there's too many classic albums to check and too many new projects coming out. Then too little time as far as life balance to check out.

As A kid 1990 to 1995 and even re-visting I heard
All Wu-Tang
All Tribe Called Quest
All Tim Dog
All Mobb Deep
All Jeru The Damaja
All Krs One
All Redman
Most Jay Z
All Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg (No Dogg pound - fukk)

Then I got deep into independent rap from 1997 to 2004 - Mf Doom, Cage, Necro, Jedi, Big L, DITC, All Kool Keith, All Company Flow, All Eminem, Outsidaz, Young Zee etc)

Then after that Pusha T, Kanye etc

Then I revisted Slick Rick - great Adventures
All Ultramagnetic
Then singles from Schooly D, Doug E Fresh

Then Gucci Mane, rap from Texas etc

My next album I plan on reviewing is Ice Cube's Amerikka's most wanted.

I'm missing out on 2 Live Crew, Miami Hip Hop, more Atlanta, more Houston rap.

Personally I view it as a crime against hip hop to have never heard Dogg Food, you should make that a priority, also Dre did the bulk of the mixing so from that standpoint you should check it out as well. I’m going to make a list of albums that I’m sure you’ve never heard that I think are required listening. Start with Dogg Food and the 2 Quik albums I mentioned in the Jeezy thread, if you need lossless links for anything let me know and I’ll shoot them your way.

 

[DaveyDave]

It's my fault I didn't hear it front to back earlier.

On another note I care that people are bothered I or others didn't give this album a good listen much earlier. What I also think is scary is new music being flooded so much alot of people won't check the classics.

Someone made a post recently entitled "It's like Boyz 2 Men never existed" and that bothered me alot. I am not an rnb fan other than Boyz 2 Men Mary J Blige and then old soul. But to remember how big Boyz to Men were - he made a strong point. They have not been active to my knowledge recently at all - yet they are one of the greatest musical groups ever! And what I'm paranoid about is all these new kids with all their youtube and tiktok - not discovering them let alone the other countless classics due to the sheer volume of output! And not even crafted completed albums like Death Certificate or TM101 - people drop singles mostly.

There should be standard 20 album classic rap album must listen to list that most people agree on.

you could never make a definitive list of albums you MUST listen to that everyone would agree on. But I’m at the point where I don’t give a shyt what the kids listen to. I listen to the stuff I like whether it be new or old stuff I missed or classics I’ve heard 10000000 times. These days it might actually be easier for youngn’s to catch old stuff because Tidal, Spotify etc all have curated playlists that are already made and easily accessible that have 80s, 90s etc Hip Hop, artist playlists, genre playlists and all that. They can jump on streaming platforms and get almost anything they ever need to listen to. As they get older, like most people they will search for themselves and catch up or they will just like what they like and not really care that much about music they’ll listen to whatever is on the radio. I know for sure there’s people my age who are stuck on Korn, Metallica, Limp Bizkit and all that early 2000s by metal shyt that was pippin at the time because they were metal heads but they don’t care about much else going on they’re just stuck in their ways anyway.

 

[Crumple]

Personally I view it as a crime against hip hop to have never heard Dogg Food, you should make that a priority, also Dre did the bulk of the mixing so from that standpoint you should check it out as well. I’m going to make a list of albums that I’m sure you’ve never heard that I think are required listening. Start with Dogg Food and the 2 Quik albums I mentioned in the Jeezy thread, if you need lossless links for anything let me know and I’ll shoot them your way.

When Dogg Food dropped in real time I never thought much of it. Like I thought it was an offshoot of what Snoop was doing. Even though Dogg Pound was on the Chronic. Over time I kept hearing so much about that album and how great it was. I also heard Daz supposedly ghost-produced alot of Dr. Dre's classics - which completely fukked my mind up. I hated hearing that because I didn't know what to believe. But if Daz did produce alot of Dre tracks - I want to check his work more. Actually I always wanted to as soon as I heard he ghost produced. I will check that one for certain! If Dre mixed it - even better that's what I love about Dre - the fact he's a mix engineer and one of the greatest!

I'd love to read a list of classics from you for certain, cause you know your stuff. No need to send lossless work - but I appreciate that a tonne @KingSol81 - when I need Actual mix reference discs I buy them - like I did Young Jeezy's - which was actually hard to find on CD now wtf?! Sealed ones I saw went for over $60. I bought a near mint.

Another incredibly mixed album is Yukmouth's Godzilla - mixed by Mike Dean - I bought that new on CD.

 

[Crumple]

you could never make a definitive list of albums you MUST listen to that everyone would agree on. But I’m at the point where I don’t give a shyt what the kids listen to. I listen to the stuff I like whether it be new or old stuff I missed or classics I’ve heard 10000000 times. These days it might actually be easier for youngn’s to catch old stuff because Tidal, Spotify etc all have curated playlists that are already made and easily accessible that have 80s, 90s etc Hip Hop, artist playlists, genre playlists and all that. They can jump on streaming platforms and get almost anything they ever need to listen to. As they get older, like most people they will search for themselves and catch up or they will just like what they like and not really care that much about music they’ll listen to whatever is on the radio. I know for sure there’s people my age who are stuck on Korn, Metallica, Limp Bizkit and all that early 2000s by metal shyt that was pippin at the time because they were metal heads but they don’t care about much else going on they’re just stuck in their ways anyway.

Word. Good point about the curated playlists. I find that easier for them.

When I went back and listened to the Ice Cube and Jeezy albums I sat down and listened. I wrote what popped off in real time. I could have even delved in way more - but didn't but I did give a thorough listen front to back taking in those albums. The Jeezy one was cool - it brought me back.

The Ice Cube one - Death Certificate completely fukked me up - because I'm well aware of that era. I was like 11 watching the LA riots on T.V as they were happening.

I'm actually very excited to revisit classic albums. Coli set me up with the top 5 Prince albums. I'm going in on Prince albums soon.

There are gaps in my music - I haven't even watched the Purple Rain film yet.

But know I care - I listened to complete Punk rock/metal albums as a kid, and later. Also old rock.

I actually got into Jazz deep recently - Bluenote and fukking - BREAKBEATS! The music is endless! lol It's so good though!

 

[DaveyDave]

When Dogg Food dropped in real time I never thought much of it. Like I thought it was an offshoot of what Snoop was doing. Even though Dogg Pound was on the Chronic. Over time I kept hearing so much about that album and how great it was. I also heard Daz supposedly ghost-produced alot of Dr. Dre's classics - which completely fukked my mind up. I hated hearing that because I didn't know what to believe. But if Daz did produce alot of Dre tracks - I want to check his work more. Actually I always wanted to as soon as I heard he ghost produced. I will check that one for certain! If Dre mixed it - even better that's what I love about Dre - the fact he's a mix engineer and one of the greatest!

I'd love to read a list of classics from you for certain, cause you know your stuff. No need to send lossless work - but I appreciate that a tonne @KingSol81 - when I need Actual mix reference discs I buy them - like I did Young Jeezy's - which was actually hard to find on CD now wtf?! Sealed ones I saw went for over $60. I bought a near mint.

Another incredibly mixed album is Yukmouth's Godzilla - mixed by Mike Dean - I bought that new on CD.

if you like Yukmouth, his best album IMO is the one before Godzilla. Thuggee Out Albulation. Double album, fire fukking beats and some dope features too. Tech N9ne on his Regime shyt, MC Ren on basically Just Don’t Bite it part 2.

 

[Crumple]

if you like Yukmouth, his best album IMO is the one before Godzilla. Thuggee Out Albulation. Double album, fire fukking beats and some dope features too. Tech N9ne on his Regime shyt, MC Ren on basically Just Don’t Bite it part 2.

Word. I heard tracks off that album and thought they were great. He's a G. I'm going to check that album for certain!

 

[Tj Bronson]

Personally I view it as a crime against hip hop to have never heard Dogg Food, you should make that a priority, also Dre did the bulk of the mixing so from that standpoint you should check it out as well. I’m going to make a list of albums that I’m sure you’ve never heard that I think are required listening. Start with Dogg Food and the 2 Quik albums I mentioned in the Jeezy thread, if you need lossless links for anything let me know and I’ll shoot them your way.

Yeah same. I still play that album all the way through all the time. More than 2 or 3 times a year.

 

[KingSol81]

When Dogg Food dropped in real time I never thought much of it. Like I thought it was an offshoot of what Snoop was doing. Even though Dogg Pound was on the Chronic. Over time I kept hearing so much about that album and how great it was. I also heard Daz supposedly ghost-produced alot of Dr. Dre's classics - which completely fukked my mind up. I hated hearing that because I didn't know what to believe. But if Daz did produce alot of Dre tracks - I want to check his work more. Actually I always wanted to as soon as I heard he ghost produced. I will check that one for certain! If Dre mixed it - even better that's what I love about Dre - the fact he's a mix engineer and one of the greatest!

I'd love to read a list of classics from you for certain, cause you know your stuff. No need to send lossless work - but I appreciate that a tonne @KingSol81 - when I need Actual mix reference discs I buy them - like I did Young Jeezy's - which was actually hard to find on CD now wtf?! Sealed ones I saw went for over $60. I bought a near mint.

Another incredibly mixed album is Yukmouth's Godzilla - mixed by Mike Dean - I bought that new on CD.

The Yukmouth Double album has better production I would check that out if you never heard it, where do you buy the hard copies from? Discogs? E-Bay? Give me a couple days to really put some thought into the list but one album that I’m sure you’ve never heard that’s in my personal top 10 is Curb Servin by WC & The MAAD Circle, you will appreciate the anti drug message as well as the story telling on “Kill A Habit” and “On The Set”, in terms of storytelling WC is up there with Cube, what he does conceptually on “Wet Dream and “On the Set” layering the concepts but keeping the storytelling fluid is phenomenal if you catch all the layers and everything going on throughout the songs. Those are probably my 3 favourite tracks off the album and songs you should listen to more than once to catch everything but I do suggest listening to the album once front to back in order as it’s structured purposefully. WC brother Crazy Toones (RIP) provides the bulk of the production and makes his voice heard through turntablism throughout the album so pay attention to the samples that he cuts in and when as they’re generally placed purposefully as well.