With December 2018’s Everythangs Corrupt, Ice Cube released his first solo album in eight years and further cemented his place as one of the most (and only) relevant Rap artists with a career stretching back to the mid-1980s. Always politically minded, the West Coast icon used the LP to comment on issues of today which, sadly, echo some of the same topics he’s rapped about on albums like 1990’s AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted. For starters, there was lead single “Arrest The President,” which he followed up with “Chase Down The Bully,” aimed in part at the racist “pride” in Charlottesville, Virginia. True to his G-Funk roots, Cube also showcased his love for Parliament-Funkadelic and George Clinton, on “The New Funkadelic.” He also kept Everythangs Corrupt short but funky with Too Short on “Ain’t Got No Haters.”
In the newly released music video accompanying the duo’s collaboration, Ice Cube and Too Short rekindle the chemistry they forged on “Ain’t Nothin’ But A Word To Me,” a Sir Jinx-produced record off the Oakland, California rapper’s 1990 album, Short Dog’s In The House. This time around, the collab is produced by another 30-plus-year California legend (and Cube’s Friday co-writer) DJ Pooh. Cube first teased the video for “Ain’t Got No Haters” two weeks ago, featuring a photo of the two dapper gentlemen in suits, standing on a pile of cash. It was an accurate snapshot of the clip, which was shot in black-and-white and directed by Alan Del Rio Ortiz.
Rather than rely on a heavy-handed concept, the music video packs a heavy punch with just the two Rap superstars and animation by Kevin Eskew. From bars of gold to chunky chains, fine crystal and expensive champagne, the two are surrounded by symbols of their longstanding success in Hip-Hop culture Between the two of them, Ice Cube and Too Short have 11 platinum (or higher) albums, 17 top-ten Rap singles, and 67 years on wax. But zero haters.
With December 2018’s Everythangs Corrupt, Ice Cube released his first solo album in eight years and further cemented his place as one of the most (and only) relevant Rap artists with a career stretching back to the mid-1980s. Always politically minded, the West Coast icon used the LP to comment on issues of today which, sadly, echo some of the same topics he’s rapped about on albums like 1990’s AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted. For starters, there was lead single “Arrest The President,” which he followed up with “Chase Down The Bully,” aimed in part at the racist “pride” in Charlottesville, Virginia. True to his G-Funk roots, Cube also showcased his love for Parliament-Funkadelic and George Clinton, on “The New Funkadelic.” He also kept Everythangs Corrupt short but funky with Too Short on “Ain’t Got No Haters.”
In the newly released music video accompanying the duo’s collaboration, Ice Cube and Too Short rekindle the chemistry they forged on “Ain’t Nothin’ But A Word To Me,” a Sir Jinx-produced record off the Oakland, California rapper’s 1990 album, Short Dog’s In The House. This time around, the collab is produced by another 30-plus-year California legend (and Cube’s Friday co-writer) DJ Pooh. Cube first teased the video for “Ain’t Got No Haters” two weeks ago, featuring a photo of the two dapper gentlemen in suits, standing on a pile of cash. It was an accurate snapshot of the clip, which was shot in black-and-white and directed by Alan Del Rio Ortiz.
Rather than rely on a heavy-handed concept, the music video packs a heavy punch with just the two Rap superstars and animation by Kevin Eskew. From bars of gold to chunky chains, fine crystal and expensive champagne, the two are surrounded by symbols of their longstanding success in Hip-Hop culture Between the two of them, Ice Cube and Too Short have 11 platinum (or higher) albums, 17 top-ten Rap singles, and 67 years on wax. But zero haters.
Lyrical wunderkind Aesop Rock was a standout sensation during the Underground Hip-Hop boom of the late 1990s and early 2000s. His poetic imagery and didactic bars were complex conundrums that many listeners enjoyed unraveling. The MC/producer worked with the likes of MF DOOM, El-P, and the Weathermen during a celebrated time in Rap music, especially in New York.
While Aesop made his name as an artist with the Mush label, and later, on El’s Definitive Jux squad, this decade he’s been rolling with the Rhymesayers family, co-founded by Atmosphere. As recently as 2016’s The Impossible Kid, Rock has made some of his best Hip-Hop in years. He keeps the art exciting through interesting visuals, rugged flows, and compelling takes on the state of the culture.
Outside from his respected solo catalog, Aesop has enjoyed the craft of collaboration. The Portland, Oregon transplant has side groups/projects with fellow Weathermen alum, Cage (2 of A Kind), Homeboy Sandman (Lice), Rob Sonic & DJ Big Wiz (Hail Mary Mallon), Kimya Dawson (The Uncluded), and his latest endeavor, Malibu Ken, with producer Tobacco. The latter duo just released the video for their second single, the slightly uncomfortable and purposefully awkward “Corn Maze.”
As he is prone to do, Aesop raps about his nervous and awkward tendencies. He transforms his own experiences into a poetry so esoteric, it demands dozens of listens to decipher. The beat is similarly challenging but the fuzzy drums and synth plinks are exactly the kind of sound-bed Rock excels on.
The quirky visuals of “Corn Maze” are a handled by Rob Shaw, Aesop’s longtime videographer. The animation is clearly a tribute to Saturday morning cartoons from the early 1980s, but will likely remind many of Adventure Time as well. The plot is simple: three adventurers must unite to stop gargantuan, cyborg rat.
Aesop’s wordplay is as sharp as ever. In the second verse he raps, “In a lavish rabbit hole with no rabbits/ Young dumb dust bunnies jump into traffic / Casually gussied up and done feeling unsung and savage / Punk we have come for your cabbage / I’m bad news travel like a rat through your cabinet / Spaz Twenty paw pads full of scabs / Often a false ad full plaid all dander / Blast off black jackdaws on his antlers / Zero faithers / Wearily fear his neighbors / Some day we’ll find a way to make these billionaires obey us / Some day we’ll earn a subdivision gaudier than reprobates / Who sit around impressed and guess the order of the Tetris rain / With Biblical as reckoning / Son of surly Satan torn asunder / Private number, public urination / We socialize with pundits who encompass all the wrong stuff / I count the bread quick, I got some walls up.” The full-length album is due next month on RSE.
Lyrical wunderkind Aesop Rock was a standout sensation during the Underground Hip-Hop boom of the late 1990s and early 2000s. His poetic imagery and didactic bars were complex conundrums that many listeners enjoyed unraveling. The MC/producer worked with the likes of MF DOOM, El-P, and the Weathermen during a celebrated time in Rap music, especially in New York.
While Aesop made his name as an artist with the Mush label, and later, on El’s Definitive Jux squad, this decade he’s been rolling with the Rhymesayers family, co-founded by Atmosphere. As recently as 2016’s The Impossible Kid, Rock has made some of his best Hip-Hop in years. He keeps the art exciting through interesting visuals, rugged flows, and compelling takes on the state of the culture.
Outside from his respected solo catalog, Aesop has enjoyed the craft of collaboration. The Portland, Oregon transplant has side groups/projects with fellow Weathermen alum, Cage (2 of A Kind), Homeboy Sandman (Lice), Rob Sonic & DJ Big Wiz (Hail Mary Mallon), Kimya Dawson (The Uncluded), and his latest endeavor, Malibu Ken, with producer Tobacco. The latter duo just released the video for their second single, the slightly uncomfortable and purposefully awkward “Corn Maze.”
As he is prone to do, Aesop raps about his nervous and awkward tendencies. He transforms his own experiences into a poetry so esoteric, it demands dozens of listens to decipher. The beat is similarly challenging but the fuzzy drums and synth plinks are exactly the kind of sound-bed Rock excels on.
The quirky visuals of “Corn Maze” are a handled by Rob Shaw, Aesop’s longtime videographer. The animation is clearly a tribute to Saturday morning cartoons from the early 1980s, but will likely remind many of Adventure Time as well. The plot is simple: three adventurers must unite to stop gargantuan, cyborg rat.
Aesop’s wordplay is as sharp as ever. In the second verse he raps, “In a lavish rabbit hole with no rabbits/ Young dumb dust bunnies jump into traffic / Casually gussied up and done feeling unsung and savage / Punk we have come for your cabbage / I’m bad news travel like a rat through your cabinet / Spaz Twenty paw pads full of scabs / Often a false ad full plaid all dander / Blast off black jackdaws on his antlers / Zero faithers / Wearily fear his neighbors / Some day we’ll find a way to make these billionaires obey us / Some day we’ll earn a subdivision gaudier than reprobates / Who sit around impressed and guess the order of the Tetris rain / With Biblical as reckoning / Son of surly Satan torn asunder / Private number, public urination / We socialize with pundits who encompass all the wrong stuff / I count the bread quick, I got some walls up.” The full-length album is due next month on RSE.
Earlier this month, Ice Cube released his first solo album in eight years with Everythangs Corrupt. As the title may suggest, the 30-plus-year Rap legend tackles numerous social and political issues on the project. The LP’s first single “Arrest The President” takes aim at the White House and called for handcuffing the President for illegal activities while “Chase Down The Bully,” another song on the album, attacks white supremacy as well as tribalism, including some fiery references to Unite The Right protestors in Charlottesville last year. The latest look from Everythangs Corrupt finds Cube returning to his G-Funk era while adding in a colorful splash of psychedelia. “That New Funkadelic” is a party that would make Uncle George Clinton proud.
Directed by James Larese, the video is a perfect nod to one of George Clinton’s two iconic groups, which Cube has worked with in the past (alongside Kendrick Lamar). It’s also super trippy with bright colors and numerous West Coast-related figures running through the screen. He also twists up his fingers one time for the land that he loves and has represented throughout his iconic run.
In addition to music, Cube confirmed earlier this year that he’s finishing up the script to Last Friday, the final film in the Friday movie series (which he co-founded with Pooh).
Earlier this month, Ice Cube released his first solo album in eight years with Everythangs Corrupt. As the title may suggest, the 30-plus-year Rap legend tackles numerous social and political issues on the project. The LP’s first single “Arrest The President” takes aim at the White House and called for handcuffing the President for illegal activities while “Chase Down The Bully,” another song on the album, attacks white supremacy as well as tribalism, including some fiery references to Unite The Right protestors in Charlottesville last year. The latest look from Everythangs Corrupt finds Cube returning to his G-Funk era while adding in a colorful splash of psychedelia. “That New Funkadelic” is a party that would make Uncle George Clinton proud.
Directed by James Larese, the video is a perfect nod to one of George Clinton’s two iconic groups, which Cube has worked with in the past (alongside Kendrick Lamar). It’s also super trippy with bright colors and numerous West Coast-related figures running through the screen. He also twists up his fingers one time for the land that he loves and has represented throughout his iconic run.
In addition to music, Cube confirmed earlier this year that he’s finishing up the script to Last Friday, the final film in the Friday movie series (which he co-founded with Pooh).
LA legend Ice Cube passes through Sway In The Morning and talks his first new solo studio album in eight years, the excellent 16–track Everythang’s Corrupt released on Lench Mob and Interscope Records last week. The 56-minute long release features notable collaborations with fellow West Coast legend Too $hort, producer DJ Pooh, Magnedo7, Fredwreck, Shameia Crawford plus more. The album’s controversial second single “Arrest The President” produced by ShawnSki was released early last month, before the most recent single “That New Funkadelic” produced by T-Mixx dropped earlier this month.
Previously to this project in 2017, Cube released a 25th Anniversary edition of his 1991 classic Death Certificate album which featured three new songs including “Only One Me,” “Dominate The Weak” and the also included “Good Cop, Bad Cop” that also featured in the first official trailer to the movie The Happytime Murders. While in the SiriusXM Shade 45 studio with Sway and Heather B, Ice Cube talks all things music business, politics, Hollywood and the recent Kevin Hart situation.
Ice Cube has kept extremely busy away from the microphone since 2010, acting and producing in numerous movies and TV shows including Are We There Yet?, 21 Jump Street, Ride Along, the N.W.A biopic Straight Outta Compton and more. Early last year Ice Cube announced the beginnings of the BIG3 3-on-3 basketball league with longtime collaborator and entertainment executive Jeff Kwatinetz that has proved to be highly successful already after only two seasons now broadcast on Fox.
Ice Cube last week dropped two live spoken word performance interpretations from his album on his Vevo YouTube Channel, “Fire Water” and “Chase Down The Bully,” showcasing his lyrical and rapping ability is still razor-sharp 25 years into the game since breaking through with his former C.I.A. group before the N.W.A legacy.
A couple years ago, Cube explained the delay in getting out his Everythangs Corrupt LP.
“I had to put it down for a minute to finish these movies and make sure they were right. To make sure Ride Along 2 was right, Barbershop and Straight Outta Compton – and this is going to be the end of it. I did a movie called Fist Fight. I just didn’t want to spread myself too thin. Finish these movies and finish this promotion and then finish the record and put it out.” (AHH)
Ice Cube built his Rap career on saying what he feels and not caring about the consequences. For Hip-Hop fans, that’s what millions upon millions of people love him, even before Hollywood gravitated towards his on-screen gifts. The founding member of N.W.A. and Westside Connection has not changed his ways. Even with a blockbuster career in front of as well as behind the cameras in the movie business, along with a professional basketball league, Cube is willing to speak his mind, and disregard who it offends. The writer of “F*ck Tha Police” and “The Ni**a Ya Love To Hate” does not mince words with “Arrest The President.” The single from Cube’s upcoming Everythang’s Corrupt aligns with such an album title. Ice looks to the Oval Office and sees a host of crimes and infractions. Ice wants Donald Trump to go, and for a man who was profiled by police on the streets of Los Angeles in his youth (as well as recently, in music videos), he believes the authorities have reason to take the Commander-in-Chief out in cuffs. He points to the alleged tampering in the 2016 Presidential Election and collusion with Russia as reason enough by the President’s staff. Trump and his administration have, of course, denied those accusations.
Cut Chemist Mixes 45 Songs Sampling A Beat That’s Relevant 45 Years Later (Audio) “Get smart ‘fore the sh*t start / ‘Fore it get dark, ‘fore they hit you with the pitchfork / Better Crip-walk, this is real talk / Smoke kush and bush, then we peel off / Ni**as still rollin’ with the wheels off / Always lookin’ out for the crisscross / I’m a bigger boss than Rick Ross / Always winnin’, ni**a, get lost / It’s the warlord, bring the voodoo / When I bail through, it’s crazy like Bellevue / What they tell you? Leave that boy alone Like Home Alone / F*ck a skull and bone / Arrest the President, you got the evidence / That ni**a is Russian intelligence / When it rains it pours / Did you know the new white was orange? / Boy, you’re showing your horns / They’re tryin’ to replace my halo with thorns / You so basic with your vape stick Let’s go apesh*t in the matrix,” he spits. At this close of the second verse, Cube vents his frustrations at some Americans. “For the record, you affected / Who you elected is so septic / So full of sh*t, I can’t accept it.” He comes back to his idea in the third verse, while venting other frustrations. Incensed with Trump, the MC raps, “Let’s meet at the White House / Run in and turn the lights out.” Snoop Dogg Fires Shots At The Clown President & America’s Political Circus (Video) Given Cube’s massive profile, time will tell if Trump responds to Ice like he did to Snoop Dogg’s 2017 disses. #BonusBeat: With a similar chorus, Cube is not the first MC to have this message. Flashback to The Intelligent Hoodlum (nka Tragedy Khadafi) with his Marley Marl-produced indictment of George H. Bush:
There aren’t many figures in Hip-Hop history with the stature of Ice Cube. The storied West Coast legend will return to the game with the release of his Everythangs Corrupt album on December 7.
Cube broke the news on Instagram sharing the cover art of the album – a bloody hand holding on to hundred dollar bills. He refers to the album release date as “A day that will live in Infamy…”
Monday marked the anniversary of Death Certificate, which dropped over 25 years ago. Earlier this month, Cube celebrated the fifteenth anniversary of “Check Yo Self” becoming RIAA certified platinum.
The return to Rap for Cube brings him back from the Sports world where he celebrated a second successful Big 3 season.
West Coast rapper Ice Cube is taking a break from the Hollywood scene and dropping a new album in the coming months. The hip-hop veteran has announced his new Everythang’s Corrupt project arrives this fall.
A couple years ago, Cube explained the delay in getting out his Everythang’s Corrupt LP.
“I had to put it down for a minute to finish these movies and make sure they were right. To make sure Ride Along 2 was right, Barbershop and Straight Outta Compton – and this is going to be the end of it. I did a movie called Fist Fight. I just didn’t want to spread myself too thin. Finish these movies and finish this promotion and then finish the record and put it out.” (AHH)
