#The predator ice cube free
DJ Pooh builds the slick instrumental around a sample of the Isley Brothers’ “Footsteps In The Dark”, as Cube reflects on a wonderful day in the hood, filled with mom’s cooking a pork free breakfast, exploiting brothers with Jordan like skills on the basketball court, taking the homies money in craps, bangin’ out a chick he’s been trying to get with since high school, and caps it all of with the Goodyear Blimp declaring him a pimp for all of South Central L.A. It Was A Good Day – This was the second and easily the biggest hit of the three singles released from The Predator. The Predator – For the title track DJ Pooh builds this backdrop around a loop from Johnny “Guitar” Watson’s “Superman Lover”. The instrumental is decent but Cube’s rhymes aren’t focused, and at times he sounds pretty sloppy (especially when he gives a shout out to his new homies, Das EFX and attempts to spit in their style). Cube uses it to declare open season on genocide contributing gangbangers and the 12 jurors that found the four cops that beat Rodney King, not guilty. Now I Gotta Wet’cha – DJ Muggs gets his first production credit of the evening, as he slides Cube one of his vintage dusty drunken backdrops. Woody produced backdrop isn’t all that great but Cube’s lyrics make it worth checking for. Despite Cube’s questionable new flow, Torcha Chamba’s backdrop is a banger! Side note: the “Wicked” single’s b side is a song called “U Ain’t Gonna Take My Life”, in which Cube articulately (for the most part) confronts police brutality with maturity beyond his then 23 years. Common would later use the video for this song (which features a few members from the Red Hot Chili Peppers) as ammunition on his Cube dis record “The Bitch In Yoo”, where he says “your lease is up at the crib house niggas get evicted, in videos with white boys talking you get wicked”. Torcha Chamba hooks up a high energy backdrop (with some ridiculous drums on it) as our host proclaims how wicked his style is. This is the first song that shows Cube’s gimmicky evolving rhyme style that sounds heavily influenced by Everlast from House Of Pain. Wicked – This was the lead single from The Predator. I’m Scared (Insert) – For some reason Cube labels this as an insert, but it’s really just an interlude with some pretty interesting dialogue created by different sound bites linked together. I haven’t heard this song in years and it actually sounds better today than it did in the past. (“cause I bust styles, new styles, standing strong, while others run 100 miles…”).
![the predator ice cube the predator ice cube](https://images.genius.com/90eb800a406018bdc1a360ae9db5d64d.300x300x1.jpg)
He also manages to slide in a low-key jab at his former running mates N.W.A. When Will They Shoot? – DJ Pooh, Bobcat and Cube hook up a sick instrumental to start things off (I love the clap from Queen’s “We Will Rock You” added in to this one) and Cube picks up where he left off at on Death Certificate, as he comes out brash, fresh and focused, addressing several of the inconsistencies and issues that effect African-Americans in Amerikkka. The First Day Of School (Intro) – The Predator opens with a sound bite from an unsung hood classic American Me. But here on TimeIsIllmatic we’re more concerned with the critical side of things.
![the predator ice cube the predator ice cube](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DeRiDaMXUAERogv.jpg)
The Predator would be an even bigger commercial success than Cube’s prior solo albums, as it would become his first double platinum selling record. riots, and both subjects are touched upon quite a bit throughout The Predator. The album was released on the heels of the Rodney King verdict and L.A. Cube, along with longtime collaborators DJ Pooh (who I will forever remember as Red, getting knocked the fuck out by Deebo in Friday), Bobcat and Sir Jinx would handle the bulk of the production duties on the album, with DJ Muggs contributing a few tracks as well. He would return in 1992, with his third solo album The Predator. with their controversial debut album Straight Outta Compton, releasing two consecutive platinum selling and critically acclaimed solo albums, as well as making his acting debut, starring in John Singleton’s 1991 hood classic Boyz N The Hood, Ice Cube was definitely a force to be reckoned with. After helping put Compton on the map as part of N.W.A. As I mentioned a few weeks ago in the Guerillas In The Mist post, Ice Cube was the hottest rapper alive in 1992.