Tomorrow, April 30, marks 30 years since the brutal Rodney King beating at the hands of the Los Angeles Police Department. Unfortunately, the officers involved were acquitted even though they were shown on video attacking Rodney King. This resulted in an uprising in the streets of LA. People lost their lives, and many were hurt. Unfortunately, this was the reality for black people in America, and Ice Cube decided to speak on it.
Cube is the Voice of the People
Only 22 years old, his album “Death Certificate” was atop of the charts with its message of trying to spread the truth about how we are treated in the United States. Ice Cube was very outspoken and had views about the Rodney King case.
“If Rodney King was seen as good Black, then the officers would have been found guilty, but all through the trial, they kept saying that he was a monster…a wild animal…plus he had a past criminal record. To the jurors, he was a bad Black, so anything done to him was justified”.
Conscious Rap
Before “Death Certificate,” Cube was a very conscious rapper in the infamous group N.W.A. You could hear it in songs like “Fuck Tha Police,” “Express Yourself,” and “Straight Outta Compton.” Not only Ice Cube, but Ice-T was part of this movement as well. As the nation started to catch on to these songs, hip hop was more respected and acknowledged for discussing real events. Some people still considered hip-hop “gangsta rap,” but the rappers didn’t feel that way.
“I don’t know which writer is the one that called it ‘gangsta rap’; I still call it reality rap…to me, it means a network of information,” said Ice Cube.
Ice T- called his songs “street level journalism,” while Eazy E compared N.W.A. to news reporters. Snoop Dogg sides with Eazy E stating that his songs are better than the news because he really knows what’s going on and can deliver it to you.
As hip hop continues to evolve, more artists are outspoken. Artists like J.Cole, Kendrick Lamar, and Joey Badass have taken the reigns from the likes of Ice Cube, Ice-T, and Snoop Dogg. We need more artists to speak out since music is powerful. Ice Cube and Ice-T helped hip-hop change the world!
Written by: Brandon Simmons
