Өлім туралы куәлік: Ice Cube альбомының талдауы

Death Certificate is the second studio album by American rapper Ice Cube. It was released on October 29, 1991 through Priority Records. The production on the album was primarily handled by Sir Jinx, DJ Pooh and Ice Cube. The album was supported by two singles: "Steady Mobbin'" and "True to the Game". Due to some of its racially and politically charged content, and Ice Cube's acerbic statements on drug dealing, racial profiling, and the right to keep and bear arms, the album was the source of both critical acclaim and much controversy upon its release. Death Certificate was a commercial success, debuting at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 105,000 copies in its first week. Do I have to sell me a whole lot of crack
For decent shelter and clothes on my back? Or should I just wait for help from Bush? Or Jesse Jackson and Operation PUSH? The Life Side's "Black Korea" threatens rioting and arson alongside Black entrepreneurship as a response to the preponderance of Korean owned grocery stores in ghettos across the United States. The track was seen as a response to the killing of Latasha Harlins, a 15 year old African American girl who was shot to death by a Korean American store owner on March 16, 1991, in an altercation over a bottle of orange juice. Since the release of the track preceded the 1992 Los Angeles riots, in which many of the people targeted were of Korean descent, Ice Cube was accused of inciting racism by African Americans towards Asians. "Horny Lil' Devil" was a track aimed at sexual relationships between White men and Black women. The producer Sir Jinx, who had worked with Ice Cube on much of the album, cited the track as an example of how he and Ice Cube went different ways, saying "I didn’t really wanna do music like that." The track "Look Who's Burnin'" tells of the dangers of sexually transmitted infection in low income neighborhoods, while "Alive on Arrival" tells the story of a young man caught in the crossfire of a gang shootout who slowly bleeds to death while in a hospital waiting room, being questioned by police. "Color Blind" preaches neutrality and brotherhood between gangs, such as the Bloods and Crips. Although Ice Cube's previous album avoided direct attacks on N. W. A, Death Certificate contained "True to the Game" and most notably "No Vaseline", which were diss tracks aimed at his former bandmates. Unlike Ice Cube's other albums, Death Certificate was not released in a censored version. The tracks "Steady Mobbin'", "True To The Game", and "Givin' up the Nappy Dug Out", were, however, recorded with clean lyrics and released for airplay.

The album was originally released on October 29, 1991. It was highly anticipated with over one million advanced orders. In 2003, Priority Records re released Death Certificate with the bonus track "How to Survive in South Central", which originally appeared on the Boyz n the Hood soundtrack. Death Certificate included the diss track "No Vaseline" which is a response to his former hip hop group N. W. A, and their album Niggaz4Life which included direct and indirect diss tracks and verses to Ice Cube. "No Vaseline" is considered to be one of the greatest diss tracks of all time due to its explicit and direct subject matter towards the members of the group. The album was re released for the 25th anniversary edition on June 9, 2017, by Interscope Records after Cube announced signing to the label in late May 2017.

In 1991, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission banned a poster for St. Ides Malt Liquor, which Ice Cube endorsed at the time, that displayed Ice Cube holding a can of St. Ides and flashing a gang sign. In the September 2006 issue of FHM, Ice Cube stated in an interview that he did not regret the controversial statements made on the album. Due to fear that laws against racial incitement in the United Kingdom could see the album banned, the original United Kingdom release removed the tracks "Black Korea" and "No Vaseline". Island Records, the distributor of this version of the album, deleted these tracks with the consent of Priority Records, but not Ice Cube himself. The tracks have since been reinstated on a CD reissue readily available in the UK.

Death Certificate received critical acclaim. "His homophobia may be irksome", wrote Ted Kessler in Select, "but the shock value of these views has been blunted by lesser rappers. It's the sublime combination of '70s P Funk and Ice Cube's excellent, taut delivery of rhymes calculated to jolt that pleases." "There's a rule in music journalism at the moment", observed the hip hop fanzine Louder Than A Bomb!. "It says that every Ice T/N. W. A./Ice Cube record must be described as something like 'a grisly and uncompromising portrait of life in the ghetto' O. G. was the last. Death Certificate is the next. [But] you can't shut your eyes while listening and imagine the ghetto. It's just a lot of songs about shooting, shagging and N. W. A." Death Certificate received a meager $18,000 promotion budget, and neither of its singles, "Steady Mobbin'" and "True to the Game", received much airplay, although they did receive music video treatment. In a retrospective review, AllMusic called Death Certificate "even harder and angrier than AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted  It continues the sharp insights and unflinching looks at contemporary urban lifestyles that his solo debut only hinted at; in short, it's hardcore without any gangsta posturing." They also call it "funkier, noisier, and more musically effective (than AmeriKKKa)."