An interesting article regarding cube's It was a good Day song...

[The Predator]

By 1992, Ice Cube was the toast of American sticker manufacturers. As a member of N.W.A whose 1989 release “Fuck tha Police” had provoked an FBI censure, he was already responsible for keeping the parental-advisory label industry working overtime. After his departure from the group later in 1989, his solo albums Amerikkka’s Most Wanted and Death Certificate established him as a scourge of white America and rap’s most cogent racial commentator.

Racial issues in America came to a boil in 1992 with the outbreak of the L.A. riots. In the charged atmosphere of that time, people looked to Ice Cube’s third solo album, The Predator, released in the fall, for an expression of the outrage many were feeling. Instead they got something they didn’t expect: the chilled-out, feel-good vibe of “It Was a Good Day.”

Cruising gangbangers would have been forgiven for unloading a clip into the car stereo when they first heard the song’s jangly guitar intro. But if they stuck with it they would have noticed it was still a finely observed vignette of life in the ’hood. But for once, safety catches are on, cops in their patrol cars are looking the other way and homies are playing basketball.

“The inspiration was my life at the time,” says Ice Cube, né O’Shea Jackson. “I was at the top of the rap game. It was the summer of ’92 and I was in a hotel room, really in a state of euphoria. I had all the money I had dreamed of. I was in a good frame of mind. And I remember thinking, ‘Okay, there’s been the riots, people know I will deal with that. That’s a given. But I rap all this gangsta stuff — what about all the good days I had?’”

When Ice Cube returned to Los Angeles, he recorded a demo of the song at his home studio. Sessions for The Predator had been booked at Echo Sound in Glendale, and DJ Pooh and Cypress Hill’s DJ Muggs, among others, had been slates to produce.

“It Was a Good Day” was one of the first ideas for the album sessions. Ice Cube turned up at the studio with a copy of the Isley Brothers’ soulful “Footsteps in the Dark.” “I grew up listening to the Isleys,” he says. “There were some good feelings associated right there. But I’m not claiming originality. I’d heard that track sampled before, on ‘Can I Kill It?’ by Compton’s Most Wanted, but they only used a small section for a loop. I listened to the track and the whole story came to me. I thought, ‘It’s all here. Let’s just use the whole eight bars.’”

“To be honest, there wasn’t a hell of a lot for me to do to it,” remembers Pooh. “I enhanced the Isley’s music with bass and vocals to give it even more of an easy-listening vibe. There wasn’t the usual dense feeling to the music and I wondered what he would do with it. Then Cube just went into the booth with this whole story mapped out.”

“It Was a Good Day” presented the daily itinerary not of a fictional gangbanger but of Ice Cube himself. He gets up and his mom serves breakfast with “no hog” — a nod to the Nation of Islam, which he supported without being a full member. “I was learning a lot about Islam, the body, and pork being a nasty thing back then,” explains Ice Cube. “The Nation of Islam knew that hardcore rap had the attention, the minds of young black men like at no other time. I had spoken with Minister Farrakhan and shown an interest in what they were trying to achieve. I never signed up fully. But I definitely saw eye to eye with them on pork.”

As he continues his balmy progress through South Central L.A., Ice Cube is grateful that lurking gangbangers leave him alone and that when he jumps a stoplight, cops are looking the other way. He plays basketball, gambles, has sex, smokes weed, gets drunk and downs a burger — but the line “Today I didn’t even have to use my AK” was an injection of fantasy. “No, using an AK wasn’t part of my everyday life,” says Ice Cube. “But I was near enough to that world to write about it.”

The authenticity of Ice Cube’s filmic narration is boosted further by the cameos from real people. Midway through the song, he drops by Short Dog’s house to watch Yo! MTV Raps. In 1992, Short Dog was a member of Ice Cube’s protégés Da Lench Mob; these days he’s a full member of the Nation of Islam.

Then there’s the story’s love interest. After getting into his lowrider and avoiding any carjackers, Ice Cube gets a beep from Kim, who, we are informed, “can fuck all night.” Whatever became of her? “She’s my wife,” says Cube. “She never had a problem with the lyrics. In fact, she’s a big fan of that song.”

As “It Was a Good Day” draws to a close, Ice Cube ditches realism for comic fantasy. In the sky he spots the Goodyear blimp flashing the message ICE CUBE’S A PIMP. And then we’re back down to the South Central turf with a bump. The song’s mellow mood, just like any peaceful interlude in the ’hood, cannot last forever. “Stop this shit/What the fuck am I thinking?” he asks Pooh, distancing himself from the record.

“That was spontaneous. ‘It Was a Good Day’ was a risk, and I wanted to show that I was aware it was different,” he explains. “There was a risk that the fans would be like, ‘Yo, these cats gone soft,’ but I had to address it in a way that showed I knew what I was doing.”

Cypress Hill’s DJ Muggs produced the ultraviolent “Now I Gotta Wet’cha” on The Predator. He, too, had reservations when he dropped by to hear what Cube and Pooh had been working on. “I was typical of his core audience,” says Muggs. “I thought Cube was the greatest rapper in the world and I loved his aggressive style. When I first heard ‘It Was a Good Day,’ it didn’t immediately work for me. It had no attack and it kinda needed you to stand still and listen to a story. But I got it after a few listens. And after that record, the world of rap was broader. The characters and scenarios were deeper.”

Upon its release, The Predator reached No. 1 on the pop and R&B album charts. Released as a single in March of 1993, “It Was a Good Day” reached No. 15 in April and left a clear legacy.

Says Ice Cube: “When I heard Biggie use another Isleys track, “Between the Sheets,” on “Big Poppa,” I was like, ‘Hmm, maybe I changed something.’ ‘It Was a Good Day’ showed there’s more than one way to be real. And more than one aspect to life in the ’hood.

[MontrealCity's Most]

dope track, dope interview

[eazye]

Fuckin' nice read man, props 

[Lord Funk]

Great read - I like shit like this.

Hey - here's an idea. DubCNN - why don't you guys use your contacts to have a 'classic tracks' section, where producers and rappers talk through the concept and studio session of a well-known song?

Just a thought.

[ExZit]

“It Was a Good Day” was one of the first ideas for the album sessions. Ice Cube turned up at the studio with a copy of the Isley Brothers’ soulful “Footsteps in the Dark.” “I grew up listening to the Isleys,” he says. “There were some good feelings associated right there. But I’m not claiming originality. I’d heard that track sampled before, on ‘Can I Kill It?’ by Compton’s Most Wanted, but they only used a small section for a loop. I listened to the track and the whole story came to me. I thought, ‘It’s all here. Let’s just use the whole eight bars.’”

feels good to see him give CMW credit for that one.... CMW was the fuckin EPMD of the west coast...

Cube took the sample to its perfection tho...

[ToOoOoN!!!]

interesting! props! 

[Tanjential]

Great read - I like shit like this.

Hey - here's an idea. DubCNN - why don't you guys use your contacts to have a 'classic tracks' section, where producers and rappers talk through the concept and studio session of a well-known song?

Just a thought.

+1

+1 to predator

articles like this make me have good days 
-T

[Tanjential]

Great read - I like shit like this.

Hey - here's an idea. DubCNN - why don't you guys use your contacts to have a 'classic tracks' section, where producers and rappers talk through the concept and studio session of a well-known song?

Just a thought.

or even a whole album

-T

[hey hey hey hey smoke weed everyday]

fucking nice read! thats a good idea lord funk! and ron burgundy is da shit!!

[overseadog]

BIG  PROPS for that PREDATOR !!
 

[Lunatic]

great read, greatest hip-hop song EVER MADE

[es-jay]

good read, props to The Predator

[R-Tistic]

That was dope as hell.

Am I the only one trippin that the song was released in 1992, but didn't become a single until 94?? I think there were a lot of songs like that back in the day...that's opposite of how it is now. This song MIGHT HAVE been played on radio in 93...but I definitely remember for sure that it didn't get into major rotation on radio and TV until 1994. Check yo self got most of it's rotation in mid to late 1993.

[Raphael]

props! great read

[Tanjential]

Nima, Jay, Seer, rud

we need more articles like this. this is seriously nice work

-T