Ice Cube

When Ice Cube left N.W.A. in 1989, he was already one of the most notorious gangsta rappers in the country. The staggering one-two punch of his first two solo albums, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted and Death Certificate, showcased the MC (born O’Shea Jackson in 1969) as unrelenting in his disdain for oppressive institutions―there was no person or group he wasn’t willing to take on. Cube railed against injustices from his N.W.A. collaborators; unfair treatment by the group’s manager, Jerry Heller; and the LAPD’s targeting of Black lives. His third solo album, 1992’s The Predator, played with similar themes, but its most recognisable song, “It Was a Good Day”, found the MC counting his blessings instead of his enemies. “Ice Cube is always supposed to be rapping about hardcore stuff. But I’m not hardcore, I just rap about reality,” Jackson explained to Apple Music. “If I’m having a good day, I’d be fake not to say it.” The song seemed then like a curveball in his catalogue, but it proved to introduce a more congenial Cube, who has flourished into a family-friendly movie star, sitcom creator and head of the BIG3 basketball league. Still, 2018’s Everythang's Corrupt betrays the fervour of an activist dismayed with the current state of affairs. He is tenacious in his search for a more just and reparative society―there’s even a song on the album called “Arrest the President”. When it comes to Ice Cube’s righteous anger, no one is spared.