On this day, 33 years ago One of the Greatest Albums of All-Time was released on Lench Mob & Priority Records the Iconic
33 years ago One of the Greatest Albums of All-Time was released on Lench Mob & Priority Records the Iconic
DEATH CERTIFICATE
Produced by Sir Jinx, DJ Pooh & Ice Cube
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.
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 videos.
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.
The album was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in December 1991.
The writing and recording of Death Certificate began in late 1990 and carried on throughout most of 1991.
While making the album, Ice Cube was also heavily involved in several other projects, including Yo-Yo's debut album Make Way for the Motherlode, his younger cousin Del tha Funkee Homosapien's I Wish My Brother George Was Here, and perhaps more importantly, his film debut, Boyz n the Hood, in which he co-starred with Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Laurence Fishburne.
Similar to AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, Ice Cube was very active in the album's production, though the overall sound differed.
Unlike AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, which featured the Bomb Squad's hard edged beats, Death Certificate featured a slightly more West Coast-oriented sound in comparison, with heavy use of 70's Funk and Soul samples.
A number of the tracks also use samples taken from acts such as Zapp (Ohio) and Fishbone (California).
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