Ice Cube: “True To The Game” b/w “Givin’ Up The Nappy Dugout” (1991)
Without a doubt 1991′s Death Certificate is one of the best accomplishments Ice Cube has done in his career. In an era where he acrimoniously left N.W.A., releasing his 1991 debut Amerikkka’s Most Wanted, and starring in his first full-length feature film Boyz ‘N’ The Hood (Singleton, 1992), there was no stopping him. Ice Cube held nothing back when he chronicled the-then current condition of life in South Central Los Angeles; detailing many a vicious tale of gang violence, explicit sex, cultural sentiments, and the state of black society.
This double-A single makes up two examples that pieced together the critically-acclaimed Death Certificate. The former, “True To The Game”, had Ice Cube staking his claim about golden-era hip-hop generation’s hottest topic of artists selling themselves out to the industry and the white man. It happened to be one of the funkiest cuts on the album laid down, sampling The Gap Band’s “Outstanding” (’82) and George Duke’s “Reach for It” ('77) while Cube reminded everyone to never forget where they came from. The other, “Givin’ Up The Nappy Dugout” references Big Daddy Kane and Funkadelic and gets its funk from Booker T & The M.G.’s “Hip-Hug Her” (’67). It’s Cube’s ridiculously comical yet sharply-pointed triple X-rated take of slut-shaming to a daughter’s father. Both tracks are great, and it’s only a build up to the album closer “No Vaseline”, considered one of the greatest rap diss tracks ever recorded.