Cool as ever, Ice Cube has said that for more than a decade, hip-hop has been heading down the wrong path.
Speaking to Undercover, the former NWA member and creator of 1990's seminal 'AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted' album said that mainstream rap's obsession with bling and booty was a deliberate "ploy".Frustrated at the lack of support for the kind of socially conscious hip-hop he helped pioneer, Ice Cube told us, "The people who run the visuals, the content, the pop radio, the video outlet ... these people made a decision to put conscious rap to the background, and to push feelgood, self-medicating music to the foreground. That's where we've been stuck with, for I'd say about 14 years."
He went on to plead for the musical world to "respect the true hip-hopper." Ice Cube's comeback album, 2006's 'Laugh Now, Cry Later' featured only a handful of collaborations, and was in some ways a response to the commoditisation of hip-hop.
You've got to "respect the one that's really doing it," Ice Cube says. "How can you respect somebody that's doing 'rap', and they got ghost-writers? I mean, come on man. It's like having a boxer having someone help you fight. Respect the skills. I've been in the game for 20 years, and I still sound fresh and ferocious."
Ice Cube's forthcoming album, 'Raw Footage', is slated for an August release.
Ice Cube Australian Tour Dates:
Friday August 24 BRISBANE @ The Arena
Monday August 27 SYDNEY @ Enmore Theatre
Friday August 31 PERTH @ Metro City
Monday September 3 MELBOURNE @ The Forum
