Ice Cube’s favourite best-selling rap album is a true classic
Ice Cube’s career has been on an upward trajectory ever since he appeared in hip-hop as a part of N.W.A. in 1984. As the main MC of the collective, Ice Cube was effectively the face of LA hip-hop and made some monster hits. From ‘F**k Da Police’ to ‘Check Yo Self’, the rapper undoubtedly permanently impacted hip-hop and paved the way for the likes of Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg.
Following the dissipation of N.W.A in 1990, Ice Cube began releasing solo albums. From the musician’s 1991 project Death Certificate to War & Peace, the emcee released a string of exceptional solo bodies of work. In the late 1990s, Ice Cube entered the world of acting and even scriptwriting, proving that he was genuinely versatile.
Along with the Barbershop movie franchise, Ice Cube has been featured in many films, including Friday, Are We There Yet?, Ride Along, and 22 Jump Street. Still, despite his many talents, the lyricist doesn’t bask in his own greatness and publicly shows his admiration for other artists.
As a rapper at heart, to this day, Ice Cube still makes music and appears on programs. That said, during an appearance on Sports Illustrated, the rhymer unveiled his favourite out of the top eight best-selling hip-hop albums of all time.
The top eight initial choices were Speakerboxx/The Love Below by Outkast, Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ by 50 Cent, Please Hammer Don’t Hurt Em by MC Hammer, 2Pac’s All Eyez On Me, Biggie’s Life After Death, the Marshall Mathers LP, Nelly’s Country Grammar and Licensed To Ill by the Beastie Boys.
Ice Cube commenced by admitting that 50 Cent’s 2003 album was better than Speakerboxx/The Love Below and so had to take precedent and, although by a narrow margin, favoured Eminem’s Marshall Mathers LP over Country Grammar. Unsurprisingly, the ‘You Can Do It’ rhymer selected 2Pac’s 1996 project All Eyez On Me over MC Hammer. However, from there, it got tricky for the Crenshaw native as his options began to slim.
When it came to Biggie Smalls versus Eminem, the ‘No Vaseline’ artist eventually decided that as a golden age artist who was alive during the heyday of Bad Boy, Biggie Smalls’ 1997 body of work superseded the Marshall Mathers LP. Similarly, when he was faced with 50 Cent’s debut against All Eyez On Me, he had to take it back to his roots and select the latter.
As a result, his grand finale was Biggie versus 2Pac, hip-hop’s biggest rivalry to this day, and, after much thought as a West Coast legend, he decided that All Eyez On Me was ultimately the best album out of the top eight best-selling projects.