Songoftheday 10/16/18 - Just waking up in the morning gotta thank God I don't know but today seems kinda odd, no barking from the dogs no smog and momma cooked a breakfast with no hog...
from the album The Predator (1992)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #15 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 16
Today's song of the day comes from Los Angeles rapper Ice Cube, who was born O'Shea Jackson in Los Angeles. He got his break as an artist when he joined forces with two others he had worked for before, Eazy-E and Dr. Dre, to form the first great gangsta-rap group N.W.A. He remained with the act until the end of the decade, when disputed with the management, who treated him like a hired hand, became way out of line from the amount of work he was putting into the group. With a somewhat acrimonious departure, leaving N.W.A. to record diss tracks against him on their #1 album Efil4zaggin, Ice Cube went solo, releasing his debut album Amerikkka's Most Wanted in 1990. The title track topped Billboard magazine's Rap Singles chart, but it nor anything else from the hard-edged album made either the R&B or the pop chart (it did peak at #76 in the UK), but still the record climbed to #19 on the albums chart and sold over a million copies. He also released an EP, Kill At Will, at the close of the year that reached the top-40 on the albums sales chart (#34). The following year, Cube was a featured artist on protege rapper Yo-Yo's single "You Can't Play With My Yo-Yo", which landed him a top-40 pop hit in the summer of 1991. At the same time, he appeared in the movie Boyz In The Hood, which gave him both critical acclaim and popular exposure. With this momentum, by the time his second full-length disc Death Certificate was released, there was already a built up audience, and with tighter production and a top-40 R&B hit with "Steady Mobbin'", the record went to #2 nationally.
In the fall of 1992, Ice Cube put out his third solo album, The Predator. First single "Wicked" would set up the promotion of the disc, landing at #55 on the pop chart and #47 R&B. But it would be the second release that not only set him up with pop radio, but became his highest-charting solo hit. "It Was a Good Day", with lyrics by Cube riding over of sample of the Isley Brothers' "Footsteps In The Dark", had enough of a smooth feel to go along with the street-level lyrics to keep even non-hip-hoppers happy. It regales the simple pleasures of life in the poor south central section of L.A./Compton, with all the perks (and vices) of young manhood...
"It Was A Good Day" became Ice Cube's first and highest-charting pop hit in April of 1993. The song also climbed to #7 on Billboard's R&B chart. Internationally, the single reached #27 in the UK.
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Here's Ice Cube performing the track live at the University of Southern California in 1992...
and appearing at Woodstock 99...
And lastly, live on the Jimmy Kimmel show...
Up tomorrow: Pop queen is maybe not so nice.
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