AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted

AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted is the debut studio album by American rapper Ice Cube, released on May 18, 1990, by Priority Records. It was his first solo album, after an acrimonious split from his former group N.W.A. Primarily produced by Public Enemy's production team The Bomb Squad, the album was a critical and commercial success, being certified platinum in the United States for selling over one million copies.

Conception
After departing from Ruthless Records and the West Coast–based group N.W.A, Ice Cube immediately moved to record his own album. Cube maintains that originally, he and N.W.A producer Dr. Dre still wanted to collaborate for Cube's debut solo, but the move was nixed by label powers:

"When I went solo, I wanted Dr. Dre to do AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, but Jerry Heller vetoed that...and I'm pretty sure Eazy didn't want Dre to do it. But Dre did want to do it; we gotta put that on record. Dre wanted to do my record, but it was just too crazy with the break-up [of N.W.A]."

Linking up with Sir Jinx, Dr. Dre's cousin, Cube made use of pre-written notebooks of songs meant for N.W.A member/Ruthless co-founder Eazy-E. After relocating to New York, they worked on the songs, which included "Once Upon a Time in the Projects", "Get Off My Dick & Tell Yo' Bitch to Come Here" and "Gangsta's Fairytale", among others. Under fire from his former group with the song "100 Miles and Runnin', from the EP of the same name, he also recorded the song "Jackin' for Beats", using beats allegedly planned for use on the next N.W.A album, though he would use this several months later on the Kill at Will EP.

After contacting Public Enemy's production team The Bomb Squad, they completed the album. The album received a fair share of production credited to various Bomb Squad members, with an appearance by Public Enemy frontman Chuck D, despite Jinx's claims that the only Bomb Squad member fully present was Eric Sadler. Hank Shocklee spoke on meeting and working with Ice Cube in a Cool'eh Magazine interview: "Cube contacted me wanting to know if we could do a few tracks for his solo album after the whole NWA thing came to what it was and I was like, I'll do it if I can do the whole album. And he said, that's what I was hoping you would say…y'know…and when we were in the studio he showed up with notebooks and notebooks full of new rhymes, a bag full of rhymebooks."

Content
With socio-political conscious and gangsta rap content, its songs delve into the issues of ghetto life, drug addiction, racism and poverty. Throughout the album, Ice Cube incessantly attacks institutional racism, as well as social norms which directly or indirectly allowed the oppression of those living in the ghettos of Los Angeles to continue. On "Endangered Species (Tales from the Darkside)", he predicts that his neighborhood would become a flash point for violence before 1992's scandal over the beating of Rodney King, and takes police to task for the policies that would later lead to the L.A. riots that resulted.

Throughout the album, Cube takes some controversial stands, referring to certain types of African-Americans as "Oreo cookies", an epithet implying that they appear black on the outside, but have, internally, negative white tendencies. Arsenio Hall is specifically mentioned as being a "sell-out". Cube also heavily criticizes R&B and hip hop radio stations for watered-down broadcasting. The title song directly parodies the television show, America's Most Wanted, alleging bias and denouncing the glee the program displays in arresting African-American men.

A later skit, "The Drive By", returns to the same theme at the end, with newscaster Tom Brokaw reporting on rioting, stating: "Outside the south central area, few cared about the violence because it didn't affect them." He also addressed gender relations on "It's a Man's World", a duet between Cube and rapper Yo-Yo. Cube and Yo-Yo verbally spar and trade sexist barbs back and forth in an exposé of sexism between men and women. Amidst critics' accusing Ice Cube of sexism, Peter Watrous of The New York Times wrote, in review of a live show at New York's Apollo Theater: ...no one came out ahead; any new sense of cultural violence or sexism promoted by the record had dissolved into a traditional battle of the sexes, no better or no worse.

Release
AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted initially charted without the support of a lead single or video, although the title track would later receive a pressing, and a rare video for "Who's the Mack?" eventually surfaced. It was directed by Alex Winter.

Singles
The title track was the first official single from the album - the B-side for the song was "Once Upon a Time in the Projects". "Who's the Mack?" was released as a promo single and music video. A remix of the album track "Endangered Species (Tales From The Darkside)" was later released as a single the EP Kill at Will.

Critical reception
Upon release, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted received critical acclaim, and over the years it has been regarded by many as a hip-hop classic. In The Washington Post, David Mills wrote that with the album, "Ice Cube has now proven that he was N.W.A.'s crucial element. He's an unusually gifted rhymer... And his delivery is even more self-assured than it was when he dissed every cop in the nation." The Source commented that Ice Cube's performances are given "the perfect backdrop" by the Bomb Squad, who the magazine said had "really outdone" themselves by integrating "funky pimp type grooves" into their "metallic bum-rush style of beats". Steven Wells of NME felt that while Ice Cube's "political awareness and eloquence" are undermined by his "cock-waving machismo", the latter is somewhat tempered by his "self-deprecating sense of humour", with Wells ultimately calling the album "alternately appalling, refreshing, confused and dynamic".

Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Greg Sandow viewed AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted as "an important social document, but not necessarily cohesive art", nonetheless acknowledging that "Ice Cube emerges as a rapper most original for his uncompromising tone." While deeming the album musically "as original as A Tribe Called Quest, and probably doper", The Village Voice's Robert Christgau found Ice Cube's lyrics generally distasteful "despite his gift for rhyme and narrative". Rolling Stone critic Alan Light declared the album "a disappointment" and said that "the relentless profanity grows wearisome, the Bomb Squad beats lose steam, and Cube's attitudes toward women are simply despicable."

In a retrospective review, David Jeffries from AllMusic called AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted "a timeless, riveting exercise in anger, honesty, and the sociopolitical possibilities of hip-hop" showing Ice Cube "at his most inspired", crediting the album with helping to "boost the role of the individual in hip-hop." In the 2004 Rolling Stone Album Guide, Peter Relic praised it as "an album of menacing, unflinchingly fierce rhymes that took millions of listeners deep into the terrors of South Central L.A." Alan Light reappraised the album in the liner notes of its 2003 reissue, noting its "musical sophistication, brutal imagery, and relentless intensity" and deeming it "one of the most loved, hated, and pivotal albums in the history of hip-hop." Pitchfork's Eric Harvey called it a "groundbreaking" record that ushered hip hop into "the tabloid decade", concluding that "it was AmeriKKKa as much as Nation of Millions and Straight Outta Compton that laid the groundwork for hip-hop's brief and dramatic evolution into an expansive truth-telling media spectacle."

Accolades

 * (*) signifies unordered lists

Legacy
Ice Cube's social, and political commentary, delivered in an incisive manner, has influenced numerous rappers since Amerikkka's Most Wanted, particularly in the gangsta rap and political rap subgenres. Focusing on the hardships of life in South Central, Los Angeles, as well as criticizing the American Justice System and race relations in the United States, Cube became an outspoken voice of U.S. injustice against young Black Americans.

Although Ice Cube's popularity among mainstream listeners has lessened since the 2000s, and his sound may be considered distinctively old school to modern ears, many notable rappers themselves have been influenced by AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted. His style of rapping about real life sentiment and socio-political awareness influenced the music of West Coast rappers, including that of Tupac Shakur, Ras Kass, and Xzibit, as well as East Coast rappers Nas, The Notorious B.I.G., and more recently, Saigon, JPEGMafia and Southern rapper Young Jeezy. East Coast rapper Redman also covered "Once Upon a Time in the Projects" on his album Doc's Da Name 2000, with the song "Jersey Yo!".

Commercial performance
AmeriKKKas Most Wanted debuted at number 19 on the US Billboard 200 chart. It was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) two weeks after it was released for sales of over 500,000 copies. The album was eventually certified platinum four months later on September 16, 1990.

Track listing
All tracks are written by Ice Cube

Personnel

 * The Bomb Squad – producer
 * Mario Castellanos – photography
 * Chris Champion – assistant engineer
 * Chuck D. – performer
 * Da Lench Mob – vocals (background), producer
 * (Ex) Cat Heads – vocals (background)
 * Flavor Flav – vocals, performer
 * Ricky Harris – vocals (background)
 * Al Hayes – bass guitar, guitar
 * Vincent Henry – flute, saxophone
 * Brian Holt – vocals
 * Kevin Hosmann – art direction


 * Ice Cube – vocals, producer
 * Jay Dee – vocals (background)
 * Tim Rollins – piano
 * Eric Sadler – producer
 * Nick Sansano – engineer
 * Shannon – vocals (background)
 * Christopher Shaw – engineer
 * Keith Shocklee – scratching
 * Sir Jinx- vocals (background), producer
 * Chilly Chill – vocals (background), producer
 * Howie Weinberg – mastering
 * Dan Wood – vocals (background), engineer
 * Yo-Yo – vocals, performer