http://www.youtube.com/wa...tUeSSz4R38

Now this was back in the days (well 1991-92 at least) when some rappers still had a sense of humor, despite giving a serious (controversial) lesson in real life. I used to think this video was funny in its context. But I have my doubts if Ice Cube could get away with releasing this kind of video today.
[Edited 9/16/06 20:23pm]

TonyVanDam said:

the song and video is still true to this day

TonyVanDam said:

Cube said it wasn't about hammer, but rappers in general that solded out

Meloh9 said:

Remember that Hammer, Vanilla Ice, Kid 'N Play, and Freedom William (with C+C Music Factory) were the main crossover rappers at that point!

Nay. Cube needs to be true to the game. It really upsets me when people think that just because someone hangs out w/ the opposite race they're sellouts. This song is a joke.
[Edited 9/17/06 10:36am]

I very much like Ice Cubes!

"ice ice baby...words to your mother...ice ice baby too cold, ice ice baby too cold!"

th13182 said:

Please also note that in the video Mr Cube made his point by kidnapping said "sellouts" at gunpoint and then bringing them to a Nation of Islam meeting to be lectured to about how, at the end of times, George Clinton's Mothership will come down and spirit all the dark skinned people of this world off to ET's home and leave Yakub's race of white devils to perish in the fires of Hades. Did I get that right? And what did he do with the proceeds from that St Ide's vitamin drink Cube was promoting at around the same time? "Don't drink 8 Ball, cause St. Ide's is givin ends". Conflicted guy that Mr Cube. Didn't pay Muggs for his production on The Predator either. Be true to tha game!


Of course, the withering irony of it all is is that, at the height of his multi-plat success, most of Cube's fans were suburban kids. He didn't sell-out though. Gotta give him that. He just went off and made a bunch of (mostly - Three Kings and Boyz N The Hood excepted) crap films and crappier albums no one bought.
[Edited 9/17/06 16:27pm]

Meloh9 said:

Sure looked like him in the video though, right? In fact, if memory serves me right, once Hammer had lost his money, he ran straight into Suge "The Dancer" Knight's arms and started dressing like the pre-transformation rapper, cutting hardcore hiphop. Which never got released. Then Hammer became a tv evangelist.
[Edited 9/17/06 16:32pm]

I think after his film career his music will never be taken as seriously as it was in the early to mid 90s.

dreamfactory313 said:

Well, Boyz N The Hood had a huge positive impact on his music career, made him a household name and he made two very strong albums on the back of it. Unfortunately his albums, like his films, got worse and worse. Did you ever see that one he did with Elizabeth Hurley? Cube's got more stinkers to his name than DMX.

Shapeshifter said:

True. He's released alot of films that dont fit the genre of music that he makes. Thats why any attempt at a successful comeback will flop. His credibility is ruined.

th13182 said:

And you're right. A black man having a lot of white friends should never be look upon as a sellout.

But a black man trying trying too hard to be something that he's not is far worse than a sellout. He's fake! And his self-esteem is low.

And if his sorry excuse for white friends are calling him a nigger behind his back. he needs to stand up for hiimself and put their candyasses in check!
[Edited 9/17/06 19:22pm]

Shapeshifter said:

CORRECTION: That album was release and Hammer never use any foul language in any of the songs.

I love the Funky Headhunter album. THAT's the most underrated album ever for The Hammer.
[Edited 9/17/06 19:26pm]

Shapeshifter said:

I need to rent the DVD and see for myself. Was there ever an interracial love scene in that film?

In this video though it looks like Cube is calling out a black man just for working in a suit. And true friends don't say stuff like that behind your back. When I'm out w/ my black friends it seems like they get that 'sellout' look from others. It's sad and it disturbs me. I can't believe how many angles racism can come from. It really is crazy.

th13182 said:

Not quite. The black employees that were sitting at their own picnic setting were also dress in their work clothes too. What Ice Cube was calling this man out from was his dissing-attitude against his own fellow black employees that care a lot more about him as a human being than his white employees that were calling him a "monkey" (READ: n***er) behind his back (as if trying too hard to fit in with those SAME white people by buttkissing wasn't bad enough).

BTW (speaking of racism angles), even the word "picnic" is a racist angle in the video. Picnic is codeword for "pick a n***er to lynch".

I truly don't feel that's where the word originates, I understand there are arguments over this. I think you and I see 2 different sides on this issue. I really feel this Cube video promotes the idealogy that if blacks associate with whites, they are 'sellouts'. In that video I never saw a message of 'you should stand up for yourself and be yourself.' All I saw was a negative toned video putting down whites and blacks who associate with whites.

It really irks me because I have many black friends that are upstanding people and that seems to offend ignorant people. Just like the whole 'if you're white with black friends and listen to R and B.....you're trying to be black' mess. Racism is such an issue in America and like I said it comes from any angle, it is quite unreal at times.

th13182 said:

1. Just so you know, I don't agree with the word "picnic" as a racist angle in my everyday living. In fact, I thought it was a sick practical joke the first time I was told about that myth years ago. I did say specificly that the word was use at a racist angle IN the video (like symbolism). So don't sweat it!

2. In my lift experience, I know for a fact that there is a lot of racism within the blacks & the whites (I think Eminem wrote a song about it awhile back). And the negative stereotypes that are promoted within entertainment in general doesn't help matters at all.

TonyVanDam said:

Tony, mate, watch you own up to around here.

TonyVanDam said:

Nope, so put it away.

Yeah, I hear ya. I wasn't arguing at all with you. I understand the complexities of this issue and appreciate other views (which IMO is half the battle).

My friends and I have discussed how wierd it is how your life and views are altered just by your race. My friends and I have SO much in common and just because I was born white and they were born black our life experience can be so different. Its a crazy world man.

Shapeshifter said:

I didn't think so. Ice Cube could never do an interracial love scene. He's no Wesley Snipes.

....bad joke ya!

TonyVanDam said:

Just goes to show what a limited actor Cube is then, doesn't it? And he is an actor, because that whole gangsta schtick of his was just that - acting. Unlike Ice Cube, Wesley Snipes was a great actor (dunno where his talent went) who made a few great films. Sadly all he's doing now is crappy straight to video bollocks like The Marksman. I met the director of said flick, who told me that all Wesley did on set was coke, booze and hoes. Anyway, back to Cube. What did you make of his last album? I thought it was intermittently interesting, but he should stick to remaking Another Five Fridays After Next Friday And The Friday Before That.

Actually, now that Wesley's making shit films, maybe he should team up with Ice Cube, then together they could make a REALLY CRAP film. Just a thought ...
[Edited 9/18/06 0:39am]

They were all sell outs, Ice Cube included. They were both being marketed to the same demographic. He's doing freaking family movies nowdays with him in an SUV full of kids, it's a far cry from the NWA days.

Even still though, Ice Cube put out several classic albums around that time that still hold up today, which can't really be said for Hammer - that shit was corny then and it's corny now.

Hello no. Ice talked a lot of shit until he started making that movie $$.

Tom said:

I wouldn't call Cube a sell-out. He's just creatively bankrupt now. Happens to most rappers - short sharp peak which lasts one or two albums, then that slow decline into bitter obscurity, where they make albums that go: "I! INVENTED! THIS GANGSTA SHIT!!! An this the muthafukkin thanks I git?!!!!2 oh wait, that was Ice Cube ...

Exceptions - The Roots are still making great albums, as are Ghostface and GZA, and ... Ok, that's three.
[Edited 9/18/06 10:20am]

Graycap23 said:

Ok, he was a misogynistic, racist, anti-semitic St Ide's brew salesman, but what kinda shit did he talk?

Shapeshifter said:

lol.....everything u listed.

why is it that everytime somebody makes a statement we as people start picking their character apart instead of just listening to the message? all Cube said at the time was be true to the game. The St Ides commercial was done before he even joined the nation of islam, when he still had a jerry curl. and even if he is a hypocrite in his personal life who cares, its a good song with a decent message something that is rare in hip hop these days