Ice Cube Shows 3 Decades Of Police Brutality & It’s Not Just White Cops (Video)
On June 9, Ice Cube released the 25th anniversary edition of Death Certificate. Featuring three freshly recorded songs, O’Shea Jackson adds to one of his most critically acclaimed bodies of work with some verses that truly fit his ’91 message. That is never more true than on “Good Cop Bad Cop.”
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The song expounds upon a theme heard in N.W.A.’s “F*ck Tha Police” (and it even samples it), “Who’s Got The Camera” and more. Cube admits that even in the millions upon millions of dollars he’s made, and the social classes through which he’s risen, some racist officers of the law still see him as a criminal on sight. Whereas N.W.A.’s 1988 single never had a music video, “Good Cop Bad Cop.” is drawn out with cinematic quality. The record shows a progression of Cube being profiled, beaten, and falsely accused throughout the years. There are multiple vignettes, presumably cutting back to the days when he was “a teenager, with a little bit of gold and a pager” in a Monte Carlo. This was also depicted in 2015’s Straight Outta Compton. The music video portrays the Ice Cube of now, with exotic cars and tailored suits. In any era or circumstance, the same two officers (one Black and one white) are out for his demise, and will go out of their way to prove him as a criminal, “sellin’ narcotics.”
The visual for “Good Cop, Bad Cop” is much bigger than just Cube. It shows protesters (joined by Cube) that are pepper-sprayed. It shows innocent Black men killed. Along the way, there is tampering with evidence, entering without warrants, and set-ups by the enforcers. They are people who show the community one side, and their prey (the Black and Brown community) another…all while breaking laws of their own.
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With hoopties, lowriders, and BMWs, fancy shades, flannel button-downs, tees, and bandanas, this video represents Cube’s trajectory throughout his music video career. In 2017, he is committed to carrying out a message that began 30 years ago. As Death Certificate gets new consideration, Cube remains “True To The Game” he introduced.
This video airs the same day that Cube is expected to confront Bill Maher for his own racist remarks.