The Hip-Hop Generation. It’s the label that’s been affixed to everyone who has grown up involved in hip-hop in any way, shape or form. According to Ice Cube, however, it’s a tag that was created with the intent to debase. “That’s a dismissive kind of label,” he says with aggravation, “it’s damn near like calling us rednecks in our own way. If they act crazy don’t worry about it, they’re part of the Hip-Hop Generation. If something happens that you don’t understand, don’t worry about, they’re part of the Hip-Hop Generation. You know, ain’t nuttin wrong with you, it’s something wrong with them.”

Cube has a theory on why this Hip-Hop Generation label was created. “The baby boomers are a little pissed off at the fact that a lot of us are coming into power and we have this new way of thinking.” The anger he feels towards those who insist on negatively categorizing hip-hop fans and lay the blame on rap music for all of society’s ills is what led him to write “Gangster Rap Made Me Do It,” the vitriolic first single off of his upcoming album, Raw Footage, which is due out in mid-August on Cube’s own label, Lench Mob Records.

As a whole, Cube says Raw Footage is “a throwback kind of record,” adding “It’s one of those records that I’ve been wanting to do for a long time and by being independent it allows me to put this kind of record together without A&R trying to interfere.” After over twenty years in the game, Cube has little use for a lot of the so-called experts. The way he sees it, “A lot of people that are in the industry that are running the industry are the last people you would let into your studio session.” This is the main reason he went the independent route for Raw Footage.

Had Cube gone with a major he knows what would have happened to his vision for the album. “They’d probably want me to do something with T-Pain cuz he’s hot, or Lil’ Wayne,” he says, less than enthused at either prospect, knowing neither would have been a good fit for the record he was looking to make. “They’d want me to rap with Lil’ Wayne and they’d start thinking about marketing and not thinking about the record itself. They’re thinking about a story to tell instead of thinking of the music so that’s kind of where A&R’s heads are; they’re basically chasing the last hit, trying to convince their artists to do one just like it.”

Since he went out on his own, Raw Footage is straight up, 100% Ice Cube. “This is a record that goes straight to the brain,” he states proudly, “it’s not a booty record, it’s not a club record, it’s a record that if you like hardcore hip-hop, and you’re a fan of hip-hop in its purest form, then I think it will appeal to you.” He adds that it’s the right time for a record like this, saying, “You need something that ain’t always looking to put the good spin on things, but just to put the real on it.” The “real” is something Cube’s been putting into his work since his NWA days. He even notes that back then he called his work “reality rap,” and not “gangster rap,” as many of the genre’s critics have labeled it.

While Cube sees “reality rap” as having changed the world in a lot of positive ways, he also notes that people enjoyed it so much that a new standard was created for rap artists to live up to, and that was, simply put, being real. “People started blurring the lines and stopped looking at is as entertainment and wanted you to be what you rapped about,” he explains, “I think everybody is to a certain extent, but you don’t ask Arnold Schwarzenegger to be the Terminator. It’s acts of entertainment.”

Cube took it upon himself to go to a higher authority, namely his own mother, to find out when this trend of entertainers having to be role models started. “I asked her, when you were growing up was Aretha Franklin your model? Did you look up to the Supremes and Diana Ross and all them? She was like, ‘Hell naw. We didn’t look at entertainers as role models, entertainers were just entertainers. Half of ’em was crazy, we knew that.’ So I’m like damn, why does the same generation that they come from put it on us so much to be upstanding-ass citizens when the singers of their day wouldn’t even do it? It’s funny how that’s put on our shoulders, to raise the kids of our listeners.”

Photos by Eric Williams