THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

681-Ice Cube-It Was a Good Day.

1993-Number 27 single.

Best Bit-At 4.16. We all have our own idea of the perfect day, this is Ice Cube’s.

Ice Cube was born O’Shea Jackson, on June 15th, 1969, in Los Angeles, California, United States. Evidently his stage name has nothing to do with him trying to portray a ‘cool’ gangster persona, Ice Cube has explained that it was down to his elder brother, ‘He threatened to slam me into a freezer, and pull me out when I was an ice cube. I just started using that name, and it just caught on.’ Ice Cube began his music career by rapping in the Los Angeles ‘Hip-Hop’ group ‘C.I.A.’ before quickly moving on to join the Compton ‘Hip-Hop’ group ‘N. W. A.’ (see also best songs 564 and 128) in 1987. Ice Cube would remain a member of ‘N.W.A.’ through until 1989, writing the majority of the many controversial lyrics for ‘Straight Outta Compton,’ the debut studio Album by ‘N. W. A.’ By writing ‘Straight Outta Compton,’ Ice Cube is considered to be one of the main protagonists in bringing the then new genre of ‘Gangsta Rap’ to California, and the world.

Since 1990 Ice Cube has had a solo recording career run concurrently with an acting, and film producing career. From 1991, and up until the time of writing, Ice Cube has either directed, produced, was the screenwriter, or acted in 42 films, some of which have been critically acclaimed, including ‘Tresspass,’ (1992) and ‘Three Kings’ (1999.) The solo discography of Ice Cube includes 11 studio Albums released between 1990-2018, and 27 singles released between 1990-2021, there are also 12 soundtrack Albums, and six official compilation Albums available. In America on the Billboard Album chart, his 1992 Album ‘The Predator’ went to Number 1, and is his best seller, with sales in excess of 2 million copies sold in America. On the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, six of his singles have made the top 40, with ‘It Was a Good Day’ charting the highest at Number 15 in 1993. In the UK, Ice Cube has reached the top 40 on four occasions, with the 1999 re-issue of ‘You Can Do It,’ featuring Mack 10 and Ms. Toi,’ peaking the highest at Number 2.

‘It Was a Good Day’ was the second of three singles released from Ice Cube’s third studio Album ‘The Predator,’ from November 1992, the song was written by Ice Cube, with the production being by ‘DJ Pooh,’ who was born Mark Jordan, on June 29th, 1969, in Los Angeles, California, United States. ‘DJ Pooh’ is best known in America for his acting role as ‘Red’ in the first ‘Friday’ movie (1995) with Ice Cube, DJ Pooh co-wrote ‘Friday,’ and also helped with the character development. ‘DJ Pooh’ is one one of the most successful, and influential ‘Hip-Hop’ music producers of all time, working on some of that genres most critically acclaimed Albums, including, ‘LL Cool J’s second Album, ‘Bigger and Deffer,’ (1987) He also produced 2Pac’s ‘All Eyez on Me,’ (1995) and provided the bulk of the production for Snoop Dogg’s second album, ‘Tha Doggfather’ (1996.)

‘It Was a Good Day’ heavily samples the 1977 song ‘Footsteps in the Dark, Parts. 1 & 2,’ by The Isley Brothers, (see also best songs 823-508-382 and 176) from their Album ‘Go For Your Guns,’ and to a lesser extent the 1973 track ‘Sexy Mama,’ by The Moments (see also best songs 466.) Ice Cube has explained his inspiration behind the songs lyrics, ‘It was the summer of ’92, and I was in a hotel room, really in a state of euphoria. I had all the money I had dreamed of. I was in a good frame of mind, and I remember thinking, ‘Okay, there’s been the riots, people know I will deal with that. That’s a given. But I rap all this gangsta stuff, what about all the good days I had?’

‘It Was a Good Day’ ends on a negative note, as reality hits home, and Ice Cube comes back down to earth with a bump. Ice Cube has said that ‘It Was a Good Day’ is not about one particular day, but is a composite of many memories, from many days, all thrown in together.

‘Ay, wait, wait a minute Pooh, stop this s..t. What the f..k I’m thinking about?’