Hip-Hop Classic #10: Ice Cube - A Gangsta's Fairytale (Chosen by Mystro)

All words by Mystro: 'A Gangsta's Fairytale' is taken from Ice Cube's debut solo album, Amerikkka's Most Wanted, which was released in 1990 on Priority and was his first release after departing from the legendary N.W.A. I'll admit because I was so young I never fully understood everything he was saying but I knew it was some real street narration, using nursery rhymes and cartoon characters I was very familiar with - that alone had me in awe. The beat was a Bomb Squad production headed by Hank Shocklee who handled most of the Public Enemy sound known to be hard hitting, yet this was a funky more fun-filled beat that no-one could help nodding their head to with a magnified grin. It was one of those tunes I really couldn't wait to learn the words to so I could show off that I knew such a cool song, mixing profanity with children's stories, but in a way that even my mum would crack a hidden smile to (not whilst I was looking, of course). Creatively I think this put Ice Cube on a very high pedestal in my eyes and as I got older and really started understanding more of the slang involved I realised how truly genius the whole idea of this tune was and still to this day I can't think of 1 track that inspires me more to rap about whatever I feel like, whenever I feel like it. When I put my nerd specs on I've got a feeling the little kid who pops up in the tune is a pitched up Flavor Flav but I could be wrong though, so don't laugh Mutha Luvaz!!