This album had catchy songs and substance.
Gangster raps and social awareness. It actually gets better over time.
Every song is unique and different.
One of the best parts of this record is that Ice Cube waited till the very end, after he had done his business to drop what is arguably the greatest diss answer track of all time on NWA.

For this 1991 LP, Cube chose to work with the Boogie Men (Sir Jinx, Bobcat, Rashad). The new combo makes for much less-layered rhythm tracks compared to the Bomb Squad, slower tempos, and goes deeper into 70's soul and funk samples. Lyrically, Cube still presents himself as a street-level gang member who is angry at his lot in life but only mildly conflicted about his antisocial behaviors. He'll pointedly remark on the ills of urban drug infestation, and in the next verse he's gunning down neighborhood rivals.
The overall content prompted a public rebuke from Billboard Magazine editor Timothy White, among others.
A brief summary of the non-interlude tracks follows:
The Wrong N**** To F*** Wit- Close in spirit to "The N**** you love to hate", Cube calls then-Los Angeles police chief Daryl Gates a "devil" and closet KKK member.
My Summer Vacation- remixing George Clinton's "Atomic Dog", Cube tells of street-level drug dealers taking cross-country plane trips to open shop where the competition is less fierce, but soon things in the neighborhood become all too familiar.
Steady Mobbin'- a `day in the life' narrative, where Cube deemphasizes gangbanging and uplifts the virtues of having a high amp count in your car stereo.
Givin' Up The...- Lifting Booker T & the M.G.'s "Hip hug-her", Cube brazenly tells a dad that his daughter is quite `popular', and not in the good way.
Look Who's Burnin'- At a free clinic, Cube scolds a woman who apparently turned him down but now has to get VD treatment for some other hookup. A close tie with "Givin Up" for being the most blatantly sexist track.
A Bird in the Hand- Cube's melancholy muse on a young man desperate to get ahead who turns to drug sales to make ends meet: "now senators are getting high and your plan against the ghetto backfired."
Man's Best Friend- a pro-gun manifesto, "nowadays, a gat is man's best friend"; though Cube is probably not a fan of the NRA.
Alive on Arrival- Cube imagines what goes through a young man's mind when he's shot and has to go to an urban hospital for help--with tragic results.
I Wanna Kill Sam- Cube attacks the military service as a viable option for black self-advancement, casting Uncle Sam as a slave plantation owner.
Horny Lil' Devil- Cube attacks miscegenation here, offering imagery of predatory white males seeking to victimize black women--the third verse stumbles into a homophobic metaphor, equating economic and political oppression of minorities with same-sex rape.
Black Korea- a reactionary cant directed at Asian-American shopkeepers in urban minority neighborhoods- the shooting death of Latasha Harlins made headlines earlier that year.
True To The Game- Cube reinforces his `no-sellout' bonafides here, taking swipes at black yuppies, crossover rappers, and "token" blacks in corporate America.
Color Blind- Cube and friends (Coolio, WC, Kam) rap about deemphasizing gang tensions in urban neighborhoods.
Doing Dumb S***- a faux-autobiography where Cube tells of youthful misadventure before worrying about `grown-up' issues of the gang & drug epidemic.
Us- Cube- the narrative points at the vices of black communities, including misplaced values "us will always sing the blues, `cause all we care about is hairstyles and tennis shoes..." or the violence that sometimes disrupts otherwise fun gatherings- "every time I do a show to kick some facts, us blacks don't know how to act..."
No Vaseline- Beat-jacking Brick's "Dazz", this is Cube's scathing indictment of his former comrades in N.W.A., with Eazy E's manager/partner Jerry Heller getting an equal amount of venom- depending on how one interprets a line like "put a bullet in his temple" it can be seen as a mock-violent play on words or a call for ethnic hostility.
How To Survive In South Central- a limited-edition bonus track lifted from the Boyz N the Hood soundtrack album, Cube warns unhip visitors to South Central that this isn't the Southern California in the tour guides.

It didn't take long for Ice Cube to follow up to AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted (and Kill at Will). "Death Certificate" shows some slight changes and actually follows a loose concept on both sides of the album. Ice Cube explains it as: "The Death Side [tracks 1-11]: a mirror image of where we are today; The Life Side [12-20]: a vision of where we need to go." The Death Side takes on the gangster style, focusing on topics such as violence and drugs, while The Life Side laces the gangster style with a conscious style. Nonetheless, Ice Cube's lyrics tell stories about situations that are rampant on both sides. For example, "A Bird in the Hand" deals with the situations of making it on your own by selling drugs, because a criminal record that limits job opportunities makes it impossible to find a job that makes an affordable wage. Another example is "Look Who's Burnin", which tells about the spread of STD's in low income neighborhoods. I'm not going to spoil the whole record, but Ice Cube does prove a point with his lyrical content, despite accusations of racism with the track "Black Korea".

The production is quite different as well. No more East Coast styles of the Bomb Squad here. Instead, Sir Jinx, Boogiemen and Ice Cube produce the album with samples from soul and p-funk groups/artists such as James Brown and Parliament, thus you can safely said that it has the West Coast vibe of the early 90's. G-Funk? Not even close, wait another two years for that.

I believe that it's safe to say that "Death Certificate" is yet another classic for Ice Cube that still sounds pleasant even after over 15 years later. This shows that even a change in production can still make a classic album as long as it's done right, and it's definitely done right.

Before I end this review, the track "No Vaseline" is THE track that brought down N.W.A. Just listen to it and you'll see.

Reading through some of the 1 or 2 star reviews, I can understand some of the sentiments that are expressed. As an Asian American, the track "Black Korea" was initially offensive but then became intriguing in subsequent listens. So with a little research, I learned that the track was presumably inspired by a shooting of a teenage black girl by a Korean store owner. After reading about it, the track seemed more justified, and by that I don't mean it's okay to bash Asians, I only mean I can feel his raw emotion on the matter and see where he's coming from.. Keep in mind, I'm not establishing my position as saying it's either right or wrong. I can only speak for myself in that I've been in that frame of mind where my stream of consciousness goes beyond what is politically correct, and then did or said things out of angst or frustration. I've lashed out at blacks, whites, even other Asians and Asian Americans in the heat of the moment and reflectively regretted those choices later. And for that to be revealed, it is an artistic choice, in my opinion. These days, it seems like there is a thin line between creating and destroying, but it's hard to ignore how tongue-in-cheek Ice Cube is on various tracks on this album. Why is it OK for us to sing along to Eminem songs from the Marshall Mathers LP (which is a terrific album too in my opinion) where every other song uses the word "f_g" and yet chastise someone else for basically doing the same thing? Also, not many have thought about how much social consciousness one is aware of after listening to this album, especially for people who haven't lived through the turbulent lifestyle of someone who's lived either as a black man that is familiar with poverty-stricken areas. For me to have at least a slightly better understanding of that, at the expense of certain caucasians and authoritative figures, is a plus for me. In other words, it's more interesting to think about what MAKES Ice Cube says the things he says to the people he's lashing out at. Many of his tracks seem to make a blanket statement toward whites but who is he really targeting? Saying Ice Cube hates all white people (or even Korean people) is as naive/ignorant as saying Eminem hates gays. We may not all agree in the way that they express themselves through their music (and yes, it's music), but saying those things is definitely jumping to conclusions. When an album has a track as hilarious as "Man's Best Friend", how can you not laugh or how can you take someone so seriously when he is debating about whether a dog is a better tool than a gun? Other laugh out loud moments that Cube has given me is when he ruthlessly makes fun of aspects of hip hop: "I'm sick of that sh** listen to the hit/Cause yo if I look and see another brother/On the video tryin to out-dance each other/I'm a tell T-Bone to pass the bottle" (that was from AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted). In closing, I think Death Certificate is a product of non-sugar-coated visceral angst that is worth a listen if only for a different perspective and nothing else. What makes it powerful is that all of the rhymes seem so "in-the-moment", meaning he says things AS he feels them without censorship, something we'd all like to do sometimes.

Ice Cube straight up out did himself on this one. He was really up on how the world was shaping up to be. This to me was his best work and i own pretty much every cd he's ever done. This album probably ranks in the top 5 hip hop albums of all time.

Ice Cube good rapper derector and actor.

Cube at his finest, pure dope.

classic!

This CD both depicts as well as quells the inner in each of us!