The Predator

The Predator is the third studio album by Ice Cube. Released within months of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, many songs comment on the racial tensions. The title is in part reference to the movie Predator 2, and the album itself includes samples from the film. Though not his most critically successful album, commercially The Predator is Ice Cube’s most successful album, reaching double platinum status in the United States, and it contains his most well-known single, “It Was a Good Day.” The Predator is his only number one album on the Billboard 200 to date, selling 193,000 copies in its first week. It has sold 2,210,283 to date, according to Nielsen Soundscan. In the opening song, “When Will They Shoot,” Ice Cube addressed criticisms of anti-Semitism he received for his last effort, Death Certificate: Elsewhere “We Had to Tear This Mothafucka Up” is directed at the LA Police officers acquitted in the Rodney King trial; an event that ignited the 1992 LA Riots. The similarly themed “Who Got the Camera?” imagines a scenario in which a Black man is subjected to police brutality. The songs are broken up by interludes involving interviews with Ice Cube and what appears to be a debate between members of a congregation or talk-show audience