At odds with their manager Jerry Heller over alleged fiscal improprieties, Ice Cube bailed from N.W.A following a riotous show in Detroit. Before the dust even had time to settle the west coast gangsta rap pioneer was back with his solo debut AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted. His decision to work with New York’s premium sound collagists the Bomb Squad (after Eazy-E vetoed Dr Dre providing beats), came with a much deeper political edge, epitomised by A-side ‘Endangered Species’. A super-punchy, prophetic tale of Los Angeles street strife, with a typically fierce Chuck D cameo, an air of resignation hung heavily over Cube’s words as he observed: “It’s a shame that niggas die young/But to the light side it don’t matter none.” Among his most quietly powerful solo moments, non-album B-side ‘Dead Homiez’ dug deeper still, describing the very real downside of those ongoing tensions via its sombre depiction of a funeral. A moving lament for his friend T-Bone, assembled over the hook from Dr John’s ‘Right Place, Wrong Time’, Cube told west coast rap authority Brian Coleman it “was easy to write just because it was so personal.” Fittingly, it’s the small observations that that cut deep – Cube pondering “How strong can you be when you see your pops crying?” – over wonderfully poised production (presumably by Sir Jinx, but uncredited) that elegantly interpolates Smokey Robinson’s ‘Do Like I Do’. Cube would reprise its intimate, conversational feel for 1993 crossover hit ‘It Was A Good Day’.