Rap History Lessons

When Public Enemy’s Chuck D. printed “There’s no future without a past” on an album cover a decade ago, the rapper was talking about the importance of history in understanding racial politics. But the phrase applies equally to rap itself.

A sense of history is important in all art forms because it arms us with the standards of excellence needed to measure new works--and that perspective is especially important in a field that changes as rapidly as pop music.

If fans don’t demand the best from artists, it’s easy to end up with the most conventional music.

Because rap fans show so little interest in the music’s history, publications rarely examine its roots, even though rap has been the most consistently challenging creative force in pop during the last 20 years.

This absence of historical perspective leaves rap’s predominantly young fans easily taken in by the marketing of a Master P rather than drawn to the innovation of a Roots or an OutKast.

That void is the reason Ice Cube’s new “Greatest Hits” album stands out from the flood of hits packages this holiday season. It’s a reminder of how little attention is paid to rap’s history.

There are enough greatest-hits collections on the sales chart to fill most of a 50-disc CD changer, from Madonna (her second volume) to Green Day and the Smashing Pumpkins. But only two are tied to rap, whose young fans would rather save their money for the new Eminem or DMX album than invest in the past.

Rap musicians, however, know the value of listening to the masters--even Ice Cube, who is one of the masters himself.

“Musicians go back and check it out ‘cause that’s our schooling,” Cube says. “If you are going to do a record without studying, you’re crazy. Before I go into the studio, I’m going to listen to all the great albums--everything from the words to the construction of the beats--to see what made them great for that time so I can try to make something great for this time.”

Because of his success as a movie actor and as the writer-producer of the “Friday” series of film comedies, Ice Cube (real name O’Shea Jackson) may be better known today for his movies than for his music.

But there was a time a decade ago when his bold, uncompromising tales of inner-city life largely defined gangsta rap.

In recent years, gangsta rap has been turned into an ugly and cliched genre. But Cube’s music, both with the Compton group N.W.A and on his early solo albums, offered a frequently liberating and illuminating look at urban tensions and struggle.

For those intrigued by rap’s creative roots, Ice Cube, 32, shared his study list of albums during a break on the Burbank set of “Friday After Next,” picking his five essential works from rap’s first generation.

Run-DMC

Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels and Jason Mizell were prolific record makers who shared Chuck Berry’s ability to reflect the attitudes and language of young people. They helped rap forge an early link with rock through an inspired collaboration with Aerosmith on a remake of the band’s “Walk This Way.”

Ice Cube’s study list: “Run-DMC” (Profile, 1984).

“This isn’t as great as the [1986] ‘Raising Hell’ album, but it meant more to me because it was the first time you had all these great singles on one album. It stretched the imagination of everyone in rap by showing how much range there was in the music. I loved how Run-DMC took everyday things, like ‘My Adidas,’ or sayings, like ‘You Be Illin’,’ and turned them into songs. Their music was like someone turning a light on in a dark room and showing you a whole new world of possibilities.”

Public Enemy

If Run-DMC was rap’s Chuck Berry, Public Enemy’s Chuck D. was the music’s Bob Dylan and Bob Marley. Drawing from ‘60s black militancy, his raps struck out at oppressive social forces and challenged their victims to band together to overcome the problems. Spike Lee used Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” as the musical centerpiece of “Do the Right Thing,” his potent 1989 look at racial tension in a black neighborhood, and U2 took the group on tour.

Ice Cube’s study list: “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back” (Def Jam, 1988).

“Until Public Enemy, the music had mostly been about verbal battles between this crew and that crew, and about partying and women. ‘It Takes a Nation’ messes with your brain even to this day.... All the hectic rhymes. Chuck D. was letting you know the real deal about life in this country, speaking about blackness and what it means spiritually and what kind of defenses you need in this world being black. When I first heard ‘Bring the Noise,’ I couldn’t imagine a record being that good, that well-produced from top to bottom. To me, that album was the seed from which everything else in rap has grown.”

N.W.A

Rap’s first superstar rebels were young and fearless, adding a radicalism and danger to the music with its looks at inner-city tensions. The language was so explosive that an FBI agent accused the group of encouraging violence against law enforcement officers in one of its songs. Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, DJ Yella and MC Ren brought instant credibility to West Coast rap. As much as any other group, it shaped the sound of modern rap.

Ice Cube’s study list: “Straight Outta Compton” (Priority, 1989).

“We were just coming from the heart, not trying to be rebellious or dark, just trying to do exciting records. We loved good action movies, so we wanted a lot of drama, and there was a lot of gang violence in our neighborhood, so that tension got onto the record. In ‘F--- Tha Police,’ I was writing about my own feelings, my own experiences with police and things I had seen around the neighborhood. I remembered all the times I was pulled off my grass at home, told to walk out into the street, put my hands on the police car for no reason. I am still amazed at the impact that record had. If you look at rap today, I think N.W.A is still the foundation. If you think about the music as a pizza, we’d be the dough.”

Ice Cube

On his own, Cube created music that was more topical, accusatory and varied than his work with N.W.A. As revolutionary as the hard stuff, however, was the introduction of occasional tenderness--through such songs as “Dead Homiez” and “It Was a Good Day”--that most certainly encouraged such later hard-core rappers as Tupac Shakur to also examine life’s softer moments. His first three albums--”Amerikkka’s Most Wanted,” “Death Certificate” and “The Predator”--form one of the great trilogies of ‘90s pop.

Ice Cube’s study list: “Amerikkka’s Most Wanted” (Priority, 1990).

“I’d pick this one because it was the one that showed my direction, where I wanted to go after N.W.A. It also demonstrated that I would be OK on my own. I flew to the East Coast and got Public Enemy to work on the record with me. It was a sort of coming together of East Coast and West Coast, something that hadn’t been done. It felt like the Super Bowl of rap to me.”

Dr. Dre

Where Ice Cube was the lyrical catalyst behind N.W.A, Dre was the studio genius, and he later had a big effect by mixing hard-core rap and the melodic feel of R&B; in such tracks as “Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang” and “California Love.” Besides his brilliance as a producer, Dre also has a remarkable ear for new talent, introducing both Eminem and Snoop Dogg. You can see why the idea of a Dre-Cube reunion is so appealing to fans (both artists say it’s possible).

Ice Cube’s study list: “The Chronic” (Death Row, 1993).

“Dre did an amazing record. It was the first time a rap record was totally produced without samples. It showed producers you could do your own music. It was like saying, ‘Let’s get away from sampling and stop giving away a lot of money for no reason. Let’s become real musicians.’ When he brought in the melody of R&B;, it was like turning on another light.”

So how do these five artists or acts rate in the overall world of pop music?

Very high.

All rank among the two dozen most important forces of the last 20 years, some of them among the top 10. By speaking to young people with the same energy and relevance that mark the best rock, their music influences musicians today much the way Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan have influenced generations of musicians.

It’s a point that will be driven home over the next dozen or so years when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame begins welcoming many of these rappers as members. An act becomes eligible 25 years after its first recording.

The inductions are bound to be followed by cries of foul from rock fans, who will argue that rap has no place in a rock shrine. But that’s a ridiculous position.

The term rock ‘n’ roll has been expanded since the ‘50s to cover a much wider range of contemporary music than just the direct descendants of Presley and Berry.

Few rock observers would claim that Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Al Green, Bob Marley and Aretha Franklin weren’t worthy Hall of Fame choices, even though they were not rock artists by the strictest definition. They still reflected the commentary and passion of rock ‘n’ roll, and they inspired countless rock musicians and fans.

So do these rap figures.

The parade to the podium will begin in 2008, when Run-DMC becomes eligible.

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Ice Cube’s Historic 5

* Run-DMC, “Run-DMC”

* Public Enemy, “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back”

* N.W.A, “Straight Outta Compton”

* Ice Cube, “Amerikkka’s Most Wanted”

* Dr. Dre, “The Chronic”

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Robert Hilburn, the Times pop music critic, can be reached at robert. hilburn@latimes.com.