The Predator

Released within months of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, the album comments on racial tension throughout. The title refers in part to the film Predator 2, and the album uses samples from it. We Had to Tear This Mothafucka Up is aimed at the officers acquitted in the Rodney King trial, and Who Got the Camera? imagines a black man subjected to police brutality. Now I Gotta Wet 'Cha is the source of the phrase it's on like Donkey Kong, which Nintendo trademarked in 2010. DJ Muggs produced that song, We Had to Tear This Mothafucka Up and Check Yo Self with Cube, DJ Pooh produced The Predator and It Was a Good Day, Sir Jinx produced Who Got the Camera? and Say Hi to the Bad Guy, and Torcha Chamba and Cube produced Wicked. Singles were Wicked (3 November 1992), It Was a Good Day (23 February 1993) and Check Yo Self (13 July 1993).

It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 193,000 copies in its first week, his first US number one, and also topped the R&B/Hip-Hop albums chart. It reached 73 in the UK and was 24th on the Billboard 200 year-end chart for 1993. The RIAA certified it double platinum on 16 November 2001, and it had sold 2.2 million copies in the US by January 2003. Entertainment Weekly gave it an A minus and called the songs about the perils of everyday South Central life his strongest, most cohesive work yet. The Los Angeles Times gave it three stars: it began by saying the album loomed as the most important of the year in the city, though it felt Cube wasted too much of the 60 minutes, and it called the title track, Who Got the Camera? and We Had to Tear This Mothafucka Up the cuts that made it essential listening. Spin said it demands to be heard. It is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.