The 333 Best Pop Songs of the 2000s: #225

#225: "In the Late Night Hour" (2001) - Ice Cube

Sure, this record--the one new single from Ice Cube's 2001 greatest hits album--is only a compendium of, uh, Cube's greatest hits, lifts and twists from some of his most famous lines, and it's all braggadocio, and lyrically it's not very inspired, but the Neptunes provide some slinky funk, and they keep it fairly loose, not overwhelming the record, all of which provides Cube room to attack the mike like no other rapper this past decade. Sure, at this late date, especially after Cube has set up shop in Hollywood, the lines don't carry much bite (except for the ones about the cops that act differently toward him now), but Cube's bark is fierce enough to overcome whatevery lyrical weaknesses the record might have. When he's on his game, no other rapper--now or then, Chuck D. included--can forcefully and convincingly attack the mike the way Cube can. He spits, full-throat, and he never backs down. His righteous anger and spite and confidence seethes like no front man--no matter the genre--since Johnny Rotten thirty years ago. Cube's force of will holds sway to no one, and he proves it again on this record.