The Art of Storytelling: Once Upon A Time In The Projects

The year is 1990 and west coast Hip Hop superstar Ice Cube has just left the world’s most dangerous group, NWA. So after being offered help by the east coast powerhouse Public Enemy he goes to New York City to record his ambitious solo debut, Amerikkka’s Most Wanted. The album was heavy with subject matter about the struggle of the inner city, but was also littered with a great deal of humor added to its vivid storytelling. One of the best songs to display this quality of the album was “Once Upon A Time In The Projects”.

🎶Once upon a time in the projects, yo

I damn near had to wreck a ho

I knocked on the door (who is it?)

It's Ice Cube, come to pay a little visit to ya'

And what's up with the niggas in the parking lot

She said, "Fuck 'em, 'cause they get sparked a lot"

I sat on the couch but it wasn't stable

And then I put my Nike's on the coffee table🎶

So the story starts off with Ice Cube putting the listener in the first person point of view. It’s just another day in the projects and he’s looking to link up with this girl he met and and as he weaves through the rugged environment he spots a group of fellas getting high in the parking lot. When he enters the house he makes detail of the scenery. The couch is unstable, yet he kicks his feet up and makes hisself at home. The personalities that join him right after are what really kicks off the story.

🎶Her brother came in, he's into gang-bangin'

'Cause he walked up and said, "What set you claimin'?"

I don't bang, I write the good rhymes

The whole scenery reminded me of Good Times

I don't like to feel that I'm put in a rut

By a young nigga that needs to pull his pants up

He threw up a set and then he was gone

I'm thinkin' to myself, won't this bitch bring her ass on?🎶

While Cube is chilling in his new girl’s living room he’s immediately introduced to her family members starting with her younger brother. Right off the bat, Cube notices that this kid is a gang member because the young boy asked him what gang was he in or of he claimed one at all. Cube even comically acknowledges how the setting reminds him of the 70’s sitcom Good Times and he doesn’t like being given the third degree by this kid and hopes that the girl hurries up so they can leave.

🎶Her mother came in with a joint in her mouth

And fired up the sess, it was sess no doubt

She said, "Please excuse my house, " and all that

I said, "Yeah" 'cause I was buzzed from the contact

Lookin' at a fucked up black and white

Her mom's bitchin' cause the county check wasn't right

She had another brother that was three years old

And had a bad case of the runny nose

He asked me who I was, then I had to pause

It smelled like he took a shit in his little drawers

I saw her sister who really needs her ass kicked

Only 13 and already pregnant

I grabbed my 40 out the bag and took a swig

'Cause I was getting overwhelmed by BeBe Kids

They was runnin' and yellin' and playin' and cussin' and tellin'

And look at this young punk bailin'

I heard a knock on the door without the password

And her mom's got the 12 gauge Mossberg

The nigga said, "Yo, what's for sale?" (Yo, what's for sale, man?)

And the bitch came out with a bag of yayo

She made the drop and got the 20 dollars

From a smoked-out fool with ring around the collar

The girl I was waiting for came out

I said, "Bitch, I didn't know this was a crack house"

I got my coat, and suddenly🎶

The following moments are what really tear away at Cube’s nerves. Next up he’s introduced to his girl’s mother who is smoking a fat joint from which he catches a contact high. The girl’s little sister enters the picture much to Cube’s disgust as she is barely a teenager and is already pregnant. The ongoing ruckus in the house urges Cube to take a drink from his 40oz bottle of liquor. As if the hectic headache of the family wasn’t enough, Cube then hears a knock on the front door which turns out to be a drug addict looking to buy dope from his girl’s mother. It is in this moment that Cube realizes that he’s in a dope house and the disturbing realization urges him to leave, but before he gets the chance…

🎶The cop busted in and had a Mac-10 pointed at my dome

And I said to myself, "Once again, it's on"

He threw me on the carpet and wasn't cuttin' no slack

Jumped on my head and put his knee in my back

First he tried to slap me up, wrap me up, rough me up

They couldn't do it so they cuffed me up

I said, "fuck, how much abuse can a nigga take"

Hey yo, officer, you're making a big mistake

Since I had on a shirt that said I was dope

He thought I was selling base and couldn't hear my case

He said, "Get out my face" and musta had a grudge

His reply, "Tell that bullshit to the judge"

The girl I was with wasn't sayin' nothin'

I said, "Aiyyo bitch, you better tell 'em somethin'"

She started draggin' and all of a sudden

We all got tossed in the paddy wagon🎶

As Cube readies himself to leave the crack house he’s in gets raided by the cops. Cube gets a get pointed at him and gets arrested with the rest of the residents. He tries to explain to the cops, with no help from his girl that he is not apart of the dope house’s activities, but the cops don’t listen and he’s booked with every else. Cube eventually beats the charges though he still had to spend a couple of weeks in jail due to having warrants and concludes his story by telling the listener to steer clear of a girl from the projects.

Everything about this song is pure storytelling gold. Between Cube’s humorous subtext added to what would normally be considered a chain of dangerous events to him documenting all the minor details about inner city life that anyone from the projects can relate to, you can imagine this song as being your favorite hood movie being rapped over a funky beat produced by Public Enemy’s Bomb Squad production team. For those reasons do we see why Cube is one of Hip Hop’s greatest storytellers and this song truly embodies the art of storytelling.

🎶We all got tossed in the paddy wagon

Now I beat the rap but that ain't the point

I had a warrant, so I spent two weeks in the joint

Now the story you heard has one little object

Don't fuck with a bitch from the projects🎶