F minor · Camelot 4A · 82 BPM
It Was a Good Day
by Ice Cube
- 82
- BPM
- F minor
- Key
- 4A
- Camelot
- 80
- Danceability
- 33
- Acousticness
DJ Pooh produced "It Was a Good Day", building the track around a sample of the Isley Brothers song "Footsteps in the Dark, Pts. 1 & 2" and adding bass and vocals to the production. The song, credited to Ice Cube, also sampled The Moments' "Sexy Mama". Released on February 23, 1993, by Lench Mob and Priority, it was the second single from Ice Cube's third solo album, The Predator, and peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100, his highest-charting single on that chart to date. It reached No. 7 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and No. 27 in the UK.
Ice Cube recorded a demo at his home studio in 1992 and cut the album version at Echo Sound Studios, where it was among the first ideas for the record. He said the inspiration was his life at the time, explaining that after the riots people expected him to address the turmoil, but he wanted to rap about the good days he had experienced.
The lyrics describe a pleasant day, mentioning the Los Angeles Lakers beating the Seattle SuperSonics and clear air in Los Angeles. F. Gary Gray directed the music video, which first aired in March 1993 and follows the song's narrative, ending with Ice Cube surrounded by police and onscreen text reading "To Be Continued...", setting up the single "Check Yo Self".
It Was a Good Day runs at 82 BPM, the tempo of boom-bap hip-hop, reggae and slow R&B. In classical terms it sits in andante territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 2.93 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 732 ms. It is in F minor, Camelot 4A, which shares its notes with Ab major and mixes cleanly with Bb minor and C minor.
We use multiple sources as part of our online research for the song story including Wikipedia.