We can answer this by analyzing the song, Today Was A Good Day:
"Just waking up in the mornin gotta thank God
I don't know but today seems kinda odd
No barkin from the dogs, no smog
And momma cooked a breakfast with no hog"
Well, he's clearly Christian, and God is uplifting. He's thrown off by the potential of the day, his street is silent for once and he can breath easily. His loving mother cooked him a delicious breakfast. This was NINETEEN years ago. So what has changed? Now he lives in a nice home in the hills, probably on a property with so much land even if his neighbors HAVE dogs he probably can't hear em.
"I gotta go cause I got me a drop top
And if I hit the switch, I can make the (bottom) drop
Had to stop, at a red light
Lookin in my mirror and not a jacker in sight
And everything is alright
I got a beep from Kim, and she can (do it) all night"
So here we can acertain that he's proud of his vehicle or "ride". He has hydraulics installed and can make the car move in a vertical motion. He's nervous because he's afraid that there might be a criminal behind him intent on robbing him of his possesion, however, there IS no "jacker" in sight. Moreover, Kim, a girl with whom he is intimately aquainted, has contacted him for what we can only assume will be a late-night game of strip-twister ...
So what's changed? Wellll.... now he can afford 50 "drop-tops" if he wanted to, and because he lives in a good neighborhood, he doesn't have to worry as much about crime. He's now married with children and its been shown that married people tend to be happier than single "players".
"Creep to the pad and hit the showers
Didn't even get no static from the cowards
Cause just yesterday them fools tried to blast me
Saw the police and they rolled right past me
No flexin, didn't even look in a brother's direction
as I ran the intersection
(...)
Plus nobody I know got killed in South Central L.A.
Today was a good day"
Here we can see in the lyrics that he spits, that his life is surrounded by violence and bigotry on all sides. He speaks of "haters" who are yellow-bellied good-for-nothings who tried to gang up on him not more than 24 hours ago, but today who scurry away like a pack of vermin. Another noteworthy event is the advantageous apathy of the local peace officers who, while not exemplifying due dilligence, allow Mr. Cube to make the honest mistake of not stopping at a red light. Lastly, and most importantly, is his declaration that not a single individual with whom Mr. Cube is aquainted with lost their lives on that auspicious day of days. He surmises that, today is, in fact, one of the better days in his life.
His success and wealth have allow Mr. Cube to move "up outta the ghetto" and establish a fruitful career as a musician and actor. No longer does he need to try to spot "jackers" or enter into fisticuffs (or worse, a gun-duel) with those who wear different "colors" than he. If he accidentally transgresses against the local vehicular laws and gets stopped by a "po-po", the officer is more likely to request an autograph than to beat him senseless. Now that he has millions he can afford the best health care for those he loves, staving off the cold hand of death. In a word, his life has transformed. Before it was a perpetual battle against foes both seen and unseen, from all avenues and which put him in a state of mind that was survivalistic bordering on nihilistic. Today he can sit beside his clean, olympic-sized pool with some Hennessy on the rocks, gaze into the loving eyes of his wife, chew on a "blunt" and watch his kids play and splash. He can look past his estate and down into the Los Angeles basin into the smoggy and gloomy pit-trap that was his stomping grounds of yesteryear. He can look into the past, look back to where he came from and be reminded of how far he's really come.
In short; he's just had a LOT more good days ...
Thank you.
Log in to comment