street knowledge" and "achieves an almost George Clinton-esque sense of celebratory freakiness". "There's a rule in music journalism at the moment", observed the hip-hop fanzine Louder Than A Bomb!. "It says that every Ice-T/N.W.A./Ice Cube record must be described as something like 'a grisly and uncompromising portrait of life in the ghetto'… O.G. was the last. Death Certificate is the next. [But] you can't shut your eyes while listening and imagine the ghetto. It's just a lot of songs about shooting, shagging and N.W.A." Death Certificate received a meager $18,000 promotion budget, and neither of its singles, "Steady Mobbin'" and "True to the Game", received much airplay, although they did receive music video treatment. Accolades Ranked #8 in MTV's Greatest Hip-Hop Albums of All Time list in 2005 Included in The Sources 100 Best Rap Albums list in 1998 Ranked #17 in The Sources The Critic's Top 100 Black Music Album's of All Time list in 2006 Ranked #12 in About.com's 100 Greatest Hip-Hip Albums list in 2008 Ranked #5 in ego trips Hip Hop's 25 Greatest Albums by Year 1980–98 list in 1999 Ranked #20 in Dance De Lux'''s 25 Best Hip-Hop Records list in 2001 Ranked #16 in The Village Voices Best Albums of the Year list in 1991 Ranked #37 in New Musical Expresss Best Albums of the Year list in 1991 Ranked #8 in Hip Hop Connections reader-voted The Phat FortyIncluded in Vibes 100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century in 1999 Included in Rhapsody's list of the top "coke rap" albums of all time in 2010. Commercial performance Death Certificate debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 105,000 copies in its first week. This became Ice Cube's first US top-ten debut. The album also debuted at number one on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. On December 20, 1991, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of over a million copies. It was certified only two months after the album was released. As of March 2020, the album has sold over two million copies in the United States. On September 4, 2015, Death Certificate went back on the Billboard 200 chart and ranked at number 99 with 14,000 sales in that week; also, Greatest Hits and AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted came back on the Billboard 200 in that week with Greatest Hits charting at