“No Vaseline” is Ice Cube’s diss track about his former group N.W.A and their manager, Jerry Heller.
Cube left N.W.A in 1989 over financial issues, and the group took shots at him on their 1990 EP 100 Miles & Runnin' and their 1991 album Niggaz4Life, particularly on their songs “Real Niggaz” and “Message to B.A..”
Producer Sir Jinx revealed the following information about the creation of the song:
We had “No Vaseline” in AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted—he just didn’t put it on the record. Then we did Kill At Will. And then [N.W.A.] started dissin’ Cube, and then that’s why we [said], “It ain’t over!” And that’s the last song on Death Certificate, ’cause we never wanted to beef with [Dr.] Dre and them. It wasn’t like that. The crowd saw it like that, but it was not like that. It was only [Ice Cube standing up for himself].
On “No Vaseline,” Cube responds and addresses Eazy-E and Jerry Heller with particularly harsh words, accusing them of unfairly exploiting the group. He refers to Heller as a “Jew,” and suggests that the group murder him—a move that motivated a prominent Jewish Rights Organization to boycott Cube’s music.
Cube’s wordplay, airing of dirty laundry, and passionate anger made “No Vaseline” one of the most celebrated battle rap songs ever. The song’s beat was produced by Cube and Sir Jinx, who sampled “Dazz” by ’70s funk band Brick.
N.W.A. never responded to “No Vaseline.” About a year after the song was released, the group effectively broke up when Dre left Ruthless Records for many of the same reasons Cube did.
Dre (and Snoop Doggy Dogg) responded to Cube on 1993’s “Fuck Wit Dre Day (And Everybody’s Celebratin’)”:
Then we gonna creep to South Central
On a street knowledge mission as I steps in the temple
Spot him, got him, as I pulls out my strap
Got my chrome to the side of his White Sox hat
You trying to check my homey, you better check yourself
Cause when you diss Dre you diss yourself, motherfucker
“No Vaseline” was later included on the Death Row Greatest Hits album, after Dre had split with the label. It’s widely believed Suge Knight released the track (and a related EP) as a dig at his ex-partner. The Death Row version omits the minute long intro and censors the word “Jew.” For similar reasons, the UK release of Death Certificate omitted the song altogether.
In the 2015 biopic Straight Outta Compton, “No Vaseline” is prominently featured in a particularly memorable scene that shows Eazy, Dre, Ren, Yella, and Jerry Heller reacting to hearing the song for the first time. Sir Jinx spoke further about Dre’s reaction:
Me and Dre done talked about it, and a couple of niggas got they ass whooped playing that song. You pulled up to Dre playin’ around…he might drag you out that car, jack. But, you know, [Dr. Dre is] my cousin—and you know I had the #1 song in [the movie] Straight Outta Compton, so it’s over with, you know?