Formerly, rap was about life, social observations and street experience. Nowadays, it’s the other way around. It became more commercial, depicting glamorous lifestyles on body-rocking rhythms.

Hip hop artist Ice Cube wants to revive the good old rap days and reinstate the long-lost feelings with his eighth solo album named “Raw Footage.”

“This is uncut hip-hop for the brain, not the booty,” he said. The old “kind of music got put on the back burner and it became about what I call escapism rap. That’s where all you talk about is money, jewelry, clubs and women and don’t talk about the problems around you,” Ice Cube added, according to USA Today.

The rapper, whose real name is O’Shea Jackson, 39, has been very busy lately, as the fresh album comes in time with a major 22-city tour that commenced last week in Seattle and with Ice Cube’s leading role in “The Longshots,” a fresh production directed by Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst. The family drama is based on the real-life story of a young girl, Jasmine Plummer, who was the first female to enter Pop Warner history.

“Raw Footage” was released on the rapper’s independent Lench Mob Records and deals with various controversial issues, such as examining aggression from a victim’s perspective in “Why Me?” or disputing underprivileged people’s smugness in “Hood Mentality.”

In what concerns hip hop detractors, Ice Cube says: “Rap is a mirror. And if you’re ugly, you can’t blame the mirror.”

The artist recorded his first solo album in New York City with his group Da Lench Mob and the Bomb Squad. The result, “AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted,” released 18 years ago, was a blast, raising both Ice Cube’s and the music genre’s popularity.

He also appeared in various film productions such as the critically acclaimed “Three Kings,” starring alongside George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg, “Torque,” as well as “Are We There Yet?,” co-starring Nia Long.