Some nerd figured out what day Ice Cube was referring to when he mentioned “TODAY was a good day” in his hit 1993 rap song.  Through clues in his song and deductive reasoning, Donovan Strain, was able to narrow down the exact day Cube was referring to.  Explanation below:

CLUE 1:
“went to short dogs house,
they was watching Yo MTV
RAPS”
Yo MTV RAPS first aired:
Aug 6th 1988

CLUE 2:
Ice Cubes single “today was a good day” released on:
Feb 23 1993

CLUE 3:
”The Lakers beat the Super Sonics”
Dates between Yo MTV Raps air date AUGUST 6 1988 and the release of the single FEBRUARY 23 1993 where the Lakers beat the Super Sonics:
Nov 11 1988    114-103
Nov 30 1988    110-106
Apr    4 1989    115-97
Apr  23 1989    121-117
Jan  17 1990    100-90
Feb  28 1990    112-107
Mar  25 1990    116-94
Apr  17  1990    102-101
Jan  18  1991    105-96
Mar  24  1991    113-96
Apr  21  1991    103-100
Jan  20  1992    116-110

CLUE 4:
Dates of those Laker wins over SuperSonics where it was a clear day with no Smog:
Nov 30 1988
Apr   4  1989
Jan 18  1991
Jan 20  1992

CLUE 5:
“Got a beep from Kim, and
she can fuck all night”
beepers weren’t adopted by mobile phone companies until the 1990s. Dates left where mobile beepers were availible to public:
Jan 18 1991
Jan 20 1992

CLUE 6:
Ice Cube starred in the film “Boyz in the hood” that released late Summer of 1991, but was being filmed mid-late 1990 early 1991 and Ice Cube was busy on set filming the movie Jan 18 1991 too busy to be lounging around the streets with no plans. Ladies and Gentlemen..

The ONLY day where:
Yo MTV Raps was on air
It was a clear and smogless day
Beepers were commercially sold
Lakers beat the SuperSonics
and Ice Cube had no events to attend was…

JANUARY 20 1992: National Good Day Day

 

Seems like a bit of overkill to me.  I was able to figure this out with one clue alone…  in the 4th line of the lyrics Ice Cube mentions that “mama cooked the breakfast with no hog”.  A quick call to Doris Jackson (Cube’s mama) and she definitely remembered that particular Monday morning in Jan of 92 that she did not cook the breakfast with any hog.  Apparently the ABC Market where Doris did her weekly shopping had a shortage of pork products that week as two of the employees were caught smoking weed and having sex in the freezer on top of meat which then had to be thrown out.  She knows this because she goes to church with the the ABC Market butcher, Roscoe Williams who told her in confidence.  She said, the only reason she is saying it now, is because it is not like Roscoe could lose his job or anything.  That ABC shut down just a few short months later during the Rodney King riots due to heavy looting and damage.

Doris was quick to talk to me about this particular morning as “she has always wanted to set the story straight about that morning!”, according to her.  She said she had always felt that it was unfair for O’Shea (Ice’s first name) to not mention that while there was “no hog” she did make some chicken instead that morning.  He could have easily added a line about how, “there was chicken and eggs, cuz there was no hog”, said Doris.  “I just don’t want people thinking I wasn’t feeding my baby or being a good mom!”  She was able to accurately confirm that date, confirming  Donovan Strain’s long winded explanation.