This article is about the rapper and actor. For the item see ice cube. For other uses, see Ice cube (disambiguation).

Ice Cube
Ice Cube performing in Toronto, 2006.
Background information
Birth name	O’Shea Jackson
Born	June 15 1969 (1969–) (age 38)
Origin	South Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genre(s)	West Coast hip hop, Gangsta rap, Political rap
Occupation(s)	Rapper, Record producer, Actor, Screenwriter, Film Director, Film producer
Years active	1986-present
Label(s)	Ruthless Priority Lench Mob Virgin
Associated acts	C.I.A. N.W.A. Public Enemy Westside Connection Da Lench Mob Snoop Dogg DJ Crazy Toones WC
Website	www.icecube.com

O’Shea Jackson (born June 15, 1969 in South Central, Los Angeles) better known by his stage name, Ice Cube, is an American rapper, actor and film director. Regarded as one of the greatest hip hop artists,^[1][2] he began his career as a founding member of the famously controversial rap group N.W.A., and later launched a successful solo career in music and cinema. In 1992, he married Kim Jackson, with whom he has four children.^[3] Later, in 1992, he converted to Islam shia.^[4] From the mid-1990s onwards, Cube focused on acting, and his musical output has slowed down considerably. He remains one of the most visible West Coast rappers, having helped originate gangsta rap. He is particularly well-known for his incendiary raps on political and racial topics, particularly the treatment of blacks in the United States.

Life and career

Early life

Ice Cube was born as O’Shea Jackson to Doris Benjamin, a hospital clerk, and Andrew Jackson, who later worked at UCLA.^[5] He was born and raised in South Central Los Angeles. At age sixteen, he developed an interest in hip hop music, and began writing raps in Taft High School‘s keyboarding class.^[5] He attended the Phoenix Institute of Technology in the fall of 1987, and studied Architectural Drafting.^[6] With friend Sir Jinx, Cube formed the C.I.A., and they performed at parties hosted by Dr. Dre.

N.W.A.

In 1987 Cube and Dr. Dre released the EP My Posse, under the alias CIA. After the collaboration, Cube showed Eazy-E the lyrics to “Boyz-n-the-Hood“. Eazy-E eventually recorded the song, which debuted on N.W.A. and the Posse, the debut N.W.A. album.

By this point Cube was a full-time member of N.W.A. along with Dr.Dre and (to a lesser extent) MC Ren. Cube wrote Dr. Dre and Eazy-E’s rhymes for the group’s landmark album, Straight Outta Compton, released in 1988. However, as 1990 approached, Cube found himself at odds with the group’s manager, Jerry Heller, after Heller responded to the group’s financial questions by drafting up a new arrangement. As he explains in his book:

“Heller gave me this contract, and I said I wanted a lawyer to see it. He almost fell out of his chair. I guess he figure, how this young muthafucka turn down all this money? [$75,000] Everybody else signed. I told them I wanted to make sure my shit was right first.”^[7]

Since Cube wrote the lyrics to approximately half of both Straight Outta Compton, and Eazy-E’s solo album, Eazy-Duz-It, Cube was advised of the amounts he was truly owed by Heller, and proceeded to take legal action, soon after leaving the group. In response, the remaining N.W.A. members attacked Cube on the EP 100 Miles and Runnin’, as well as their next and final album, Efil4zaggin.

Solo career

Cube recorded his debut solo album in New York City, with his group Da Lench Mob, and the Bomb Squad (Public Enemy‘s production team). AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted was released in 1990 and was an instant hit, riding and contributing to the rising tide of rap’s popularity in mainstream society. The album was charged with controversy, and Cube was accused of misogyny, and anti-white racism.

Cube subsequently appointed the female rapper Yo-Yo (who appeared on AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted) to the head of his own record label and helped produce her debut album, Make Way for the Motherlode. This was followed by a critically acclaimed role as ‘Doughboy‘ in John Singleton‘s hood-based drama, Boyz N the Hood. The film began the rapper’s increasing tendency to star in action movies as time went on.

In the same year as AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted, Cube released the acclaimed EP, Kill At Will. Kill At Will sold well becoming the first hip hop EP to go both Gold and Platinum.

Cube’s 1991 follow-up, Death Certificate was regarded as more focused, yet even more controversial, and critics accused him again of being [anti-white, anti-female, and anti-Semitic. The album is thematically divided into the 'Death Side' ("a vision of where we are today") and the 'Life Side' ("a vision of where we need to go"). It features "No Vaseline," a scathing response to N.W.A.'s attacks and "Black Korea," a track regarded by some as prophetic of the L.A. riots, but also interpreted as racist by many; it was still being cited years after its release.^[8] Cube toured with Lollapalooza in 1992, which widened his fan base ^[4]. Also during that year, he converted to Islam.

I ask whether – having converted in the early 90s – he’s still muslim himself. “Yeah. Oh yeah.” And still involved with islam, the militant faction he once called “the best place for any young black male”? This time he hesitates. “Ah, when you say involved with the muslims, it’s tricky. I never was in islam… I mean, what I call myself is a natural muslim, ’cause it’s just me and God. You know, going to the mosque, the ritual and the tradition, it’s just not in me to do. So I don’t do it.“^[4].

Cube released The Predator in November 1992, which had been recorded amidst the LA uprising of 1992. Referring specifically to the riots, in the first single, “Wicked”, Cube rapped “April 29 was power to the people and we might just see a sequel”. The Predator debuted at number one on both the pop and R&B charts, the first album in history to do so. Singles from The Predator included “It Was a Good Day” and the “Check Yo Self” remix, and the songs had a two part music video. The album remains Cube’s most successful release, with over three million copies sold in the US. However, after The Predator, Cube’s rap audience slowly began to diminish. Lethal Injection which was released in the end of 1993 and represented Cube’s first attempt at imitating the G-Funk sound of Dr. Dre’s The Chronic, wasn’t well received by critics, though fans have come to cite it as some of his best works. He had more successful hits from Lethal Injection, including “Really Doe“, “Bop Gun (One Nation)“, “You Know How We Do It” & “What Can I Do?”. Following the busy year of 1994, he took a hiatus from music and concentrated on film work and developing the careers of other rap musicians, such as Mack 10, and Mr. Short Khop.and the classic single “Today Was a Good Day”.

In 1998, Cube released his long-awaited solo album, War & Peace Volume 1. The delayed second part, War & Peace Volume 2, was released in 2000. The albums featured appearances from Westside Connection as well as a reunion with fellow N.W.A. members, Dr. Dre and MC Ren, though many fans maintained that the two albums weren’t on par with his past work, especially the second volume.

In 2000 Cube also joined Dr. Dre, Eminem & Snoop Dogg on the Up In Smoke Tour.

In 2006, Ice Cube released his 8th solo album, Laugh Now, Cry Later, on his Da Lench Mob Records label, debuting at number four on the Billboard Charts and selling 144,000 units in the first week.^[9] The album featured production from Lil Jon and Scott Storch, who produced the lead single “Why We Thugs“.

Westside Connection

In 1994, Cube formed Westside Connection with Mack 10, and WC, and together they released an album called Bow Down. Most of the album was used to engage in the war of words between the East and West Coasts of the 90s. The album’s eponymous single reached number twenty-one on the singles charts, and the album itself was certified Platinum by the end of 1996.

With Bow Down, Westside Connection brought their own agenda to the hip hop scene. Ice Cube, Mack 10, and WC had grown tired of being overlooked by most East Coast media outlets; the album was designed to instill a sense of pride in West Coast rap fans and to start a larger movement that anyone who felt underappreciated might identify with. Songs like “Bow Down” and “Gangstas Make the World Go ‘Round” make reference to this.

After a seven-year hiatus, Westside Connection returned with their second effort Terrorist Threats in 2003. The album fared well critically, but its commercial reception was less than that of Bow Down. “Gangsta Nation” was the only single released from the album, which featured Nate Dogg and was a radio hit. After a rift occurred between Cube and Mack 10, regarding Cube’s commitments to film work rather than touring with the group, Westside Connection disbanded. WC, however is still friends with Ice Cube and is planning a new solo album on Lench Mob Records entitled Guilty by Affiliation in August 16 2007.

Collaborations and film work

In 1992, while taking a break from his own output, Cube assisted on debut albums from Da Lench Mob (Guerillas in tha Mist, 1992) and Kam (Neva Again, 1993), both of which enjoyed critical acclaim and some moderate commercial success. He handled most of the production on ‘Guerillas in tha Mist.

In 1993, Lench Mob member, J-Dee, was sentenced to life imprisonment for attempted murder, and Cube did not produce their next album, Planet of tha Apes. Around this time in 1993, Cube also worked with Tupac Shakur on his album Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z., appearing on the track “Last Words” with Ice-T. He also did a song with Dr. Dre for the first time since he left N.W.A.: “Natural Born Killaz“, for the Murder Was The Case soundtrack, and also contributed to the Office Space soundtrack. Cube appeared on the song “Children Of The Korn” by the nu-metal band Korn, and lent his voice to British DJ Paul Oakenfold‘s solo debut album, Bunkka, on the track “Get Em Up”.

Mike Epps (left) and Ice Cube (right) in Next Friday

Following his role as ‘Doughboy’ in Boyz n the Hood, in 1992 he starred alongside Ice-T, and Bill Paxton in Walter Hill‘s action film, Trespass, and then in The Glass Shield.

John Singleton had encouraged Cube to try his hand at screenwriting, telling him, “if you can write a record, you can write a movie.”^[10] With this encouragement, Ice Cube wrote the screenplay for what became the 1995 comedy Friday, in which he also starred, alongside then-upcoming comedian Chris Tucker. Friday became a hit, earning $28 million worldwide on a $3.5 million budget.

That year he also starred in his second collaboration with John Singleton, Higher Learning, as world-weary university student, “Fudge”; a role for which he earned award nominations.

He had a supporting role in 1997′s Anaconda. He wrote, executive produced, and made his directorial debut in The Players Club in 1998, and in 1999, starred alongside George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg in the critically acclaimed Three Kings. In 2000, he wrote and appeared in the Friday sequel Next Friday. In 2002, Ice Cube starred in the commercially successful movie Barbershop, as well as All About the Benjamins and the third film in the Friday trilogy, Friday after Next (which he again wrote). In 2004, he appeared in Barbershop 2: Back in Business, and Torque. In 2005, Ice Cube starred in the action movie XXX: State of the Union and then alongside Nia Long in the family comedy, Are We There Yet?.

In early April 2007 Ice Cube was a guest on Angie Martinez’ Hot97 radio show and stated that he was interested in bringing back Chris Tucker as Smokey in a possible Friday sequel, but that was only possible if “New Line cuts the check.”^[11] In an interview with BlackFilm.com, Ice Cube stated that he would be interested in involving all major characters from the Friday franchise in a possible sequel, but added “I know I’m not going to get Chris [Tucker] back, but I’d love to get everybody else back.”^[12]

In the Movies is a compilation album of Ice Cube songs that have appeared in movie soundtracks, which was released on September 4, 2007. ^[13]

Recent years

In 2004, his hit singles “Check Yo Self”, “It Was a Good Day” and affiliated song “Guerrillas in tha Mist” with Da Lench Mob appeared on popular video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas playing on fictional radio stations. Also, the brother of the main character “CJ”, “Sweet”, was possibly influenced by and modeled on Ice Cube.

In late 2005, Ice Cube and Emmy Award winning film maker R. J. Cutler, teamed up to create the six-part documentary series titled Black. White., which was broadcast on cable network FX. Cube’s upcoming movie projects include The Extractors and Teacher of the Year, scheduled to be released in 2006. Cube has also begun production on Are We Done Yet?, the sequel to 2005s Are We There Yet?.^[14]

He has also signed on to star in and produce Welcome Back, Kotter, a big screen adaptation of the 1970s television series.^[15] Cube will play the title character, who was originally portrayed by Gabe Kaplan. Cube’s film company, Cube Vision Productions, has sealed a deal with Dimension Films to bring the show to the big screen.

In an interview in London, he revealed he is in talks of a collaboration with Gorillaz after speaking to front man Damon Albarn.^[16]

In October 2006, Ice Cube was an honoree at VH1′s Annual Hip Hop Honors. Ice Cube was honored by Xzibit, Lil Jon and W.C from the Westside Connection, all hitting the stage to perform some of Cube’s classic tracks, and Ice Cube also performed “Why We Thugs” and “Go To Church” from his latest album, Laugh Now, Cry Later, where the strong N.Y.C crowd were greeted with Cube’s vintage Cali sound.

Father of four, Cube was asked by Fresh Air‘s Terry Gross to provide some perspective on the relationship between his work and his family. When asked whether or not he allowed his children to listen to his music, he responded: “What’s worked for me is instilling in my kids a level of self-respect,” helping them to understand the content of not just music but the violence found on the evening news. When asked what he tells his children about profanity, he recalled telling his kids that there are “appropriate times to use any kind of language…. Adults should never hear you use these words. If you want to use these words around your friends, that’s really on you.” ^[5]

After, launching his new come-back album “Laugh Now, Cry Later”, Ice Cube has been touring right-across the world, to promote the new album. The Tour is known as “Straight Outta Compton Tour”, and accompanying him along the way is his fellow friend and rapper WC from the Westside Connection. Some places he has toured, include Europe, like at the Paradiso Arena in Amsterdam, and in various venues in England. After touring all over the US and Europe, his next destination was to the Asia/Oceania area, countries including Australia, New Zealand and Japan. He performed, all around Australia, with his vintage no holds barred West side Cali Sound, from the memorable 3 shows in Sydney at the Enmore Theatre, to The Forum arena in Melbourne. After, finishing with Australia, he headed to Japan.

Helter Skelter Project

After Dr. Dre left N.W.A. and Ruthless Records, he and Cube fostered a brief reunion. They planned a new project together, Helter Skelter, also to include appearances by MC Ren and Snoop Dogg with writing from The D.O.C.. Tiring of his label’s gangster rap image, Dre admonished Cube to follow an “end of the world type of [concept]“. When reporters asked the pair what they were working on in Dre’s studio, they joked N.W.E. – Niggaz Without Eazy.

The two quickly recorded a heavily P-Funk-influenced song with George Clinton called “You Can’t See Me”; the song would later be taken by Suge and used for 2Pac‘s Death Row debut, which Dre had been neglecting. Dre instead began work on beats for Helter Skelter, bouncing concepts off of an increasingly disgruntled D.O.C. who, despite severed vocal cords and Dre’s advice, wanted to rap. Eventually he got fed up and moved out of Dre’s house to Atlanta, taking his possessions with him – as well as the reels of music – to record his own version of Helter Skelter. With other personal and business commitments by Dre, work on the album trailed off and eventually stopped. ^[17]

Controversy

Accusations of racism

On 1991′s Death Certificate, Ice Cube made racist remarks in three songs: “Black Korea“, “No Vaseline” and “Horny Lil’ Devil.” In “Black Korea”, he attacks Korean store owners for allegedly racist attitudes toward black people, such as suspecting blacks of violent and criminal proclivities. Anthony Choe dissects Ice Cube’s lyrics and his response to criticism in his essay Ice Cube’s ‘Black Korea’: Racially Charged Rap:

The message that Ice Cube conveys in “Black Korea” is not completely accurate, even in his own estimation. He admits that the song contains generalizations made for greater impact: “‘Black Korea’ is my observation on the situation of how some Korean businesses treat black customers,” he explains. “I can understand how some people hear my records on the wrong level. I mean, rap is more of a bragging thing. You don’t make rap records that say, “Yo, I’m mad, so I’m gonna bring financial pressure on you.” His motive is to elicit a response from the black community, not to terrorize all Korean grocers. In his attempt to heighten black awareness, however, Ice Cube unnecessarily detracts from the Korean Community. His lyrics are not only degrading, but they project as general truths what he admits are isolated incidents. Rather than fostering knowledge and concern, they incite undue anger and suspicion.^[18]

Ice Cube made anti-Semitic remarks in “No Vaseline”, with two lyrics that refer to N.W.A.‘s manager Jerry Heller: “you let a Jew break up my crew” and “you can’t be the Nigga 4 Life crew with a white Jew tellin’ you what to do.” He made anti-white comments throughout “Horny Lil’ Devil”, mocking the sexual prowess of white men and women. Ice Cube’s 1993 song “Cave Bitch” was an all-out attack on white women, with an introduction performed by Khalid Abdul Muhammad; in which he states:

Give me a black goddess sister I can’t resist her. No stringy haired, blond hair, blue eyed, pale skinned buttermilk complexion. Grafted, recessive, depressive, ironing board backside straight up and straight down. No frills, no thrills, Miss six o’clock, subject to have the itch, mutanoid, Caucasoid, white cave bitch…^[19]

N.W.A.

Things started between him and his old rap group when Cube found out he was not being compensated for the lyrics he wrote for the smash hit albums Straight Outta Compton and Eazy Duz It. According to Cube the groups manager Jerry Heller and Eazy-E, the founder, were stealing money from the group. As a result he left the group to record his debut solo Amerikkka’s Most Wanted. On the intro of the track “Turn Off The Radio” he addresses in what he believes to be a sell out with no direct references to the group or their manager. The group however insulted him on the title track of their EP 100 Miles and Runnin. This led Ice Cube to respond to N.W.A. on his own EP Kill At Will on the track “Jackin For Beats”. As a retaliation, N.W.A. responded on several tracks on their next album Efil4zaggin with “Always Into Somethin”, “Message To B.A.”, and the vicious track “Real Niggaz”. In the fall of December Ice Cube released his second solo LP Death Certificate which had Cube’s response, the scathing “No Vaseline“. N.W.A. never responded to the track, as they broke up over money issues, something Cube had forewarned. Ice Cube later reunited with some of the members to do songs in later years.

Common

Cube began a feud with Chicagoan rapper Common over the rapper’s 1994 single “I Used to Love H.E.R..” Common’s lyrics on the song deal with the degradation of hip hop music and specifically reference West Coast hip hop‘s negative influence and the movie Boyz n the Hood. With his Westside Connection cohorts, Mack 10 and WC, Cube recorded the song “Westside Slaughterhouse“, which coincidently was their first track together. The song contained the following lines directed at Common:

Used to love her, mad cause we fucked her

Pussy whipped bitch with no common sense

Hip hop started in the west,

Ice Cube bellin’ through the East without a vest

Common responded with “The Bitch in Yoo“, claiming various things about Cube: he hadn’t made a “dope” album since AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted, he rapped over too many George Clinton-sampling beats and he hypocritically postured as a gangster and Nation of Islam member simultaneously. The song also claims that Ice Cube sold out fellow rappers Threat and Kam. Soon afterward, Louis Farrakhan called the two to a sit-down to negotiate a truce. Nas references this feud on his song “Star Wars.”

Cypress Hill family

L.A. group Cypress Hill also had a feud with Ice Cube when they felt that Ice Cube had taken the chorus from the song “Throw Your Set in the Air” for the song “Friday”. Cypress Hill released a diss track entitled “No Rest For the Wicked”, which among other things, took shots at Ice Cube for using pictures of an ornate marijuana pipe that had belonged to DJ Muggs for the cover of his album The Predator despite not smoking marijuana at that time. Ice Cube and the Westside Connection retaliated with ” King of the Hill“, & ” Cross Em Out & Put a K”, to which Cypress Hill responded with “Ice Cube Killa”. In 1997 B-Real of Cypress Hill and Ice Cube were invited to a late night talk show in order to reconcile their differences for the benefit of the hip hop community, and the feud thus ended. Cube And B-Real would work together later that year as guest features on the track “Men of Steel” for the soundtrack of Shaquille O’Neal‘s film Steel. B-Real and Cube did even feature as guests in Warren G‘s single “Get U Down” which also featured Snoop Dogg.

Kam

Ice Cube had a falling out with his cousin KAM due to personal issues, such as when Cube started representing the Westside as Kam was from the Eastside of L.A. as well as for not giving him thanks and credit for using his connections to protect him when L.A. gang members were after him from his role as the gang member Doughboy in the film Boyz N The Hood which led to Kam releasing the venomous diss track “Whoop Whoop”, as well as an altercation that led to the theft of Ice Cube’s necklace. Though the feud has since ended, they never worked together again.

Oprah Winfrey

In May 2006 Ice Cube accused Oprah Winfrey of not welcoming rappers on her show, and specifically, for not inviting him to the show when the rest of the cast of the hit show Black. White. were invited.^[20][21]

Rapping

Technique

Cube’s rap technique is often straightforward, without the use of many similes. He is known for the social commentary in his songs, and implies that he just reports things how he sees them, though some critics accuse him of racism for epithets such as “caveman” and “devil”. His solo style never differed from his N.W.A. days, using defensive and offensive violence or simply bragging, narratives and political hip hop like several popular East Coast acts of the time.

Whilst his technique is often straightforward in terms of avoiding similies, he actually uses metaphor to a huge extent in his songs. This has been prevalent since the early days of his solo career, and really came to fruition during Death Certificate. Ice Cube’s lyrics and themes are rich with metaphor.

His work would later inspire artists such as Nas to voice one’s aspects and views on society. Ice Cube is known for the use of irony, as he does in “Today Was a Good Day”, when he details a day that was good because nobody was shot or sent to jail. He uses this as a commentary on life in the ghetto (where people are often shot or sent to jail). He also became a well-known battle MC, going for his opponents’ credibility, and pioneered the tactic of dissing a rival over their own beat, with the song “Jackin’ for Beats” from the 1990 EP, Kill at Will.

Subject matter

His first album, AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted, deals with straightforward topics such as poverty, racism and drug abuse in the ghetto. In order for the listener to easily relate, Cube would often use first person narration, as he does in the song “Once Upon A Time In The Projects”, where he is arrested for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. His style has shown to influence the early work of 2Pac.

Death Certificate was deemed angrier and very controversial, which led to some U.S. states banning it for derisive remarks toward white people & Koreans; he also comments on the hypocrisy of some leaders in the United States, and says of Uncle Sam: “I wanna kill Sam ’cause he ain’t my motherfuckin’ uncle.” and “to us uncle sam is like hitler without an oven.” His subsequent albums have been slightly less aggressive in their approach, such as War & Peace – Volume 2 (The Peace Disc), which focuses on ways to remedy issues such as poverty and violence. Also, on War & Peace – Volume 1 (The War Disc), he collaborated with the nu metal band, Korn. On his latest album, Laugh Now, Cry Later, he speaks out against the Iraq War, and makes less than favorable comparisons between George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein.