Ice Cube

• 1. Introduction

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  Ice Cube, born O'Shea Jackson, started writing raps in ninth grade because a friend challenged him in typewriting class. The friend, nicknamed Kiddo, lost the contest. The class was at George Washington Preparatory High School in Los Angeles. His stage name came from his older brother, who once threatened to slam him into a freezer and pull him out when he was an ice cube.

  Those are small beginnings for a career that people have argued over for decades. This documentary asks how a teenager from South Los Angeles ended up shaping the sound of a famous Compton group. It asks what made him walk away from that group. It asks how a rapper became a film actor with a franchise of his own. And it asks why some of his lyrics and public statements still follow him.

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• 2. From Westmont to Phoenix

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  Van Wick Street, in the Westmont section of South Los Angeles, was home to O'Shea Jackson when he was born on the 15th of June 1969. His mother, Doris, worked as a hospital clerk and custodian. His father, Hosea, was a machinist and a groundskeeper at UCLA. Jackson had an older brother and a half-sister who was murdered when he was 12. The rappers Del tha Funky Homosapien and Kam are his cousins.

  William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills lay 40 miles from his home. He was bused out of a high-crime neighborhood to attend that suburban campus.

  The year 1986 found him, at 16, rapping in a trio called C.I.A. with his friend Sir Jinx. They played parties hosted by Dr. Dre. Since 1984, Dre had belonged to a popular DJ crew, the World Class Wreckin' Cru, which by 1985 also performed and recorded electro rap. Cube helped write the crew's hit "Cabbage Patch." Dre also joined him in a side duo called Stereo Crew, which made a 12-inch record for Epic Records in 1986 titled "She's a Skag."

  The Wreckin' Cru's home base was the Eve After Dark nightclub, about a quarter of a mile outside the city of Compton. With Dre on the turntables, Cube would rap there, often parodying other artists' songs. One parody recast Run-DMC's "My Adidas" under a crude title of his own. In 2015, the club's co-owner and Wreckin' leader Alonzo Williams recalled that it hurt his reputation and that he asked Cube not to repeat it. In 1987, C.I.A. released a Dr. Dre-produced single, "My Posse."

  In the third quarter of 1987, soon after writing and recording a few locally successful rap songs with N.W.A, Cube enrolled at the Phoenix Institute of Technology in Arizona. He earned a one-year diploma in architectural drafting. Then he returned to Los Angeles and rejoined N.W.A, keeping drafting as a backup plan. That group had been built around a different buyer for his words.

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• 3. Ruthless Years

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  Eric Wright, soon to be known as Eazy-E, bought the first song Cube ever sold, when Cube was 16. Wright was starting Ruthless Records and building a team called N.W.A in Compton, California. Cube came from South Central Los Angeles, which made him the only core member not born in Compton.

  A song called "Boyz-n-the-Hood" came next. Cube wrote it, Dr. Dre produced it, and Eazy-E rapped it. It helped establish gangsta rap in California. Afterward Eazy concentrated on developing N.W.A, which soon added MC Ren.

  Straight Outta Compton arrived in January 1989. As lead rapper, Cube wrote most of its lyrics, including some of Dre's and nearly all of Eazy's. The album gave West Coast hip-hop an early identity that was violent and controversial. It also set that scene apart from East Coast rap. Cube wrote most of Eazy-E's solo debut, Eazy-Duz-It, as well.

  By the end of 1989, the money no longer added up for Cube. He had received a total of $32,000. The contract that manager Jerry Heller presented that year did not even confirm that Cube was an official member of N.W.A. He left in January 1990 and sued Heller. The lawsuit was later settled out of court.

  The group did not let him go quietly. N.W.A members attacked Cube on a 1990 EP, 100 Miles and Runnin', and again on their final album in 1991. His answer would come on his own records, starting with a trip to New York.

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• 4. The Solo Breakthrough

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  In early 1990, Cube traveled to New York to record his debut solo album with the Bomb Squad, the production team behind Public Enemy. AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted arrived in May 1990 and was an instant hit. It also drew accusations of misogyny and racism. The album introduced his embrace of black nationalism and an ideology of black struggle. That year he also led a featured group, Da Lench Mob.

  Yo-Yo, a female rapper who guested on the album, became head of his record label. Cube helped produce her debut, Make Way for the Motherlode. His 1990 EP Kill at Will earned critical praise and became the first rap EP certified Platinum.

  Death Certificate followed in 1991. Many found it more focused than its predecessor, and even more controversial. It was split into two halves. The Death Side offered "a vision of where we are today," and the Life Side offered "a vision of where we need to go." The track "No Vaseline" answered the insults in N.W.A's records, which had called him a traitor. "Black Korea" was also deemed racist, and some thought it foreshadowed the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Still, the album broadened his audience, and he toured with Lollapalooza in 1992.

  The Predator, released in November 1992, referred to the riots directly. The song "Wicked" opens with the line, "April 29 was power to the people, and we might just see a sequel." It was the first album ever to debut at number one on both the R&B/hip-hop and pop charts. "It Was a Good Day" and "Check Yo Self" came with two-part music videos. Critics were generally warm, and it became his top commercial seller, with over three million copies sold in the US. After it, his rap audience shrank severely and never regained the prominence of those first three albums.

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• 5. Crews and Collaborators

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  In 1992 and 1993, Cube's voice turned up on other artists' records. He appeared on Del the Funky Homosapien's debut, I Wish My Brother George Was Here, and on Da Lench Mob's debut, Guerillas in tha Mist, which he also produced. He joined Kool G Rap and DJ Polo on "Two to the Head." In 1993 he worked on Kam's debut album and teamed with Ice-T on "Last Wordz," a track on an album by 2Pac.

  Soon he was also producing albums for other rappers, among them Da Lench Mob, Mack 10, Mr. Short Khop, and Kausion.

  In 1994, Cube worked with Dr. Dre for the first time since leaving N.W.A. That group had disbanded after Dre's own departure in 1991. Their song "Natural Born Killaz" appeared on the Murder Was the Case soundtrack, released by Dre's new label, Death Row Records.

  In 1995, Cube joined Mack 10 and WC to form a side trio, Westside Connection. They felt neglected by East Coast media, a longstanding grievance in rap's bicoastal rivalry, and aimed to reinforce West Coast pride. Their 1996 debut, Bow Down, was certified Platinum by year's end. They read Common's "I Used to Love H.E.R." as a diss of West Coast rap and briefly feuded with him. The two sides resolved it amicably in 1997.

  Westside Connection's second album, Terrorist Threats, came out in 2003. Critics liked it, but it sold less. Its only single, "Gangsta Nation" with Nate Dogg, was a radio hit. A rift between Cube and Mack 10 over Cube's film work cutting into the group's touring ended Westside Connection in 2005.

  In 1997, Cube worked with David Bowie and Nine Inch Nails singer Trent Reznor on a remix of Bowie's "I'm Afraid of Americans." In 1998 he was featured on Korn's "Children of the Korn" and joined the band on its Family Values Tour. In 2000 he toured with Dr. Dre, Eminem, and Snoop Dogg on the Up in Smoke Tour.

  The guest spots kept coming. In 2002 he appeared on British DJ Paul Oakenfold's debut album, Bunkka, on the track "Get Em Up." In 2004 he joined Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, then leaders of crunk, on a song of theirs. In 2008 he helped Tech N9ne on "Blackboy" and was featured on The Game's "State of Emergency." He performed at the Gathering of the Juggalos in 2009 and returned in 2011. In 2012 he recorded a verse for a remix of an Insane Clown Posse song.

  In 2010, Cube signed an up-and-coming artist named 7Tre The Ghost, whom most labels were expected to skip or treat as cookie-cutter. In 2014, he appeared on MC Ren's remix "Rebel Music," their first collaboration since the N.W.A reunion in 2000. In 2020, he joined Snoop Dogg, E-40, and Too Short to form the supergroup Mount Westmore. Their debut album was released on the 7th of June 2022.

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• 6. Albums After 1993

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  Seven of the albums in Cube's solo run reached the top 10 of the Billboard 200. Seven of his singles, including "Straight Outta Compton," "It Was a Good Day," and "You Can Do It," charted in the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100.

  Lethal Injection, released in late 1993, borrowed from the G-funk sound popularized by Dr. Dre. Critics did not warm to it. It still produced successful singles, among them "Really Doe," "Bop Gun (One Nation)," "You Know How We Do It," and "What Can I Do?"

  In November 1998, Cube released his long-awaited fifth solo album, War & Peace Vol. 1 (The War Disc). Volume 2 arrived in 2000 after a delay. The albums featured Westside Connection and a reunion with his old N.W.A bandmates Dr. Dre and MC Ren. Korn returned his favor by appearing on a Volume 1 track. Many fans felt the two albums, especially the second, fell short of his earlier work.

  Laugh Now, Cry Later, his 2006 album, sold 144,000 units in its first week. Lil Jon and Scott Storch produced the lead single, "Why We Thugs." Cube then toured the world on the Straight Outta Compton Tour with WC, playing in America, Europe, Australia, and Japan. In September 2007, a compilation called In the Movies gathered his songs from soundtracks. Raw Footage arrived on the 19th of August 2008, with the singles "Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It" and "Do Ya Thang."

  I Am the West came out on the 28th of September 2010, and Cube says its direction differed from any of his other albums. Its producers included the West Coast veterans DJ Quik, Dr. Dre, and E-A-Ski. Sir Jinx, his old C.I.A. groupmate, returned after nearly 20 years. The album produced the single "I Rep That West," debuted at number 22 on the Billboard 200, and sold 22,000 copies in its first week.

  Everythang's Corrupt took far longer. In November 2012 Cube gave details of the coming tenth studio album and released its title track near the elections, saying, "this record is for the political heads." On the 10th of February 2014, iTunes released another single, "Sic Them Youngins on 'Em," and a video followed the next day. The album slipped past his work on the 2015 film Straight Outta Compton, then past a stated 2017 date. It finally arrived on the 7th of December 2018.

  Early 2024 brought a run of Canadian dates on his Straight Into Canada tour. His eleventh studio album, Man Down, followed on the 22nd of November 2024, his first new album in six years. The singles included "It's My Ego," "Ego Maniacs" with Busta Rhymes and Killer Mike, and "So Sensitive." On the 29th of August 2025, he announced a twelfth album, Man Up, with its first single, "Before Hip Hop," due on the 5th of September 2025.

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• 7. On Screen

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  Boyz n the Hood, released in July 1991, gave Cube his first acting role, as Doughboy. John Singleton directed it, and the title came from a 1987 N.W.A song Cube had written. Since then he has acted in nearly 40 films. Most are comedies, some adult-oriented and many family-friendly, with a few action titles mixed in.

  In 1992 he starred with Ice-T and Bill Paxton in Walter Hill's thriller Trespass. In 1995 he appeared in Charles Burnett's The Glass Shield. He declined to costar with Janet Jackson in Singleton's 1993 romance Poetic Justice, and Tupac Shakur took the role. In Singleton's 1995 film Higher Learning, he played a university student named Fudge. Singleton had reportedly encouraged him by saying, "If you can write a record, you can write a movie."

  Cube took that advice. He cowrote the 1995 comedy Friday and starred in it with comedian Chris Tucker. It was made for $3.5 million and earned $28 million worldwide. Two sequels followed, Next Friday in 2000 and Friday After Next in 2002. The franchise reshaped his public image into that of an actor.

  In 1997 he played a South African exiled to America who returns 15 years later in the action thriller Dangerous Ground, and he took a supporting role in Anaconda. In 1998 he made his directorial debut with The Players Club, which he also wrote. He produced and curated its soundtrack. In 1999 he starred beside George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg as a staff sergeant in Three Kings, a war comedy set right after the Gulf War. Critics acclaimed it as an intelligent film.

  In 2002 he starred in Barbershop and in All About the Benjamins. Barbershop 2 and Torque came in 2004. The next year he replaced Vin Diesel in XXX: State of the Union, and he reunited with Diesel 12 years later in XXX: Return of Xander Cage. The family comedy Are We There Yet? arrived in 2005 and got a sequel in 2007. He then appeared in 21 Jump Street in 2012 and 22 Jump Street in 2014. Alongside comedian Kevin Hart, he starred in Ride Along in 2014 and Ride Along 2 in 2016. A third Barbershop film followed in 2016, and Fist Fight with Charlie Day in 2017.

  In 2015 he served as executive producer on the biopic Straight Outta Compton. His oldest son, O'Shea Jackson Jr., born in 1991, portrayed him in it.

  Television gave him a second stage. His Are We There Yet? series premiered on TBS on the 2nd of June 2010, with Terry Crews as the new husband in a family adjusting to a marriage. On the 16th of August the network renewed it for 90 more episodes, amounting to six seasons. Cube also credits Tyler Perry for opening the door to TBS. In 2014 he appeared with Elmo as a guest on the PBS children's show Sesame Street.

  He worked in documentary as well. In late 2005, he and R. J. Cutler co-created Black. White., a six-part series carried by the cable network FX. On the 11th of May 2010, ESPN aired Straight Outta L.A., a documentary Cube directed about Los Angeles politics, hip-hop, and the Raiders from the 1980s into the 1990s.

  Not every project reached the screen. In October 2021, Cube was set to star opposite Jack Black in a comedy called Oh Hell No, later retitled Stepdude. He left the project after refusing to get vaccinated for COVID-19. The role would have paid him $9 million.

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• 8. Beliefs, Backlash, Legacy

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  In 1990, a musical associate from the rap group Public Enemy introduced Cube to the Nation of Islam. Cube converted to Islam but denied being a member of the Nation. The Southern Poverty Law Center classifies that organization as a hate group because of its ideology against white people and especially Jews. Cube readily adopted its black nationalism, a concept familiar to the hip-hop community. He has called himself a "natural Muslim" and said he follows his own conscience because "it's just him and God."

  In 2012, he expressed support for same-sex marriage. In 2017, he said that he thinks "religion is stupid" in part. He added that he is on the Islam tip, the Christian tip, and the Buddhist tip as well, and he said, "Everyone has something to offer to the world."

  At a 1991 press conference promoting Death Certificate, Cube endorsed the Nation of Islam's book The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews. The book falsely claims that European Jews dominated the Atlantic slave trade. On that album, "No Vaseline" uses racial slurs against the other former N.W.A members. It also blames Jerry Heller for exploiting the group, points to his being Jewish, and calls for his murder. Cube said he mentioned Heller's ethnicity only incidentally, the way news media mention the race of nonwhite assailants. In 2015 he expressed regret for including the word "Jew" and said he meant to attack only Heller, not "the whole Jewish race."

  In 2008, answering accusations of racism and antisemitism, Cube said he had no time for hatred because he was too busy being pro-black. In 2020, Marlow Stern wrote in the Daily Beast about Cube's "long, disturbing history" of antisemitism. The article responded to a day-long Twitter posting spree in which Cube promoted Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and shared disproven antisemitic conspiracy theories. Cube again called himself "just pro-black" and not "anti-anybody." He dismissed "the hype" and said he was "telling his truth."

  On the 26th of April 1992, Cube married Kimberly Woodruff. They have four children. In 2005, asked how he balanced music and parenting, he said he teaches his children to question the value of violence in all media, not just song lyrics. Through O'Shea Jackson Jr., he became a grandfather in August 2017. That same year he launched Big3, a 3-on-3 basketball league starring former NBA players.

  His sports loyalties run deep. He backed the Raiders during their Los Angeles tenure from 1982 to 1994, and N.W.A's use of Raiders memorabilia helped spread the team's intimidating image in hip-hop culture. In October 2009 he released a tribute song, "Raider Nation." In September 2012, during Pepsi's NFL Anthems campaign, he released a second Raiders anthem, "Come and Get It." He is also a devout Los Angeles Lakers fan and a fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 2024 he performed a pregame show before game 2 of the World Series, and later at the team's celebration at Dodger Stadium.

  The honors arrived in a steady stream. VH1 named him an honoree at its Hip Hop Honors in 2006. BET gave him its I Am Hip Hop award in 2009 and its Entertainer Award in 2014. He won the Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Action Team for Three Kings in 2000 and a MECCA Movie Award for acting in 2002. N.W.A entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016, and he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2017. The film awards also include a 2026 Golden Raspberry for Worst Actor for War of the Worlds. In 2024, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recognized him as a member of N.W.A.

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