Contact Ice Cube

Full Name:	Ice Cube
Birth Name:	O'Shea Jackson
Famous As:	Rapper
Date of Birth:	June 15, 1969
Place of Birth:	Los Angeles, California, USA
Height:	5' 10
Nationality:	American
Spouse:	Kim Jackson (since 1992)
Son(s):	O'Shea Jackson Jr.
Education:	Graduated from William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills, California Attended Phoenix Institute of Technology

• Frugality cubed -- creative ways with ice cube trays

  MSN Money - Found Jul. 2, 2009 DIYers have always known that ice cube trays are good for organizing beads and hardware. And with a handful of dried beans and an ice cube tray...

• Home Sweet (Urban) Homestead

  New York Times - Found Jul. 3, 2009 ... fava-bean soup that started with a few cubes of soffrito that Sardo makes in bulk and freezes in ice-cube trays for quick soups and sauces.

• Ice Cube heats up the night at Modesto Summerfest

  Modesto Bee - Found Jun. 29, 2009 Ice Cube took the stage after midnight and performed before an enthusiastic audience, which took over the street in front of Palladium Nightclub.

• Eve To Guest On 'Glee'

  Billboard - Found Jun. 25, 2009 Not new to the world of acting, Eve starred alongside Vin Diesel in "xXx," "Barbershop" with Ice Cube and "The Cookout," featuring Queen... Eve To Guest On 'Glee' - Billboard Eve To Guest On 'Glee' - Billboard EVE TO PLAY RIVAL CHOIR DIRECTOR ON 'GLEE': Guest starring role was ... - EURweb Glee Gets a Dose of Rap - TV Guide Online Explore All

  EURweb

• Eve To Guest On 'Glee'

  Billboard - Found Jun. 24, 2009 Not new to the world of acting, Eve starred alongside Vin Diesel in 'xXx,' 'Barbershop' with Ice Cube and 'The Cookout,' featuring Queen... Rapper Eve cast in Fox's 'Glee' - Digital Spy Eve To Guest On 'Glee' - Billboard Eve To Guest On 'Glee' - Billboard 'Glee' to feature guest stars Josh Groban, Kristin Chenoweth, Eve - Orlando Sentinel Explore All

• July in the garden: day lilies offer incredible selection of colors

  Chicago Daily Herald - Found 9 hours ago Continue to harvest herbs to use fresh, dry in a microwave, or freeze in small batches in ice cube trays.

• Light up the night

  Ottawa Citizen - Found 8 hours ago 6. Icy cold: Create the illusion of frostiness and save on your electric bill at the same time with these solar-powered ice cube stick lights.

• THE GAME IN RUNNING FOR B.A. BARACUS: An...

  EURweb - Found 15 hours ago *It may be game over for Ice Cube and Tyrese when it comes to the role of B.A. Baracus in the upcoming film version of 'The A-Team,' due June 11, The Game For A-Team Movie? - MusicRooms.net Game On for B.A. Baracus - FilmForce Explore All

  MusicRooms.net

• GAIA Natural Baby Mini Traveller

  Femail - Found 14 hours ago Make traveling easy with this 3 x 50ml pack of essential GAIA Natural Baby products including Bath and Body Wash, Baby Shampoo and Baby Moistuiser, LimeWire announces CD Baby partnership - Digital Spy Independence Day Week baby name of the day: America - Examiner.com Independence Day Week baby name of the day: Star - Examiner.com Unwanted baby! - Daily Sun Explore All

  Daily Sun

• Beat the Heat with an Icy treat: Cold Coffee

  Examiner.com - Found 12 hours ago ... making up a couple of trays of milk cubes (for those who don?t know, instead of using water in ice cube trays, use milk) as the perfect...

Ice Cube extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Contents 1 Early Life and Career 2 N.W.A Era 3 Solo Career 3.1 AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted & Kill At Will 3.2 Death Certificate 3.3 Helter Skelter Project 3.4 The Predator & Lethal Injection 3.5 "Friday," Westside Connection & Feuds 3.6 War & Peace & the Up in Smoke Tour 4 Later Career & Further Film Work 4.1 2003-2006 4.2 2007-2009 & Upcoming Film Work 5 References

Early Life and Career

Ice Cube was born O'Shea Jackson in South Central Los Angeles, California, where he was raised, the son of Doris (née Benjamin), a hospital clerk and custodian, and Andrew Jackson, who worked as a groundskeeper at California State University, Los Angeles.¹ His cousin is Teren Delvon Jones, also known as Del tha Funkee Homosapien, of Deltron 3030, Hieroglyphics, and affiliate of the popular animated group The Gorillaz.² At age sixteen, Ice Cube developed an interest in hip hop music, and began writing raps in Taft High School's keyboarding class.² He attended the Phoenix Institute of Technology in the fall of 1987, and studied Architectural Drafting.³ With his friend and eventual producer Sir Jinx, Cube formed the group C.I.A., performing at parties hosted by Dr. Dre.

N.W.A Era

In 1987, Cube and Dr. Dre released the EP My Posse, under the alias C.I.A. and the County Police, during which time he was introduced to Dre's other recording partners, including Eazy-E, Arabian Prince, DJ Yella and The D.O.C. Cube showed Eazy the lyrics to "Boyz-n-the-Hood," suggesting that he record them over one of Dre's beats;⁴ although initially rejecting the idea, the de facto businessman was eventually persuaded to record the song for N.W.A. and the Posse, a debut compilation album for the group N.W.A.

As peripheral members split off, Cube, Dre, and Eazy remained focused on studio work; in 1988, MC Ren was formally added, forming the new nucleus of their group. With production/writing support from (respectively) DJ Yella and The D.O.C., the collective constructed the album Straight Outta Compton, released to simultaneous critical acclaim and massive controversy spurred by the song "Fuck tha Police"⁵ and resulting pressure from the watchdog group Focus on the Family and the F.B.I.⁶. While touring, Cube was a central figure in the group's discontent with its members' finances. As a result, he chose to confront group manager Jerry Heller over their proposed contract:

“

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 figured, how this young muthafucka turn down all this money? Everybody else signed. I told them I wanted to make sure my shit was right first.7

”

Alleging crooked dealing on Heller's part, Cube refused to sign the contract, and proceeded to leave the group as well as Eazy and Heller's Ruthless Records. Absconding to New York City with several songs originally written for Eazy-E⁸, he set out with Sir Jinx and Public Enemy producers The Bomb Squad⁹ to record his first solo album. Meanwhile, his former group proceeded to insult the rapper throughout their next releases, first the EP 100 Miles and Runnin' and then on Efil4zaggin, which would be their final album.

Solo Career

AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted & Kill At Will

AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, Ice Cube's solo debut, was released to a similar blend of controversy and commercial/critical success that he had enjoyed as part of N.W.A. This was followed by the Kill At Will EP, which included the scathing N.W.A. rebuttal "Jackin' For Beats." On top of his debut's successful sales figures, Kill At Will became the first EP in hip-hop to go both Gold and Platinum.⁴. After being charged with misogyny and racism over his album's subject matter, Cube appointed the female rapper Yo-Yo to the head of his own record label--Da Lench Mob Records--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 urban drama, Boyz N the Hood, which would later be inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress¹⁰.

Death Certificate

His 1991 follow-up, Death Certificate, was regarded as more focused, yet even more controversial, and critics accused him again of being anti-white, misogynist, and antisemitic. The album is thematically divided into the 'Death Side' ("a mirror image of where we are today") and the 'Life Side' ("a vision of where we need to go")¹¹. The album included "No Vaseline," a further 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; however, its message against the non-African-American takeover of inner-city business would still be cited for years after its release.⁴ Ice Cube toured with Lollapalooza in 1992, further widening his fan base.¹²

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 an increasingly disgruntled D.O.C. who, despite severed vocal cords and Dre's cautionary advice, wanted to go on rapping as he had before the car crash that had caused his condition.

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.¹³ With other personal and business commitments by Dre, work on the album trailed off and eventually stopped. Despite the lost project, a few songs remain. Natural Born Killaz, which originally featured Sam Sneed, was the inspiration for the rest of the album. The track "Game Over" found on Scarface's The Untouchable album and from Featuring…Ice Cube was an original cut from the album. Other songs were either unfinished or are unreleased. Many of the lyrics for the album can be heard on the D.O.C.'s spiteful 1996 album, "Helter Skelter".¹⁴

The Predator & Lethal Injection

Ice 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.

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 refrained from producing their next album, Planet of tha Apes. After working 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 contributed to the Office Space soundtrack and appeared on the song "Children of the Korn" by the band Korn, as well as lending his voice to British DJ Paul Oakenfold's solo debut album, Bunkka, on the track "Get Em Up".

His next solo album, Lethal Injection, was released at the end of 1993 and represented Cube's first attempt at emulating the G-Funk sound of Dr. Dre's The Chronic. Despite further successful singles from Lethal Injection, including "Really Doe", "Bop Gun (One Nation)", "You Know How We Do It" and "What Can I Do?", the record was panned by critics¹⁵. After 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.⁴

"Friday," Westside Connection & Feuds

In 1995, Ice Cube contributed "Natural Born Killaz" to the Death Row Records Murder Was the Case soundtrack and starred in the film Friday, also partaking in the soundtrack to the movie and writing the screenplay at the encouragement of John Singleton¹⁶. 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.

'96 saw a feud boiling up between himself and former collaborators Cypress Hill, who accused him of stealing the chorus to their song "Throw Your Set in the Air" for the title track to the Friday soundtrack. This led to diss tracks back and forth between the group and his own group, Westside Connection, from the group's "King of the Hill" and "Cross 'Em Out & Put a K" to Cypress Hill's retaliatory "Ice Cube Killa." During this same time period, Cube's camp ended the feud that had brought them together as a group--their first recording was "Westside Slaughterhouse," an indictment of Chicago rapper Common over the latter's hit single "I Used 2 Love Her." After hitting back with "The Bitch in Yoo," Cube and Common ended their disagreement as the result of a hip-hop summit called by Russel Simmons and Louis Farrakhan in the aftermath of 2Pac's death in Las Vegas¹⁷.

1996 saw the release of Westside Connection's Bow Down, which contained the aforementioned disses to Cypress Hill. The record proved popular, introducing WC and Mack 10 as premier west coast rappers and going Platinum in the process¹⁸. In 1997, Ice Cube and Cypress Hill's B-Real proceeded to talk out their differences on a late-night talkshow, which led to future collaborations between the two¹⁹.

War & Peace & the Up in Smoke Tour

In 1998, Cube released his long-awaited followup solo album, War & Peace Volume 1 (The War Disc). The delayed second part, War & Peace Volume 2 (The Peace Disc), was released in 2000. The albums featured appearances from Westside Connection as well as a reunion with Dr. Dre and MC Ren, though many maintained that the two albums weren't on par with his past work, particularly the second volume.²⁰ In 2000, Cube joined Dr. Dre, Eminem and Snoop Dogg on the Up In Smoke Tour.²¹ '99 saw him co-star in the film Three Kings alongside George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg, as a militant Black soldier in the American Army in Gulf War-era Kuwait who discovers a store of Saddam Hussein's gold bars with his compatriots.

Later Career & Further Film Work

2003-2006

After a seven-year hiatus, Westside Connection returned with their second effort, Terrorist Threats, in 2003. The album fared well critically--generating Ice Cube's first hit song in years, with the Fredwreck-produced and Nate Dogg-featuring song "Gangster Nation"--but did not achieve the Platinum status of Bow Down, but instead reached Gold²². After the release, a rift occurred between Cube and Mack 10 regarding Cube's commitments to film work rather than touring with the group. Westside Connection disbanded, leaving only Cube and WC. 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.

This coincided with a span of time wherein Ice Cube would focus on film work, from Barbershop to XXX: State of the Union and including Are We There Yet?, a family film that diminished his reputation somewhat amongst fans of his hardcore gangster rap persona. During this period, he also co-starred in sequels in the Friday franchise and the comedy All About The Benjamins. In late 2005, Ice Cube and Emmy Award-winning film maker R. J. Cutler, teamed up to create the six-part documentary series entitled Black. White., which was broadcast on cable network FX. 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 films that he participated in were invited.²³ In 2006, six years removed from his last solo release, Ice Cube released his seventh solo album, Laugh Now, Cry Later, on Da Lench Mob Records, debuting at number four on the Billboard Charts and selling 144,000 units in its first week.²⁴ The album featured production from Lil Jon and Scott Storch, who produced the lead single "Why We Thugs", earning Cube more attention in the realm of music than he'd received since his last album.

2007-2009 & Upcoming Film Work

In 2007, Cube guested on nearly every song from WC's Lench Mob Records release Guilty by Affiliation; west coast rapper The Game was also a guest. In 2008, Cube guested on The Game's L.A.X. and had Game and WC appear on his album Raw Footage, on the track "Get Used to It," fueling speculation that The Game would replace Mack 10 in the Westside Connection²⁵. Springboarding off the single "Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It", and the subsequent remix featuring Nas and Scarface, the record achieved critical acclaim²⁶, though no special commercial success compared to his earlier releases.

He has also signed on to star in and produce Welcome Back, Kotter, a big screen adaptation of the 1970s television series.²⁷ 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.

References