Yo, what's cracking this your homeboy? Ice Cbe Hotstyles, My style, Jo Styles, Die Soule. We're doing it big right here on the Bootleg Cavs podcast. I was about to say show.
Before we start the episode, Man, I got to remind everybody that we are on the radio in eighty cities every single day across the country. Man Real ninety two to three every day Monday through Friday in Los Angeles, Wild ninety four to one in Tampa, Kkfur and Phoenix. We're all over the place, Miami, Vegas. We can go on and on. We want to give a shout out to our latest affiliate. Shout out to Knoxville, Tennessee, Man Hot one oh four point five for being the latest
city to join the Bootleg cav Show network. All right now, I don't ever really talk about the radio show on the podcast, keep them separate. But if you want to listen to the radio show, you can click the link in the bio for a list of all the cities you can listen to at. Yeah, that makes sense. Let's get to the interview, Yo, Bootleg cav show Man special guests in here a living legend, one of the greatest of all time, one of the founding fathers of the hip hop that I grew up on, the freest thinker
in hip hop. In twenty twenty four, Ice Cube the don Mega Well.
Yes, what's happening with man, it's an honor.
We did a conversation before, but it was with the Mount Wesmore guys. Yeah, so it's good to have you, like on the one on one you got new music out, you know what I'm saying, like, Yeah, yeah, that's dope. It's my ego is it sounds like vintage Cube.
Good. That's what I wanted. Thank you, That's what I wanted. Yeah.
I feel like when like, you know, people like I grew up listening to try to chase like a current record, It's just it's just like that's not why, like we love you, you know what I'm saying.
Yeah, you know, being in the game for almost forty years, that's great. It's and I've seen waves come and go and I just you know around the Laugh Now Cry Later record six. Yeah, right before that record, I was like, man, when I pick up a I need a Baker record, I want it to sound like I need.
A Baker, right, you don't want it to sound like that.
She chased Joyeah, so I felt like, well, ice Ce fans are the same way, you know, when they pick it up, they wanted to be cointessential, authentic ice Cube. And so that's what I that's what I've been worry about, worrying about delivering, you know what I mean When I say worrying, I'm not like I'm worried, but he's what I've been focused, you know, doing records. That's you know, totally me.
I wonder too, because like you're you're always, you know, growing up. I feel like people could listen to your albums for kind of like a current narration of the world. Yeah, through you know, through your eyes at least. And I do feel like the world is like in a crazy place right now, at least in the United States. It
feels like everyone's losing their fucking mind. Are you, like, are you getting back to some of the like, you know, addressing some of the shit that's happening that people are freaking out about or.
I believe so. I believe so in my own way though, right you know, it's really about making good records at the end of the day, and you don't want like the things you're trying to show or highlight to get in the way of a good record, right, so you have to find ways to to uh barrier is the wrong word, but to fit it. It's you feed your dog medicine without a doubt because people are not buying music for a history lesson or uh. You know, it's not a social studies experiment. It's music. So that the
magic buying your music. But the magic is to make it bad, make it bump if you both the rhyme's dope for sure, to make it a good song at the end of the day, because it could be for me, it could be for any artists. Nobody want to be preached to in their music. You know, they want to they want to rock with something they can relate to.
But I think it's about relatability. Yeah, and if and if you take that and you know, apply it, then it's a plus. If not, if the records are good, the records are.
Good, Yeah, it's it's about now. Of course, I got a few records that's you know, all about me. You know, I'm an MC so I mean it's my ego, but I think everybody should celebrate their ego. Yeah, you know, it's something that.
I feel like I feel like we've gotten away from like everyone's so like worried about you know. I feel like you kind of said it at the end of the record. You said, like people are gonna get triggered.
Yeah, Like so what it's good for them to be triggered. Let them know you here for sure, Like you can't be docile, that won't get you nowhere. You have to. It's cool, you know, as long as you don't go overboard, you know, but you gotta, you know, let people know you here. Why are you unique? Why are you you?
I think back, and I'm like, could ice Cube from nineteen ninety one release Death Certificate today and not get canceled.
Or like Lethal Injection?
I think it's songs like like kve Bitch or like Black Korea, Like, yeah, I don't know if these songs could exist these days without people like you know, you'd have a TMZ article written with like twenty like they'd be on an MSNBC running you through the Mud or something. You know.
Yeah, I mean I wouldn't, you know, I wouldn't necessarily think about that, you know. To me, people's reaction and the music that they or whatever makes them react from entertainment is usually a good thing, right, as long as you get a reaction. Oh yeah, you want to You don't want a record to play and there's nothing. Yeah, you want to. You want to.
You want to strike a motion.
Without a doubt. You know. That's to me, the reason people like music because it strikes emotional chords and so you know, nobody's stopping me from saying anything. So it's all about the artists having the courage to do it and not worry about so called being canceled.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll say this, man, you ended up being right about a lot of shit, especially like you know, I'll say this, like you're You're the main reason I didn't get the second JAB.
Man, that's good.
I got the first one. But when I was like, wait, Q passed up on nine million dollars, I'm I gotta do something. I got to look.
Into this, you know, And I didn't need the JAB, So.
Thank you for that, though cute, oh no problem saved me from a potential vaccine injury or you know, mild card dice is I'm.
Glad you didn't. You know, if you didn't need it, you shouldn't get it.
That was a crazy time though, because you know, like at the end of the day, like you had kind of become the the poster child for like anti vacs. And I'm curious as somebody who had the FBI come after them at a certain point in time in their career with n w A in the eighties, Tipper Gore et cetera to having like mainstream media and like social media come after you for something else, obviously.
Totally different things. What were the difference.
Between dealing with those two things and what was crazier?
Well, I mean, for clarity, I'm not anti vacts.
Right, but but you can get the face of it. Well yeah that list just like RFK is not anti VACCX.
Yeah. Well you know, but so you have so you have to for anybody who thinks make it make it clear. I've been vaccinated before as a kid, you know, with you know all the ship they give you that course, but no, don't take flu shots. But but you know, the childhood vaccinations, I've gotten them before. Okay, but those were studied for years. This is something new six months fast track bullshit. So the difference was me, I knew it was nothing they could do to make me do it.
Outside holding me down and and and sticking it in my arm right now. And I felt like nobody was gonna do that. So, you know, I knew that bad press, people coming down on you, people talking ship. I've had that before, and that don't that don't kill you. I mean, at the end of the day in a flood, you want to be a tree. I love that. You know what I'm saying. You want to be steady while everything is. Yeah, so stand your ground, you know, stand on your beliefs.
Let the chips fall what they may. I was willing to take, you know, any kind of you know, consequence for for you know, standing on what I believe would actually harm me and not help me.
I love that. Did you feel like because since then, I'm not sure from the from at least my recognition, I haven't seen any new Cube movies. I know you're working on it, like I think Warner Brothers just greenlit a New Friday or that's even works, right, But did that affect that, the whole hysteria around your decision, did it affect you getting new movies after after everybody you realized it wasn't that big of a deal.
You never know, you know, you you never really know why movies don't happen or didn't happen or or what. So you know, I got my hunch that it probably did. You know. The first movie that we lost was the one you talked about, which was a movie I was doing with Jack Black called oh hell No.
And Buddy Cop stuff.
No, no, it was. It was. It was a comedy, but it wasn't Buddy Cop. But but that was the first one. You know, I wasn't gonna go on nobody's movie set that was wanting me to take the jab, so I probably lost out on a few. I was in the middle of shooting a movie, uh, the Clarissa Shiells boxing story. I was the trainer and we were shooting in Canada, so I couldn't go back and shoot because I wasn't Canada was not it was, Yeah, it
was real strict. So lost that one. And and you know when the movies came back, you know, I was offered to do a movie, but it was during the strike.
So now, so you don't want to cross picket line.
No, no, even though I had an exempt. Now I had a SAG exemption.
Just the optics.
Yeah, but what is an exemption doing the strike, either we striking or we not? What are we doing? An exemption? To me, was was useless. I wasn't. I would never take an exemption doing a strike.
Someone told me recently that even though like that strike was about AI, like they recently just struck some like a ideal like the movie companies. That kind of made it like kind of crazy that that strike kept all those people out of work all that time. Anyway, but I don't know that. You probably don't want me.
You know, AI, You're gonna have artificial entertainment now, it's wild. Yeah, have you artificial fun?
Have they made any artificial intelligence songs with your voice?
Because that's the thing they have that's gotta be wild. Yeah. It's the wackyt shit you ever want to hear. Terrible. I mean, it's you know, for shits and giggles. But I couldn't see nobody buying it. I couldn't see nobody. No, No, I don't think turned on by it to the point where they where it becomes a hit wreck. I think.
I think what's gonna end up happening in the future is when artists die, maybe one hundred years from now. You know, there's going to.
Be like, but who wants that show? Nobody?
But you never know, maybe in fifty years an artist might be like, look, I got this book of rhymes. When I pass away, have a that's.
Still you know, you pick an artist. It is why you love different artists, actors, uh, you know, singers, you know, especially songwriters, rappers, this, directors. You like them because of the choices they make. Right, you know what I'm saying. The choices they make is what you respect. So when you take them out of the choice making, you're really
not getting the artists work. You know what if they got prints, they do a print song and got him singing some shit, he would never sings saying some things he would never say.
You know what's funny is when Pop died and all those albums were coming out. Yeah, and I remember there was an album called Oil to the Game and it had like fifty se jah Rule and all this shit, and I just remember being like, I mean, like it's cool, but like I don't know, Poko, it is song with these guys, so it felt it just felt weird.
It is weird. It is as opposed to.
Like putting him on an album with like people he actually was peers with, you know, but it's like, Okay, who's hot, who's current, Let's throw them on these unreleased TUPAC records, reproduce them, and then it's like it's it's it's like almost like a blend or a mash up mixtape as opposed to like an album.
Yeah, and you don't get the same feeling from it, not only because you know, you know, they were not there and the creation of this, so you don't even know if these are his choices or these are records that he even wanted out. That's the key.
Everything not everything that gets not everything that gets recorded is supposed to hit hit hit.
Consumption because some of it is it's just ideas. Some of it is, you know, not good enough for the public. Some of it is you know, whack. You know. At the end of the day, it's a reason why he hasn't been released.
I love the remix that just dropped because I look at Killer Mike as a modern day ice Cube. Uh. Killer Mike is one of my favorite rappers of all time. Uh, one of the best guys. Somebody else who's a free thinker, Yeah, somebody who's always just kind of like been a man of the people I love Killer Mike Man and it was just so dope to hear you guys and him pay homage to you in his verse.
Yeah, that was amazing. You know, I didn't know he was gonna do that, So that was you know, straitsalttle him and Buster you know, gave it up for sure. That was none beloved. You know, respect them both, you know, as MC's in the game, they've always you know, played to win and never played the game cheap for sure, never played the music or what it's all about cheap. I don't look at them dudes as you know, just money grabbers, you know what I mean. It's correct. The
love is pure. So it's always good to get on the track with some ferocious him sees that. Uh, you know, make sure you have your game stepped up.
Yo, are you your your son is one of my favorite Twitter follows because I'm a diehard wrestling fan. Yeah, and he is like.
He's in it. Yeah, he the man.
He's like a real wrestling like he's got a podcast, like he's he's.
On it, like man, it's wrestling on every day at the house. One of those.
Do you follow like anything that's going on, Like are you like, just just because it's on, Like, are you like yo, So, what's going on with the bloodline right now?
You know, I'm trying to keep up, you know. He he he uh, you know, he's showing me what's up. But he he goes between different air so he's looking at.
You can watch the old ship.
Yeah, the old you know, uh w w F you know w c W. He's like keep up. He all over the place with it. So it's hard to keep up with who's current and is this a current Max watching? But you know, I'm I'm happy that he's passionate and that he's able to talk about it, you know, you want to You got a podcast, so he able to talk to some of the biggest names in the game. And no, I think it's and he's really good and go you know deep into you know, the behind the
the you know the act. I forgot what he called it. It's you know character, Yeah, what's the character when you in character all the time? Yeah.
It's funny because I was following his account on Twitter for a while and I thought it was like a parody account because I was like, there's no way ice Cube Son is like one of the Biggest Wrestling. I'm like the same dude from like Den of Thieves, Like he loves this ship.
For real, loves it for real, for real, you know.
And then the podcast I was like, oh, ship, he really is about this ship for real.
I remember when he was he was still in uh I think he was still in elementary and I went to go pick him up from school. Just take him out of school middle of the day, you know, I would love it. Yeah. I used to do that in the middle of exactly all that, you know, pick him up in the middle of the day because I know, you know when they say your parents is here to get you, you know, everybody grabbing ship. They gone. So picked him up, were rolling, didn't tell him where we
was going. We didn't go home, so I know he was tripping out. Didn't tell him where we was going, and I was like, as we got close, I was like, well, I don't want him to freeze. I want him to you know, have his ship together. I said, you want to meet the Rock today, you know, and he was like what he just couldn't believe it that we was on our way to go talk to the Rock and we went and met him, you know, out here and uh, Venice and uh sat down. We ate.
It was just you know, tall Fire and your kids. You're sitting there, sitting.
There and uh what he remembers, he ordered the burger in the rock ordered the burger. So he was like, we got the same thing. Yeah, exactly, you know, geeking off that. So to see him now being able to hit all the events, know all the people. That's so if you love and be able to do a podcast, be and starting to become one of the biggest names and yeah, you know, and definitely and uh, you know, speaking and commentating on the wrestling. It's cool.
I always was curious. So straight out of Compton and Easy does it came out in the same.
Year kind of, you know, a few months apart.
Right, so very close close to each other. Yeah, when you guys were working on like was there was all that shit getting worked on at the same time, and it was it was there like whiteboards in the studio or like that's going on easy Ship. This is going on straight out of Compton? Like how or were they separate sessions?
Like well, what happened? You know, we started to you know, Easy was blowing up, so it was all about Okay, you know, we had multiple records on them. Then we had some n w A records that he was on, and the whole thing was like, let's put all our energy into the Easy Does the album. I was still uh through the first half of the album. I was still in Arizona, so I would only be able to work on it on them.
We're going to school out there, right. It wasn't Debrye, but it was like.
No, it was damn there, Like it was called Phoenix Institute of Technology. I just know.
I remember when I was a kid, I always thought you went to debry I was like man.
To but it was low low, a low budget and the Rye and Ship, yeah it was. It was definitely, but so just getting it together and making sure it was dope, and then like once we had it and it was done, then we just started to focus on the n w A record on the album because we knew we had we had some dope singles out by then we had Dope man, now we had Gangster, so it was like, you know, let's get ready to do a whole album on the group.
It's just so crazy to think that all of that was being worked on around the same Yeah, like what a special time that you guys didn't even understand was like going.
To change the trajectory of like everything, not at all. We thought we were gonna be straight underground locals, like we're.
Gonna crack off in LA.
It's just that's that's we thought that's the only place we about to jump off. Visit right in LA where they understand what we're talking about. Because we didn't know the rest of the world was paying attention with this kind of stuff. When did you guys realize that you made raider hats a thing? Like when we would go out of town to other cities.
They could be in Wyoming and they'd be raider hats hit the Yeah, we.
Would hit the foot locker and they would be like, man, all the raider stuff is gone.
Yeah, why do you even have it in stock We're in Chicago or something.
Because of us. It was like they they would be like, all of us gone, So get to the show and everybody out there in raider hats, and we in Denver when you know these different places that had their own teams, but it was all raider gear out there.
I always wanted to ask you America's most wanted was I remember it got five mics in the source because when I was I was born in eighty seven, so I was one years old with Straight Out of compt came out. But I like went back and like like study all the five MIC albums.
You know.
Yeah, but to think about like kind of where you were in your career coming out of the group, feuding with the group, having this pressure of like having to deliver your first thing outside of the group, but then also being like brave enough to be like I'm gonna go tap in with like New York and and you know and the Bomb Squad and PE and these guys.
What was the pressure like for.
You And how nervous were you to work working on that project because you have to kind of understand the narrative that's happening, like I gotta make sure whatever I do is better than whatever they're doing, you know what I'm saying.
I didn't really look at it like that. You know. When I left the group, you know, I left for nothing, So I didn't. I didn't. I was like, damn, now I gotta go find a deal, right, I don't even have a label. And so I went and talked to Brian Turner at priority. Shout out the priority man. Yeah, shout out to priority. Shout out to Brian Turner, Mark surround me who don't get a lot of a lot of uh, you know, a lot of mention. So he's like, there's nothing you can do to keep the group together.
I'm like, no, it's over. He said, well, we still want you, so we will give you a solo budget and deal for a solo album. So that was, like, man, the best news I had heard since I left the group, because now you got somebody to go that deal. Now I can do my own way, you know, where I can be the head producer on it and what I want.
To go and wherever, like whatever ideas you want to get across. You don't have to clear with it.
I don't have to clear with with Dre and easy is unapologetically you know, argue with Rinning a little bit. Y're gonna beal and ship. So I could just do what I want. And now I got uh it's me and it's sir Jenks who was he was soaking up a lot of game from you know, from the time I started start. We started hanging with the Recond crew, and and then the Recond crew kind of dismantled, and then we put n W A together and he's real
competitive with his cousin Dre right, real competitive. So I knew he was ready to produce and ready to show what he got.
Yeah, like this guy, his like his cousin is the biggest or at least you know.
Yeah, and he did. I mean, he delivered, and so I said, uh, but he wasn't ready to do a whole project. You know, he was ready to to contribute. And you know, he has some tracks that he actually produced on the America's Most Wanted. Everybody give credit to the Bomb Squad, but Janmes, did you know once upon time the projects a song called the Bomb It's a Man's World. So he you know, we we knew, you know,
we wanted to have other producers for other tracks. You know, we didn't know we were gonna have one other team working on the whole album. We thought, let's get tracks from here here right there. And I was talking to Chuck d throughout the breakup because we had met on the road. We met in Las Vegas at the Thomas and Max Center on some shows we had did together Easy and n W A Republic Enemy, and then we
became real cool exchange numbers. So when I was going through the breakup, I would call him, you know, really for some big brother advice, you know what I should do. He was trying to keep us together. He was like, man, this group is too important for sure. Got to try to keep it together. Cube. But also at the time, I wanted Dre to produce my solo record, but easy and and Jerry vetoed.
That what what Yeah, that wasn't gonna get allowed.
Yeah, they vetoed that even though Dre wanted to do it, because me and Dre was actually still on cool.
Terms, even though publicly there was the feud, but it wasn't.
It wasn't it wasn't a few yet. It was just a breakup. Yeah, But they dissed me before No Vassiline or one hundred Miles and Running.
But No vascanline was like, you know, the greatest this record.
Yeah, that was that was a comeback. That was the great after after the Niggas for Life album where they dissed me more and said they was gonna do ship to me with broomsticks and all this kind of ship. So, you know, long story short, I'm looking for Sam Severn. I'm in I'm in New York looking for Sam Severn because he did the third Base album and they beats was banging, yeah, and he stooped me up. But I saw Chuck in New York at Depth Jam and then we connected and he was doing the record that night
with Big Daddy King called Burn Hollywood Burn. Oh yeah, and he was like, do you want to be on this record? I was yeah, it would let the world know you solo. I was like, hell yeah, went down there and recording the record. That's when Hank Shockley was there. Keith Shockley and I started talking about him trying to get my album produced, and they was like, we'll do that whole thing. It was like, I felt like I
was in good hands. How could I miss with the best producers in hip hop at the time, you know, And so I felt like, our, I'm in good hands. If I can't get the best on the West, I'm gonna get the best on these.
That shit's crazy and as a classic, and it's crazy too because you were kill it will drop the same.
Year right yeah, later on that year.
Yeah, you were like you got that deal and you were like, I'm fucking active.
Yeah, and we had records left over from the America's Most Won and we're like, what we're gonna do with these records. I don't want to wait a whole other years. Let's put something out and then and then Chinks had did just this crazy remix to Endangered Species. So having that and the other records that we had, then I thought of that jacking for beats idea.
One of my favorite album covers was the Kid when You with the Gun?
Yeah, and then Uh even a song that never gets mentioned, Dead Homies ended up becoming a big song for me at the time too. After Kill It Will.
Records, Jacking for beats you were like the first because you got to think about like mixtape culture and kind of t I has a jack in for Beats freestyle that was legendary, Like if did you like, were you purposely only grabbing shit you knew you could clear?
No, I was grabbing everything I liked that year. So like some of the dopest beats right came out that year.
But back then you couldn't just go on YouTube and typing something something instrumental. And I'm not sure even back then we had records. We was in record pools. We okay, he was getting all the records, so we had you know, it was instrumentals on each.
Would you who if you if you could pick like three beats.
Right now, if you did a twenty twenty four jack and for beats current beats? Is there anything that comes to mind that you would you would you would hop on?
Oh man, I like us, I mean that's that's it, That's what would be uh man, I love that twenty one Savage Red Run want it all while we have bread Crumb.
Yeah that's hard.
And uh man, let me think about what other beats that got me going crazy this year? M them two are the two that come to mind.
Do you look at uh death Certificate as like your Illmatic, your magnum opus of an album?
Yeah, I mean it's it's pretty both. You know America's most and Death Certificate are pretty you know, epic records. You know, they're like my Citizen Kane, so.
Just like you're left and right hand.
Yeah, it's uh amazing time in music. You know how those records was put together, very entertaining records.
Captivating, like the energy just captivated, Like when you like listen to like Summer Vacation, you're like Damn. I feel like like I wasn't there, but I felt like I felt like that was like the energy of it.
Yeah, it was the energy at the time. And yeah, amazing, amazing records.
You've you've talked about your relationship with John Singleton at with but I'm curious, how were you tapped in it all to Snowfall, which was kind of his last thing that he not a lot, not a lot in Snowfall because obviously he passed away. Yeah, I mean even before that, you know, he just had a lot of issues with the with the the station, the FX or something and people running the show, and he couldn't really do it the way he might have been exactly how he wanted
to do it. And you know, John Singleton is at his best when he can do what he feels and he's not harnessed. And so I don't want to I don't want to look at the TV version of It's almost like if you were gonna watch it, you would wanted to have watched it without knowing all that, like going to.
It blindly, right, Yeah, but you know I knew.
Like I watched it not knowing that, Like I mean, obviously you kind of knew it was based off Freeway with Ross, right, but like I didn't know that, Like there was like this thing where you know, I guess he wanted he was he wanted to get some sort of credit, you know, Like it was kind of like based on my life. Loosely, I already watched.
It's a lot of people out there with the saying, right, that's fair. It's just the most famous one. To be fair, You you bring dope in your neighborhood and you make a lot of money.
And at the time the CIA was providing it.
Yeah, you make a lot of money, but you're gonna fuck up the neighborhood.
Yo, when you you and Pooh wrote Friday.
Because Friday's one of the most pivotal.
Moments in my life as a child, I talk like smoky as a as a white child in Arizona. Yeah, for at least a two year period. I mean I was like eight years old when that movie came out, and that movie literally changed my life. I know the entire movie by heart, as a lot of other people do that, Like some of the scenes, did you understand how they were gonna translate? Like you got knocked the fuck out man?
Oh yeah?
Or or smoky smoke, an angel dust running down the street while the dudes is bust Like did y'all understand like how crazy? Like like yo, this shit's gonna go off?
Like yeah, we knew it wasn't nobody in Hollywood like us me and Pool. We knew you got your black dudes in Hollywood, and you got your for real funny dudes. But it ain't none of them like us. Ain't none of them gonna come from this angle of comedy.
It was so good, just a little like just like even like Pool with the chains, like my Mama change man, Like there was just I just wonder like like that's like one of the most brilliantly written like comedies of all time.
And it's you know, it's here's why people love the movie. It's everybody can live a Friday, right like you and your man and go out here, have a crazy Friday, staying right in front of it, right in front of y'all spot and smoke one and just watch and trip off come up and you know, just you know, anybody can live at So it's very relatable. And what's what's memorable is is the day you all remember it's today that the Bully gets his ass with what's coming to everybody.
Remember whoever they have in their mind, and if they saw them get it, they remember that day how it played out, and it's uh, it gives you a euphoria when you see that because nobody really likes it.
Bully, you know, was it was it like a difficult transition or was it easy for you to like go from being one of the most prolific mcs and writers on the music side to writing a movie that's a whole different format that.
Yeah, it wasn't easy. I ain't gonna say it was easy. It was. I had never been to film school, I had never written the script. So actually John Singleton encouraged me to write scripts when we was doing Boys in the Hood. He said, when you're gonna write a script, cute, which caught me off guard because I was just trying on the act. That was your first movie. Are you trying to suck these lines to man? Let alone write
the script? Like, what are you talking about? He's like, you think he said you like doing Boys in the Hood. I was like, yeah, man, it's good. You know, it's cool shit write the script? You said, Uh, you think Hollywood got another movie for your ass out there. Hollywood ain't got shipped for you. Man, if you want to do movies, you're gonna have to write your own movies if you want to do them, and that that kind of was like, oh damn. And then he was like,
you can do it. Cute because I see this the music you write. You know, it's vivid. People can see it. You can see the see play out in their heads. So you can write a script. Man, You just gotta understand the framework, parameters and what you got to get across.
And Friday the franchise has just been like the launching pad for like Chris Tucker, Mike Epps, Kat Williams, Uh.
Jerry Crew.
A lot of times, the first people ever seen Bernie Mack was on the first Friday. A lot of people didn't weren't watching. You know that in comedy, you know what I'm saying. So I'm sure cast in that movie had to be just fun. Like I could just imagine, like.
Oh, we had a ball, you know. Once I knew I got John Witherspoon, I knew we was gonna have a funny movie.
God rest his soul.
Man. Yeah, getting him to play my father in the movie was a home run and getting them to seriously look at Chris Tucker because originally Pool was supposed to play smoking DJ Pooh. We wrote it for us to do it, and then once Newline got involved with the movie, they it was concerned he didn't have enough acting experience. So that's why he played red hm hmm. So it was there was actual you know, they look poo is amazing. He would have been a double smoky too, without a doubted.
The lines was there, you know, but uh, they were trying to put in known actors to be smoky, like non comedians Tommy Davidson name came up and other people which I thought they were funny. But to me to take this movie serious and to really have this movie catch you kind of off guard, I really wanted to be the only known face in it. I wanted to folks.
I knew you would recognize with Jeana King and tiny, but as far as my guy right, I wanted to be a new, fresh face because nobody would come in the movie thinking live in color or you know, I already have their on what kind of funny he's gonna be. It was just this was a new character like for most people Chris Tucker is smoky Like, it's nothing before that that they can really.
Yeah, because even if you watch the Fifth Element, he just played like a weird, like a different version of smoky in the Fifth Element. Yeah, you know, so like a sassy, smoky Fifth Element with Bruce Willis.
And it's because you know, that's the first real thing you've seen the man, and that's really what I wanted that.
Effect facts, Yeah, it works. I want to jump ahead a little. One of my favorite albums of all time is bow Down Gangster Killer and Dobe Buelers Fucking just one of my favorite songs to ever be made.
Uh.
You guys were in this mix with Common when Common dropped I Used to love Her? Yeah, and he had his verse that you guys reacted to on West Side Slaughterhouse.
Yeah.
Is it safe to say west Side Slaughterhouse was kind of like the conception of West Side Connection.
It was was now it was on.
Yeah, I'm curious, did you guys take real offense to like when you heard I used to love Her? Like, what were your guys' thoughts? Like, because you guys are motivated enough to put that record together.
I think what it was was we saw a wave coming. I think we had saw first before before we took any offense to that record. It was records like fuck Compton, they came out, Tim Dogg, Tim Dogg, and and so we felt like the more successful we got, the more pot shots we were starting to hear from New York and starting. Yeah, it was it was called keep it real. That's what they keep it real. We don't keep it real. This is real hip hop. We're keeping it real here.
So that was the kind of line in the sand between patting us on the back for being this new phenomenon to how many records these niggas gonna put out? You know what I meant it first, but damn. And so we were starting to get pot shots, and I think Common just got caught up in all that because Uh master As had did a record Caross slaughter House where he was like, that's why we did West Side slaughter House because he was saying our records was just saying murder, murder, murder.
Kill, kill, kill, And I mean, I know he's amazing, but Born de Role is like, if you heard it, you might think exactly.
So we were starting to take offence, and you know, at first, we was like, Yo, we're just now getting accepted in hip hop. Let us be cool, you know, and not trip because we all know how to turn a party out, and it's just gonna go bad. It ain't gonna be nobody, gonna have no funds. It's just gonna go bad for us. But it was like, this is all we could take. You know, Somebody gotta somebody gotta stop this, or everything we've accomplished will be erased and negated and looked at as like just a blip
on the hip hop radar. And I'm like, no, we have to solidify what we've done in hip hop, and the way to do that is to band together under this West Side umbrella.
So the Bitch and You comes out. Yes, when you first hear it, Yeah, how do you feel?
Well? I mean I had a record, It's a hard record. I had a record cock. I had a record cocked and loaded and ready to attack. Okay. Then I get a call from Minister Farrah con after this is after the Bitch and You drops, Yes, okay, But he caught all the rappers together because he saw getting out of hand and basically was like, if y'all don't call some kind of truce with this. Somebody is gonna could die and not because as somebody from the West sidegunt tack
com or somebody from Commons side gonna attack us. But now you have maybe a third party could do something to one of us and then we're gonna blame each other. So when you beef in public, it gives you or not, it gives an opportunity for third party. And we was thinking government CIA to step in and kill one of us, hurt one of us, and then we're gonna.
Start blacken each other, incite this, divide and conquer.
Yeah, So.
In the by the way, that's a real thing, without a doubt. That's all that's happened in different facets of the country over time, like and and to destroy other countries and coops and all.
It happens. For sure, it happened to the Nation Islam with Malcolm X. They was beefing. Somebody come in and kill Malcolm X. Now one side blaming the other. Other. Now that being said, it was it was just in the best interest to to stop the beef right there and not do the records that I had what was the name of the song you had cocked and loaded? I don't know. I got to look at my notebook. It's buried in my notebook. I haven't it was it was crazy though, yeah, I mean I was. It was a disc record.
Did you think The Bitching You was a hard record?
I didn't feel those things from it, Okay, that's fair, you know. I didn't feel like, uh, you know, I.
Was just wonder because obviously you guys are like, I.
Mean, we're cool now, but I just want to hear the record, and I think I only heard the records once. I only heard it once when somebody did you only want to listen to it one time?
You're not going to go back into to it once unless you're Drake and everywhere you go it's playing.
And you know, to me, it was, uh, you know, it was cool.
Yeah, now that was, you know, an interesting time for sure. On the new record, you say that you're here to fight reptiles and lizards.
Yeah.
Now, I know that you and I are probably a little more on the conspiracy side than other people. Huh did you mean like reptilians lizard people?
I think that's what we all fighting somewhere somehow.
I'm just curious. Yeah, that stuck out.
It is Yeah, I think we all fighting some kind of forces that are not happy with humanity and trying to, you know, make sure we're self destruct.
Do you feel like I don't want to get too specific with like any sort of politics or anything, but you know, with what's going on obviously the election just ended.
There is a real economy in division. Yeah.
People's entire livelihoods and their houses and their car notes are paid based on peddling divisive material to divide people, right, And I'm just curious from your perspective, you've I mean you've seen, I mean, you've been a part of so many different like eras of the country as a black man in America. Obviously, fucking you've talked about I think a bird in the hand and the bushy, the first bush, Jesus, the first bush, you know what I mean? Even Reagan, it was were you wrapping in before?
Man?
But I'm just curious, like, what what would you say, like if you had to kind of as somebody who's kind of seen I don't know if the country has ever been this divided, Like, what do you think would be the healing factor.
For people to mind their own business a little more? I love that, Yeah, I think if if you wait make up, and you in social media and you're looking at everybody business and you affected negatively, and you start affecting people around you negatively because of other people's business that you've been watching, that's a problem. Minding your own
business don't just mean ignoring the world. It means everybody got shit they need to do in their own life, and they need to mind their own business like you mine a goal mine, like clean your shit up, fix your shit. You got your loose sinds, type your loose sinds, work on your business, and not worry about the fate of the world, because nine times out of ten, you're getting frustrated and worked up about somebody else's business and some shit that don't even concern you.
Yeah, and you're getting frustrated and worked up because that's with the purpose of probably that's what that's what they want exactly.
And you're not hit till you hit, and you're not hurt till your hit. So stop waiting. You know what makes a soldier fight on through the bullets that are coming at him? Why does he keep going? How does he keep going when he knows bullets are incoming? Because you're not hit till you hit, so you might not ever get hit. So why sit there and ship your pants when you're not even hit. So most of the time people are crying and yelling and this is my life gonna change and my rights and it not even
really affects them, you know. They just get worked up over other people's business.
Yeah, and even like sometimes like they're getting worked up over what they perceive to be factual when a lot of times it's not.
It's not. You know, people always think they can sing into the future on how it's gonna be, But that's okay.
I'm like, hey man, we've lived through everybody, right, so it's gonna be. There's gonna be another president of four years and another one after that.
I'm curious.
You and your wife are one of probably the most successful marriage in hip hop at this point.
How many years thirty two? Uh, we've been together since nineteen eighty nine, so I'm married in nineteen ninety two.
That's beautiful, as somebody I've been married for over five years? What is the key to lasting that long? Because sometimes me and my wife want to kill each other.
I mean, you gotta you gotta want to be there. You know, you gotta understand the reason you married this person, and you gotta want to be there. You gotta you know, be a giver, not a receiver. And the more you give, the more you will receive in a relationship. That's right. And so you know, having somebody to go through this crazy life with and if you guys can have each other's back where it's us against the world. And the thing is, when it's real tight, whether you're married or not,
y'all still be like that. That's a real commitment marriage and all that just a license paperwork. You have to be committed to a person for life. And you stay down with her. She stayed down with you, and let the chips fall what they may. And we could yell all day at each other, but still love your ass. You Still we're still gonna be Yeah, I ain't going nowhere. You ain't going nowhere. You know, we're gonna work through it, live through it, and come through it, yo. Whatever.
Like how close or how far along was the idea of the new n w A when like hello and chin check and all that ship was like was it was it like a thing that was getting worked on or was it just a night because you guys were I think there was this there was the source cover that was.
Yeah. We we were just you know, kind of figuring our next moves in a lot of ways. We had just really start to come back together after you know, Easy passed away and it was just you did like natural Born Killers. Yeah we did that, but that was that was for the that was for the murder, was the case soundtrack, and basically what happened. You know, we thinking about, Okay, this is a project that we we like working together. We could get together and do a
whole nother project. Then dra meet some kid named eminem.
Crazy some kid, and then and then it just was like.
Man and then after that he meets some dude named fifty, and it was kind of like the hold on cue I got. I got a few things to do before we get to that, which is understandable.
And you guys were on the up and smoke tour together.
Yeah, Yeah, we had fun. You know, we all went out big tour.
I'm sad because I sold so many of my CDs to the warehouse to afford my ticket in Phoenix, Arizona, And that was one of the dates you were.
Not Yeah, when they put the tour together. I had spot dates, so I had to miss one or two.
You miss Phoenix, Yeah, I was like, wait Ice Cubes that performing the night?
What the fuck? Yeah? That was trust me, I was I was hating effect that I was a crazy somewhere else on some smaller ship and I'm.
Like, ah, that was a crazy tour though it was.
It was. It was as fun and big and crazy as you can imagine.
You had like that run like around the war and peace times when you were like on Corn's followed the Leader and then they were on your album and then you were doing like a lot of rock festivals or shows like I remember just like seeing that shit on MTV news all the time. Yeah, what like like what made you and Corn like hit it off to where you guys did a couple of records together.
You know, after doing a Lola it was a tour in ninety two. I was, you know, hot with that market. So it was always you know, me and my management looking for ways to connect with another rock group or do some cool shit. And I ended up getting with new management and they one of the groups was Corn, and so I dug the record because it was incorporating hip hop into this rock and sure you have a breakbeat breakout and then they go back and yeah, I'm like, oh,
this shit is dope. So meeting them, you know, just saying how cool they wash, it was like, dude, you know we're working on some shit. If you want to come get down, let's get down. And we did stuff together and then we went on the Family Values Tour. That's the tour. Lamp Biscuit, Yah, yeah, Limp Biscuit, that's like yeah corn Limp Biscuit. A group called uh minished Well I wasn't Ministry, it was damn They are called
how Many Values to Ours? That's a fucking legend. The front ro Romstein, Wait, Romstein was on that.
Trash mash and and then ice.
Cube them motherfuckers a day on.
Like h that's just such a crazy, like sonic opposite of the spectrum like industrial German rock.
These motherfuckers will put theirself on fire in the middle of the Ramstein Dudes, Romstein, Dudes, Ramstein, Ramstein. This motherfucker would be performing and then they would come and put this vadast ship on him, right, not ship, but it was like some uhlobby ship.
That they could on fire without killing.
Such as motherfucker on fire? Was this before you went on? Yeah?
So so then you're like, I gotta follow the dude who just set himself on fire?
Yeah yeah, this ship was good. No, it was after us, yeah yeah, yeah, it was. Thank god it was after us, but we would be tripping off these dudes. Man, they was. They was like, this was some of the crazy ship I ever seen.
And I mean yeah, the mosh pits had to be crazy.
It was fun. Yo.
What would you say is your worst movie out of all the bigger ones? Your worst big budget movie?
What's your I'll go first the Triple X. Uh well, I would say, uh Ghost of Mars Is I forgot about that one. You're right about that. That was I did some ship called Rampart with I remember Rampart with Woody Harrelson. Yep, that's garbage. Okay, it wasn't. Fucking Triple X is better than that ship. Come on, man, Triple X. The only reason to me, Triple X had the wrong director. They had an old school director when they should have got somebody wasn't exhibiting Triple X too. Yeah yeah, yep, yeah,
that was a Sam Jackson and William Dafoe. It was just the wrong director. You know. He didn't he didn't add no, no, no spice to it. It just felt old.
What is your, in your opinion, your most underrated movie that you don't get You don't you know? I mean you've done all about the Benjamins. Yeah, for sure, I agree. Follow Yeah, Mike Apps, you feel like that's the Mike Apps movie that really made people be like, oh ship, yeah, Mike Is.
I love working with Mike. He's he's uh, he's my favorite person to work with.
Is Uh. It's gonna be difficult to pull off this new Friday movie. Obviously, I'm excited because John will not be in it.
Well, I think Friday's great. Is Friday has a universe of people. It does, and if we make a movie that that is on point, he will be missed, but he won't ruin the movie.
You gotta have unk in it. Of course, something has gotten with the barbecue spot. I got it, I got it, I got this watch. Did you like my video?
Oh? I loved it. It wasn't entertainment, it was great. And and then did you was that a wig you had on it? On? Now? Hell? Yeah, you know that you don't look like Moore's day for real.
This is this is this is uh okay, so kill it will comes out and that's your last album in which you had like long hair and the death certificate you got the fade. Yeah, were you like worried about cutting your hair and like because you just like it was there's almost like this era of Cube where it's like, okay, there's Jerry Jerry curl Cube and then haircut Cube.
I wasn't worried at all. I had to cut my hair because for acting. No, I just got a pool. Okay, I could afford a pool. I was in that shit every day. And if you can imagine how Jerry Curle look after you swim every day for a whole summer. Shit, that shit was looking like you know afro. So I was like, I love this fucking pool. I'm gonna be in this shit every day. So I cut my hair because I couldn't. I couldn't keep it from looking fucked up.
Seventh season of Big Three just wrapped.
Eighth, Yeah, seventh, we're going into today.
Going into the eighth season. Uh I know that. Uh you know, for people who watch it, they just love it. They appreciate it, and I'm just curious, like, did you ever figure out what the disconnect has been with like the NBA?
Yeah, I know what it is. That's easy. They mad they didn't think of the ship and they don't want somebody like me running something like this when they believe they own basketball, but they don't because.
They have the w NBA, they have the G League, They have.
Every base covered except for what happens when players, but they don't own basketball. Correct. Nobody runs and say, ma, I'm going out to go play NBA. They say I'm going out to go play basketball. So there's room for the Big three to exist, and we will exist. We don't even need the NBA at this point. Do you think it's an Adam Silver thing? Of course, it's a straight I mean, is it a smart business decision not to work with me and the big No? Okay, so it got to be personal.
Yeah, that doesn't make any sense to me.
It don't make crazy man sense, as my man keyboard was.
Saying, because you could like embrace it and then it could be this cool place where players go. It's like, hey, you retired.
They didn't think of it. They don't want me running it. They don't want to work with it, so we don't need them now. Maybe four or five years ago we probably wanted them to do it, but now they were just being on.
Well they never embraced and won back in the day.
Remember this is bigger, I mean not bigger. This is different. It's different. But I'm saying like they didn't embrace that because they they didn't want, you know, that style of play to come into the NBA for the Big three? Is there?
I know I saw somebody. There's going to be expansion, right like new Ts and all that.
Yeah, well we're selling teams, so teams are now going to be represented by cities and then after we sell a lot of twelve, we'll expand.
So right now there's twelve teams that people can invest in, eight because four have been So if somebody wanted to invest in the team and bring it to Phoenix, what would they have to do?
Shit, have some MS, A lot of MS, A lot of MS, I mean, you know, a reasonable amount.
A reasonable amount of MS. Yes, some fucking money per se.
Yeah, yeah, that's fair. It is fair to.
Talk to me about the album. I've heard that it's amazing good.
I believe it is you know it's called man Down, and you know I have to accumulate it the record. That's what I ended up calling it because it felt like a record talking about a lot of different subjects. A few of them have to deal with the state of men and how you know, how are added two d is in twenty twenty five four Pussification of men? Yeah, I mean, you know it's sad, and so you know it's really about us standing up, you know what I mean. Don't be a pussy all your life. Be a dick
sometime and get hard. I like, what, yo, was it cool? Going?
I went to Joe Rogan spot in Austin with Freddy Gibbs when Freddy Gibbs did it, Yeah, he's got like it's very like an unassuming building, like you wouldn't even know it's there. Yeah, but let you go in and it's like this is a place, Like how cool was that? Being able to link with him. Obviously a lot of people would say he might have just you know, thrown the election in someone's favor, but because he is the biggest media platform in the world.
Yeah, real cool, you know, being able to you know, see how he get down And I've been a fans of that dude since fear factor for sure, and then to see him you know, getting to the UFC and really be you know, extremely you know, passionate and full of information. Yeah, which to me helped you know, grow that sport and get it to where it is. I think his analysis was just as good as the fight.
And so to see him using that platform and being able to to talk about things in a in a more you know cool setting two or three hours long form really uh deep dive into each topic in each conversation without feeling like you rushed or you you can't get out of something cool that you think people will want to see it here. So it was real cool to hang with them and hope to do it again sometimes.
Any features on the album on Man.
Oh yeah yeah, we definitely got features Exhibit Killer, Mike Buster, Snoop forty, Short, j D, j D, Jermaine pre no Nah Nah j D from the Lynch Mob. I mean, I don't know man JD from the Lynch Mob, and we got Corrupt on there be Real Yo.
The it felt like the Mount Westmore album. It was a little disappointing in terms of just like the impact it made.
It Yeah, what do you think.
There were some dope joints on there? But where do you think the Mount Westmore project? Because I think what my favorite part that came out of that was you guys did shows together. Yeah, and it gave fans like you could go see all of y'all together on stage, which was amazing. But in terms of like the actual body of work, it got like mixed up with the NFT.
It was delayed a bunch of times, Like yeah, it just you know, the the NFT thing was it was a mistake in a lot of ways, and it's just a project that kind of took too long to hit. And you know, you got four people trying to come together to do something and everybody else they couldn't hold on no more, so they had to go do their own solo shit and couldn't really work the record or you know, promote the record or really.
Tour the record, right, I mean there was some dope. I mean, you guys have some records they got played on radio, and shit.
It's a good record. You know, just wish we could have wish it would have came out on time and and you know we had time to really work.
It for Let's say there's a seventeen year old kid who hears it's my ego for the first time, and they hear you I was Kendrick before Kendrick. Yeah, explain because I said, I.
Know what you mean, but like, well, I started kicking what we call street knowledge a long time ago, and it's a blend of you know, what's happening on the streets and what's happening in the world, and you know, being able to do it in a dope way in a hip hop form and still be you know, fresh but informative is a style at that. Uh. You know, I've helped coin with a few other ogs, you know, like Iced Tea and Carras and you know, the Meley
mel and rock Kims of the world. But and you were like also a good kid in a mad city before that was the thing, Like yeah, I mean, you know, we all was like you were like, you know.
Trying to like get your shit together, going to you went to Arizona to go to college and shit, but you still were kind of telling the story of your of your neighborhood and of your Yeah, and you know, I.
Start rapping at fourteen years old, So it's it's an age where you trying to figure out which way you're gonna go. You're gonna go sports dope, gang banging. Luckily hip hop was right there, and so that's the door I went through and it's gotten me here. Uh So, you know, the line is not a disc The line to me is paying homage to what Kendrick has done in the Gang to be honest, or I wouldn't even
say that about to do the halftime show. Yeah, so salute to all those Grammy nominations, Salute to him being a true artist and not compromising the art for the fame. And I believe I'm the same type artists.
Well, he just got I think six or seven Grammy nominations for Not Like Us Today.
Good.
Can you imagine if like no Vassiline in the Night would have got like Grammy nominations and melted the Academy down.
Ship.
They're still not even showing the Best Rap Album award on TV, which is fucking preposterous to me.
Yeah, it's just you know, it's them trying to keep some sense.
Of number one genre of music in the world. But you know, let's not show you the Album of the Year A couple of quick things. Would you ever do a podcast under the right circumstances, because I feel like if you were just like speaking on your perspective of current events or music, I just feel like it would be Yeah, I can make it work. It's an eight figure idea right there. You got to do it, man, can make it work. And I mean obviously there's been
guys who have done it. Would there ever be a world in which you would ever make up with mac ten and do another West Connection album?
I don't know.
Time will tell. I don't know fair enough. Yea, the new album Man Down? Yeah, uh, what is the what's the release date?
November twenty right around the corner?
We got you and Snoop dropping Like yeah, Snoop's back with Dre. This new record feels like classic Cube, like the West Coast got.
This ship right now? Man? Why not?
You know the dog pounds dropped on Death Row.
Hey, we ain't never went nowhere, We just got busy, but we're back.
Do you take like when you when you hear that term like legacy artists, I feel like that's a good thing, is that you're still here and you're still go.
Oh yeah, you know you still hear people still give a fuck, you know, I know, uh, you know, people gonna put titles on on on you when you've been around for decades, and that's cool, you know, as long as they still paying attention, you know, calling the old school og legacy legend, you know what I mean.
Just don't call me whack and you're I know you're working on a lot of other shit, but uh, besides Friday, any other movies in the works you're writing in the oh.
Yeah, definitely got we got some things cocked and loaded.
I can't wait to see it, man. I feel like it's been a few years since I've seen you, like on a on on a big screen, so it's been a minute, do you uh randomly? Also, I just got to give you props because you also have besides Friday, the twenty one Jump Street. Yeah, ship like you're you're rolling that as the as the Captain is so good.
Thanks, thanks, Oh, it's so good.
I just got to give you props. I can't wait to hear the album. Man, the new record is dope. The remixes out, will bust a rhyme and kill a Mike and uh yeah, man down. November twenty second, ice Q one of the greatest of all time. Yeah yeah, I appreciate you man, Luke, I appreciate you too.
Oh.