ICE CUBE
Birth Name: O'Shea Jackson
Birth Date: June 15, 1969
Birthplace: Los Angeles, CA
Claim to Fame: 1983: Began writing rap
lyrics at age 14 and teamed with Eazy-E and Dr. Dre to form the rap
group N.W.A.; debut album, Straight Outta Compton (1989)
Significant Other: Wife: Kim Jackson;
married 1992; mother of Ice Cube's three children
THE BEST RAPPER BESIDES EAZY-E & MC REN
TO EVER COME OUT FROM THE WEST. Born O'Shea Jackson, 15 June 1969,
Crenshaw, South Central Los Angeles, California, USA. Controversial
hardcore rapper who formerly worked with the equally inflammatory
NWA. Following a relatively stable background, with both his mother
and father working at UCLA, Cube entered the homeboy lifestyle: 'One
day I was sitting in class with a friend called Kiddo and we had some
time on our hands, so he said let's write a rap'. At the age of 16 he
penned his first important rap, 'Boyz 'N The Hood', which was later
recorded by Eazy-E. He subsequently spent time with CIA, an embryonic
rap outfit produced by Dr. Dre. As guest lyricist, he brought NWA '8
Ball' and 'Dopeman', which would comprise the opening salvo from the
band. After studying architectural draughtsmanship in Phoenix,
Arizona, he returned to the NWA fold in time for the groundbreaking
Straight Outta Compton. He would leave the group at the tail-end of
1989, amid thinly veiled attacks on NWA's Jewish manager Jerry
Heller. His debut album, recorded with Public Enemy producers the
Bomb Squad (The), drew immediate mainstream attention with its
controversial lyrical platform. As well as homophobia and the
glamorization of violence, his work was attacked primarily for its
overt sexism, raps about kicking a pregnant girlfriend ('You Can't
Fade Me') notwithstanding. Conversely, Ice Cube overlooks a
production empire (Street Knowledge) run for him by a woman, and he
also fostered the career of female rapper Yo Yo (who appears
alongside him defending her gender on AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted 's
'It's A Man's World'). The politicization of his solo work should
also be noted; in his NWA days he had once written, 'Life ain't
nothing but bitches and money', but his words since then have
incorporated numerous references to black ideology that add up to
something approaching a manifesto. His defence against critical
discomfort with his rhymes, 'I put a mirror to black America', has
been hijacked by many other, less worthy cases. To Ice Cube's credit,
he went on to produce two excellent sets, The Predator and Lethal
Injection. The former, in particular, boasted a much more discursive
approach to the problems of the ghetto, including reflections on the
Los Angeles riots and the Rodney King beating. Perhaps it was marred
by the blunt sexism of tracks such as 'Cave Bitch', but it was
certainly an advance. Musically it was typified by a stirring 'One
Nation Under A Groove', with a lead vocal by the song's writer,
Clinton, George. In 1993 he also teamed up with fellow rapper Ice-T,
with whom he shares more than a similarity in name, to launch a
fashion range incorporating a gun logo. No stranger to controversy,
Ice Cube became better acquainted with commerce too. His 1992 film
Trespass, retitled after the LA Riots deemed original moniker Looters
unsavoury, saw him team up with Ice-T once more. He had already
starred in John Singleton's 1991 hit film, titled after his first
rap, Boyz 'N The Hood, and later appeared in the same director's
Higher Learning. Having completed four million-selling albums, Ice
Cube's career attracted the attention of those outside the hip-hop
fraternity. 'It Was A Good Day' gave him a massive profile via MTV.
Like Ice-T, Cube was targeted on right wing assassination lists
discovered by the police in 1993. However, his career has continued
unabated. Street Knowledge has provided Da Lench Mob and Kam with
successful albums on which Cube has acted as executive producer, and
he has set up a second subsidiary, titled after his posse, Lench Mob,
and written several screenplays. The soundtrack to his 1998
directorial debut, The Player's Club, was a Top 10 success in the
USA. The movie itself, set in a strip club, was one of the year's
surprise successes, having grossed $20 million at the box office only
six weeks after its April release.