Ice Cube's Life


O'Shea Jackson (Ice Cube), was born on June 15 1969, in Los Angeles and raised in South Central L.A. While in high school, Cube and his pal Sir Jinx rapped as the duo CIA at parties thrown by Dr. Dre. Cube wrote a rap titled "Boyz-n-the-Hood" and offered it to rapper Eazy-E's group, HBO. When HBO passed on the track, Cube, Eazy-E and Dr. Dre formed N.W.A. Cube left the group briefly to study architectural drafting in Arizona, but he was back for N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton (1988), which became a hit in rap circles. The album's extreme politics, violence and profanity set a new standard for rap music and attracted a great deal of criticism -- and the attention of the FBI. But Cube had disagreements with the group's management and left in 1989.

Moving east with his new group, Da Lench Mob, Cube recorded his debut solo album, provocatively titled AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted (1990), with the Bomb Squad of Public Enemy fame. The album immediately went gold, and Ice Cube's talents as an intelligent, rhyming lyricist gained notice, but he was also deemed dangerous by critics and civil-rights groups for his perceived misogyny and anti-gay sentiments.

As Ice Cube became a powerful force in the rap world, he started his own corporation. He put a woman in charge of his company and produced an album for a female friend, Yo Yo, to counter charges that he had a hatred of women. But his dangerously titled 1990 EP, Kill at Will, brought more protests.

An even larger furor erupted over Cube's next release, 1991's Death Certificate. "No Vaseline"(RealAudio excerpt) reeked of anti-Semitism, and "Black Korea" called for the burning of Korean-owned grocery stores. Billboard magazine asked stores to boycott the album. Despite or because of the controversy, the album went platinum. 1992's The Predator was Cube's most popular album, becoming the first album to debut at #1 on both the pop & R&B charts. In addition to documenting his conversion to the Nation of Islam, The Predator featured the single "It Was a Good Day" and a collaboration with Das EFX, "Check Yo Self," which sampled old soul records. Ice Cube also toured as part of the Lollapalooza tour that year and succeeded in attracting white rock fans. Following the success of The Predator, Cube's prominence in the rap world began to decline. 1993'sLethal Injection courted a white audience while railing against it at the same time. It sold fairly well, but Ice Cube was experimenting with too many rap styles and he confused listeners. Cube then took ahiatus from solo recording and wrote, sang on and produced Da Lench Mob's 1994 debut, Guerillas in the Mist. He also produced Kam's debut Neva Again that year.

Back in 1990, Cube had extended his creative reach into acting, starring in John Singleton's Oscar-nominated film about urban culture, "Boyz N the Hood." (The movie's title was taken from Cube's early rap.) He resumed acting in 1995 with another Singleton film, "Higher Learning," and in 1996 Cube wrote and acted in "Friday." His recording activity continued, as well. After dueting with Dr. Dre on "Natural Born Killaz," Cube formed the Westside Connection with WC and Mack 10 and released their album Bow Down (1996). Cube was featured in the 1997 film "Anaconda" and that year rapped on hip-hopper Ant Banks' Big Thangs.

1998 had been a big year for Ice Cube. He had guested on Mack 10's third solo album, acted in and directed the feature "The Player's Club" (distributed by New Line Cinema, with whom he signed a two-year, first-look development and production deal) and released his first solo album in four years. The soundtrack to feature "The Player's Club" is the first release of Cube's new Heavyweight Records, and he is featured on it. His double set, War and Peace, is more hardcore than his past efforts and is set for great success. The War disc was released in November '98 and the Peace disc after being delayed for several months is set to be released between August and October. Cube also is on a CD tribute to the Clash, scheduled for release soon, and he has recently recorded with grunge-metal band Korn in their album, Follow the Leader. They also appeared in the track "Fuck Dying" in the War disc as the guitar background. Most interestingly, N.W.A are rumored to be reuniting at the end of the year.

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