Before there was Kanye West, there was Ice Cube. A man whose tongue not only sliced the hearts of politicians, but also fed the knowledge and wisdom needed to survive in this cold world. Unlike some rappers, who preferred serving their dish of lyricism in a verbose and garrulous manner, Cube was straight to the point. In his 1991 debut, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, Cube's oeuvre showcased his fearlessness against his beloved country as he exposed the truth. Not only did he tackle the depths of racism, but he also wrestled with the issues of drug addiction, and poverty.
That was 1991. Now, it's 2010 and O'Shea Jackson is a multi-platinum recording artist, a successful actor, screen writer, and producer. To some, Cube might be the character "Craig" from his grand slam series flick Friday. To others, he may be the same guy who took Nia Long's kids for a ride destined for disaster in his past flick -- and present TV show airing on TBS -- "Are We There Yet". But, to most, Cube was the dude who never bit his tongue. He was the dude who never rapped for himself, but for the words who never had a chance to say what they really wanted.
Ballerstatus.com had the opportunity to speak with Ice Cube in this very insightful interview, in which he talks about his tracks from his new album I Am the West, his conquest in educating the uneducated through his music, robots taking over, and the real s*** going on behind the music industry.
BallerStatus.com: You've never had a problem speaking your mind. Rappers like you, Public Enemy, Pac, and KRS one always addressed issues within our societies without fearing the repercussions. Do you feel a little disappointed that today's new school rappers aren't really addressing the issues like you guys did?
Ice Cube: Well ... I mean, it's true. I mean, some of the new guys do keep it real. I always liked what Kanye was doing. He keeps it real from his perspective. Like, why touch gangsta sh** when you're really not from that environment, you know what I mean? But, he knows what knows. He do what he do. But, you know, of course, I would like more because, I think hip-hop could be life changing. You know, it could be music that could make fun, or make you get information that you might not of gotten in school, or might not have gotten from the TV. You might not get it from wherever you get your information from. You know, sometimes a b-boy gives it to you. But, it systemically has been removed from hip-hop. And, it started from around '93, '94. The major outlets where we get our hip-hop from stopped promoting those kinds of rappers. They stopped caring about the Poor Righteous Teachers, the KRS-Ones, the Ice T's, and the Public Enemys. It wasn't about them no more. That kind of message in rap was being pushed to the side. It became about partying, escapism, drinking, and smoking -- you know, whatever you're thinking of. People don't think about no movements. It was like we got Bill Clinton president. We had nothing to worry about.
BallerStatus.com: We chilling. (Laughing)
Ice Cube: Yeah. He's so called black. That's bullsh**. Motherf***er ain't black. But, anyway, it is what it is. That's what really happens. As a young MC, you're trying to be fly. You come up in the "bling age." You know what I mean? "The ice age".
BallerStatus.com: The ice age. (Laughing)
Ice Cube: But, I'm just saying, that becomes more popular. That's because that's what the young rappers want to do to get that status. Being a b-boy, being a Dead Prez, ain't gon' get you up there. You know what I'm saying? That's gon' keep you underground. Mainstream has decided that this kind of rap goes here, and that kind of rap goes there. And, we've been stuck there ever since.
BallerStatus.com: Are you ever worried, especially with the way our younger generations are built now, like some of the messages you try to send through your songs, may be overlooked especially on this I Am the West?
Ice Cube: You know what's good about music is that it's around forever. It's like a book. You might not read the book the first year it's published, but, whenever you discover it, it's new information. You know what I mean? So, some of my fans and b-boys out there want to take it to the next level, start listening to Cube, and what I did in the past. Then, you'll still get that message. Whether you got it the first year it was out, or the 20th year after it was out. Them records are forever. So, that's what I look at man. You know, it is a hard road. Messages do get lost. People be like "Oh, what you on?" You know what I mean? So, but hey, when I'm gone, there [records] are still going to be here.
BallerStatus.com: Like artifacts?
Ice Cube: Yeah I just don't want to be on a whole bunch of bullsh**. It's street knowledge what I do. You know, it's telling the streets what the politicians are doing. And, it's telling them hopefully if the politicians are listening, it's telling them the streets is thinking in a lot of ways. When I say the streets, I ain't talking about the dirtiest corners, or the dirtiest hoods, I'm just talking about, "We black. We know all of us have been through it. All of us know how it is." So that's what it is.
BallerStatus.com: Like I said you've had songs that always provided a deep message like "Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It," "Why Me?" and many others. I know you said recently in an interview that the album is going to be going in a different direction. Are you going to deviate from those types of messages in I Am the West, or will you bring the same style?
Ice Cube: Yeah, it's like I've never pigeonholed myself as an artist. I think you gotta let it flow. Do what you feel. Sometimes you feel like being preachy. Sometimes you feel like having fun. That's what hip-hop is, you know, not to pigeonhole yourself into, "I'm this style." People have been trying to put me in a style, and then was like, "Yo, you do this." And anything out of the box is, "Cube!? What you doing? You changing?! What's up?!" You know what I'm saying, that's how they come at me. So, with this record, it's the summer. It's California. It's a West Coast record. The people might appreciate that from other places. But if I hear a record from the south, I wanna sound like the south. If I hear an east coast record, I wanna sound like the east coast. I want to feel the concrete. So, when you hear a west coast record, do you want me to do what the east coast is doing, and what the south is doing? No. You want west coast right? So, that's what I'm doing.
But, there's records on there called -- you know there's a record on there you're going to dig -- it's called, "Hood Robbin'", which is talking about how you know everybody knows Robin Hood robs from the rich and gives to the poor. But, in "Hood Robbin", the corporations rob from the poor and give to the rich. You know what I mean? It's about how they beat us on this housing, on health care, pill popping. You got grand mamas drugged out. You got everybody dying off prescription drugs. You what I mean? It's like the whole gang and Klan is with it. So, you know, that's on there. "Man vs. Machine" is on there. That's talking about how we're so dependent on machinery, technology, and we can't even do simple things no more. You know, a lot of women can't cook because of the microwave. (Laughs) And then, if the microwave goes out, and the fast food restaurant ain't open, what you gon' do? You put flour, butter, sugar in front of somebody, and they're like "What the hell can I do? We can't eat this." (Laughs) But, you're grandma could have hooked it up. It's something that's happening to human beings where we're so dependent on trying to even live anywhere without any technology, and we probably couldn't survive. So that's dangerous. Pretty soon we're going to have auto plants, automation, machine, robots, doing everything humans do. You know, everything is going to be done by a robot. You go to the grocery store, they don't even have cashier no more. Everybody is checking their cell phones. You know, pretty soon, we won't need these humans. All we'll need is robots.
BallerStatus.com: Damn. You got this theory locked down.
Ice Cube: It's real. It's happening everyday. We're more and more hooked to these things. You know, if everybody could put one of them cell phones down, we could find a motherf***er nowadays. (Laughs)
BallerStatus.com: So let me ask you something. Could you easily live without a cell phone, iPod, etc?
Ice Cube: I mean, I got a cell phone for if I need to do business. But I'm just saying we're all dependent on it. You know, I'm not the kind of dude who's like, "Oh. I'm not going to wear the white man's product." (Laughs) You gotta have balance. I ain't gonna be so heavily dependent where I'm going to put my whole life into that phone, where I'm going to put my whole life in this thing. And if you can't survive, like if this thing [tape recorder] goes out, then you out? Nah you gotta write it down. You gotta keep writing it down.
BallerStatus.com: In the past, the west had rappers like you, Snoop, Pac, Dre holding the coast down, and today you have emerging stars like Nipsey, Jay Rock, and Game holding it down. Do you feel confident in these dudes holding down the coast like you guys did in the past?
Ice Cube: I feel confident. I feel as long as they rep where they're from, we'll always have representation. You know, it's the industry. It ain't the artists. The industry has basically abandoned the west. It's kind of like, "It's too west coast. That sh** sounds too west coast." What the hell does that mean? So, it's just a stigma. Most the industry is in New York. Most of the industry is in Atlanta. Some of it is in Miami. And, I'm talking about that run the industry. I'm talking about the Radio One, the Viacoms, and the Clear Channels. These are people that in a lot of ways run what's going to make it to the top. They don't think Nipsey Hustle is bumping 'cause they hear what's on the radio. Whoever is bumping out here, the whole country should be listening to that. You know, we don't get a shot. Ain't no major record companies out there no more that's really in the game. So if you're not on a major, ain't getting no awards, ain't on no awards show, you don't get none of that love. You only get love when you're on a major, or if you're a brand new artist and you have a breakthrough record. When you that kind of artist, there's no way going, but down.
BallerStatus.com: That's why you decided to go indie with this album right?
Ice Cube: Yeah. Go indie. Do what I want. Do what I feel. Don't try to follow no trends. Definitely don't listen to no suckas in those corporate buildings telling us how to make a record. Just be who we are.
BallerStatus.com: No Regis and Kelly.
Ice Cube: No, I mean it ain't Regis & Kelly. (Laughs) It's those A&R motherf***ers that sit up in these corporate buildings that say your records should sound like this. They'll be like "You need to do a record that's going to be hot. You need to do a record with whoever's hot. You need to record with Nicki Minaj." Yeah motherf***er, if I do a record with her, she's hot, so of course, it's going to be hot. Man, come up with something original. "Oh you need to do a record with T.I.. You need to do a record with whoever is the hot person."
BallerStatus.com: So, do you really feel there's a point to being in the music industry anymore if creativity is limited?
Ice Cube: Well it depends on what type of artist you are. Sometimes you gotta get in where you fit in. I'm talking from a different perspective. When I was coming up, I wish I had an A&R stuck in the studio with us. What? What is he going to tell me about the kind of music that I'm making? He wants me to sound like what he heard on the radio. So it's a different thing. I came in a different era. Some people gotta deal with that. You know what I mean? You should deal with that if it's the only way you could make a record. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to get on. If there's someone with power, kick his ass out. So, you know, I ain't gonna tell people don't get into it because there's barely any people really doing it.
I Am The West drops July 13th. Head over to IceCube.com for more info.
http://www.ballerstatus.com/2010/06/07/catching-up-with-ice-cube-talks-state-of-music-industry-keeping-it-real-in-music/
