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Ice Cube: From NWA Drama to 2 Billion Streams 🏆 | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
Nov 26, 2024
Ice Cube REVEALS the untold story behind nearly leaving his record label and shares profound insights on longevity in hip-hop. In this exclusive interview, the legendary rapper opens up about working with Eazy-E, his approach to maintaining quality music decades into his career, and the power of forgiveness in the industry. Cube discusses his reconciliation with B-Real, breaks down his creative process, and reveals why he considers his work "fun" rather than just business. The NWA co-founder also shares a surprising story about being denied entry to his own album release party and offers wisdom on selecting business partners. Plus, hear Cube's perspective on his new album "Man Down" and why he believes it's some of his best work yet. Join Sway and the morning show team for this raw, unfiltered conversation with one of hip-hop's most influential voices. #musicmarketing #icecube #icecubebig3 #icecubebig3update #priorityrecords CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Introduction 01:45 - Tracy G 06:29 - Ice Cube 14:55 - Ice Cube's Team Selection 18:15 - Ice Cube's Vision and Goals 21:08 - Lessons from Eazy-E 28:48 - Impact of Gangster Rap on Community 36:08 - Ice Cube - Are We There Yet 2 40:00 - Ice Cube and B-Real Reconciliation 44:23 - Collaborating for Success 51:14 - Importance of Forgiveness
View Video Transcript
0:03
one one one one we good we good we good what's up
0:09
y'all feel great to be alive today right hold up it feel great to be alive today
0:16
right this see we even need this is this on y'all can hear this all right listen
0:22
this is a celebration number one we do a series now it's a new series here at SiriusXM in Pandora called the garage
0:29
series way in the morning with Heather be and Tracy G so you're going to see a lot of this kind of activity happening in this
0:36
Hub moving forward in 2025 so we just want to bring people who
0:42
really about Community people who are really about Community people who are really about Community I have to say
0:48
that three times people people who are really about culture and we have access
0:54
to some of the most iconic people to come out of the community Through the culture they're human before that
0:59
celebrities are before they're famous they no they're no different than we are right I shook everybody hand in here
1:05
today so we are all connected all right we are all family so we going to treat
1:11
this like a family function I really want y'all to be excited for Q I mean he
1:16
been in our lives everybody's lives for different eras different points of Our Lives from childhood to adulthood and he
1:23
been successful ever since so to me he's a role model in that sense of how we could break some of the gener AAL curses
1:30
that we that we deal with right so we going to show him a lot of love but before we do every morning I'm
1:36
surrounded by royalty some of the most beautiful powerful intelligent women in
1:41
the game today okay I want I'm going introduce them I want y'all to show them love these beautiful black women that's
1:48
about to step to this stage right now she's so eloquent I call her a vocab vix and give it up for the one and only Tracy
1:56
G Tracy G
2:04
[Applause] all right now the the next person about
2:10
to come on stage she's she's the First on many for many reasons first ever africanamerican reality TV star you
2:17
might have seen her on the big screen you might have seen her rocking with bdp you might have heard her Nike commercial
2:23
you might have seen her on Luke Cage you might have seen her on what else was you on S okay yeah everything
2:32
give it up for the legendary Heather [Applause]
2:44
be absolutely God bless everybody ear all right so since the days of
2:51
NWA uh I've been I'll tell you a quick story before I bring them out but uh what I started in De Bay with my partner
2:57
King Tech we used to do everything in our we couldn't get a record deal so we let me start with that and we would do
3:03
everything in our power to just kind of raise money and and bring awareness to our our record well our production
3:09
company at that time and I remember we threw a party in Hayward California and it was the same day that NWA was
3:16
performing and we we dreamt of man what if Dr Dre and Cube and Ren and all them coming to our party somehow these dude
3:23
showed up to our party I don't know how and we was charging $20 at the door and
3:30
remember they came to me and keing Tech and said yo NWA is here they at the door
3:35
what you want us to do that's $2 a piece wow we charged them $20 you know
3:43
and then they came in and Dre actually got on the turntables and I remember if whenever you meet somebody for the first
3:49
time somebody you really look up to and idolize you stand next to them you kind of looking at them and just trying to
3:55
see what's different about about and what I loved about them dudes they was just like me you know so all of his
4:02
success and the inspiration he's created uh I knew that at some point we can do the same thing we can all do that cuz
4:09
I'm just like y'all right we all just like each other so man down is the name of the project I want to set the tone
4:15
real quick before I bring them out one of my favorite songs on the project is called Ghetto Story We G to set the tone
4:21
for this conversation we're going to have with Cube and at some point I'mma ask all of y'all to get involved so if
4:27
you got great questions nothing offensive you know that ain't what this is you know nothing derogatory that
4:32
ain't what this is I will kindly walk you out myself you know but think about the questions we're going to let you
4:39
engage in this too this is Ghetto Story sit down let me tell you a
4:46
story about a young man trying to find his
4:53
glory he did everything you can do in the streets to get his b yeah but if
4:59
never stop for love life can be a [Music] stone more money more problem every
5:07
since we got this money we continue squabbing I remember we used to be steady mobing everybody want to be
5:13
Batman [ __ ] robing now when them things get the popping Choppers get the chopp L ones
5:20
get the dropping when them Hearts get to stoping nobody cares about all the money that
5:26
you clocking a bully on that [ __ ] got a bull I forgot he said he on demon time I'm on
5:33
God's time this is oil and water your ass is with the devil I'm with the Holy Father you'll probably shoot your mama
5:41
or extra Comm over marijuana pirana everybody say they want the bag yeah I
5:48
want to get it but not that bad not that
5:54
b about a boy trying to find his glory Glory
6:02
Glory he did everything you can do in these streets to get a B everything but
6:08
you don't stop be I'm trying to get dropped up
6:14
without getting locked up I'm trying to lay in the cut without getting mopped up I'm trying to stand on my own and never
6:20
get propped up the pirate class the flow can't get stopped up [ __ ] love money
6:26
money love me please don't make me have to do ugly I'm trying not to be like a
6:32
[ __ ] Thug be look at the sky this [ __ ] day is lovely I'm trying not to hate you F this little Caper why you
6:39
[ __ ] trying to pull me out my nature when you a Laker everybody hat your [ __ ] [ __ ] on the internet always
6:47
trying to bait you and if you take the bait they try to regulate I'll bust on they ass like war gnate and if you slip
6:55
they'll do you like they did NP [ __ ] from your own hood send you on a trip
7:00
people my ghetto story all better me trying to find his
7:09
glory he did it [Music]
7:17
allet you never
7:22
stop I can't trust them no more we used to roll six F I can't trust them no more
7:28
oh no oh no I can't trust them no more we used to run these hoes I can't trust them no more oh no oh no I can't trust
7:36
them no more we used to roll six FES I can't trust them no more oh no oh no I
7:41
can't trust them no more we used to run these hoes I can't trust them no
7:46
more yes indeed man come on man I'mma ask y'all to stand up for this one man
7:53
if you know if you if you feel like I feel about it man coming up to the stage he's iconic for so many reasons mostly
7:59
because he's kept us inspired uh co-founder of the most influential rap group in history 30 million LP sell so
8:07
worldwide he has a star on a Hollywood Walker fan he has a NAACP award he has a
8:14
lifetime Grammy Achievement Award he's been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ladies and gentlemen give
8:21
it up for the one and only Ice Cube
8:28
[Applause]
8:33
where love go it's a struggle is this happiness [ __ ] [ __ ] but I'm slapping
8:40
this with a [ __ ] is the do I can't overdose on no
8:48
[ __ ] a minister this Pimp [ __ ] I've been a minister since an [Applause]
8:56
infant nice Cube man it fce Cube
9:01
man never enough Applause appreciate it you know one of the most important
9:08
questions I want to start off with with you Cube I know you've been I've been interviewing you over 20 years man 20
9:14
plus years yeah you know I've never in my life seen you drive until
9:21
today yeah yeah man I even know what kind of cars you like bro uh you know I
9:26
like a few different ones you know um I had to pull that one out CUA uh I got to
9:32
get a smog check and [ __ ] and they was like before they check it you know it's been sitting up so they like it got you
9:39
got to drive it uh 50 miles or 100 miles before they can smog check the [ __ ] so
9:46
the computer got to restart or some dumb [ __ ] yeah yeah yeah you called the
9:51
computer dumb yeah the computer is dumb if it take 50 miles to restart or reset
9:58
what year is the car uh [ __ ] I don't know yo I can't wait to get to that point in my life I don't even know the
10:04
year the car man get up CU what's the make of that car I couldn't even tell what that was you know it's a vet
10:11
Stingray stingray yeah so you like the the the metal the chunky
10:17
cars yeah I like all kind you know I got I got some uh foreign [ __ ] too you okay
10:23
all right variety yeah I mean my wife you know I bought cars for her okay yeah
10:30
but I end up driving you end up driving you don't strike me as a person who uh
10:36
spends a lot of money on material things just things you like but you don't you don't do you need to live in the lap of
10:42
luxury no yeah I mean I don't I can do it all you know I've done it all so I
10:48
know how to do it all so you know it it don't take long
10:56
for me to adapt M to my surroundings so you know I
11:03
then been bottom to the top you know if I had
11:08
to go back to the bottom you know what I mean I I'll survive you'll survive yeah I survive up man that's ice cube right
11:15
there man I I played that song Ghetto Story I mean that was just my own personal
11:20
reasons might have been a little selfish um because I really enjoyed that track and I feel like I I I don't know if it
11:27
was autobiographical um um but I related it to um your life you know and your
11:33
journey tell me about that is it autobiographical I think you know
11:39
anybody come from any neighborhood MH can see they self in that
11:45
story um you know it's it's the craziest thing when homies start to Rob homies
11:53
homies start to press homies um and even set set each other up
11:59
from murder um it's just it's sad I mean you know even
12:06
people love Friday but that's one of the homies pressing everybody you know what
12:12
I'm saying so it's been going on for a long time and um when I heard that
12:19
music uh mixed by uh I mean produced by t- mix he's a uh swaave house uh
12:27
producer out of out of Houston Texas and um when I heard that music it
12:35
just you know it it just brought out that those lyrics cuz uh you know it's
12:42
kind of a sad song um but it's very
12:47
relevant um but I think a lot of people are feeling that way you know who do you
12:53
trust who do you trust you talk about you know we used to be steady mobbing and I'm paraphrasing but once the money
13:00
came in things start to change um in the song I'm not saying your life in the
13:06
song and everybody want to be Batman nobody want to be Robin right y that's a
13:11
great way to ruin a business right yeah it is you know
13:16
cuz you know people don't go see uh Robin and Batman you know what I mean
13:22
they go see Batman and Robin so if Robin start getting uh Jack in the Box so to
13:28
speak MH um he left
13:35
that then um it messes up the
13:41
chemistry the magic um you know people want it a
13:46
certain way so when you start messing with the formula M people don't want it
13:52
no more you know so you know you got to when Robin starts Robbin yeah yeah yeah
14:01
yeah start robing you know when Robin start robing you know it's you know you got
14:06
to yeah you know you got to make adjustments that's crazy CU people forget [ __ ] Robin was a superhero too
14:13
it's the difference yeah yeah got a rooll to play yeah just got a role to play still a superhero uh Cube you you
14:20
like a superhero to me man I'mma go ahead and say it I don't have no shame in saying that man I you people like
14:26
rock Kim folks who in my my my own age bracket but was doing things a little bit before me you know apprciate yeah
14:33
man and showing me that I could do it you know uh there's nothing to it but when I remember when I first met you I
14:39
told them about a story I told you this last time we interviewed when y'all y'all came to her you don't remember this after the concert in Oakland and we
14:45
we tried to charge Y at the door to come in our party I like to repeat that $20 Cube um
14:54
but one of the things I noticed man every time I see you I see you with the same team right see you with the same
15:02
people over the over years yeah and every time you enter uh an Endeavor
15:09
whether it's going solo you know your solo career whether it's Q Vision going
15:14
into Hollywood whether it's the big three those same people are there for
15:20
the most part how do you go about picking Partners what do you look for when you looking for p people to be
15:26
business associates um their
15:33
professionalism their uh Talent knowhow um their
15:41
execution how they go about their business every day um their
15:49
instincts do they see the punches coming do they recognize when things ain't
15:55
going to go right and uh do they make a adjustments on the Fly and can they
16:02
adapt because you know my team is great and
16:09
everybody say man you keep the same team around you but they're around because they want to be around because they can
16:16
easily they their own men they can easily be like you know K you too you too much man I can't can't do it no more
16:24
you know what I mean you just too much and so they
16:30
you know they're they're great at what they do like just like I'm a pro they're
16:36
pros at what what you know specific things and jobs and they can collaborate
16:42
with each other they can you know pick up if you know if one's not there they
16:48
could do multiple jobs um you know nobody's nothing is
16:54
above or below their um you know duty to make this thing keep moving in the right
17:02
direction MH so you know I'm you I'm lucky man cuz cuz you know it's hard to
17:11
find people that's dedicated and loyal and um and show up they show up to work
17:19
every day now for other people might be a party might be a vacation it might you
17:26
know wherever we are in the world whatever we doing you could get caught up in the atmosphere and not get the job done you
17:34
know they always get the job done and if I got four of them with me seven 10 two
17:44
three nine they all get it just get done you know no matter how many are there or
17:51
not you know for whatever reasons and know different you know things that I do
17:57
call for different you know parts of my team to to you know come together and so
18:04
uh yeah you know we we got a great working relationship but I want to go
18:10
back to you know you saying about coming in your party inwa did you know that not
18:18
at that party just something different but do you know that uh we we they
18:24
didn't even let us send our own listening party with end up wa what yeah for the first album first
18:32
album Straight Out of Compton how is that possible it's possible what what did
18:39
they say you was on the cover we we wern't dressed right uh-uh we wern't
18:45
dressed right so they wouldn't let us in for one it was packed it was packed in
18:51
there and we was kind of late but you know [ __ ] with easy you going to be a
18:58
little late you know what I mean that's just you know he he he always you know
19:05
just you know run it to the to the minute on time you know what I'm saying
19:10
so we get there and they they at the door like for one not too many people
19:16
know who we are and what we look like yeah you know it's no Internet it's just
19:22
records and back then it was a lot of singles and you know on a single you might not have a couple that's true you
19:29
know what I mean you might just have uh a sticker and the name of the song yeah
19:35
just a sleeve you know what I'm saying label in the sleeve so the they wasn't
19:40
they was like nah y' and khakis and hats and [ __ ] tennis shoes no no you're not
19:47
getting in so we argue with these dudes you know Brian Turner comes out there um
19:57
at the time Jerry hel comes out you know they're they're like screaming at these
20:02
dudes man this is the group this is the band this is the reason why you here this is they pay for this you know it's
20:09
like it was like No And then they called the sheriff's over there so Sheriff's come over there yeah the sheriff's come
20:16
over there well they was kind of parked anyway outside the spot so they start they come over there and they like n
20:23
y'all can't get in so we go in to some Bob's Big Boy type [ __ ] and go eat you
20:31
know what I'm saying and they in there partying to your music to all to they
20:37
partying to our album release party we at a
20:42
restaurant Matt is a [ __ ] and still pay it and and we
20:49
you know they you know Brian Turner comes over to the restaurant he talking to us and um yeah that's how our record
20:57
release party went you know what I mean we never got in never got in we didn't put it in the
21:02
movie cuz they only gave us two and a half hours but I was trying to get it in
21:08
there yeah Bri Brian Turner was the president of the priority records right and Jerry hel was the manager for
21:14
manager for uh for easy too and he um I think he ran ruthless too he ran ruthless records too well when you bring
21:21
up EAS you know cuz we used to work together on the beat so we would come on after um after Westside radio with easy
21:28
and Julio G would come on and I used to love his stories bro but I I swear I was just looking at him like how this dude
21:34
become such a success like what is his traits and what So you you're you're a boss SL leer right yeah but what did you
21:42
learn from e as a businessman if anything to do or to not to
21:47
do um had your own Vision he had his own Vision he
21:53
everybody talked him out of doing the kind of Records we do um
21:59
we was all trying to get on the radio we was trying to be like the east coast rappers you know we was trying to be
22:05
like EPMD and you know uh Rock Kim and
22:10
and Run DMC and KRS um you know the greats we trying to
22:16
be like that and we wasn't that you know what I'm
22:22
saying we wasn't that and um
22:27
so St start doing these mixtapes mhm for the rodium swap meat and um Steve Yano shout out rest in
22:36
peace um now Dre doing these four track
22:42
mixtapes and he's like Cube I want you to rap on front of these on top of these
22:47
when they first come on and then he's like you can rap about anything so I
22:53
start rapping about the neighborhood cuz we wasn't trying to make a record mhm it
22:58
was just a tape um so EAS when he heard those tapes he start coming around and
23:06
started saying y'all y'all messing up y' y'all
23:11
y'all should be doing records like this and nobody was listening to him
23:18
because they had start making a little money with the Wrecking Crew from record
23:24
sales you know he's like man he just sold 50,000 copies man we got money coming in just sold 60,000 records we
23:31
got money coming in he was like y'all [ __ ] up this is the kind of stuff he
23:38
said when I do my record label this what I'mma have on there
23:44
and he you know I'm hearing him talk but he just now coming around learning so
23:50
I'm thinking he this dude ain't about to do No Label he making his own money in
23:56
the game you know so I'm like ain't nowhere in the world he gonna stop that to get into this [ __ ] and he just
24:04
want to be a label he don't have no artist no groups whatever you know so he
24:10
came back he was like this what my label going to look like he had that he had drawing at a ruthless label how I
24:16
look I'm like damn he's serious so he start grabbing
24:23
groups around you know he could find cuz he would he would mul hop and just
24:29
you know he he would have bags of you know he' come through with 20 shopping
24:35
bags in his hand you know so he would mul hop and find these youngsters in
24:42
there that look like B boys uhuh and he found his group called HBO I make a long story short found a
24:49
group called HBO and they were from New York cuz they look like LL cooj all of
24:55
them was like K go out you know buckles you know the big um shoelaces and all
25:04
that right and so he thought since they was from New York that day was way better than all us so he he brought them
25:13
in and they had the look but they didn't had a lyrics they had a voice but they
25:18
didn't the lyrics were a little you know so he had me write a
25:24
song for him and I wrote it it was boys in the hood and and um
25:31
damn like he he wow they didn't like it cuz
25:36
they didn't understand the lingo and I can you know looking back I could agree cuz they're from you know the East Coast
25:44
so they're looking like what does gank mean and what is a sixfold man
25:49
and we can't say you know I don't know what y'all talking about and you know
25:54
then it got a little little back and forth and he was you know he was basically
26:00
like man it's some Jerry C Compton [ __ ] that you know we we don't we we ain't we ain't
26:08
doing it no so they end up leaving the studio easy end up doing the song but he
26:15
was just a dude like I said he was a Visionary and he wasn't afraid of any kind of
26:25
um you know like negative publicity or he didn't
26:32
care about that he he he laughed at everything and he uh he wanted to use it
26:38
like he saw everything as a good thing MTV baned our video straight out Compton
26:44
he happy I'm like what you happy about why you
26:50
happy he um said man this gonna make we gonna make us the song bigger it's like
26:56
I didn't understand I was too young you know I'm about you know 18 19 too young
27:04
to understand what he saw we got the letter from the FBI you know now with the letter I
27:12
didn't really you know it was yeah I didn't I I didn't take it bad
27:18
or good you know I was just like damn um cuz the FBI was like some [ __ ]
27:26
you seen on TV you wasn't we dealt with you know Linux sheriffs
27:31
you know what I'm saying we dealt with little LAPD but really the sheriff so you know they'd [ __ ] you up they wasn't
27:38
they wasn't G to give you no letter you know what I'm
27:45
saying so but but you know of course Brian Turner all the people at priority they
27:51
freaking out like you know contemplating taking a
27:56
record down is [ __ ] a little bit you know it never got serious cuz you know
28:02
easy would have shut that down but but uh easy start calming them down like man
28:09
look look let's just use this [ __ ] show what they like let's show the world that
28:15
they trying to intimidate us from the records that we know are true we know the [ __ ] going on around here and
28:22
instead of us getting involved with that we chose to do music about it and that's
28:29
got to be more positive than what they saying yeah so he was just Fearless in his approach
28:37
to the music so I learned a lot of that from E from E man that's amazing rest
28:42
and power to e it's it's interesting because uh that
28:50
same music nowadays when people uh reflect on it and um and I I want to see
28:56
if how has that influenced you as a writer if at all when people reflect on that
29:01
time period you know uh some perspectives are that that music
29:07
was a detriment to the community that these songs this subject matter hurt the
29:13
community you know uh uh created a vacuum that just led us down you know
29:18
derogatory paths um when you hear that does knowing what you went through to
29:24
get to get here does does like like e does that make you laugh
29:29
it does a little bit CU you know if you look at the Inception
29:35
of what they call gangster rap now we called it reality rap we called it
29:40
Street knowledge you know and then the where gangster rap really was coined by
29:46
the industry but everything that's happening
29:52
now was happening before before even hip hop you know you
29:58
know it was just a lot of stuff was done know out of the view of the public eye
30:06
you know but everything that rappers talked about is what they experienced in
30:14
some kind of way whether they seen it heard it or went through it themselves but it's not like people are making
30:23
up um you know these stories out of blue
30:29
you know of course rap is it's a art form and it's a art form really around
30:37
just talking [ __ ] you know what I'm saying to be honest like it's just [ __ ] talking um to
30:44
a beat and whoever can talk the best [ __ ] and can deliver it is you
30:52
know most time looked at as a great MC and so that's a part of the game but but
31:00
in that [ __ ] talking sometimes people drop gems they drop Jewels they drop
31:07
knowledge or sometimes they talk more [ __ ] they brag they exaggerate you know
31:13
what I mean it's it's a braggadocious type of art form so you're not going to pull that out
31:20
you're not going to be like well everybody need to be so-called
31:25
real you know those records are you know
31:31
um who you know you wouldn't even buy that [ __ ] you know what I'm saying if I
31:36
told y'all you know if I wrote a rap about coming up here today you know what
31:42
I'm saying getting up and you know I'm wear the I'm wear this I'm wear the the the
31:49
the black shoes with the the gold Stripes you know what I'm saying it's like H you know it's it's it's
31:59
you know it's theater it's theatrics it's it's a song it's a art form
32:06
now you mean to tell me that
32:12
um if I wanted to paint a picture on the wall of
32:17
uh unicorn okay I wouldn't I wouldn't do no [ __ ] like that just
32:25
say would you get mad like you ain't never rolled no [ __ ] unicorn [ __ ] you ain't even never saw a unicorn how
32:32
you going to put that on the wall you fake it's like come on man this is Art this is a art form it's music you know
32:40
what I'm saying all these dudes that say they all in the streets doing this and that they in the studio for hours and
32:47
hours a day of course not they you know it's it's and it's it's a you know it's
32:54
a way to do it so you know bringing it back The Hip Hop is the
33:01
mirror to what's going on it's not the subject you know what I'm saying and I
33:08
always say if you got blemishes or you ugly you can't blame the mirror you know
33:16
what I'm saying you just can't do it you'll be you'll be lying to yourself and for
33:22
people to say this music has caused more harm Med and
33:29
good I think they lying to they self look we all wouldn't be in here without
33:34
this music look how many people that eat off of this music look how many people
33:40
we fed over these years off of this music think of how many uh people we
33:47
made Happy uh we helped them take care of they families they bills everybody
33:54
here probably got one or two people working for them so you provide uh you
34:00
know uh income for for those people that work for you um you know it it it's it
34:07
all trickles down you know we've created an amazing industry for ourselves out of
34:14
nothing they had nothing for us you know it was nothing before hip hop it was you
34:20
know it was it was the desert out here you know I used to see what my you know
34:26
brothers and sisters used to go through through they older than me you know they they had to deal with you know slacks
34:32
and hard shoes all the time you know what I'm saying you know so
34:39
um you know it's just it's just the reality of it from my point of view people may disagree and of
34:47
course of course you know some people are influenced in different ways yeah
34:53
but it's a lot of different industries that we got to look at too you know we
34:58
we let the video gaming industry off the hook and you know me I can rap about
35:04
being a gang banger you can listen to it all man that's cute talking about gang banging in the neighborhood oh damn I
35:10
can rap it too you know but on some of these games you could be a gang banger the
35:17
whole eight hours a day you know 10 hours a day you you simulating it you
35:23
know you actually can be it so you know but nobody talk about that you know it's
35:31
all about hip hop and what we're doing um and to me it's
35:38
just I ain't gonna say hip hop is all great you know but what's great about hip-hop
35:44
is it describes The Good the Bad and the Ugly
35:50
and it's hard to get unfiltered truth nowadays and sometimes in Hip Hop that's
35:57
where it Li even if it's the Ugly Truth Ice Cube man come on man down that's the
36:04
project uh HB Tracy man go ahead that's Cube yeah um this is incredible such a
36:10
valuable way to use our time with you cube when you mentioned you're very welcome when you mentioned holding the
36:16
video game industry accountable as well or at least like throwing criticism that way or at least questioning I thought
36:23
that was really smart because I was also thinking about in your opinion professional
36:28
and psychologically what do you think is more influential music or movies cuz that's been a long time discussion as
36:34
well I would love to hear that from your Viewpoint um I think I don't think
36:41
either one is more influential than the other it's like whatever touch you whatever hits you you know sometimes
36:48
it's a song Sometimes a song you create your own movie which is way more
36:54
powerful than somebody telling you what to see um but then you'll see a movie that's
37:00
powerful and takes you through a journey of a character you know usually
37:06
character has to start in one place and by the end of the movie you want him to end in another place you know where he's
37:14
smarter wiser and he you know could you know help you maybe get
37:21
through a situation or two just by seeing it play out on the screen so
37:27
both of them are powerful and um you know it's it's great you know you
37:35
shouldn't want to harness any of them in any kind of way you know like let the
37:41
artist you know paint an ugly picture if that's what he want to paint um and you
37:48
know you can do it with music you could do it with movies and that same artist can paint a
37:55
a wonderful picture you know what I'm saying saying uh facts yeah when you've been wildly successful and not only
38:03
those two lanes but multiple and there's so much greatness that's behind you and
38:09
obviously so much greatness ahead of you do you look at your past self as
38:16
competition or in my opinion I feel like a sneaky form of comparison is your
38:23
present self to your past self and trying to recreate like a particular
38:28
time capsule instead of just being who you are now you said it exact you said
38:34
it perfect I don't never compete with myself especially compete with the past
38:41
you know it's all a time capsule it's all a moment in time
38:47
captured um but it's a new day it's a new time all that's in the rearview
38:54
mirror you know what I've done is cool but what I'm about to do I think is
38:59
cooler you know what I'm saying it's it's about you know what's next um and not
39:08
not jumping from thing to thing but you know what I could put quality
39:14
into and and you know complete um you know that's a that's
39:21
where I like to to spend my time so you know I'm always you know shining up
39:27
something M you know like a sculpter you sculpt it polish it and you put it on
39:34
display and then I'm chiseling up something else you know what I mean to
39:39
do the same thing with especially if I see the vision and I know I can make
39:44
quality you know that's what I really get off on is is quality um if I can't
39:52
um make it worth your time and worth your money then it might not be worth
39:58
putting out in the public you know all right man ice cube is here man I want to get to the to the music we brought up
40:05
the music yeah uh there's a track um that I find really interesting it just
40:12
made me reflect made me go back it's a track you did with be real yeah that in itself deserves a round of applause you
40:19
know when you look at there was a moment in time and that capsulated time where
40:26
be real and and Cube it seemed like it was FR it was friction between y'all right yeah okay and then y'all had to
40:32
come together at some point and resolve that friction and you got this track you've done it way years ago but when I
40:40
was listening to this track Let's Get Money I thought it was cool because one
40:45
of the things you said is I'd rather be friends than enemies right yes how did y'all become friends
40:53
again well you know
40:58
after you know dissing each other
41:03
publicly uh you know it it could get dangerous in
41:10
La if you if you dissing and you know we both
41:16
in traffic now you know I got a lot of black people coming up to me saying what's up I got
41:23
he got a lot of you know Mexicans coming up to him saying what's up it's it's
41:30
like starting to reach that type of um yeah it's it's um you know we hearing we
41:39
hearing inside the prisons that [ __ ] is about to blow up oh because of this and
41:46
um we got on the phone and we was like man you know whatever you know whatever
41:56
offended you I'm sorry whatever you know we just was Mutual
42:01
with it and we squashed it like you know we
42:06
wasn't going to put any more energy into it like um I even hate you know
42:13
mentioning it sometimes because we didn't want to put no energy in it and
42:20
um then we would see each other at the Laker games now we was like this we was real cool so
42:30
you know like what up B he like what's happening you know and then we just find
42:35
ourselves standing there talking about the Lakers you know and and then we started to you know see
42:43
each other a lot mm uh now we both gemin so we both oh that explains on the same
42:50
way I didn't know that far both on the same wave you know we both like
42:57
um we're on the same wavelength in way and so we just started to and I'm like
43:07
exchange numbers you know hit me up boom boom boom we hit me up yo that song you
43:12
did was dope I hit him up yo I saw this you know I see y'all all on the road you know we just start to tap in a little
43:19
bit and um then it was an opportunity for us to go on the road together and
43:27
I jumped at it they jumped at it and we went to Australia together and we had
43:36
one of them long layovers you know what I'm saying so it's like me and be go to
43:41
the side and we just talking it's like old times we just chopping it up talking it's just it's
43:49
cool as it's ever been and we on the road people loving the shows it's just
43:54
nothing belov then we end up doing Europe together and you know just brought us
44:00
back to where we where we were and um you know was like the next step is to
44:08
do some music together um and uh we got dope song together and you know I think
44:15
people going to dig it and here it is let's get money
44:22
together turn it up man what y'all doing we got to turn that up in the room turn that up in the
44:29
oo that go Harding
44:36
baby it feels good when you ball out after you fall out good when I want friends not enemies friends not enemy
44:43
and we can blow plenty weed spark that [ __ ] let's get money together let's get
44:49
money together let's get it let's get money together let's get money together
44:55
La is like a treasure let's get money together Jack keep it quiet and clever let's get money
45:03
together to the andos making themen ducking them green to the blacks and
45:08
Laos making themen ducking them green duck them [ __ ] yeah we sling
45:14
That Dope track trees like a smoke stack this West Coast and you know that all
45:19
brand new [ __ ] throwback [ __ ] it let's put our brains together put some things together we can change the
45:25
weather represent the 23rd letter I'm a gor let get
45:32
together get Mone together get it let's get money together get it let's get
45:38
money together now we can do more than low ride low with the V from your side
45:44
side we can pump up the green Pride that's right Dr Green Thumb get you high eat half of the set you about to feel
45:52
incredible insane to the brain no chemical what I prescribe is Way Beyond
45:57
the and Laos making them duck themen Laos them duck themen ding them
46:06
[ __ ] let's get money together come on let's get money together come on
46:11
let's get money together get it let's get money together do it quiet and
46:17
clever let's get money together La is like a treasure let's get money together
46:24
it starts with you and I this whole city UniFi put it all together like a union y
46:31
people unified can't be denied now can we do business can we hang out when the
46:36
business is finished you got barbecue and burritos I'm in the hood with the homies and Amigos let's get money
46:44
together let's get it let's get money together let's spin it let's get money together who win it let's get money
46:50
together to the blacks and Laos making themos ducking them greenos to the
46:55
blacks and Laos making them no stuck in them green let's get it let's get money
47:01
together get it let's get money together come on let's get money together my [ __ ]
47:07
let's get money together hell yeah yeah man let's get some money
47:14
together y'all stop playing I love that you like that I do I do um it's it's
47:19
kind of crazy CU because I've enjoyed all the versions of you like all of them
47:25
man and um it's been so incredible to watch and listening to this song reminded me I was telling sway recently
47:32
of a conversation I had with a relative who had to do some forgiveness and for whatever reason the energy that's in the
47:37
universe right now like forgiveness is heavy like it's just real heavy and I said to him you ready to do that and he
47:45
said you know what for years I've been going by this nickname let's just say
47:50
moo he's like I've been going by moo but he said moo was created to protect
47:56
Darren yeah I created moo to protect Darren and I I got to let that go it's
48:02
time I start healing Darren you know and I feel like I'm hearing pieces of that
48:08
today in your conversation you know like I'm not saying Ice Cube was created to
48:14
protect O'Shea but I feel like I'm just hearing so much healing and just
48:19
maturity like the maturation is crazy and I think that allows us to move in all these different spaces and places
48:25
successfully and peacefully you know so thank you for all these different versions and this the transparency today
48:32
with it and and just really just putting forgiveness on on the Forefront because
48:38
I think we need it universally without a doubt you know especially if
48:43
um you know it it's it's something
48:48
that it it heals you you know what I'm saying when you let it go you know you
48:54
hold the grudge and it starts to you know get a hold on you and the
49:00
quicker you let it go the quicker you you start to heal
49:06
and somebody wronged you it's kind of they problem you know it's not it's not
49:12
necessarily your problem cuz now they done lost a friend or lost somebody
49:19
close lost somebody loyal you know they they got a problem you know what I mean
49:24
like you know if you're a good person and somebody do you wrong it's like man
49:30
you just you messed up and um know you can forgive them on the spot
49:37
you know I think um you know it's good but but also you always got to be cautious you
49:44
know you can't yeah yeah run back in everybody arms sometimes let's walk back
49:49
and build this relationship up from the bottom back up know you can't just start
49:55
from where you were mhm you know just build it back up and then you'll find yourself if it's true right where you
50:01
were and um yeah forgiveness is powerful you know it's it takes a strong person
50:08
to forgive and weak people don't forgive you know weak people um that Grudge is
50:15
energy weak you know being mad give you energy sometime yeah and sometime people
50:20
think that's the energy that that that fuels them and that they need to roll with that right and you know mo can
50:27
always be pulled back up you know what I'm saying just cuz you put him to the side that don't mean you can't call on
50:33
him right don't call when you need them yep don't call on him on everybody you
50:38
know that's just you know where it's unnecessary um you know
50:44
because you know that ain't that ain't really how you do it um you know you just got
50:53
to definitely forgive but also be cautious just to you know what I'm saying don't don't
51:00
um don't you know get to the point where you're blindly forgiven you know
51:07
you still got to hold people accountable yeah
51:13
um lot of gems Cube you you uh you made up with everybody you had rap beef with
51:22
no he said pull out when necessary necessary
51:28
yeah yeah I mean you know it is what it is yeah yeah I'm not yeah some things
51:35
are you know some sometimes it's broke and you can't fix it yeah yeah you know
51:41
it's just the facts and um you got to be careful if you giving
51:48
somebody a few shots at you you see what I mean so be careful you you got a uh I
51:55
want to play another song from that album if y'all don't mind um it's a couple of them first off uh Cubo um I
52:02
went to I grew up with EA ski who got the first single my Eagle right he produced that yeah yeah EA ski EA ski
52:10
and I went to Junior High play We EA ski I play football with he I know you don't believe I played football no Sports
52:17
nothing I didn't really see nothing but a old track uniform bro and then you say in
52:22
football okay anyway that ain't the point of the question Hur to me so I was talking to ski and I
52:29
said um we never really like talk about like uh we'll talk about
52:36
the work and I always say if I see you y'all saw Cube yo man blah we get excited but we don't go into anything I
52:42
don't never ask him questions about you and now this time I said I'mma be talking to cube man what is something
52:49
that you noticed over the years that he has that stands out and bro he could not stop saying yo his work
52:57
ethic he said his work ethic he like sway you got to see him man sometimes I'm coming to the studios a song y'all
53:04
did I can't think of the name of it and Cuba is already back at the studio redoing his vocals because they weren't
53:11
they weren't right he said you work today as hard as you did in the
53:17
80s this ain't work this ain't work wow this fun this
53:24
fun right just fun man you know um getting into it like getting into the
53:30
music like first start rapping I never thought I was going to make a record I just was rapping um I couldn't rap on
53:38
beat because I didn't have no instrumentals so I was just rapping off air and [ __ ]
53:43
so uh Jinx had the instrumentals he lived down the street from me so I'd be
53:49
in his room playing all these instrumentals and then you know then I catch a flow um so it was always fun and
53:59
then his cousin happened to be Dr Dre so getting a chance to hang out with
54:05
him they was actually making records so you know they were professionals to me you know he was
54:13
just amateur so just getting a chance to be around that equipment and seeing them
54:18
get down and see them think of things from scratch and put it together and we
54:24
in there hours on hours on hours and uh back when you had tape and you had you we didn't have machines you had
54:33
to you know you wanted that hook four times on the record you got seen that
54:38
[ __ ] four times you couldn't Bounce It N when no
54:43
bouncing Samplers um so it was a different you know it was
54:49
all fun though yeah because it's a new world um I used to be like damn studios
54:57
are cold as [ __ ] it's cold as [ __ ] in here why I got to be so cold I'm asking
55:02
all these dumb questions and [ __ ] and um so it you know it was always fun so
55:11
it's still fun you know I don't look at it as um you know that that kind of work yeah
55:19
we do put in hours you know it do take you know
55:24
concentration but but uh compared to what my daddy had to do for the money he
55:30
make like this is yeah this is fun but you can lose it though is what I'm
55:35
saying lose what you could just lose that you know that quest to be that MC
55:41
to make music a lot of artists who've been around for decades they don't make music no more you know we see LL salute
55:47
to LL you know salute just releasing a project yeah um Snoop is coming Snoop is
55:54
coming salute to Snoop you know you know and we see you doing it you
55:59
know but y'all doing it at the highest level that you know that gorgeous song by Snoop is incredible right the that
56:06
the force album by LL is incredible like y'all still doing it at the highest level yeah you know how do you sustain
56:14
that when you first get in the game you you worried about charts and you know
56:20
people don't gave you an advancement more money you ever seen in your life you want to get get them their money
56:27
back cuz you feel like you don't want to owe nobody nothing and so you you know
56:33
you really worried about damn how my record doing is it is it moving is it
56:38
this is it that so you start playing the record company gang and you're making
56:46
records trying oh damn uh you know this dude just came out so this many maybe
56:53
the music need to go that is going in that direction you know you start to chase sounds and different styles and
57:00
[ __ ] and then if you lucky you get to a point
57:05
where you like man hold up hold up hold up I don't even sound like me no more
57:11
like I'm chasing all this [ __ ] I need to go back and just do what I like that's
57:17
what got me on in the first place just do the songs you like
57:23
and serve your fans like my day one fans are going to love
57:29
this record my day two fans and day three fans should love it cuz my day one
57:35
fans gonna love it so just sometimes you just got to break it down to its
57:40
simplest form do what you like and let that be good enough and you know of
57:48
course I want the record to do well and everything um but to
57:54
me people that that been following me for a long time they giving me they dapping me up
58:02
for it so it's already a success a it's a success man um I'mma play another song
58:08
and I'mma uh go to the audience to see if y'all got a few questions for cube which song You Gonna Play I was gonna
58:14
play No Cap which one you like that one huh I mean Mike EPS is on it bro did he
58:20
produce it or him and Z toin you know z z toen um d J funky okay couple people
58:28
uh got together and did that one which which one you want to play I don't know what what you got queued up I got your
58:35
whole album homie now I got um ego Maniacs the remix
58:41
oh yeah they heard that problem they heard that I got uh uh she
58:47
Sanctified that was that was go go okay uh what else I got got it I got it all
58:54
man since you don't like my sele no you can play it play No Cap what I like you
59:01
know what I mean play Play No Cap Let's Play No Cap we'll play one verse in the hook all right this is no cap Mike what
59:07
did Mike do with this though do the [Music]
59:12
be y'all see why I like this one yeah
59:18
man hey y'all V all fat [ __ ] dop dealers geek snack fed [ __ ] broke
59:30
[Music] pitch way we Mone No Cap take a shot
59:37
roll blind lay back we just trying to get paid we just trying to get paid bit
59:43
my face me she try to get [ __ ]
59:48
to bro just never want to be never want to be you doing B moves in aess pool
59:55
yeah you he test you before he bless you respect you before he select you this
1:00:01
truth will affect you nobody want to be the next sh everybody want my job nobody
1:00:08
want your job cuz your job's a blow job funny man on stage with the m try to
1:00:14
laugh when he talk about your life no hey' fat [ __ ] dopers geek snack fed
1:00:21
[ __ ] broke [ __ ] peret [ __ ] wet gun clip bch
1:00:28
bitchin all right man I just needed to get that off
1:00:34
man thank you thank you yeah man absolutely okay Tor W you get a mic for
1:00:40
us by the way that's uh our producer right there super producer torch torch in the building
1:00:47
Harlem who got a great question for Q up there go to the uh young lady first and
1:00:53
and then uh I said a great question too capital g hi Ice Cube um I want to find out if
1:01:02
there is anything in your career that you regret um that I
1:01:10
regret oh man let me see
1:01:18
um I mean I think I should have you know I started this record company called Lynch M records in the '90s
1:01:26
yeah ice a Lynch M you know I got to a point where it just was it wasn't fun
1:01:33
you know what I mean it was like just you know um the groups I had you know
1:01:39
nobody was extra happy about it because we was independent you know it wasn't like you know you you see Majors like
1:01:46
Death Jam moving numbers and then you got a independent label and then you know people looking at you like man you
1:01:53
ice cuute why you ain't moving the same numbers and so you know I shut it down
1:01:59
for years and then you know re you know revamped it in ' 06 but I regret ever
1:02:07
shutting it down you know I should have I shouldn't have let I shouldn't have let artist sour me on my label and I
1:02:15
should have kept it going yeah tapped into that Easy E energy yeah should tap
1:02:21
who who else got a question great question by the way yeah you might as well say your names too so
1:02:27
we all family yes what's up C my name is Isis I go by goddess of the
1:02:33
West that's powerful so um nice to meet you nice to meet you um so my question
1:02:40
um stems from so I know you've always uh had a knack for finding Talent specifically
1:02:47
like Superstar Talent especially in film is that something that you would be
1:02:53
interested in doing in music to find an upand cominging artist and sculpt them
1:02:59
and put them on the Forefront and be a platform I'm artist by the way yeah get
1:03:05
that
1:03:10
out you know I don't know you know what I mean it depends
1:03:16
on how how polished you are when you get to me like
1:03:24
you know making a superstar um is hard you know helping a
1:03:32
superstar make it that's easier so you know you got
1:03:39
to you know get to a point where it you know I don't have a bandwidth so to
1:03:45
speak the time to really you know work a artist from the ground up because I'm
1:03:53
still an artist I'm still doing a lot of different things you know and you know I
1:03:59
don't want to cheat artist out of their chance because I'm too busy to focus so
1:04:07
you know the less I would have to do to get you to the point where you know you
1:04:13
know promoting you putting you out there uh pushing great music is a lot easier
1:04:19
than uh creating great music creating an artist that's polished ready to go and
1:04:25
then put pushing it out you know that's just you know it's it's it's super time consuming and to be honest I just don't
1:04:32
have that kind of time no more that's real the artist is what do you do you sing or what do
1:04:40
you do ring you saying Tor give her the mic real quick
1:04:45
man come on goddess come here goddess come up here stand up face face and we
1:04:51
gonna give you 20 seconds Cube you cool with that yeah I mean is that enough time 20 seconds do your thing come to
1:04:59
the to the right here right here middle stage see that's see that's about being ready got it it's about being ready
1:05:07
uhhuh sing something to them just real quick they ask me how I do it I tell
1:05:14
them it's natural you can hear the influence organic and
1:05:20
natural I put it in the music no phers no GMO
1:05:26
a little unconventional cuz baby is natural all right I recorded that song
1:05:33
at your studio too I recorded that song at your studio I I think you got a you
1:05:39
know a nice voice um but I know you was a little
1:05:45
nervous you know that's what you got to get out of there the nervousness then the voices
1:05:52
come out better more confident you know it's no no reason to be nervous you know what I mean just you got to give it your
1:05:59
best shot and and the nervous could hinder that don't worry about what
1:06:05
people think just do what you know you need to do you know what I'm saying that'll help
1:06:12
you in the future than you that was that was awesome you're very welcome don't forget me when you get on that Grammy
1:06:22
stage well we go do like two more torch or three you know yo yo what up how yall
1:06:29
doing my name is Quenton what up ice CU Sway in the Morning them up um I just
1:06:35
yes I am you know that I wanted to ask um because you've done you know film from the writing perspective uh
1:06:41
producing and putting it out and then you've also done music you know from the same format as far as writing it
1:06:46
producing it putting it out I'm curious like what is your your favorite and least favorite parts of the
1:06:52
processes oh wow um my favorite part of the process
1:07:01
is of course the finished product you know when it's all ready to go for the
1:07:08
public um but each stage of that is a great
1:07:14
accomplishment you know when I finish a song you know what I
1:07:19
mean and I know that I've executed the lyrics is is is you know as I wanted
1:07:27
them to uh wanted them to come out I feel great finishing a script feels
1:07:34
amazing when you've um done a few passes and it's
1:07:39
just perfect and you ready to for other people to read it and you ready for you
1:07:45
know maybe a studio to do it um the the the worst part you know
1:07:54
sometimes is filming you know it depends on what's
1:08:00
In The Script but I've been in some like situations where I'm like what the [ __ ]
1:08:07
am I doing right now damn you know what I mean like why
1:08:13
am I this [ __ ] is dangerous I know we making a movie but you know death don't
1:08:19
care if you making a movie you know what I'm saying like um so you know sometimes you're on these
1:08:26
crazy locations and you with a crew you don't really even know and they like put
1:08:32
on this harness we gonna hang you over this [ __ ] building and [ __ ] you know what I'm saying so you
1:08:38
could be like this sucks you know what I'm saying but it's it's uh those type
1:08:45
moments um everything else is
1:08:51
like pretty pretty cool pretty fun um um
1:08:56
I hate doing what's called looping which where you got to overdub your voice
1:09:01
sometimes when say you you filming something like we filming something next to a train some action [ __ ] by a train
1:09:09
and the train is loud you can't hear the dialogue so you got to go back into a
1:09:15
studio yeah ADR and just Loop your damn near your same performance so you're in
1:09:21
a studio pretending like you running down the [ __ ] Street you know I'm saying after train so sometimes you got
1:09:28
to do all this crazy like breathing if you in a fight you damn near got to be in in a booth like reacting a fight so
1:09:37
it could be like you know crazy ass breathing if you uh know trying to and
1:09:45
then if you don't get it on time you got keep doing it till you get it perfect match the lips where it's going to look
1:09:51
like you know old um you know karate movie
1:09:57
so that [ __ ] can get tedious and it's like boring you know it's like man you
1:10:03
know and it's hours of that [ __ ] sometime you know so that's the that's the worst part to me okay this is what
1:10:10
we going I know we we we I'm sorry we we stuck on time guys so I appreciate you want to ask Cube questions but uh the
1:10:16
the name of the project first of all give Ice Cube Round of Applause this wasn't just a conversation it was an
1:10:23
education at the same time lot of that's really when I talk to cube I try
1:10:28
to activate the gems as much as I can um man down man down um you know to me like
1:10:37
I said day one fans gonna love it um you know the project the name of the project
1:10:43
is going to mean different things to different people you know it's not a manown song on there just the project
1:10:52
you know to me displays certain way is that men have to get up stand up and handle business and
1:11:02
um you know not not just leave it all to to the women in our lives to handle
1:11:10
some of the most important things men got to step up raising their
1:11:17
children they got to step up um with with giving guidance to the family um
1:11:27
a lot of little ways that we just got it we got to switch to the course and um
1:11:32
Step Up amen I like that man ladies and gentlemen give him a standing old man give it up for the one and only ice CU
1:11:39
man come on man thank you so play that angle Maniacs
1:11:44
anyway ice thank you everybody for coming out on behalf of Siri 6m and Pandora for all
1:11:51
the work that You' put in over the years we want to present you with this billionaire plaque for having over 2
1:11:57
billion US streams on Pandora y'all make some noise for ice
1:12:04
CU billion two billion with a B now turn the music now turn the music back up
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