O'Shea Jackson (born June 15, 1969), known professionally as Ice Cube, is an American rapper, songwriter, actor, and film producer. His efforts on N.W.A's 1989 album Straight Outta Compton contributed to gangsta rap's popularity,Loren Kajikawa, "Compton via New York", Sounding Race in Rap Songs (Oakland: University of California Press, 2015), pp 91–93.Todd Boyd, Am I Black Enough for You?: Popular Culture from the 'Hood and Beyond (Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1997), p 75 skims Ice Cube's early successes in music, while indexing "Ice Cube" reveals analysis of his political rap. and his political rap solo albums AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted (1990), Death Certificate (1991), and The Predator (1992) were all critically and commercially successful.Lakeyta M. Bonnette, Pulse of the People: Political Rap Music and Black Politics (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015), p 71.Allen Gordon, "Ice Cube: Death Certificate (Street Knowledge/Priority, 1991)", in Oliver Wang, ed., Classic Material: The Hip-hop Album Guide (Toronto: ECW Press, 2003), p 87. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of N.W.A in 2016.
A native of Los Angeles, Ice Cube formed his first rap group called C.I.A. in 1986.Steven Otfinoski, "Ice Cube", African Americans in the Performing Arts (New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2003), p 108. In 1987, with Eazy-E and Dr. Dre, he formed the gangsta rap group N.W.A. As its lead rapper, Ice Cube also wrote most of the lyrics on Straight Outta Compton, a landmark album that shaped West Coast hip-hop's early violent and controversial identity and helped differentiate it from East Coast rap. After a monetary dispute over the group's management by Eazy-E and Jerry Heller, Ice Cube left N.W.A in late 1989 and embarked on a solo career, releasing eleven albums, with seven charting within the top-10 on the U.S. Billboard 200. His singles "It Was a Good Day", "Check Yo Self", "You Know How We Do It", "Bop Gun (One Nation)", "Pushin' Weight", and "You Can Do It" all charted in the top-40 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
Ice Cube has also had an active film career since the early 1990s.David J. Leonard, "Ice Cube", in Mickey Hess, ed., Icons of Hip Hop: An Encyclopedia of the Movement, Music, and Culture (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2007), p 311. His first acting role was in the hood film Boyz n the Hood (1991), named after a 1987 N.W.A. song he wrote.Gail Hilson Woldu, The Words and Music of Ice Cube (Westport, CT & London, UK: Praeger Publishers, 2008), pp 44–45. He also co-wrote and starred in the 1995 comedy film Friday, which spawned a franchise and reshaped his public image into an actor. He made his directorial debut with the 1998 film The Players Club, and also produced and curated the film's accompanying soundtrack. His film credits including the comedies Three Kings (1999), the Barbershop and Are We There Yet? franchises, 21 Jump Street (2012), 22 Jump Street, Ride Along (both 2014) and Ride Along 2 (2016). He has also appeared in the XXX franchise (2005–2017), the crime drama Rampart (2012), the animated fantasy The Book of Life (2014), and the thriller War of the Worlds (2025). Ice Cube has also served as executive producer, including for the 2015 biopic Straight Outta Compton.
Early life
O'Shea Jackson was born in Los Angeles on June 15, 1969, to hospital clerk and custodian Doris and machinist and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) groundskeeper Hosea Jackson. He has an older brother, and they had a half-sister who was murdered when Cube was 12.Ice Cube – Actor/Musician | Teen Interview . Teen nick. Retrieved on December 31, 2011. He is a cousin of fellow rappers Del tha Funky Homosapien and Kam. He grew up on Van Wick Street in the Westmont section of South Los Angeles. In ninth grade at George Washington Preparatory High School in Los Angeles, Cube began writing raps after being challenged by his friend "Kiddo" in typewriting class. Kiddo lost. He has said that his stage name came from his older brother, who "threatened to slam [him] into a freezer and pull [him] out when [he] was an ice cube".Ice Cube Explains His Moniker And Gives One To Stephen , interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (aired June 20, 2017, published to YouTube on June 21, 2017)Ice Cube's Google Autocomplete Interview (Wired, published to YouTube on April 11, 2016)
Cube also attended William Howard Taft High School in the Woodland Hills area of Los Angeles. He was bused to the suburban school from his home in a high-crime neighborhood. In Q3 of 1987, soon after he wrote and recorded a few locally successful rap songs with N.W.A, he enrolled at the Phoenix Institute of Technology Phoenix, Arizona. He earned a one-year diploma in architectural drafting and he returned to Los Angeles and rejoined N.W.A, keeping a career in architecture drafting as a backup plan.
Music career Early work In 1986, at the age of 16, Ice Cube began rapping in the trio C.I.A. but soon joined the newly formed rap group N.W.A. He was N.W.A's lead rapper and main ghostwriter on its official debut album, 1989's Straight Outta Compton. Due to a financial dispute, he left the group by the start of 1990. During 1990, his debut solo album, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, found him also leading a featured rap group, Da Lench Mob. Meanwhile, he helped develop the rapper Yo Yo.Simon Glickman, "Yo Yo" , Contemporary Musicians, Encyclopedia.com, Cengage, updated May 5, 2020.
1986: C.I.A. With friend Sir Jinx, Ice Cube formed the rap group C.I.A., and performed at parties hosted by Dr. Dre. Since 1984, Dre had been a member of a popular DJ crew, the World Class Wreckin' Cru, which by 1985 was also performing and recording electro rap. Dre had Cube help write the Wreckin Cru's hit song "Cabbage Patch". Dre also joined Cube on a side project, a duo called Stereo Crew, which made a 12-inch record, "She's a Skag", released on Epic Records in 1986.
In 1987, C.I.A. released the Dr. Dre-produced single "My Posse". Meanwhile, the Wreckin' Cru's home base was the Eve After Dark nightclub, about a quarter of a mile outside of the city of Compton in Los Angeles County. While Dre was on the turntable, Ice Cube would rap, often parodying other artists' songs. In one instance, Cube's rendition was "My Penis", parodying Run-DMC's "My Adidas". In 2015, the nightclub's co-owner and Wreckin' leader Alonzo Williams would recall feeling his reputation damaged by this and asking it not to be repeated.World Class Wreckin' Cru Founder Alonzo Williams Addresses Dr. Dre Gay Rumors & 'Straight Outta Compton' , Allhiphop.com, August 24, 2015
1986–1989: N.W.A
At 16, Cube sold his first song to Eric Wright, soon dubbed Eazy-E, who was forming Ruthless Records and the musical team N.W.A, based in Compton, California. Himself from South Central Los Angeles, Cube would be N.W.A's only core member not born in Compton.
Upon the success of the song "Boyz-n-the-Hood"—written by Cube, produced by Dre, and rapped by Eazy-E, helping establish gangsta rap in California—Eazy focused on developing N.W.A,Loren Kajikawa, Sounding Race in Rap Songs (Oakland: University of California Press, 2015), p 93. which soon gained MC Ren. Cube wrote some of Dre's and nearly all of Eazy's lyrics on N.W.A's official debut album, Straight Outta Compton, released in January 1989. Yet by the end of the year, Cube questioned his compensation and N.W.A's management by Jerry Heller.Ice Cube: Attitude (McIver, 2002)
Cube also wrote most of Eazy-E's debut album Eazy-Duz-It. He received a total pay of $32,000, and the contract that Heller presented in 1989 did not confirm that he was officially an N.W.A member.Ice Cube: Attitude, Joel McIver, p.70, Foruli Classics, 2012 After leaving the group in December 1989, Cube sued Heller, and the lawsuit was later settled out of court. In response, N.W.A members attacked Cube on the 1990 EP 100 Miles and Runnin', and on N.W.A's next and final album, Niggaz4Life, in 1991.
1990–1993: Early solo career, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, Death Certificate, and The Predator In early 1990, Ice Cube recorded his debut solo album, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, in New York with iconic rap group Public Enemy's production team, the Bomb Squad. Arriving in May 1990, it was an instant hit, further swelling rap's mainstream integration. Controversial nonetheless, it drew accusations of misogyny and racism. The album introduces Ice Cube's affirmation of black nationalism and ideology of black struggle.
Cube appointed Yo-Yo, a female rapper and guest on the album, to be the head of his record label, and helped produce her debut album, Make Way for the Motherlode. Also in 1990, Cube followed up with an EP—Kill At Will—critically acclaimed, and rap's first EP certified Platinum.
His second album Death Certificate was released in 1991. The album was thought to be more focused, yet even more controversial, triggering accusations of anti-white, antisemitic, and misogynistic content. The album was split into two themes: the Death Side, "a vision of where we are today", and the Life Side, "a vision of where we need to go". The track "No Vaseline" scathingly retorts insults directed at him by N.W.A's 1990 EP and 1991 album, which call him a traitor.Sacha Jenkins, Elliott Wilson, Jeff Mao, Gabe Alvarez & Brent Rollins, "Mo' beef, mo' problems: No. 7, N.W.A vs. Ice Cube", Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists (New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 1999), p 238.Vlad Lyubovny, interviewer, "DJ Yella: All of NWA knew Ice Cube won with 'No Vaseline' " , VladTV–DJVlad @ YouTube "Verified" channel, August 22, 2015. Besides calling for hanging Eazy-E as a "house nigga", the track blames N.W.A's manager Jerry Heller for exploiting the group, mentions that he is a Jew, and calls for his murder. Ice Cube contended that he mentioned Heller's ethnicity merely incidentally, not to premise attack, but as news media mention nonwhite assailants' races. The track "Black Korea", also deemed racist, was also thought as foreseeing the 1992 Los Angeles riots. While controversial, Death Certificate broadened his audience; he toured with Lollapalooza in 1992.
Cube's third album, The Predator, was released in November 1992. Referring to the 1992 Los Angeles riots, the song "Wicked" opens, "April 29 was power to the people, and we might just see a sequel." The Predator was the first album ever to debut at No. 1 on both the R&B/hip-hop and pop charts. Singles include "It Was a Good Day" and "Check Yo Self", songs having a "two-part" music video. Generally drawing critical praise, the album is his most successful commercially, over three million copies sold in the US. After this album, Cube's rap audience severely diminished, and never regained the prominence of his first three albums.
During this time, Cube began to have numerous features on other artists' songs. In 1992, Cube appeared on Del the Funky Homosapien's debut album I Wish My Brother George Was Here, on Da Lench Mob's debut Guerillas in tha Mist, which he also produced, and on the Kool G Rap and DJ Polo song "Two to the Head". In 1993, he worked on Kam's debut album, and collaborated with Ice-T on the track "Last Wordz" on 2Pac's album Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z..
1993–1998: Lethal Injection and forming Westside Connection Cube's fourth album, Lethal Injection, came out in late 1993. Here, Cube borrowed from the then-popular G-funk popularized by Dr. Dre. Although not received well by critics, the album brought successful singles, including "Really Doe", "Bop Gun (One Nation)", "You Know How We Do It", and "What Can I Do?" After this album, Ice Cube effectively lost his rap audience.