Club Shay Shay - Ice Cube

Episode Date: October 19, 2020

On Episode 5 of Club Shay Shay, Shannon speaks with rapper, actor, and activist Ice Cube.Shannon & Ice Cube talk at length about the murder of George Floyd and the protests taking place across the country in support of racial and social justice. Ice Cube also details his own involvement with the movement for civil and human rights, detailing his plan to address racial and economic inequality + prison and police reform with the Contract With Black America (CWBA.world). Ice Cube also revisits his early life and career, growing up in South Central LA and joining N.W.A. and Ruthless Records. He talks about writing “No Vaseline” in 90 minutes, the dynamic between him, Dr. Dre, MC Ren, DJ Yella, and Eazy-E, his musical inspiration, and much more. Shannon & Ice Cube also touch on Ice Cube’s extensive film career, from being sought out as an actor by John Singleton for ‘Boyz N The Hood’ to writing and producing the classic film ‘Friday.’ The conversation is filled with behind-the-scenes stories and gems about the many artistic projects with which Ice Cube has been involved over the years.This episode was recorded on August 13th, 2020.#DoSomethinB4TwoSomethin & Follow Club Shay Shay:                                                                 https://www.instagram.com/clubshayshayhttps://twitter.com/clubshayshayhttps://www.facebook.com/clubshayshayhttps://www.youtube.com/c/clubshayshay Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news and the best analysis delivered by the time you get your coffee. The show hits every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone. So I'm bringing in all the big guns from NFL media like Colleen Wolf. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. New from Embedded. Who gets to compete as a woman? This question came up in ugly form at the Paris Olympics.

But it's not new. If she runs like a man and talks like a man, is she a man? not new. If she runs like a man and talks like a man, is she a man? Hear about the long history of sex testing women athletes on Tested, a new series from CBC and NPR's Embedded podcast. Listen to all episodes on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, welcome to another edition of Club Che Che, and my guest today is father, husband, actor, activist, rapper, the OG, Mr's why all my life I've been grinding all my life, all my life, been grinding all my life, sacrifice, hustle, pay the price, wanna slice, got to roll the dice, that's why all my life I've been grinding all my life. Cube, how you doing today?

Yo, what's up, man? How you feeling, Shannon? I'm good, bro. I mean, are you getting ready to do a remake of Tom Hanks' The Black Castaway? What's going on? Hey, you know, I had to let it grow, man. You know, that's that wisdom coming through there. You know what I'm saying? That's that

wisdom coming through. There's wisdom coming through this chin right here. Bro, I really appreciate you giving me a few moments of your time today. I really appreciate it. I know you're very busy, but to give me a few minutes of your time today. I really appreciate it. I know you're very busy, but to give me a few minutes of your time today, I really appreciate it. No, I appreciate you doing it, man. You know, I love, you know, what you do on TV. You know, to me, you're one of the best personalities on TV talking sports and just human, you know,

just get down, you know what I mean? Just telling it like a T.I. is, and I love you on TV. So, man, I'm glad you got this show now. You can keep it going. Thank you. I really appreciate it. Well, let's start, Cube. We'll get back to where the origins, but let's start with basically the hot thing that was going on today, and that was the murder of George Floyd and what the tensions and the uprising,

the emotions that we're starting to see spill out in the black communities. And a lot of people, I think, don't realize where you got your start from. You were in a group called NWA. And so I think people are a little surprised, shocked, because they think you had gotten away from that. Talk about your emotions and why you've been so active,

the resurgence of the Ice Cube, the original OG. Well, you know, with my music, I talk about, and I've always talked about, you know, the things that's happening in our communities, you know. I call it street knowledge. Right. And I've always been kicking that from day one. But in my movies, you know, I felt like when somebody spends, you know, maybe $100 when it comes to them, their woman getting something to eat, parking, driving, they might want to have a good time.

And it might not be about just the struggles of being black in America. So my movies are usually fun, but I've always had a passion for our condition in this country and what needs to be done and to do it from, you know, my vantage point, you know, which is art. But when this happened, I felt like it was time for me to step up as an OG. You know, like it was time for me to step up as an OG. I felt like it's my generation's turn

to take the mantle when it comes to not just civil rights, but human rights, just human dignity, economical freedom, it's our time to step up. So I wanted to step out outside of music and movies and just speak as a man, as a father, now a grandfather. And I just can't see this perpetuate and keep going on another whatever years. Why do you think the George Floyd murder hit us so different? Because there was Eric Garner, there was Philando Castile, there was Alton Sterling, there was Walter Scott, there was Sandra Bland, there was Tamira Rice, there was Trayvon Martin.

There have been so many. Why did this resonate so much, not only in the black community, but seem to grip America? Well, you know, we as a people never accepted slavery. Correct. We never went for that. You know, I don't care what they tell you. That was never cool with us, and we were never down with it. We tolerated it.

We lived under it, but we didn't accept it. No, we had to, you know, to survive. Right. But we didn't accept it. No, we had to, you know, to survive. Right. And so when one of us would get out of hand, they would pull everybody around to watch the discipline take place. And we've seen that in movies countless times. Correct.

This was a replay of that. This was a replay of that. Seeing this man begging for his life, even to his mama. And so to have a man on top of him with his hand in his pocket looking right at the camera, let us all know that our life means nothing. And that's unacceptable in 2020. It was unacceptable back then, but we couldn't do nothing about it. Now we can do something about it, and we're not going for it. And, you know, I always said the country has got to change or we will change it.

And that's what's happening right now. We're in the process of changing it and it's going to happen. And so, you know, that's why now is the time. Why is it so hard for those outside of our communities to hear our cries, to see us as human, not less than? Why is it so hard for people to accept that there's something wrong in America and we want changes? Why is it so hard for them to see that? Well, I mean, it's not happening to them. You know, usually people are really concerned about their own situation, their own family. It's not easy for the average white American today. So he maybe feels or she maybe feels like, hey, this is part of it.

You know, this is part of the struggle of pull yourself up by your bootstraps. But if they realize we've never even had a pair of boots to pull ourselves up by, so to speak, as a community. And even when we tried to prosper,

it was stomped out in different places across the country, like Tulsa, and, you know, and Rosewood, other communities that we know about and hear about, and the ones that we haven't heard about. is sabotaged in a lot of ways. It's systematically fixed where, you know, that's why they're so surprised when one of us get through and get ahead. And don't count me and you. We go through the path of least resistance,

which is entertainment and sports. Right. You know, we got to look at, you know, how many people, you know, are not Ice Cube and Shannon Sharp and how can they get through. So, you know, just to end that, I just think it's people just look at their own situations and if it's not happening to them, it's hard for them to understand. But as you mentioned, Cube, is that when people look at you and I, and they think that all black people, well, Cube, you made it.

Shannon Sharp, you made it. Oprah, and you got LeBron, and you got Denzel. But we're the only race of people that if you can succeed, and they say, well, you did it, everybody else. But that's not how white America views it. White America doesn't look and say, well, Jeff Bezos has 183 billion, so everybody else is good. They say it's not. We need to get everybody up to get economic prosperity. You look at the Asian community, you look at the Jewish community, everybody is about pulling everybody else up. But in the black community, they say, well, if you feel you get out, you good.

Yeah, that's just not true. And even we've had help. You know, I couldn't have made it without, at the time, a record company distributing the record and putting it out. You know, Eazy had the label, but he had to go through McCullough as a distributor. So you had to, you know, play on the Broncos, and that don't make you a bad guy, and the Ravens to, you know, to do your thing. You know what I'm saying?

So, but those organizations were still in place. So that's a form of help. And our communities, we got businesses that if they could get a loan, if they can get some loan, if they can get just a little capital, a little help, they can grow that business and hire more people and

expand and have different franchises. But when we can't get that initial spot of capital to help us jumpstart even a home loan. We're shut out.

We only get 3% of all the money in the bank loaned out to black people and their businesses. Now, 97% go to other communities. We're 13.5% of the country. If they just bump that to 13.5%

loan out and what guys can borrow, not unqualified guys. I'm talking about prime lending. It'll help us catch up because the wealth gap is what's killing

us. For every dollar a white person is worth, a black person is worth 10%. And that just can't stand right now. We can't survive off of that wealth gap. And it's not getting smaller. It's growing. It's growing. And the thing is that, you know, look, I'm not saying, and I think you're echoing and

saying the same thing I'm saying, I'm not saying help me because I'm black, but please don't deny me because I'm black. Thank you. I mean, just like, you know, $3 trillion was given to companies, you know, I mean, $600 was given to some Americans, but for the most part, they bailed out all these different companies and these different billionaires. But how many black companies were bailed out with that $3 trillion? With 13.5% of the country, we should at least got 13.5% of that $3 trillion to help our companies. 42% of black companies went under during this COVID situation.

And that's, that's a shame when they're helping companies that's, that's been bailed out over and over and over and over again with the American people money and 13.5% of that money's ours. So, you know, of course the numbers shift here and there, but you get my drift. You get my point. You had something, a contract with America. You said you want to address racial economic inequality.

So in your contract, how do you, how does America make it right with Black America? Man, it's a lot of simple things they can do. You know, just take government contracts. If we got 13% of the government contracts out there, that would give our communities a big boost. Like I said, with lending, you know, lending money. You know, other things that we need to do, of course, we need to reform policing, but also the justice, and then, you know, if you do get arrested, you get a bad DA or, you know, prosecutor that don't give up the evidence

and give up all the discovery and do all these games. Now they done railroaded you to prison. Prison got their own games where if they're not filled to the top, the prison have to pay money. So they're going to make sure they're feel to the top with guilty and innocent people. So it's a thing where this is a business ran on off, you know, our pain, not just black people, but brown people. It's off our pain, red people, off our pain. off our pain, red people, off our pain.

And these systems, you know, continue to thrive and grow. And people get big money off them. So all these things got to be reformed. If we're treated fair, you don't have to defund the police. If you just get good guys and make the bad guys accountable and get them off the force, then we would love the police like any other community. But when you keep the bad guys and they come abuse us and beat our head in, of course we don't want them there.

Right. And the thing is, you mentioned bank and finance reform, is that we play a higher lending, we play a higher rate on the loan, but we're quicker to get floor closed on. All that. You know, every game in the book is played off of us. We pay more. I mean, we pay more in taxes, property taxes, for the police,

and then they're the ones come beat our head in. So all these little games that's being played on our backs that's relegated us to the bottom of this economic pyramid, we have to sniff them out and cut them out, and things would flow, and you won't see so much frustration. out and things would flow and you won't see so much frustration. You know, people with they could pay their bills and do their thing and, you know, know where their next meal coming from. Don't think about going out in the street looting. So, it is... Well, that seems to be the... Cube, that seems to be, that seems to me, Dr. King said, riots is the language of the

unheard. And it seems to me that black people say the only time you hear us is that when we're burning stuff down, when we're busting out of windows, we were crying for 400 years. And it seems to be when you get the 65 Watts riot, or you get 92, or you get the Ferguson watts right or you get 92 or you get the uh uh uh

ferguson or you get baltimore or you got the uh uh what we just had george floyd he said that seems to be the only time that you hear us why can't you hear us before we burn down stuff why can't you hear us before we loop and steal stuff why does it take that to get your attention? I mean, that's a good point. I mean, these things that's in the contract with black America, they're not new concepts. It's not like we came up with something that, you know, people haven't talked about and study people a lot smarter than us have put their whole life around some of these issues.

And so it's the political will. It's, you know, people knowing what they need to do, but they don't want to rock their own boat. So we have to force people to have the political will. And it's really all these people are scared to not get reelected. So if we harness that energy in harnessing our vote and sniffing out people who don't want to help us that's in high places that's been there and get them out of there and replace them with people that's better. Well, you know, we'll continue to run into this problem. Um,

we have to use our real power. Um, and you know, it's silent, but it's deadly. Um, because you get somebody out of there and they know you're going to get them out of there. You're not going to vote unless they support your platform or your agenda. Right. Then that's where the real power comes from. That's where real change in this country comes from. The looting and rioting and all that will only get you so far.

Correct. At the end of the day, we've got to change policy, legislation, hearts and minds. You know, and that's, you know, when it's all said and done, that's the only thing that really, you know, gets people out of this pain. The one thing that we know about Power Cube is that people in power want to stay in power. And power can seize nothing without demand. Nobody says, you know what, is that people in power want to stay in power and power can nothing without demand nobody said you know what I've been in power long enough I think I want to go I you know what I want to be fair about this you have to demand it and you have to take action yes that's why you know the contract with Black America was a necessary

foundation of taking action of asking for things that we need, you know, as a whole. You know, I don't hit everything. You know, there's a section that I believe that we need to do on Black women when it comes to the contract with Black America that need to highlight the things that, you know, our women are going through, you know, when it comes to the workplace and in America, period. So, you know, it's room for improvement. And I want suggestions. You know, I'm not a

legislator. So I really want the people whose job it is to do this, to grab this thing and run with it. So to me, we have to, you know, first of all, spread the word. Make sure everybody going to CWBA.world. You know, we got a four-page version of the contract. We got a 23-page longer version of the contract. Make yourself familiar with either version and push forward because this is what we can do to make these candidates that's running in November do something and not just take our vote for granted and, you know, leave us.

You know, have you ever walked in a club with some people and they're supposed to get you in and they forget to look back? Yeah, they get in themselves, but they leave you standing. Yeah, they forget to look back. And I thought you was right behind me. And that's how they've been doing this. We get them in office. And, you know, they get in and forget to look back sometimes.

So we want to make sure we grab them by the arm and say, hey, man, we with you. We going in with you. And we need you to do the things we need done. Q, why is it is that when we say we want this, why does, like the black community says, okay, we want our voices heard. We want our voting rights. We want economic equality. We want racial and social justice. Why does a certain demographic feel like if we get those things,

we take something from you? It's our rights. We're not taking – it's not like we get, you give. It's just that it's supposed to be. Well, I mean, when you got people who have been taking advantage, Well, I mean, when you got people who've been taking advantage, they want to keep getting their extra, you know, decimals and dividends and whatever they, you know, really like get off on, you know, not help people. But let me tell you this. Money don't trickle down.

No, it does not. It trickle up. It trickle down. No, it does not. It trickle up. It trickle up. I mean, everybody at the bottom of the pyramid, when I say the bottom, I mean the bottom of the economic pyramid. Right. If you gave them money today, they would go buy something they need from somebody rich. Right. Who has it? Right. So the money trickles up. It don't, It might not ever trickle down to the bottom, but it will trickle up to the top. So I don't understand why it's so hard to understand that if they supply our community with the capital that it's owed, that it's old, just a fair share of the money we put into the kitty, then the money would still make its way up to the Bezos and the these and the that.

You know, it would still make it up to them. It just might take a little longer, and it might make people a little happier. I mean, what's wrong with that? There's a reason why Jeff Bezos, and I don't begrudge him. I happen, I've met him. I know him. There's a reason why he made $77 billion in five months. Because the stimulus money that you were getting, you needed things. You needed cleaning supplies.

You needed things. So that 1200 bucks that they were sending you, guess what? As soon as you got it, guess what you had to do? You had to go buy something. You had to go grocery shopping. You had to buy product. So guess what? The money that you got, guess what you had to do you had to go buy something you had to go grocery shopping you had to buy product so guess what the money that you got it went right back to him thank you and but you still got your product that you needed to sustain your family so you don't mind that right now if but if you never see nothing at the bottom and he's just making $78 billion at the top and you haven't gotten what you need

and what your family needs, you're pretty upset that somebody can get all that and you have nothing in a place like America. It just shouldn't happen this way. As you mentioned, Q, people at the bottom don't have what they call disposable income where you can invest. When people say the economy is good, it's good for people that can invest in the economy. If I don't have any money in stocks and bonds, what good is the economy growing does me? I'm trying to make ends meet. I got to pay rent. I got to put food on the table. If I got a car payment, if I got to catch the bus. So how does the economy benefit me if I can't reap the benefits from it?

Hey, you know, it's a thing where, you know, some people are at the bottom and they're not going to starve. They're not going to go hungry. No, they're going to starve. They're not going to go hungry. No, they're going to survive. They're going to survive. And hopefully they don't survive off somebody who has an investment in something or has, you know, it's like, you have to help, you know, what I call our, you know, weakest link. You know what I mean?

The weakest link in our chain is our people in poverty. Because they are hurting and frustrated, and they can't get the basic things they need to thrive in this society. And there's plenty to go around, but the greed that's going on is keeping people from thriving in this society. And it causes riots, it causes frustrations, it causes looting, it causes things like that.

And you can call the black community all kind of names for the things that they have to do to survive. But, I mean, you would do the same thing if you were in our shoes. Same thing. Q, there have been a lot

of, the monuments have been coming down. Stonewall, Jackson, Robert E. Lee, they've taken down the Confederate flag. What's your thought on those? Do they go far enough? I say, look, symbolic gestures are fine. But tell me, get down to the meat, get down to the nitty gritty. What are you going to do to help the minority community?

These signs, I don't care about, I don't care about no statue. I don't care about no flag. Yeah, that's fine. Take it down. But I'm saying at the end of the day if you take that flag down if you take those monuments down and blacks are in the same position what have you done um you know i think every gesture in this situation count you know we'll take the small victories and the big ones um i don't think you should promote traitors of, you know, what this country is and what it's grown to be.

You know, we don't have any, you know, German soldiers or, you know, we don't have any that I know of. No. Japanese soldiers from World War II who fought against us around. Maybe I'm wrong. And, you know, so I don't understand the necessity for those, you know. So I would love to see him go. You know, do I have to see him go? I'm not worried about it. I really would, like you said, see some real systemic change that's going to really help people live a better life.

That's the most important thing. Feeling good for a moment or that don't do do anything it's really about what can we do generational because the situation that we're going through the wealth gap is a generational thing correct so we have to start to build generational wealth correct through ownership home ownership business ownership ownership. Land ownership. Land, correct, being able to pass things down. That is the true promised land. But if you notice, Q, they only removed these statues.

They only take down a Confederate flag after a tragedy. If you look at the Confederate flag after a tragedy. If you look at the Confederate flag coming down in South Carolina, what did it take? Dillon Ruth to go into the church and kill nine parishioners at Mother Emanuel. It took George Floyd. It takes things. You're not doing it out of the kindness of your heart. See, that's the thing.

You can see what they're hoping is that if we do this just a little bit, and then they'll get distracted. They'll start thinking about something else. They'll think about a car or a bag or a band, and they'll forget all about it. Yeah, I mean, that's the whole – that's been the game, is to calm them down, hear them out, give them nothing. You know, that's been the playbook. You know, I know

you make a living coming to sports, but me, I didn't want sports to come back. To me, I want us to deal with this issue on a wide basis. I understand it's

a need, it's a necessity, but I really wanted people to shut it down because until there's some kind of economic threat, they'll continue to do this same play, which is calm us down, hear us out, and give us little or nothing. So until we figure out economically to shut systems down that don't want to cooperate, it will continue to happen because nobody's doing anything out of the kindness of their heart. It's all will, political will, or, you know, the will of the kindness of their heart. It's all will, political will, or the will of the almighty dollar. Wake up with football every morning

and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news, previews, recaps, and analysis delivered straight to your podcast feed by the time you get your coffee. No dumb hot takes here, just smart hot takes. We'll talk every single game, every single week,

but I can't do it alone, so I'm bringing in the big guns from NFL media. That's Patrick Claibon, Steve Weiss, Nick Shook, Jordan Rodrigue from The Athletic, and of course, Colleen Wolfe. This is their window right now. This is their Super Bowl window. Why would they trade him away? Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl. I don't know why, Colleen.

Catch the podcast, the NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal every day. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Right. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news, previews,

recaps, and analysis delivered straight to your podcast feed by the time you get your coffee. No dumb hot takes here. Just smart hot takes. We'll talk every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone. So I'm bringing in the big guns from NFL media. That's Patrick Claiborne, Steve Weiss, Nick Shook, Jordan Roderick from the Athletic, and of course, Colleen Wolfe. This is their window right now. This is their Super Bowl window. Why would they trade him away? Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl.

I don't know why, Colleen. Catch the podcast, the NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal every day. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news, previews, recaps, and analysis delivered straight to your podcast feed by the time you get your coffee.

No dumb hot takes here, just smart hot takes. We'll talk every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone. So I'm bringing in the big guns from NFL media. That's Patrick Claiborne, Steve Weiss, Nick Shook, Jordan Rodrigue from The Athletic, and of course, Colleen Wolfe. This is their window right now. This is their Super Bowl window. Why would they trade him away? Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl. I don't know why, Colleen.

Catch the podcast, the NFL Daily, with Greg Rosenthal every day. Subscribe today, and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So you don't believe that the guys that are in the bubble, the basketball players,

and they're wearing the Black Lives Matter t-shirt and they say, say her name, they keep mentioning Breonna Taylor, the WNBA. Do you believe that's had an impact when they kneel for the national anthem? Do you believe that like some, obviously there are a lot of people in the black community understands why they're kneeling, why they're wearing the t-shirts, but do you believe that that some of that is trickled into the white community and they're asking themselves, we really have a problem here in America that we really need to deal with that we haven't adequately dealt with before? Well, I think it's working on a lot of levels. Yeah, it is bringing a lot of awareness. It's a double edged sword in a lot of ways because it is keeping people looking and seeing it visually in their face.

But at the same time, it's also, you know, kind of getting back to normal. And, you know, back to normal is a bad word to me. Right. Because I don't want to go back to before George Floyd. Right. I'm not trying to go back there. You know, I just want to go forward. I want to go to the future.

And back to normal ain't the future. So that's what I just don't dig, the back to normal feel of it. But it is, you know, creating more awareness. And, you know, we get frustrated because things don't happen as fast as we want them to. But I'm feeling that a lot of people understand the need for change. They didn't even want to hear us out before George Floyd. even want to hear hear us out before George Floyd. They do now understand that it's a need for change because this protest went all over the world and it's still going. It's still going and it's still growing and up in places where they thought it was settled down. So you, they know any little thing can have people back in the streets and have us back at square one, so to speak. Cube, but they had 400 years to try to figure this out. But see, here's the thing.

The problem, a lot of problems that I have is this, is that they always, well, what do you want us to do? You never, you never ask the victim well to tell the perpetrator now this is what what could i have done to so make sure you don't harm me what could i have done to make sure you don't victimize me but that's what they ask us shannon what do you want us to do you put us in this situation go back to Go back to 1619 when you brought us here, robbed us of our humanity, robbed us of our dignity, robbed us of our name, robbed us of our religion, of our language, treated us less than, told us we were less than, gave us nothing. Let's go back. Let's start with that. that treat us you say all men are created equal you you hanged on the bible you say oh the bible say love that neighbor as that self you you you you do all this stuff but then when it comes to a black man you treat him less than and you've always treated him less than but now you want me to tell you how what you can do to make it right yeah i mean it's part of what i call the stall game

you know it's like keep stalling keep figuring out a way to perpetuate the same thing you know keep the status quo or whatever you give them take it back systematically in the years to come. There's always been a trick. There's always been something where they could really pull back on anything they give because it's people

who want to perpetuate this system, a system of white supremacy that, you know, has have them feeling superior. And, you know, people give you a lot of things, but it's hard for people to give you power. And that's what they have to give up a little bit of power because we're not power hungry people. You know, we're not people who just want to run everything that we see. We're people who don't mind enjoying sometimes when other people run it, as long as we get what we need. Right.

And so I don't know if that's a worry, but exploiting us is lucrative. And so a lot of people want to keep those systems in place because it's lucrative. Because here's the thing, Cube, let's just say for the next 400 years, black people rose to power and did to white America what they did to black and other minorities, the Native American communities. They couldn't stomach it. You know, it would never happen because it's not in our nature

to do people like that. That's not how we... We're very forgiving people. Yeah, it would never happen. So that's something that we couldn't, we couldn't conjure up something like that to, uh, to do people like that. So that, that's a worry that they can just forget.

They can sleep good. Because if you look at the situation where the female police officer, I think it was Dallas and she goes into the gentleman's house, both of them John, and she kills him. And the brother at the trial walks over and hugs her, says, I forgive you. Do you believe if the shoe was on the other foot, that would have happened to you? You never know, man. You know, some people, they break free of all this, you know, these chains of racism. So you never know. But I know we are very forgiving people.

And, you know, we just want a fair share. You do something to me, Q. Do I have to forgive you tomorrow? Can it take like six months? Can it take a year? Me? You do something to me, Cube. Do I have to forgive you tomorrow? Can it take like six months? Can it take a year? Me? You know, somebody killed my people.

I don't know if I'm going to forget it. But it's some forgiving people out here. It is. I know, I know, you know, when it comes to us as a people, if you give us our fair share,

we're extremely loyal. And, you know, some of us won't leave the job. We stay extremely loyal. Some of us won't leave the job. We stay on it for 50 years if you keep us. Exactly. That's just the kind of people we are.

You treat us right, we're very loyal. You treat us wrong, we're a problem. I don't understand why they haven't figured this out. Before we move on, you mentioned police reform. The police unions are very, very powerful, Q. That's the problem.

You can say this and that, but these police unions are going to be hard to break. And I believe that is the crux of your problem. Yes. I mean, I love unions until they abuse the system, too. until they abuse the system too. You know, people union up so they can, you know, make sure they're being treated fair by the company or the employer or whatever. But when they get the numbers, if they start doing the same thing or if they start taking advantage because they got the numbers and uh you can't

fire nobody and um these type of things or it just defeats the purpose um and you know they become the problem and and so police unions you know you play with a guy. Did you play with Bill Romanovsky? I did play with Romo. Romo, when he was on your team, you probably loved him. I would. We had issues because I think,

and you know, the thing is, I would talk and I was like, Romo, a lot of the things you do are unnecessary. But it wasn't until the incident with J.J. Stoltz, which was the breaking point for me. And although he did not do it to me, he did it to a man that looked like me. And so we had a conversation, even though we had a team meeting,

we had a team meeting because, boy, that thing was fractured. I had to have a 20, 30-minute combo with Romo outside of the team meeting because I was so upset. Maybe it just hit me differently. I think being from the South and having a man spit in your face, especially a white man, it does something

different to you. It does something to you. That crossed the line. Let's go to the games before that incident. When he played with you, he got Let's go to the games before that incident. You know, Bill played outside the line. When he played with you, when he played with you, you know, he got on the same helmet you got on. You can tolerate it a little bit.

Yes, correct. Okay. Now, when he on the other team. You're right. It wasn't like I was doing an official when Romo was holding or grabbing someone's face mask. He on my team. It wasn't like I was letting it to the official.

He's holding him. He's grabbing his face mask. So it was just one incident where you had to – you couldn't let that go because it was beyond football. Correct. Now, so I see, you know, the police, they're taught to win. You know, the civil rights rights stuff and I know my Constitution all that they want to go home at night right bastard that's

winning the game right so if they got a couple of Roman now skis that's gonna help them go home at night they'll tolerate that right but when you know not you know bills I don't want to drag his name, but I'm just saying when you got a guy that's playing a little outside the lines, you'll tolerate them when they're on your team. Right. And you won't tolerate them when they're not on your team. So what I'm saying is sometimes that mentality goes into the force,

and they see a guy doing a little something, but, hey, this guy helping me make it home at night um after that conversation though uh q not to cut you off after that conversation romo and i had a better understanding and he and like i said i don't want to i don't know what's in his heart but i think our relationship changed after he saw how upset I was about that incident and the things that he was doing that I thought was unnecessary. So he and I formed a friendship and a relationship after that was a lot better than before. Because I think he got the jokes of like, you know what? I might have a problem in my own range if I continue this type of behavior.

There you go. He got some understanding. And there's nothing wrong with getting some understanding. Right. You know, that's what's trying to happen here between the community and the police department. Like, we've had enough. I hope they understand that.

And I hope they change and get the bad guys out the ranks and then come to us with the good guys who can still do their job. And like every black person I know, if something happened to them, they don't want to call the police to get it settled. So this is a situation where if they clean up the guys that they send us, it won't be an issue that they send to us, it won't be an issue.

If they want these bullies, these racists, these dudes who they know have no love for the community whatsoever in their heart, they keep sending those dudes, it's going to be pushback, pushback, pushback. Because if you think about it, you look at the police department as a team. You look at a football team. I played on a team. If you had a bad apple, what did the team try to do, Q? They tried to get them up out of there because they don't want that to,

you know, to infiltrate the team. And then you have, especially if the guy's a leader, if the guy's a leader and he's a bad person, you really need to get him out of there because what he can influence others. Well, if you, if you got officers that's been there 10, 15 years and they're bad, what can they do? They become an influence on the younger guys. And then when the younger guys get 10, 15 years, what they've been taught, the behavior, now you keep a cycle going.

That's what happens. You know, you made a good example why you got to get a bad – a player that won't play right off the team because what is he going to do? At a critical moment, he's going to cost you 15 yards or more. You know what I mean? At a critical moment, he's going to cost the whole team. And that's what's happening. These bad apples are costing the whole team.

You got good cops out there being called names and being harassed and not respected because of the bad guys. Right. Well, you know, for me, is that, as James Baldwin once said, like the police officer, he said, he might be a nice guy, but I ain't got time to figure that out. All I know is he got a badge and a gun and he can take my freedom and he can take my life. So my job is to try to get him on his way as quick as possible. But if you assume every black is a threat, why shouldn't I assume every cop is bad? Because you make that assumption, a threat. When we see you bring white guys in that kill people, that have AR-15s, we see our homes

that shot up Denver, the movie theater, they take them alive. We see Dylann Roof, they take them alive. We see these guys that kill up, that shoot people in these Planned Parenthood. They bring them in alive. A guy, they think, well, he made a suspicious move or he had a cell phone and you kill him. Huh? Yeah, it's the value on our lives.

That's why we got to walk around, you know, with a slogan like Black Lives Matter. You know, it's the devaluation of Black life from day one in America that we're still trying to fight. I'm trying to figure out how you nervous, how you on edge, you got a taser, a baton, a gun, a bulletproof vest, and a flashlight, but you view me as a threat in jeans and a t-shirt. Shouldn't I be the one that's on edge?

Yeah. You should be the one on edge. But you know, when they, you know, they got something called qualified immunity. You give a racist police the license to kill with no repercussions, and they're going to take that one day.

Yeah, of course. Because, as you mentioned, qualified immunity, because the Supreme Court says you have to put yourself in that man's shoes at that moment. Not right now. At that moment. shoes at that moment. Not right now. At that moment. Well, anything that he viewed,

they say anything that's viewed as a threat, real or imagined, just imagine I'm in the grocery store. Oh, you gave me a bad look. I'll fire off on you. Well, I felt threatened. You can't do that. But for the police, you can. Yeah, and it's ridiculous and it's getting a lot of people killed

because officers are quick on the trigger because they know nothing is going to happen. And they kill people they don't have to. And they know they're going to walk home and not get anything done to them. So you put that in the hands of a racist officer, and you got a dangerous man or woman on your hands. Let's go back to the beginning. You grew up in South Central LA. Yeah.

And as Cubans growing up, what did you want to be when you became an adult? You know, when you're young, it's of course, football player, play a little fullback, a little outside linebacker. So, you know, we wanted to play football. Right. And, you know, I really got into the music young, about 13, 14. You know, we started to, you know, spray paint and pull out cardboard and try to break dance and do all the stuff that we seen everybody else doing. And so I started getting into music real early. Never thought I could make a living at it because all the professionals to me was on the East Coast. It was a New York driven game back then.

And so, you know, I just thought, you know, I could just get a regular job. It just don't pay off. I went to school for architectural drafting because I liked drafting when I was young in school. I ended up, after high school, ended up going to a trade school. And so that was cool, but music started to take off, and that's really where my heart was,

and I started to just run with it. So how old were you when you joined the group and how did the NWA come about? I was probably about 17 when I joined NWA. We were all in different groups. Everybody was out in a different group. Everybody else was doing their own thing. So how did you guys decide to come together? Well, a group that Dre was in called the Wrecking Crew,

Dre and Yellow was in that group. Right. And they were kind of like, they was making the most noise in LA. OK. Out of all of us. The world class Wrecking Crew? World class Wrecking Crew? World class Wrecking Crew. So Lonzo who ran the Wrecking Crew really wouldn't let Dre do the hardcore records that

he really started to want to do. Right. So me and Dre started doing mixtapes and I would do the hardcore raps on the mixtapes talking about the neighborhood. Well, Easy, which is Dre's old friend, got one of the tapes, tracked Dre down, and was like, yo, you know, I've been hustling on the street. I want to flip some of this money. So I want to start, I want to have a label. And I want to call it Roofless Records.

Okay. And so he had these groups that he was trying to get on Roofless Records, but he asked me to write a song for him. I wrote a song called Boys in the Hood. And the group didn't want to do it because they was from New York. So Dre convinced Eazy to do the song. So Eazy ended up doing Boys in the Hood, the song. Right. And he was like, we should do an all-star group. This is what Eazy said. We should do an all-star group.

We'll take the best out of, you know, I'll be Eazy, we'll take Dre and Yella out of the record crew. We'll take Cube out of, I had a group called CIA. Take Cube out of that. And then we just do the side group hardcore records, you know, and then y'all can go back and do, you know, slow jams and whatever y'all was doing. So we ended up doing that record and man, it just started to pick up momentum and it was just sounding better and better and better. So we all ended up quitting our groups and just stayed with our, you know,

with us forming this all-star group. And one day they came to pick me up, and Eazy was like, what are we going to call it? You know, he was saying, what are we going to call the group? And I said, what are we going to call it? He said, NWA. I'm like, what that mean? When he told me what it meant, I was like, oh, yeah.

We're about to start some ish right now. So, you know, from there, we just was tight. And we just was just figuring out what did we need to do to start making noise in the hip hop scene. Did you know that when you joined this group, you guys were going to become what you became and that you guys are really the originators of the gangster rap, the hardcore rap? Did you know that at the time? Not at all. At the time, you know, we thought those records were gonna be... They

had a section in the record store where they would play all the dirty comedy records like Richard Pryor. You could get an Eddie Murphy record over there, Redd Foxx. There was this dirty rapper by the name of Blowfly, Dolomite. You can get all them kind of records. So we thought our record was going to be over there in that dirty section. So when they started to put it out front where all the regular hip hop was, and people just start buying it, we knew we had a style that was unique, that was different. But, you know, there was other people who was dibbling and dabbling in what I would

call gangster rap. You know, you had Ice-T out there. Right. Schooly D. He had a song called PSK. And then you had, you know, Boogie Down Productions had did a record called Criminal Minded that easily loved that record. So it was a few people who had dibbled and dabbled in that style. Right. I mean, that became Ice-T's signature style.

I think Ice-T and N.W.A. were the first two real jump-offs, and then the Ghetto Boys came through. Right. You know, and there was other groups. But, yeah, you know, that's kind of how it jumped off, and that's how it started. So when you're in a group, how do you determine who's going to be lead on a particular song?

Or is it like, you know, like Teddy Pendergrass when he was with, you know, the Blue Notes? Yeah. was with you know the blue note yeah like teddy was always out there with it was you know harold melvin featured teddy pendergrass and then teddy got bigger than harold and then he wanted to put him out so how do you determine who's going to be lead on a song um i mean you got a producer like dr dre who you know usually arranges who's going where, you know, what rhyme is going to go where. And so, you know, just kind of leaving it up to him. You know, he was a master at it on who was going to lead.

Some records I would go first. Some records Eazy was on, he would go first. And it was just really on him. Sometimes it determined who wrote the rap. Right. You know, who wrote the rap. Right. You know, I wrote a few songs that I was so on. And then we would just have Eazy on at the end.

Like I did a song called Gangsta Gangsta. And Eazy just comes in at the end. So we was just being real experimental. But, you know, Dre was the lead producer. He would kick you off that joint if you didn't come with the right lyrics. He'd be like, you ain't on this song. You off. You off.

So Dre was really like Dre way back then? Yeah. Yeah, without a doubt. You know, him and DJ Yella were, they was like mad scientists with it. And Dre, he was a perfectionist. So if you didn't come with dope lyrics, if you didn't come with a dope delivery, he would kick you off the record. He'd be like, you're not on this record.

So you had to, so basically you had to bring heat. You had to bring fire. Yeah. Every time. You hear the record, right? Yeah. So the record is heat. And then, you know, so a few,

a few times he sent us back to the drawing board, you know, he was like, man, you know, I liked the first half of that rhyme, but the second half, you got to do a little, say something, you got to talk about something different. So, you know, he was a real, he was a great producer and he just got better and better with each album, you know, that he would do. He would just get better and better with each album you know that he would do he would just get better and better you know now he's you know the man so anytime you have success and there's a group eventually they're gonna be some bickering they're gonna be some fighting

they're gonna be some issues who's getting what who's doing what why did nwa breakdown fall apart um i think it's really because you know jerry heller who was the manager at the time was really um loyal to easy you know easy was his guy you know we were like uh you know, just kind of the group, you know. And so I just think he underestimated what we really meant to the whole, you know, success of Ruthless Records. Right. So he just was, and Eazy, you know, was learning the business basically at the same time we were when it comes to me, him, and Wren. We're all learning at the same time, even though he's older.

Dre and Yella knew the business a little bit more, but nobody was experts, you know. Right, right. People leaned on Jerry to, you know, make things right. And it just was, you know, one or two things that just didn't smell right. And, you know, when somebody starts to, you know, lie when there's no reason to, it just makes you suspicious. Okay. And then, you know, the more you, it just makes you suspicious. Okay. And then, you know, the more you look, the more you find.

And, you know, I confronted them, and they'd rather, you know, make me the enemy instead of rectifying the situation. And so I left. So when you confronted Jerry Heller, the rest of the group turned against you. Well, Jerry talked to Easy. Right. And Easy, you know, he was the head of everything. So once Easy was against me, you know, Jerry convinced Easy I was a troublemaker.

So then Easy started to talk to everybody. And then, you you know pretty soon. I was the odd man out at the end of the day. But they didn't kick you out. They left. I left. I left because I was like this ain't gonna work. They not gonna fix it.

You know all he had to do was fix it. What did Jerry Heller need to do to make it right by Q? I think he was, you know, at the end of the day, he was trying to get me to sign a contract that my lawyer never read. Okay. So, to me, that's bad business, and it's a bad contract. Right. You don't want my lawyer to even look at it, and you know I have a lawyer.

He kept ducking me and saying, you know, I'll send it, I'll send it, I'll send it. Before I had the lawyer, before I told him I had the lawyer, I had the lawyer, but I didn't tell him, I was just trying to get the contract. So I told him, I said, just send it to my mama. I thought he was going to think, all right, send it to her. She ain't going to know what she's looking at.

They're going to sign it, and I'm going to get it back. But he wouldn't even send it to her. I'm like, man, damn, you won't even send it to her? Right. You know? So we knew something was fishy. Like, if he can't send us the contracts, he definitely can't sign nothing. Were you the only one in the group

that had a lawyer outside of Rufus Record Lawyer? I think so. But I had offered that whatever my lawyer tell me, I'm going to tell you guys. And, you know, so y'all, my lawyers like y'all lawyers. Y'all don't have to get a lawyer if you don't want to. going to tell you guys. And, you know, so y'all, my lawyers like y'all

lawyers. Y'all don't have to get a lawyer if you don't want to. I would advise you to. But I'll tell y'all what he's telling me. So I would, you know, talk with Ren a lot. Me and Ren the same age. We would talk a lot.

We was the youngest in the group. And so Ren knew everything that my lawyer was telling me, which was don't sign nothing. Don't sign nothing. And so when it was time to sign, I was like, man, I can't sign that. And it was the best move I ever did. You leave the group. You strike out on your own.

The diss track. Did they diss you first, or did you write No Vaseline? No, they dissed me first. They dissed you first? Yeah, they dissed me on a record called 100 Miles and Running. It was like an EP that they released after Straight Outta Compton. It was a diss, but it wasn't

heavy-handed. It was like a line. Like a little line. So, I gave it back to him a little bit on Jacket for Beats. At the end of Jacket for Beats is one line where I mentioned a

hundred miles away I'll have you a hundred miles away right and so when they did a day next record they dissed me real good you know I mean they call Benedict Arnold. All kind of names. So, on no basis. Okay, they dissed you on the line. You kind of dissed them back on the line. Did you think it was over? Okay, you said yours. I said mine.

I'm done. Let's move on them. You thought it was over. Yeah, because I still like them dudes. You know, they were still – you know, I had a problem with Eazy and Jerry, but I still – I'm still cool with Dre and Yella and Lin and DLC and Layla and all them dudes that was still hanging around. So I was just surprised that they would take it to you.

So they dissed you heavy. I mean, they came with it. You like, I got to come back hard. How long did it take you to write No Vaseline? It took me 90 minutes. 90 minutes? 90 minutes. So in other words, that's been brewing.

You knew they were going to come back. If it only took you 90 minutes, you knew they were going to come back. So you've been plotting. You've been lying and waiting. No, no. It wasn't like that. It was, I was mad and I had build up. Right. I was on a boat. One of the heads of Priority Records, he took me on a boat because, you know, I had one in the air with a bat and, and like tore up the company. Right.

So, um, we, we was trying to smooth things out. So he was saying, I want to play this for you. I want to be the first one to play it for you. And he played me the disc that they did to me. But we still had two or three hours on this boat, which I didn't want to be on no more. I was like, man, take me back. I'm ready to ride a ride.

Take me back. So I had like two or three hours of buildup. So by the time I got to my room, to my equipment, pen and pad, it just all came out. And I got interrupted a few times, so I probably would have wrote it faster if my sister didn't interrupt me a few times. So how was your style different than Eazy's, different than Dre's? What was

your style? I mean, who did you draw inspiration from? Yeah, I just like hardcore rappers. I would like Melly Mel, Ice-T, Karras One, Chuck D, Run from Run DMC, you know, the ferocious rappers, the rappers that really kind of came at you. You know, it was a style that, you know, it was different styles floating around, you know. Rakim and EPMD Ushered in that Calm Style of rhyming Where you didn't have to be as ferocious On the mic And then you had

The rappers who were smooth The heavy D's Of the world You know Salt and peppers People who were Just a little more style, you know, Slick Ricks of the world who were, and Dana Danes were super creative. Right.

So, you know, so that would be my style, you know, that Karis one, Chubb D, you know, ferocious in your face kind of hip hop. Who are your top five greatest rappers of all time? I just named them all. I got, you know, it's hard to put them in the greatest of all time, you know, but, like, my favorite MCs in the world are Melty Mail because he ushered in a serious commentary about the neighborhood. Right. Ice-T, you know, a dude from L.A. who put L.A. on the map when it comes to being, you know, top-notch pro-MC like there was all through New York. Chuck D because of subject matter and delivery. Karras won.

And delivery, Karras won. You know, once again, style, delivery, flow, subject matter. You know, LL, Koojay, just to me, the young phenom. You know, he was all LeBron. Right, yes. You know what I mean? He was all the bronze, just, you know, 16, 17, 18 years old, just at the height of rock, you know. Right. So, and has sustained it his whole career as far as, you know,

just being able to, you know, transcend eras. And, you know, he's still the man on TV now, you know, and still can, you know, we did this little, see Kings of the Mic back here. You know, that was, you know, LL Headline, me, Public Enemy, and De La Soul. So, you know, that's like cream of the crop when it come to hip hop.

How different is it writing a song as opposed to writing a movie? I mean, you said it took you, how long did it take you to write Fridays, for instance? It took me about three months to write Friday. You know, I had help, of course, from DJ Poo, but I also had a lot of help from a manager I had named Pat Charbonnet. She's also a producer on the movie. You know, between Poole and her, you know, about three months of us, you know, me writing, sending them pages, them giving me feedback.

And, you know, the process took about three months till we had something where we felt, okay, this is a movie we can go shoot. So how long, so it'd take you three months to write Friday. How long would it take you to write an album? A complete album,

not just a song, an album? You know, I don't really put a time limit on writing an album. I just kind of go with the inspiration. When you've been in the game, as long as I've been in the game, you don't really want to reach for inspiration. You want it to just come to you. Right. And then you do songs as the inspiration comes. So you might write a song. So it might take,

so I write one song one day and then take two or three days off, write another, or you might go half a song. So it's not like you're just sitting down every single day, putting pen to pad. No, no, I think that's forcing. I think, you know, a song will come to you. And to me, the best songs are the fastest that you write. You know, if it take you a long time to write the song, it's probably not as good as a song that you can write like

that. Okay. Because, you know, it's just to me, that's just how the inspiration comes. When you got a good song, it just pours out. When you're forcing it, you have to, you know, dig it out. And I don't like digging out songs. I like to write a song, let it flow, and then go record it. You know, find the music for it, go record it.

And then I might sit on that song. I might sit on the song for a year, two, three years. What? Yeah. Yeah. Make it marinate. Well, you know, put it out when it's right or when the time is right or when the album, you know, make that part of the album.

You know, I don't want to just throw songs out every time I'm finishing. Right. Sometimes I like to keep them and make sure that they, first of all, I like to make sure they're going to stand the test of time for me, you know, and then I'll put them out. So I got different, different styles and different techniques, but I always let it flow. How different is the rap game that you came up in compared to the rap game today? Well, when I first came up, there was people who would usher you into the game. Okay. you know, people who would usher you into the game.

Okay. There was certain avenues that you felt like you had to go through to even be taken serious. Okay. So, you know, people wasn't walking around pressing records up, you know, just without really thinking long, hard, pressing you on the record, making sure the record is good enough to press, and just really running you through the ringer before you could do a record.

Right. You know, as hip-hop came and more independent labels came out, that became a little looser. Right. So that was the game back then. Now, you know, you can be in your room, you can think of a track, and you can put it out all over the world that night. So there's really nothing holding an artist back from being creative.

It might hold you back from chasing the money and finding the money, but being a creative person and putting something out in the world, nothing is holding you back. And when we were coming up, it would be obstacles that if you didn't cross those thresholds, you didn't cross, you wasn't going to be heard or seen. You're just going to have a demo.

So it's just a new game. Anybody can be creative and put out music. So do you need a record label? Do you need a deal? Or can you do all of that on your own? Everything is promotion. And you can do it on your own? Everything is promotion and you can do it on your own, but if

you don't really have the money to promote it, it's going to be a big uphill battle, which is fine. Some artists got to do what they got to do. Most artists want to be discovered by a label and a lot of a little of the dirty work is done for you. Right.

And you kind of come in on a different plateau. Right. And so you can try to go up from there. But to me, it's no magic formula, man. Soulja Boy became a star from creating, you know, Superman in his room. Right. You know, and so there's nothing that can hold you back if you're super creative. And people just gotta hear your stuff. You know, you got that time. Make yourself known.

You obviously you've been in the game and you understand the game, but it seems to be now in the game and you understand the game but it seems to be now that the rappers and the artists today like realize that owning your masters is where it's at and it seems to me that they're trying to incorporate that whereas before guys just i just want i just want to produce i just want to sing i want to do music i want to get an album out and they forgot about that is that where is that where it's heading now well i mean know, if you really look back and think about it, you know, most people come in the game and not even think about Masters or think about they just want to be on the radio. They want to be at the concert.

They want to do a video. You know, do those things. And once you're in the game a little while you realize you know why is everybody getting money except me and then you realize if you don't own the masters or the publishing um the money's gonna go elsewhere but i think artists have discovered that from the beginning of time you know you have artists going all the way back fighting for their masters. You know, you have artists, you know, they come in the game owning their masters, you know, like the Master P's of the world. And Luke, you know, Luke Skywalker, Luke Campbell, Luke Campbell owning his masters, Eazy-E owned his masters.

So, you know, Def Roe and, you know, I believe James Brown owned a lot of his masters. So artists have fought for this from the beginning of the time, but it's just, you know, you either have the leverage to get it or you don't. If you, you know, are doing something on your own and they come to you and need to get it from you like they had to do with Master P, who was doing his own thing, then you can walk in there owning your masters from day one. You know, if you go sign with a label, they're going to own the masters because they're putting up all the risk. So it depends on, you know, independent is a hard way,

but you start off owning, and that's the key, ownership. So I think it's something artists can always fight for, you know, to the end of music. So who do you like today? If you're in your car, music. So what, who do you like today? If you're in your car, you're riding around, who are you listening to? Man, you know, thank God I got the iPad so I can listen to all of these. I'm listening to everything. That's what's cool.

You know, I can listen to everything right now. And, you know, I'm still, you know, bumping that Izy Brothers greatest hit. So, you know, I ain't really worried about the new artists right now. That's how I am. I listen to the grooves. I listen to the old stuff, man. I ain't got to them anymore, Cube. I ain't going to even lie.

Don't worry about it, man. You know what you like. And as long as it's still around, then you're a happy man. Okay. You're doing happy man okay you're doing the music you're good in the music when did you know you wanted to do acting i didn't know you know i i was discovered by john singleton okay he really saw me you know as doughboy and he saw me, you know, as Doughboy. And he saw me like, yo, I'm doing this movie, and you perfect for it. And that's how he came at me.

And for two years, I kind of didn't take him serious until he finally sent a script. And when I walked in and saw that he was actually shooting this movie, that's the first time I said, okay, damn, I guess I'm going to be an actor. And so, you know, thank God for John Singleton, rest in peace, that he pursued me, you know. And he did that with a lot of dudes, you know, with Busta Rhymes. He put him in a movie.

And, you know, he worked a lot with Tupac. So he was always going to the artists and, you know, he put Janet Jackson in the movie. He always saw in artists movie stars. And, you know, thank God, even Tyrese. You know, you can put Tyrese in a movie who came from music. So this dude just saw something in us as entertainers and stepped up and made us movie stars. So once you got cast in that movie, the acting bug hit, it bit.

Yes. Yeah, man. I mean, Boys in the Hood, this is my first movie. The movie went to the Cannes Film Festival in the south of France. Right. So, you know, we young, and I got my wife with me. She my girlfriend at the time,

but we in the south of France, man. You're living life right now. I'm like, oh man, I'm a movie star. It's like paparazzi. We did a screening. I was nervous at the screening because here we were showing a movie

that I wasn't sure that America would get. Boys in the Hood. Here it was about to be shown with subtitles in French. So I'm like, uh-oh. You know, these people ain't gonna understand what this movie is really trying to say. Eddie Murphy was there.

Quincy Jones was there. And they showed a movie and we get a standing ovation man and so I was like okay this the movie has power that the music has

it has the power to show people a world that they have never seen before so from then on I wanted to do movies but one is through words the other is through picture. Yeah, but there's, you know, I do music, but when it comes to movies, there's no bigger canvas an artist can paint on than a movie screen.

You say it took you three months to write Friday. Did you know Friday was going to be Friday? I was hoping it would. When you grow up in the hood, you got your classics. You got your Uptown Saturday Nights. You got your Cooley Highs.

You know what I mean? Car Wash. These movies are cloning. That's just staples in your household. You know, these are movies that your family love, you love, you can watch over and over again. Right, right. So when I started getting into movies, I said, man, we need a hood classic.

We need one of them movies that they love us for. Like, we love Carl Washington. Right. We love, you know, Ron O'Neill. Right. He did Superfly. He was a king, you know, to us. You know, so we was like, man, we got to have one of those.

You know, I felt Boys in the Hood was a good one. But I wanted one that was a comedy that people could laugh and have fun with. So we went out to write Friday for it to be that hood classic. We never knew that there'd be so many people around the world that would love that real hood classic, you know? Bruh, Friday is the godfather of the hood classic. Thank you. It's in everybody's top five i mean it doesn't matter that's in the top when you say okay give me your top five you know when we talk

amongst ourselves friday is in there friday is in there people like uh friday and house party i love players club i mean hey but you gotta to have – let's talk about some of the people that you've cast. You've casted some great comedians. You had Bernie Mac. You had John Witherspoon. When you – did you – and this was before Bernie Mac became Bernie Mac. Yeah.

I mean, I love to put people in a position to win and so they can showcase their talent. Right. to put people in a position to win. And so they can showcase their talent. Right. You know, Russell Simmons was doing it with Def Comedy Jam. Right. You know, introducing a lot of people who you probably would never see

unless you went to a black comedy club. Correct. So I saw Bernie on, and Chris Tucker on that deaf comedy jam. And I'm like, man, these dudes need to be in the motion picture. If I ever have power to do a movie, I'm putting these dudes in the movie.

And I saw the same thing with Jamie Foxx with Players Club, you know? Right. And I'm one of the first guys to kill Jamie in the movie. So, you So, I just would see these hilarious people that I thought

like, yo, I'm not a comedian, so I'm going to surround myself by these top comedians and let them go off. Right. And let them do their thing. See, that's the key. Like, if I was a comedian, I would feel intimidated by how many laughs

this one is getting and that one is getting. So I would suppress that, make sure I was getting all the laughs. Right. But by me not worrying about that, I let these guys shine, you know, from Cat Williams, Mike Epps, you know, just let them go and blow and do their thing. And, you know, they've gone on to have great careers, man,

and I'm real proud of them. But the thing about a comedian is that they really at their best when they ad-lib with the improvisation. So how much do you let them go as opposed to what you've actually written? I always, you know, think you got to start with a great script. You know, if the script is not making you laugh out loud, you should keep writing. Because a comedian, a great comedian, not only take that line you wrote, but he'll piggyback off that and continue to ride with the ad-libs. So if you give

them a great jump-off point, then they'll start running with the ad-libs, and then they'll come back to the script. And so that's the key to my movies. And so I would say about 70% of it is

written, but 30% is letting guys do what they do. Because when I look at Bernie Mac and playing Dollar Bill in the player club and Jamie Foxx playing blue,

it's unbelievable. You know, that's one of the most underrated performances of Bernie Mac in the Players Club. He went off. He did. He went off. You know, and so I wrote the movie with him in mind. You know, I didn't have nobody else in my head but Bernie.

Right. Yeah. And I'm glad he took it and he ran with it and uh you know I'm just proud just proud to be a part of their career and proud to show people you know what they got you mentioned you put a lot of guys from Jamie Foxx to Bernie Mac to Cat Williams to John Witherspoon Michael Clark Duncan Megan Good, TJ Johnson. I mean, there's so many. I mean, I'm thinking back,

that might have been their first taste in the movie business is when you put them on. Yeah, I mean, we was learning together. You know, it's their talent, really, they put them on. You know, I just thank God I was in a position to

showcase it. You know, I just thank God I was in a position to showcase it. Right. And, you know, I look at them and I see them doing their thing, you know, and I'm extremely proud that they were able to take that and run with it. The only thing I hate, Cube, is that Chris Tucker got so big he didn't come back for number two. But the one, I don't know if somebody's going to ever come out

with a hood classic better than Friday. I don't know how they do it. I really don't. Like I said, we did that movie in 20 days and it was magic every day. Every day we felt like, damn, this is special.

You know, it's like. Because everybody is funny in the movie. From Smokey to you to Dad to Big Worm to Smokey's mom. Everybody is funny. Yeah. Everybody got a chance to do their thing. Yes. And it was beautiful to do their thing. Yes. And it

was beautiful to do and to see it. You know, this is the first movie that I ever wrote and produced. So it was new to us. And so we were really just having fun

and lucky we had somebody as good as Gary Gray to capture it and shoot it and direct it. And, you know, we was just like, man, this is a movie we want people to watch every Friday if they

want to, you know, kick back and this is just going to be one of those movies that you got to keep in your rotation. If it comes on TV, I'm watching it. If it comes on, I'm watching it. I can't be flipping the channels and all of a sudden that movie's on cause I'm gonna stay there.

I mean, it's a special movie in a lot of ways. It's a movie that most people don't detect, but it's the day the bully gets beat up. Right. And everybody remembers and loves that day when the bully gets, finally get what he deserves. So that movie has a lot of special, specialness to it.

Just some other tips that people don't even really detect most of the time. Oh yeah. And Regina King was in the movie. Neil Long was in the movie. Yeah. But Cube, let me ask you a question. When you have such great success and you write Friday and it's beloved, do you run into the things like, I got to write another Friday? Because a lot of people say what happened to Michael is that when he wrote Thriller, he was always looking for the

next album to sell 25 million. And that's not always the case. Sometimes you write something, you do something that you're never going to recreate. And you have to be okay with that. That doesn't mean you stop trying, but that means you have to be okay with that. Yeah. Sometimes it's a moment in time. You catch lightning in a bottle, as they say. You know, I had vowed not to even do another Friday, but the fans had loved it so much that I said, well, if I'm an entertainer, my job is to give the people what they want, entertain the people not just with what I want to give them,

but with what they want. Entertain the people not just with what I want to give them, but with what they want. Right. So I worked hard at writing, you know, the next Friday, which introduced Mike Epps, you know, and, you know, Pinky. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, all the other, you know, characters that you end up loving.

So, you know, but I never felt that I was chasing the first one. Even with, you know, the barbershops. Right. You know, we did that. The first one was... And the entertainer. Yeah, it was, you know, a home run epic in a lot of ways. But with two or three, I never felt I was chasing it.

I always felt like I need to do a standalone movie. Right. So if one never existed, two has to stand alone and be a comprehensive its own thing and not just borrow

off of the jokes from the first one. Right. And so that's what I really worked at doing is making each movie staring on its own funny and not just regurgitate jokes from the last one uh you know the only thing you're gonna see in all of them is you got knocked out you know what i mean you'll see that

in all of them right but for the most part you can watch three and never seen two or one. Or you can watch two and never seen either of them and still enjoy the movie as its own thing. I love Rowie Santa Claus too, Ricky Smiley. Yeah, you know, Ricky, you know, he a comedian. He wasn't used to doing all that physical comedy. So by the end of me whooping him with that Christmas tree, Ricky was about done with my ass.

He was like, man, man, how many more times you got to hit me with this tree? We got to get another angle, man. A couple more angles, Ricky, and we'll let you go, man. But he was the man. And you put Terry, and we'll let you go, man. But he was the man. And you put Terry Crews in? Yeah, Terry Crews. I had met him on next Friday. He was doing

security outside my trailer, and we just talked, and he was a good dude. And I was like, you know what? If I ever need a big, if I ever need a Debo part two, I'm going to get this dude. So when we thought of Damon as, you know,

the landlord's son who just got a pen, you know, it was like, yeah, yeah, he's perfect. He's perfect. So what's next? I know the pandemic is going, and so there's not a whole lot of production going on. So what's next for Cube? Is it a record?

Is it a movie? What do you have on the horizon? Got a couple things, you know, under my sleeve, working on something I can't really talk about right now, but it's real cool. And it's on the music tip. But as far as movies, we was in the middle of a movie called Flint,

Flint Strong, you know, about the Clarissa Shields, who's a, you know, a boxing champion. A female boxing champion. It was her story.

And I was playing Jason Clutchfield, who's our trainer. And so we was in the middle of that or just starting. So, you know, hopefully we'll be able to jump back on that soon, finish that movie up, talking to DJ Caruso about doing another movie called The Killers Game, but we'll see how that come about. So, you know, that is like what I'm doing

on the professional tip, but personally, it's really all about, you know, fighting with this contract with Black America and trying to get some freedom and equality for our people here. And, you know, I'm just fighting that with all my heart. A few more things before I let you go, Q.

Your son follows your footsteps. I think a part of us all want our sons to do what we did. If you're a lawyer, you want your son to be a lawyer. If you're a doctor, you want to be a doctor. If you're a professional athlete, you would like to see him follow your footsteps. Did you ever think your son would follow in your footsteps? I never thought that. You know, I've never pushed my kids to be a part of entertainment.

You know, I think that's something that you, it's a dream that you have your own, you're on your own, and then you do what it takes to get it. you're writing your own and then you do what it takes to get it. You know, with this situation, you know, we had an opportunity to do the Straight Outta Compton movie. Right. I knew they were casting it. I knew I had took my son on a lot of tours with me and then he jumped on stage and he can he can rap my songs, you know, not as good as me. But damn near.

And so I knew he had the chops and the personality to do it. But would he take it serious? And so I put him through the ring, man, you know, two years of training and, you know, acting coaches here in L.A. and in New York and just getting him ready. And he came through, and he did a great job in the movie. I mean, because he looks like you. I mean, people, they actually thought it was you. He sounds like you. Mm-hmm.

I mean, he did a great job, and he showed me he was serious. Right. I mean, he did a great job. He showed me he was serious, which is most important because, you know, to see a finished movie is cool. But to see what somebody has to go through to actually do the movie is grueling. And so he ran the full marathon with a smile on his face and happy to be a part of the business. So as a family, we was just real proud of him. And then he started to get more movies off of what he did with Straight Outta Compton.

He's a bona fide actor. He's working more than me nowadays. I think the movie was Dinner Thieves. I thought he did an unbelievable job in that. Thank you. Yeah, he was great. You know, that movie is a little tough to watch for me because you got these fake, fake police, my son.

But, you know, in the end, you know, he's the man. So I'm proud of him. You know, the whole family is. You say that, Cube, is that people look at the finished product, they see the movie, and that's what I tell them. All you do is see the people that – an athlete winning the game. But you don't understand the offseason. You don't understand the practices.

You don't understand the meetings. What led to the winning of the game? Man, most – you know, most athletes play the game for free. You're paying them for all that other stuff you got them doing. Practicing and, you know, dealing with all the BS. That's what he's taking the money for. But, you know, most of the time, you know, we enjoy to do the finished product. You know, we enjoy show time, game time.

Now, that's when we know it's time to give the people what they pay for. And when you got that mentality, you always do your best and get 110%. And so that's the most important thing is we don't take the work for granted. That's why the finished product comes out the way it does. Cube, I had a coach, and we were in meetings, and he said what I love about Sharp is that Sharp would play the game for free. And I said, yep, Coach, you're right, but I need to know if he's playing for free because I ain't the only one playing for free.

That's what I'm saying. You know, if we all playing for free, I love some freedom. But if we all paying for free. I love some freedom. But if we all paying for pay, I love some pay them too. Exactly. Before I let you go, Cube, I want to get you on this one. I don't know how well you know Kanye. I think he's a great writer. His songs, I love his music.

Or maybe should I say I love his music. But now he's running for president. What do you make of Kanye running for president? You know, I think he started off a little too late, you know, for people to really take him all the way serious. And, you know, I just hope that, you know, he's not being used. You know, and's not being used, you know, and that it's his decision.

If it's his decision, you know, this is a free country. You can do what you want to do. But if, you know, people are pushing him to do it, you know, I don't think that part is cool. But, you know, I just think he started off too late to really get in the game for real. And so, you know, I think it's a moment that's going to end up passing him by. Yeah. What are the Lakers

going to do? Everybody's bullish on the Clippers. Everybody say Clippers got this. Clippers, the Lakers are going to go out in the first round. If they play Portland, everybody's saying the Lakers are going out in the first round. No, the Lakers won't go out in the first round. We're not worried about the Zippers. The Zippers, they try to steal the thunder.

They try to, you know, pretend like they got a squad that can really go the whole mile. I've never seen them do it. So, you know, they got to show me something. The Lakers done showed me that they can make it to the top of the mountain. So I'm believing in that old purple and gold. Your team is no longer in California, the team that you

root for, that you admired as a kid, that you go to the game, you have silver and black, you have hats, you have jackets, you have all the paraphernalia. Now they're in Vegas. What's your Raiders going to do this season? You know, I hope they, you know, at least make it to the playoffs.

I mean, that's what we want. You know good where y'all are making the playoffs. Stop playing. Who's going to stop us? Them horses out there? Well, first of all, you know you got that – they got a young quarterback in Kansas City, my homeboy. He pretty good.

Yeah, that's okay. We'll be a wild card. No, no, we'll be a wild card.. That's okay. We'll be a wild card. Nah, we'll be a wild card. Yeah, we are. Y'all not going to even win nine games. Y'all might not even win eight games, Q. We go through this every year. You know y'all terrible.

Horse shit. That's all I got. Q, we go through this all the time. We do. We beat you guys when we really didn't have an even good team last year. Imagine, we're going to be better this year. Hey, when y'all come in that new stadium,

I'm going to try to wipe your damn feet off. You want none of that horse stuff on your feet when you step into that new stadium, okay? Well, first of all, look. I mean, y'all should be used to playing in front of with no fans, because there wasn't a whole lot of people showing up anyway. Y'all keep moving. You move to L.A., move to Oakland,

move back to L.A., move back to Oakland, same thing. So now you out there making your play this year with no fans. And we still got more fans than Broncos. We move everywhere, and they still love us. They still love us, man. We can't do no wrong. Thank you, man. We can't do no wrong. Thank you, man.

I appreciate it. All the best moving forward. Thank you for giving me a few moments of your time today. Enjoy, bro. Hey, man, double S, man. You the man, man. Much love. Appreciate you.

Appreciate you, bro. Yeah. All my life, been grinding all my life. Sacrifice, hustle, pay the price. Want a slice, got to roll the dice. That's why all my life, I be grinding you next time. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news and the best analysis delivered by the time you get your coffee. The show hits every single game every single week,

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