The Breakfast Club - Ice Cube Speaks On Gatekeepers, Hip Hop 50, BIG3 Basketball + More

Episode Date: July 11, 2023

Ice Cube Speaks On Gatekeepers, Hip Hop 50, BIG3 Basketball + MoreSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Get the kids in your life excited about history by tuning in to Historical Records. Because in order to make history, you have to make some noise. Listen to Historical Records on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy, Charlamagne Tha Guy. We are The Breakfast Club. We got a special guest in the building. Legend. Ice Cube, ladies and gentlemen. Yeah, yeah.

What's happening with y'all? Welcome. How you feeling for us? I feel good as a government check. Sixth season of the Big Three. Yep. Sixth season. Congratulations.

Thank you, man. We had a great time last night in Brooklyn. The Barclays. Congratulations. Thank you, man. We had a great time last night in Brooklyn. The Barclays. A lot of OGs came out. Melly Mel. Grandmaster Flash. Karis One.

Eric B. Chuck Chill Out. That's dope. It was dope. I seen Ja Rule before. Ja Rule got down. Scar Lip. You know what I mean? So it was a lot of love.

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. Nice crowd, you know, about 9,000 people. So, you know, it was pretty amazing. What did the 50th anniversary of hip-hop mean to Ice Cube? Man, it means that, you know, we've come a long way. I remember the first, you know, year of hip-hop or, you know, really rap. Now, hip-hop is bigger than just rap, but I remember, you know, year hip hop or, you know, really rap. Now, hip hop is more, is bigger than just rap. But I remember, you know, rap particularly was, you know,

the first year it came out, everybody was saying it was a fad, you know, wouldn't last. And 49 years later, it's the biggest music in the world. So it's a proud, proud moment. You know, it's similar to the Big Three. When you started with the Big Three, everybody thought it was going to be a fad. And you're six years later. So let's talk about that because, you know, we kind of seen the inception of the Big Three.

How has it been since then? Is it difficult to get players? Let's talk about some of the difficulties in having your own league. First, I appreciate you guys always supporting you know from from year one before y'all even knew what it was you guys were supporting the league having us on and talk about it and you know we we put 15 000 people in the barclays year year one when we had alan iverson and so you know other than then you than really not getting much exposure from mainstream sports media, you know, that's really the problem.

And also, you know, there's things that's happening behind the scenes when it comes to sponsors and networks and partners. To partner with the big three, we think we're running to a lot of interference from the NBA. A lot of deals make it to the 11th hour and then get shut down. And so it's frustrating. It's something that we were like suffering in silence because we wanted to work it out with the NBA. You know, we wanted to figure out, you know, what more could we do to show that we're not competition.

Now, the whole problem is there's a bylaw in the NBA contracts when you're an owner saying you cannot invest in a competing league. And so they're labeling the big three as a competing league. That's good though, right? Hell no. I mean, for y'all, right? No, it's not good. It's not good because we're not competing.

You know, they make billions every year. You know, we're still trying to, you know, get the league into profitability. You know what I mean? Excuse me if I can't pronounce that. I'm with the LA Unified School District. So we're still trying to get there. And we're this close, you know, sponsor a two-way. But at the end of the day, we're not competing. We play in the summer.

If they work with us, we would avoid all the games that they have, you know, as far as WNBA or Summer League. But they're not working with us, so we can't coordinate schedules. So we've tried to do everything to show that we're not competing. We don't take players under 22. So we're not going after, you know, your one and dones, your guys that need to really be in the NBA or going to the NBA. And, you know, we try not to interfere with the NBA's schedule in any kind of way. So we're an alternative summer sport that, you know, people that like hoops, you know, want to see more basketball. That's what we provide.

They're playing five on five. We're playing three on three. It's apples and oranges. It's a totally different game when you really break it down. It would make sense to me for the NBA to do, like, a strategic partnership with y'all. It makes sense to me too, man. And, you know, that's what we've been trying to do.

I think what it is really, at the end of the day, you know, everybody can put race on it, but I think it's the fact that we changed the game without asking their permission. And I don't think they like it. I'm just speculating. You would have to ask Adam Silver, Mark Tatum. But we changed the game, but we do what's best for our game

to make three-on-three exciting. You know what I'm saying? We got the four-point shots. We got bring the fire rule, one-shot free throws. All these things speed up the game, make it faster, make it funner to watch and play. So, you know, we're changing the game just to make it better for our sport. We're not, you know, trying to push the NBA, even though they do follow some of our leads.

You know, we were the first to recognize mental health and to recognize that, you know, players shouldn't be shunned because they might have an issue. You know, let's try to work through it. Let's try to help them through it. And we embrace players, and they had to do it. You know, if you remember, they've, you know, shunned a lot of players because they didn't want to deal with them mentally. So, you know, we pushed them in that. We was the first league to allow CBD use, which got players off of opioids. They had to follow that. So it's, you know, we're changing the game and trying to make it better.

And I'm pretty sure they don't like that. But, you know, we don't care. You know sure they don't like that but you know we don't care you know they they don't own basketball like i say this over and over i don't hear kids saying mama i want to go outside and play nba you know right they go and say i want to go out and play basketball so basketball is for everybody and anybody and um and so we just want to say we're not a competing league if they would not put us in that category now they don't do that to tbt which is the basketball tournament they don't do that to slam ball which is coming back nba owners can own a pickleball league they can own an nfl team They can own a baseball team. They can

own anything they want except the big three. We're one of the only leagues that are so-called competing and we're not. We want them to drop the cost. I was going to ask you that. I know last time you were up here, you were saying that

you didn't sell the franchises as of yet. Are you starting to sell the franchises as of yet are you starting to sell the franchises yeah we're starting to sell teams who don't seems if anybody so far well we right now we're talking to a few different uh people and groups about buying teams and we want to put them in cities so uh you know you'd have you know for lack of a better word, New York Trilogy, Baltimore Ball Hogs, whatever. So that's our next phase. That to me is how we grow the league. We've calibrated it to the point.

You got to remember we were inventing a sport at the same time as we were playing the sport. So we had to calibrate it over the years and make sure that the rules work. There was ways to come back from large deficits. We made wrinkles that made the game interesting and fun. And so we believe that the game is in a good place, and now it's time to sell the teams to owners who have their own vision for their three-on-three team. How do the players work? So, you know, two questions, actually. One, do the players reach out to you guys,

or do you reach out to the players? And then how do you decide what player goes to what team? Because I've been to a couple of games. Of course, I went to when Allen Iverson played and a couple others. But how do you decide? Like, so, you know, a player that just retired or doesn't want to play in the NBA wants to play in your league. How do y'all decide what team he goes to?

Well, you know, we look at, first of all, players contact us. And, of course, we go after players who we think would be great for the league. We usually, you know, have a player captain spot or co-captain spot. And if we only have co-captain spots, we'll try to pair this player up with the captain because the captain chooses who's on their team. So people want guys that they know can play, so it's usually not hard to find a place for, you know,

a new player that's coming in. So, but how it works, the player captain, the captain of the team gets to pick who he wants to play with. So he picks two co-captains. So, you know, guys know how guys play, and it's like, yo, if I play with him, I can win. And then they draft two more players. So we have a draft pool, have a, you know, lottery.

So you pick first, second, third, whatever. And then they pick the players they want. And those players play. And if anybody get hurt, you just return back to the draft pool and they pick another player from the draft pool until the injured player comes back. So there's always a pool of players waiting to get called up to play in the Big Three.

And I heard you on Joe Rogan, and you said the NBA is encouraging people to not sponsor the big three and encouraging networks to not play the big three. Isn't that a lawsuit if you can prove it? It is, you know, it's, it's, it's antitrust that they're, that they're participating in, you know, when you, you know, try to, uh keep a monopoly running by by uh you know going behind the scenes and scaring either companies that you work with um or companies that want to work with you um yeah they they are, you know, very close to,

if they haven't already crossed the line with that. And I think it should be looked into what they're doing to the big three because, you know, they've scared off some big companies who deal in basketball. Now, you got to understand the basketball pool of companies that use basketball to promote is not big. You know, it's a small pool of companies. So it's not like, you know, even networks.

You know, you think about all the networks that play basketball. There's ABC, ESPN, there's TNT, and right now CBS. You got any more? No, I mean locals. Okay, so them the major networks. So you start running out of people to go to. Yeah, there's no real network. Yeah, if they're blocking.

Now we got our games, half of our games on CBS, but we got a whole other half of games right now on Big3.com. We on Masson, if you got that, Mid-Atlantic Sports Network. But, you know, we should be on another network with the second half of our games. And we've known that they've squashed one deal. And so, you know, same thing with a few other major companies that deal in basketball. So we just got to get them to stop that part. How do they do that?

Like, how do they squash a deal? Like, what do they say to these networks? I mean, I don't know what they say. I ain't in the room, but I know we're usually close to the finish line with a deal, and then there's a call or a conversation about we need to work somehow with the NBA or we're not going to have to do this deal. So, you know, that's happened several times. And, you know, it's just starting to get to a point where something's got to give, you know.

So we're going to keep pushing. You know, it might be something that DOJ might want to look into because it's not right what they're doing. Now calling him out, has it made it worse or is it just the same? As you see, you know, more backlash from it? It's hard to calibrate. You know, hate is hate. So I don't know if it's more hate or less. That part really don't matter to me.

You know what I mean? Like, at a certain point, you got to go on the offensive no matter what the consequences are. You can't just sit back and take it and not try to defend yourself and fight for your rights. So I don't really care what they're doing behind the scenes because they haven't been able to kill us. We're still alive. We had 9,000 people on a Sunday afternoon that sat for six hours

to watch Big 3 basketball, and they had a party. We had KRS-One performing and Ja Rule, and, you know, it was a great time. M.O.P. came through and performed Scarlet and salute to those folks. And all the OGs that came that made the celebration great. I wonder what the NBA wants from the Big 3. Like, what's their ultimate goal? They just want to shut y'all down? Probably so. They would be happier. that made the celebration great. I wonder what the NBA wants from the Big Three.

What's their ultimate goal? They just want to shut y'all down? Probably so. They would be happy if. When we say the NBA, isn't the NBA a collective of owners? So it's a collective of owners that's. No, because some owners want to invest in the Big Three. We've heard from them.

They're not allowed to. So I say it's the top brass because the players like us. They love us, of course, because we're providing opportunities for their heroes and could be opportunity for them in the future. Of course. So coaches like us, GMs have been to our games, scouts, owners, everybody you can name. And so it's the top brass is the only ones because Adam could say Big 3 is exempt from this bylaw because they're not a competing league.

Now, it's not just the NBA owners that get tainted. It's anybody with money that has a dream to own an NBA team. So if I dream to own the Nuggets one day, I can't invest in the Big Three because it squashes my dream right there. You don't wake up saying saying I want to own a big three team not yet you will give me you know 10 years have you had a conversation with Adam at all several several I've had how's the conversations went well I haven't had a conversation since we launched the league um but he was aware that you would launch a league

we went to him we went to him we actually offered the NBA 10% of the league for free because you know we're using a lot of their former players we wanted some kind of working relationship so they they didn't want it, and we just told them we was going to do it anyway and that they wasn't going to stop us because we kind of know how they operate, you know, from previous encounters. After six seasons, y'all showing success. I can even see during All-Star weekend having a big three, you know, with the OG players versus the OG players.

Like all of that makes perfect sense to me. I agree. Me too. What they should be worried about, to be honest, instead of the big three you know with the og players versus the og players like all of that makes perfect sense to me like me too what they should be worried about to be honest instead of the big three is there's some foreign investors talking about starting the aba again now that's true competition because that's five on five professional basketball and these dudes can pay they can pay big money big bigger money than the NBA. So they should start worrying about the big three and doing what they're doing to us. They should work with us so they can have a bigger footprint in basketball, and then they should worry about this ABA that's coming.

I was going to ask, what do you think about these contracts that the NBA is giving out, right? They're giving out huge contracts. These numbers don't even make sense to me. And how does that affect you? Do players say, look, I need a little more money because I'm seeing what these guys are getting over here? They know

we're not the NBA. And if they could get that money, they would. And they're welcome to it. Anybody that's called up to the NBA from the Big Three, we let them go. From, you know, our players, sometimes they become coaches in the NBA. We let them go because, of course,

that's the dream of any basketball player is to be in the NBA. So we don't stop anything. And how many players have been called up from the Big Three? We've had about, I mean, I can't name them all, but we've had over 10 players called up to either the G League or actually got 10-day contracts in the NBA. So, you know, they watch us. They obviously pick our players.

And so, and we don't stop that. I love this tour you've been on too, man, because it feels like this is authentic Ice Cube, right? I mean, you've always been authentic. Yeah. But it feels like, you know, I'm railing against the machine. So, out of the gatekeepers, are the gatekeepers worse than sports hollywood or the music yeah i think they all around you know i don't think it's i don't think it's worse than any other

uh you know i guess profession you, I think there's, you know, people that try to make sure you stay in your lane. And, um, if you look like you're getting out of your lane, um, you know, sometimes they'll watch you. Sometimes they'll put guardrails up and sometimes they'll actually put a gate up and make sure you go no further. So, you know, that's what we have happening here. And this is just my testimony. But we all got them, and we all got to figure out who they are. We don't have to let them know what we know who they are.

We just got to figure out how to get around that gate. You know, I used to hop fences when I was young all the time. A fence or a gate never stopped me from going where I wanted to go. Which one is more difficult for you? Because you've seen them when you first started NWA. Every industry. When you first started in the entertainment industry doing films, and now you see them now.

Which one is the most difficult? None of them. They all easy. You just got to go at them. You can't go, you know, you can't try to nice, you know, nice guy all the time, you know. All of them fold like a chair. And this one will too.

I saw you on Bill Maher, and you was talking about the record industry, and you said that the record industry uses social engineering and rap to encourage criminal behavior at what point did you realize that? Oh man, you know after I got mature in the game

after I knew that records were made by committee a lot of albums a lot of dope songs people like are made by a group of people telling rappers what to say or what's dope or that line ain't good enough or, you know, let's change the tits, get somebody up here that can write and all this kind of hip hop by committee. And yeah, the record companies, it be they people in there. You know, I've never had an anr i've never had a record company guy tell me shit about my music about how to make it you know some of it they like some of it they didn't some of it they raised their eyebrow to but that's what they i

turned in that's what they had to accept and you know that know, that's hip hop to me. What gave you the business mind, right? Over the BET Awards, of course, they play straight out of Compton. The big three, I seen the big three as well that weekend. But, you know, in all those things, it seems like you knew what you wanted from the door, right? Going back to straight out of Compton, they talking about everybody's so happy to just get paid and so happy to be on tour. But it was clear that you were always about where's my money where's my contract how come i'm not this what gave you that business mind early on what especially even artists today are still not on it with all the knowledge that we know and everything that we see you can mean google so many things what gave you that business mind so early on

um watching watching you know people i know and like you know have to kind of beg for their money you know like and i ain't gonna say no names but i've seen people that really you know can i get paid can i get paid you know and and it was just i saw that at you know 14 15 years old um hanging around the industry just had my antennas up and you know when it was time for me to do records um you know I was in in a stage where I was happy you know I mean I'm ready to go you know I finally get to live my dream and do music on and put it on wax and put it out and see if I'm good enough, you know. And so I had a publicist who later became my manager, a lady by the name of Pat Charbonnet. And if you see the Friday movie, she helped me produce that movie, Friday.

You'll see her name on it. But she was the publicist for NWA. And I would show up to the interviews early. You know what I mean? I'm like, you know, if you can't be on time, be early. So I would show up to all the interviews early. Sometimes them dudes wouldn't even show up. Like, easy on his way, dry on his way.

But they never showed up, so I'd be the only one there. So we got to chop it up and she was basically like do you know who Jerry Heller is and I'm like no who is that well you need to look him up because you just got to watch me how's your paperwork you know she starts just have you signed a contract with with them yet and I'm like nah you know i ain't signed nothing and she was like you need to make sure you get an attorney before you sign anything with them and so i wanted to put her in the movie but it just wasn't enough real estate you know people just don't know how hard it is to actually put 10 years into two hours but but at the end of the day um she hooked me up with a with a lawyer by

the name of michael ashburn and um and we strategized you know how we were gonna see if we were being treated fair by ruthless and and so you know from from seeing that, I knew this was show business. So the music and the production is one thing, but it's really all about the business. That determines if you're going to be happy with the outcome. People talk about how instrumental your wife is too in your business. Yeah. What's her role?

Everything, you know what I mean? Her role is just being a confidant, a muse. She's everything to me. She helped me navigate. She helped me with knowledge and wisdom. You know, she's just a fantastic person. You know, she's very ahead of the curve when it comes to her thinking. So me and her, you know, we go together like macaroni and cheese you run everything by

her like any not everything but you know when it's time to really uh she the one who helped me um leave nwa you know i mean because i i don't really have nobody to talk to about it. She was just my girlfriend then. And I was, you know, everybody telling me, stay in the group. You crazy? You about to leave? What the hell? And she was the only one saying,

you good, everybody like you anyway. You know what I mean? Everybody like your records anyway. So that was nice to hear at a time when my whole hip-hop world kind of faded to black. I was kind of sitting there figuring out what I'm going to do. And I want to go back to what you were talking about with the record labels, right? Because you said they make songs by committee. Yes. Because I always think to myself, well well couldn't the artists change that if they

just simply stop making the rap that has the criminal intent but you're saying that they're being pushed to yeah make these kind of records yeah man a long time ago it's been happening forever some of your some of the songs that you love some of the mcs you love you know it was done by committee it wasn't you, a man with a pen and a mic. You know what I'm saying? That's me. I'm a man with a pen and a mic. Was N.W.A. ever, you think they was ever part of the big corporate agenda

to push negative content? Yeah, they were. But not a willing, knowing participant. We thought our music was going to be underground. We didn't make our music big. You know? We did not make our music blow up. We just did it.

And we thought it was going to be underground, dirty street records. We thought our records was going to be sold with the Richard Pryor comedy albums and, and red Fox and the, you know, dirty Dolomite records and shit. That's what we thought. So,

um, you know, we didn't have a clue that it was going to blow up until it, it blew up. You know, I think, um, you know, one was MTV banning straight out of Compton video. Another was the letter from the FBI.

Those are two things that started to just blow the group up. But we didn't blow ourselves up. Everybody blamed us. But we didn't do it. We was doing music. We actually had stopped worrying about the industry as much. We was basically

doing music that people in our neighborhood were like. So we were like, yo, let's just do the shit we know. I keep cussing. I don't know if I'm blabbing. But let's just keep doing what we've been doing. Or no, let's just do what we know is going to work around here

so we can be at least neighborhood stars. You know what I'm saying? We can at least, you know, get love in the hood. So that was our purpose. And it blew up. And it felt like it was purposely driven from the West Coast. It felt like on the East Coast you had the Chuck D's and the KRS-1s and those brothers were talking about knowledge itself.

Islam, more positive thing. But it felt like with the West Coast they really said, we're going to give you bitches, 40 40s and blunts and violence yeah i mean you know it was uh i mean y'all had coogee rap and you know what i mean schoolie d you know yeah the west it just yeah it was a whole different just a whole different vibe because we were talking about um you know the gangbang mentality you know i mean really and um just kind of making sense of what we was seeing and going through and living through and hearing about and you know we was just making music out of it instead of, you know, hearing all these tragic stories and not having a creative outlet to express ourself about them, you know.

I did dope, man, because I was sick of dudes selling dope. And the neighborhood was just toe up, you know what I mean, because the people we loved and knew was strung out. And that was whack to me. I was going to ask, you know, even since the writer's strike, how has that affected your business? Not at all. Like, what writer's strike?

I mean, I know the writers in the movie industry are on strike, but I'm not writing no movies right now so it's not affecting me. But I want them to get what they think they need. I think it's a situation where they're really worried about AI

and the studios. That was my next question. What's your thoughts on AI? I think it's whack. I think it's the worst shit ever. I think it's gonna put a lot of people out of business and out of work,

and everything is going to be more vanilla. It's not going to be more creative. It's actually going to go the other way. And people are going to get lazier. Yep. And nobody's going to work hard, and nobody's going to attain the knowledge so they can write it down. They're just going to ask for the knowledge. And, you know, people are just going to get stupider. Yeah, I don't see how the writers win this one.

I'm part of the writer's guild. I don't see how they win this one, though, because I can see them easily shrinking writers rooms from nine to ten people to two people in AI. Yeah, and like it's a hard one because

you know, the studios I mean, the writers are basically saying hey, we don't want the studios to use it. We want to go home and use it and charge y'all up for the script. You know what I'm saying? But it's, look, it's, you know, when they invented the light bulb, the candle maker had to figure out how to make money.

So he started making candles that smelled like all kinds of stuff to make money. So adapt. You got to adapt to die. You know, that's just it. And a lot of people are comfortable with their careers, and it's hard for them to make that transition to something different. I wanted to ask you, too, you know, when you started getting involved in politics the way you did during the last election, and just being willing to engage with Republicans, you know, did that cost you in Hollywood?

I don't know. I don't measure that stuff. You know what I mean? I just know, you know, when you're black, things might not go right. You know what I'm saying? That's all I know. When you're black, things might be set up perfect, but it still might not go right.

So be ready for that. And I saw you say that being blackballed helped NWA sell records, and it made me think to myself, how could you blackball Ice Cube in 2023? Like, you an icon. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, how could you blackball Ice Cube in 2023? Like, you an icon. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, what could they do to Ice Cube? Man, I don't know.

You know, I don't really think about it like that. I just think about it's hard to get anybody that's in your heart out of there. You know what I'm saying? So, if people got me in their hearts, you ain't gonna be able

to cancel me. It's gonna be hard to get me out of there. If I'm not in your heart, probably it's gonna be easier to cancel. So, it's really not on me.

You know, I don't know. Is there an Ill really not on me. You know, I don't know. Is there an Illuminati ice cube? You've been around a long time. Probably so. Yeah. You know, I don't know none of them.

None of them tell me, hey, I'm Illuminati. You know what I'm saying? I don't, I don't participate in none of that. So, I don't know about it.

You know, I, seem like it's there, but who knows? knows so how do you beat the gatekeepers because I feel like we in an era where there's no gates I feel like everybody could just do their own thing so how do you how do you beat the gatekeepers that still exist um I think you you persist you don't let them stop you you know they there now everybody that that's in front of the gate ain't always

paying attention you know I've dug security and hit the fence before and got in so I'll do it again it's like I'm not used to going through the front door anyway. So if the front door is locked, then we'll get in.

Yeah, because it feels like gatekeeping is such a played out thing for even them to be doing. Because it's like you said, there's so many different ways to get past these gates nowadays. Well, it's to keep a construct. It's to keep things working the way they are. To keep

certain people relegated to the bottom of the pyramid. That's why the gatekeepers are there. Now, Tony Allen, you just signed Tony Allen with the Big 3. Yeah. Talk about that. Oh, it's great. You know, the grind father. You know what I mean?

We're going back to Memphis. I'm pretty sure people are going to be happy to see him. We're also going to Boston, too. So people are going to be happy to see him. We're going to be in Miami and Detroit and Charlotte, D.C. So we're happy to attract. We want more. You know, we we hoping to get

you know Lemon Pepper Lou up in here too Lou Williams Lou Williams and you know hopefully we get him

we want Isaiah Thomas and Dwight Howard and the people you know playing the game you love that'd be dope now you know

last time you always said you always you know talk about the conversations you had with Kobe and you felt that you could, you know, talk about the conversations you had with Kobe and you felt that you could have had an opportunity to get Kobe. Is there anybody else that you feel like you're in talks to

that you're talking to that might be a possibility that? You know, I don't want to say names because once I do that, sometimes it jinx it. You know, I thought Paul Pierce was coming. He told me he was coming he didn't come so why didn't he come there was a reason or he never told me why he never told me why so some dudes they just done you know they like i'm retired man i don't gave my body to basketball and i don't want to play no more so we don't want you in the big three if you like that anyway.

We want guys still with a chip on their shoulders, still want to go at it, still want to show the world what they got. What was your relationship like with Kobe? It was cool, you know. It was friendly, but it was still from afar you know i i uh admired him as a as a basketball player you know he's much younger than me um so sometimes i don't want to spoil that by you know getting in people's face more than than than i would as a fan you know i getting in people's face more than I would as a fan. You know, I like to be a fan because there's not too many things I'm fans of, so I cherish that.

Like, I like to, when I go to the games, I like to actually watch the game. I don't care if anybody put a camera on me. All them championships, I'm there, but I'm not on the floor. I'm in my suite. So that's how I like it. I know you've seen a lot of legends transition, right? Just being in hip-hop, a lot of hip-hop legends. When Kobe passed, how did that feel different than those?

It felt darker because it was just so, like, I mean, unbelievable is an overrated word. But, you know, it was something that you never even imagined. Like, you don't imagine, you know, dudes younger than you that are, you know, in the NBA, a superstar like that, dying. Like, we haven't had that. Think about it. Who, you know, what athlete that I wasn't here when, like, Roberto Clemente. I mean, yeah, I wasn't really.

I was here, but I wasn't focused on baseball. I was a youngster. I can, you know, maybe that to people. You know, he was a superstar baseball player. Not Kobe level. Yeah, not Kobe level. That's never happened to us. And so it was kind of the unthinkable.

So that's what made it even darker to me, more tragic. And he had his daughter with him. He had a daughter with him, yeah. I made it even worse. With a six season, a big three. Mellow. Yeah, I would love to get Mellow. Mellow still balls.

Last year he was averaging like 14, 12 points. Before that he was 20 points man he would kill the league he still practices every day he still trains mellow come holler at us man you'll have fun you know i got these dudes they we was in brooklyn last night man you know to see michael beasley hanging with dr j and see you know, Clyde the Glide over there talking to Mario Chalmers and Joe Johnson. It's like basketball heaven, man. It's basketball heaven in the Big Three.

And we're going from town to town like an all-star game, coming in and having fun and making the city better than it was before we got there. You know, we're doing cool community stuff with the young three. So it's a, it's a dream come true for me. I got a couple more questions. Ron Riser. He's always with you. You know what I'm saying? And when he walked there, everybody, Oh, that's Stanley from Friday. What role does he play in your circle? Well, we're actually cousins.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. My father and his mother grew up in Chatham, Louisiana together. And so he's been around and he's been a right-hand and left-hand

man. He handles his business. He's very, um, thorough. Um, and he's very business minded. So he's my role manager. So he, he also makes sure everything is right. When I, when I hit the road, um, and a very good friend, you know, he's my cousin, but I don't like all my cousins. Yeah, you were. So, you know, he's closer than a cousin, to be honest, like a brother.

And last question, you know, Mount Westmore, y'all out here cooking with that, but I saw a pic the other day of you and Dub C. Yeah. Is there ever a chance we could get a West Side Connection reunion with you, Dub, and Mack 10? Probably not. Dang.

Probably not. Wow. I don't want to do another West Side Connection. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I saw Mack 10 on Vlad TV, and, you know, I always wonder what happened with that relationship.

When you get him on, of course he do. Of course he do. I don't want to talk about it, to be honest, because he know what it is. That's all that need to matter to me. He know what it is. All right. Well, there you have it. Ice Cube, ladies and gentlemen.

The legend. The sixth season of Big 3 makes you go out and support. I got to get the Don Mega hoodie, man. I hope you're selling those. Yeah, you know, we're going to hit the drop to collection.

Very soon, we'll start publicizing it. But I'll send you some gear for sure. Word. I just need your size as yours too. Absolutely. Thanks for the invite. They invited you because you can't play basketball, but they invited me to do the four-point contest,

but I was stuck in Charlotte last night. I got back at 10 o'clock, but I appreciate you. That's your excuse. I got back last night. They didn't invite you. You too short. You probably can't even reach the rim from the four-point shot. I can shoot. No, you cannot. Anybody can shoot. Next city, me and Charlemagne. Anytime, man. Next city, me and Charlemagne. We'll from the four-point shot. I can shoot. No, you cannot. Anybody can shoot. Next city, me and Charlemagne. Anytime, man.

Next city, me and Charlemagne. We'll do the four-point shot. Just let me know which one y'all want to come to. We'll put some money on it, and we'll get the money to charity. Let's do it. That'll be nice. All right. That'll be sweet.

There you have it. It's Ice Cube. It's The Breakfast Club. Good morning. Hey, guys. I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going.

That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, my undeadly darlings. It's Teresa, your resident ghost host. And do I have a treat for you. Haunting is crawling out from the shadows, and it's going to be devilishly good. We've got chills, thrills, and stories that'll make you wish the lights stayed on.

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That's right. We discuss social issues, especially those that affect black and brown people, but in a way that informs and empowers all people. We discuss everything from prejudice to politics to police violence, and we try to give you the tools to create positive change in your home, workplace, and social circle. We're going to learn how to become better allies to each other, so join us each Saturday for Civic Cipher on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, this is Justin Richmond, host of the Broken Record Podcast. Every week, I or my co-host, Leah Rose, sit down with the artists you love

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Each episode is about a different inspiring figure from history. Like this one about Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old girl in Alabama who refused to give up her seat on the city bus nine whole months before Rosa Parks did the same thing. Check it. Get the kids in your life excited about history by tuning in to Historical Records. Because in order to make history, you have to make some noise. Listen to Historical Records on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.