The School of Greatness - Ice Cube: Working with Dr. Dre, The TRUTH About Hollywood, & Inspiring Generations

Episode Date: January 17, 2024

More than just a cultural icon, Ice Cube is a man of many layers - a music legend, a film star, and a sports enthusiast. He warmly opens up about his transition from the streets to the stage with Dr. Dre, and how he's evolved into a dynamic force across various industries. Ice Cube takes us back to his roots, sharing the tunes that sparked his musical flame and the pride he feels in his diverse achievements, including his leap from hip-hop into the world of acting with roles like 'Boyz n The Hood'. It's a heart-to-heart as he candidly talks about the thrills and challenges of wearing many hats in the entertainment world and staying influential in a constantly changing landscape.Ice Cube, a legendary figure in the world of music and entertainment, has proven time and time again that his talents and passions extend far beyond the realm of music and movies. While he initially gained fame as a member of the groundbreaking rap group N.W.A.,Ice Cube has since carved out a multifaceted career that spans acting, directing, producing, and even sports ownership.Following N.W.A., Ice Cube pursued a successful solo music career and later established himself as a prominent figure in the entertainment industry through his acting roles and contributions to filmmaking, starring in numerous films such as "Boyz n the Hood," "Friday," and "Barbershop." In 2017, he co-founded the BIG3, which aimed to bring an exciting 3-on-3 basketball league to fans, featuring former NBA stars and other professional players. Among Ice Cube’s many awards and honors, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of N.W.A. in 2016 and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2017.In this episode you will learnThe significance of maintaining peace and positivity in personal and professional life.Strategies for successfully transitioning between different career paths.The importance of creative independence in the entertainment industry.Insights into building and maintaining collaborative relationships in personal and professional lifeThe art of balancing fame, success, and family in a high-stress career.For more information go to www.lewishowes.com/1562For more Greatness text PODCAST to [phone]More SOG episodes we think you’ll love:Jeezy – https://link.chtbl.com/1480-podRhonda Byrne – https://link.chtbl.com/1525-podJohn Maxwell – https://link.chtbl.com/1501-pod

But I was used to it because I got the same flack when I did my biggest song, which was It Was A Good Day. Some of my guys was like, man, you do hardcore music. Why do you think you need to talk about a good day? And I was like, well, I don't do hardcore music. I do reality music. And the reality is, if I'm having a good day, I should be able to do a song about it. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today.

Now let the class begin. me today. Now let the class begin. I mean, what was the dream for you growing up before you found music? Because I think you were like 12 or 13 when you started rapping and getting into the music world or being creative with it. What was the dream before that? Was it to be an athlete? Did you want to grow up and do something? Yeah, you know, it was really all about wanting to play football, basketball. That was just a dream. When you're young and you got skills and you can beat people in your neighborhood, you think, okay, maybe I'm good enough. Right.

And then it turned to music when I realized that I like playing sports for fun. Mm-hmm. And the higher you go, the more serious the coaches get. Yeah. Because they feel like they're going to lose their job if you don't win. Right. So they put a lot of pressure on kids to perform. So I played until it wasn't fun no more.

I was like like these dudes is too serious i'm not trying to go to college and go to the pros and you know it was a dream till at a certain point i knew okay this wasn't something i was gonna pursue to that level you know i was just gonna play as long as it was fun right and so you know thank God at around the same time I was making this decision you know I started getting into music hip-hop and you know writing raps and you know just being interested in this new style and new new of music that was sweeping through the 80s. Was there something you heard that made you say,

wow, that's really unique and different that I want to try to get into? Was there a song or someone you saw that was doing it on the street? Or what was the first inspiration? I was just a fan of the music. I was turned on to the music at 10 years old yeah rapper's delight was the song my uncle was taking me to the dentist and he had a he had a radio in his back seat about this big somebody had stole his block pump radio so he had a boombox in the backseat playing the music. And he was a DJ, so he would make tapes. But he had his style, Cameo, Confunction, Isley Brothers.

And then this one song, Come On, Rapper's Delight. And I'm blown away because this is different. Interesting. This is different. I just made him play it over and over and over again. He played it like seven or eight times. Now, you got to remember, Rapper's Delight is 12, 15 minutes long. I just wore him out with it.

He just was like, no more. Not playing this again. And so I would go to school, and there was a guy named daryl lott who was like the you know he was watching the kids you know he was like teach you know the aid that watches the kids after school and uh we was playing on the playgrounds and he would bring his radio and he would have a lot of hip-hop you know or a lot of beats you know from from more bounce to the ounce you know to you know rocket by herbie hancock and all these you know kind of hip-hop flavored songs and um i used to just i wouldn't want to play i would be just listening to the next song and just be over there where the music was and and he brought these pop lockers to the class really

yeah and um like older kids or yeah they were older you know they were in high school we were still you know in uh middle school elementary okay you know it was 12 11 12 13 you know still elementary and they would bring these high schoolers up, and they would pop lock it in the classroom, you know. And I was just amazed. And they always had a little one with them, you know. Somebody like our age, and he was the baddest one out the group. Really? You know, it's like a little Michael Jackson.

If you see a little one with the tall ones, the little one, there for a reason he's better than the tall so that's i just said damn somebody my age can really you know get down and and steal the show and you know so i just was intrigued by the music and by the time i I was 14, I started to write raps. Really? Do you remember the first rap that you wrote that was like, oh, this is actually kind of cool, kind of catchy, or kind of interesting? Well, the first rap I ever wrote, the first line I ever wrote was, my name is Ice Cube. I want you to know I'm not Run DMC or Curtis Blow. That was my first line.

So I don't remember the rest of the rap. I have it in a notebook somewhere at home. Really? Yeah. From when you were that age? Yeah. Wow. Yeah.

That's got to be worth something today. Probably is. Your first rap. Probably is. Man, with all the awards, the success, the money, the fame, the accomplishments that you've had in multiple different areas of life. What would you say is your greatest accomplishment? Professionally, I've had milestones, you know, that I can't overlook.

And they've all contributed to me being right here. And I'm proud of my work, for sure. Right here. And I'm proud of my work, for sure. Jeezy was also telling me about how he was so inspired that you were able to cross over from the music world into lots of other things. Movies, TV, other different things you've created, the business world, being a great entrepreneur. And he said, especially coming from, I guess, the rap world, where they might try to keep you in that world or keep you in a box he said he was so inspired that you're able to break free of that and reinvent and the different things that you've done acting movies and stuff like that how do you think you were able to do that where most people

don't transition so gracefully or they don't aren't able to evolve well i was lucky because i was discovered by John Singleton. For Boys in the Hood. Boys in the Hood. You know, I never thought I was qualified to be an actor. Really? I thought you had to go to Juilliard or one of these professional schools to be an actor. You know, you can just be like, hey, I think you can do it.

Really? Want to try? And then. How did that happen? How did he find you? Or how did you meet him? And how did he say, hey, I've got a part for you? Well, you know, it's a cool story.

He was an intern at to Arsenio because he had just had the two live crew on his show. And I was saying, if you can have the two live crew, you can have NWA. That was what I was going to plead my case. How old are you at this point? 18, 19. Okay, wow. I'm going to plead my case, and I'm waiting. You know, he's one of them guys that stay in his dressing room,

and when it's showtime, it's like, you know, so you got a few seconds to get it in. And, John, here comes this guy. Like, now, this is early NWA era, so I wasn't a recognizable face. It wasn't like, oh, that's Ice Cube. You guys weren't that big yet. We were big, but it was all about Eazy-E. It was like Eazy-E and NWA.

It was kind of like Gladys Knight and the Pips. You know what I mean? You might not know the Pips, but whatever. So he comes up. He's like, you're Ice Cube. And I'm like, yeah, yeah. He's like, oh, man, you're in the NWA. I'm like, yeah, you know.

Who are you? He's like, I'm an intern working up here. And he's like, I want to put you in a movie. And I'm like, what? He's an intern at this talk show. He's a junior at USC. He's like I'm a junior at USC film school

and I'm writing this movie and when I graduate I'm going to get it made and I'm going to put you in it. Wow. I'm like okay dude. But he's talking so long I miss Arsenio. He goes on and I'm like, not waiting.

So I don't pay this no attention. I'm at another event at the Bonaventure Hotel in L.A. This is six months later or something, and this dude runs up. Hey, man, Ice Cube, remember me? And I'm like, no, who are you yeah john singleton uh i met you at arsenio the one that's gonna put you in the movie i'm a senior now at at sc oh my gosh when i graduate it's gonna happen i'm like okay you know but sure i break up with N.W.A. I'm solo now. And I'm working with Public Enemy on my first album.

And they have a show at the Palace in L.A., Public Enemy. So I'm like, I'm going to go check out my guys coming right here in L.A. I go check them out. At the end of the concert, guy taps me. Remember me? No way, man. I'm like, I remember you now, dude. What's up?

He was like, you know, I graduated. You know, he was like, this is my last week. I'm going to make this movie. He starts wanting to tell me about the movie, you know. And if anybody ever wants to pitch you a script, tell him, you know, let's do it on another day because it took 40 minutes for him to go through this movie. I'm kind of listening, half listening. We at my car. I'm seeing people in the parking lot leave.

He's lingering around you. Yeah, you know, his ride leaves him. His ride leaves him. it's like two o'clock in the morning we're in the parking lot at the palace and he's like looking around i'm like he comes he walks around he comes back and he's like man my left me. Can you give me a ride to my dorm at USC? I'm like, ah, what the fuck did I get myself into? So give him a ride. He's still telling me. I dropped this dude off at his dorm, and I forget about it.

I'm solo. My solo album is really doing well, and I'm in the mix. My manager, and i'll make this long story short but my manager comes and says somebody want to put you in a movie i forget about i'm like who huh what but but my record is hot so i'm like well maybe people see uh-huh like ice tea that yo i'm a hot rapper put me in a movie so i'll try. I'm thinking I'm going to go see basically some white guys that's doing a movie. I walk in.

I didn't read the script. Throw it in my back seat. They gave me some lines to audition to. So I was like, I'll just read these right before I go in. And I go in, and it's him sitting there. He has god production office casting casting he's doing the whole thing he's like i told you oh my gosh he's like i told you and i'm like it's you wow it's like yeah i'm doing we doing this movie man and um i audition

and i'm terrible. I suck. I mean, I suck. I don't know what I'm reading. I'm forgetting lines. It's just very choppy. He's like, man, did you read my script? Because you obviously don't know nothing about the movie. I said, man, I didn't even know it was you.

I just took it for granted. He was like, I'm going to give you one more shot. Wow. He's like, go home going to give you one more shot. Wow. So I go home and read my script all the way through. Come back tomorrow, same time, give you one more shot. But if you're this terrible, Q, I got to cast somebody else. You know, I need a real actor that can do this. So once I read it, I like oh they're doing a they talking about our neighborhood like whoa this is gonna be a movie like how we grew up wow so now I got the picture I understood

who dough boy was and all this so when I went to read the next time I was I was good you know and I got the ball rolling that got me into acting wow and he got me into writing scripts because now that now that i was doing the movie we was hanging a lot he would have me come there was a house and we'd watch movies like a clockwork orange and like this is this is a good movie this movie sucks this is why this is when it's good you know we was like putting me through film school and um he said dude when you gonna write a script he said you think everything is gonna be he said you think every movie for your ass is gonna be good as boys in the hood he said hollywood has no movies for you wow you're gonna have to write your own wow this is

fascinating man then i said i went and bought a computer that day. And the final draft script software, that day I started writing a movie. And you started to help me. And I wrote two or three scripts that were there. But my third one was Friday. Wow. So that was when I got it on point on what a movie needs to be and do. This is fascinating, man.

Yeah. So if you wouldn't have shown up to that audition and then come back the next day and actually prepared and auditioned and gotten that role. If he didn't let me, he could have been like, screw this guy. Yeah, this dude is not serious. Where do you think your life or career would be without doing that initial first movie? Man, you know, I think I would just be, you know, hyper-focused on the music. you know, hyper-focused on the music.

And I think at some point I would have tried to flip it into something, you know, that was more creatively satisfying, like movies. Movie-making, if you're an artist, you know, it's the biggest canvas you can paint on. you know it's the biggest canvas you can paint on it's nothing it's nothing bigger than a movie if you're trying to paint a picture wow you know um you can't it's no medium that's better than a movie so you know this is creating on the highest level, which turns me on, which I dig. We even made records that sounded, we have a lot of sound effects and acting and skits and stuff on our music because we wanted it to sound as real as a movie. And so to be able to actually do a movie, I was, you know, I was kind of in creative heaven for myself. That's incredible.

So you've done, what, over 40 movies now? That's what they say. I haven't counted. I haven't went down the line, but. How many have you written that have been produced? At least nine or ten, maybe even more. You know, I've polished every script that I've produced. So even if I didn't write it from scratch.

You're adding to it. Yeah, just making sure that it's, you know, a good movie that you can watch over and over again. Because I think that's the key to a successful movie. What is it? Not how much it makes. to a successful movie. What is it? Not how much it makes.

Because if you can only see a movie once and you don't want to see it again, do you really care how much it made? And if you can watch a movie over and over or when you catch it in the middle, you continue to watch it because you know you love this movie and it's always a good time. Do you care how much it made? You know what I mean?

It's like you know you love one movie and you may like the other movie. So I believe, you know, I make movies that you can watch over and over and over again. Right. And to me, those are the best movies. What was the biggest lesson you learned doing Boys in the Hood versus making your first movie Friday? You got to have great producers. You got to have people who really know what they're doing because you have to execute every day.

Movies are broken down into days. The money, if you got $30 million, that breaks down. How much does it cost to shoot per day and then that gives you how many days you're gonna shoot 60 million you may have more days 20 millions you may have less you know where our movie was friday we shot it for 2.3 million wow and we shot it in 20 days, which is four weeks. That's fast. Five day weeks, not seven days. Wow. So 20 days.

So you have to know what you're doing. You have to have great producers. But you didn't really know what you were doing still. I mean, you'd done one movie, but it wasn't your movie. You'd acted. But how did you know what you were to do for your first movie that you wrote and produced well you know i had um did john help you know john helped definitely he helped us kind of corrally we knew we were making it low budget so it was contained which helped us you

know we was pretty much on the porch, one street, not too many locations. And, you know, it was really about just making sure what we shot was funny, you know, and it's getting through the day. You really have to start with a funny script. If you start with a funny script, then you can enhance it when you shoot. That's what it's really all about. It's about executing every day and making your day and making sure you have a certain amount of scenes to shoot per day. You got to get through it no matter what. Wow. My fiance's an actor, writer, producer.

I think she's done about the same amount of movies as you, 40 movies. She's from Mexico, so she's done a lot of Spanish films. She's crossed over into the U.S. as well. But she's written, I think, seven or eight, produced a bunch of them. She hasn't directed yet. And I'm curious, when you are the writer, the star actor, the producer, or you're directing as well, how do you stay present on those four weeks or eight weeks of the movie? And how do you lead others, the production team, the crew, the cast?

How do you lead everyone while you're trying to make your movie and act and produce it as well? Well, you know, what's great about movie making is you basically have to build each scene as you shoot. You have to, you know, you have your locations down, you have your actors, you have your props, but you still have to figure out how does this scene play out? How many sequences to get to the end of the scene? How many shots do you need?

You're doing what's called marks. So you're setting marks on, okay, first they sit here, they talk. One guy walks over here. We got to mark him over here because he talks from over there. Another guy goes to the refrigerator. So you're laying it out, and you have to do that every day with every scene. So as you're doing that, you're getting a chance to interact. You rehearse the scene a lot.

During that rehearsal, you could tell the actor, hey, no, do it this way. So, you know, there's no pressure. The camera's not rolling. So you get a run through. You know, you get to kind of beat the scene out. And then you play it out, you know, without shooting it, just to make sure everything works and flows. And then from there, the guys figure out how to shoot that.

And so it gives you time to beat it out, get your interaction. And then, you know, it's guys that you got to trust. Now you can go look at playback so you can go see if you're acting in the same scene. You can go after the scene and see, did we hit it? Did we get it? And the key is to not to move until you get it. I don't care what anybody's yelling. We're running out of time.

We're running out of time. Keep doing it. care what anybody's yelling we're running out of time running out of time keep doing it keep stay there until you get what you said you know we've worked months for this moment right get the shot gotta get it because if you don't get it you're gonna be in the edit base saying we missed just stayed there another 15 minutes oh man we man. We'd had a perfect shot. Now it's funky. It's not really working because we were so worried about getting to the next scene, we didn't execute the scene that we were on.

So you have time to beat it out, work it out. You do this with each scene throughout the whole movie until you finish. You've done so much creatively as an artist with the movies you've made, the films you've made. And I'm curious, and so many of them have, or at least they seem to be, so many of them seem to look like you had a lot of fun making them. Yeah. It's enjoyable for you. You've had fun. I'm sure there's breakdowns and stuff, but it seems like it of fun making them. Yeah. It's enjoyable for you. You've had fun.

I'm sure there's breakdowns and stuff, but it seems like it was fun to make. They were culturally relevant and did extremely well successfully. And people use lines and part of scenes in culture for decades, which is amazing. Yeah, it was great. And they make a lot of money. Yeah. of them i'm assuming yeah how do you kind of hit that trifecta when you make a movie that you enjoy as the artist that culture consumes they love and they use it they use these scenes they use these lines they the phrases they use it in daily culture and it makes money. How do you get that trifecta when you make a movie? Man, it's hitting the sweet spot.

I think having fun on set, not to the point where you're not handling business, but some people make movies and the set is very hostile and intense. People act like it's brain surgery. It's kind of like I was saying with the sports. It was like some guys out there having fun. Some guys you'd think they were life dependent on whether you get this first down or not. You know what I'm saying? It's kind of.

So I've always made sure our crew and everybody is having a good time. None of this yelling. None of this, you know, none of the next department because we're this department and you're that department. You know, none of that, you know, hierarchy mess. Let's have fun. We're making a comedy. Let's keep it in perspective. You know what I mean?

Let's make sure we have fun doing it and it's not uptight. So I think that's a big part of it. The environment's got to be fun, playful. The script has to be funny before the actors get a hold of it. The environment's got to be fun, playful. The script has to be funny before the actors get a hold of it. You can't depend on comedians to make your scripts funny. How do some of these scripts get greenlit in Hollywood? These movies, they're out sometimes. I'm like, how did this get past these executives or the financers to make this movie when it's not a good script? Well, I think Hollywood has two agendas.

It's profit, but it's also propaganda. Really? Tell me more. Well, I think they want to influence society with these movies. And sometimes that's more important than making the money and then sometimes the money's is the most important you know you never know which god you know is being served here you know which master is being served here so to speak sometimes when you're making a movie, because certain things are done purely for the propaganda of it. Why do you think, I mean, I'm assuming not everyone in Hollywood

is into propaganda, but it seems like some movies are. Why do you think a part of Hollywood wants to project propaganda so much and serve an agenda versus just make great art? I mean, I think movie companies, you know, for the most part, a lot of them started and were owned by the same people who won the engineer society anyway. You know, it's kind of just part of their portfolio. Some of these folks are so rich, Hollywood isllywood is a toy just like guys that own a

football team you know some of them the team is is the family legacy you know maybe like the cowboys but to some you know maybe the rams you know this guy who i don't know if you own Home Depot or whatever else. It's probably a toy, you know? So I just think, you know, the people who have the ultimate say are people who engineer society in other ways. Right. Anyway, whether it's, you know, banking or school, medicine, you know, hospitals, colleges. You know, they want people to think a certain way anyway. And these are the same people who own studios. So that's how that junk gets made.

How important is it for you to have your own creative thinking outside of that when you make music or films or any type of work? Very important. Yeah. So important that I don't know, doing a studio movie does not turn me on more than doing an independent. Really?

Yeah. I would just love to just do independent movies and never deal with a studio meeting or studio notes ever again in life. Really? Yeah. Just too much stress or too much? You just never know what bullshit they are.

You never know if it's profit, propaganda. You never know why certain movies get made and other ones don't. Sometimes Hollywood doesn't know a good movie until they see it. We've had people turn down movies like Ride Along and Straight Outta Compton. Studio even turned down The Joker until they saw it. Right. It was like, oh, damn, we shouldn't have turned this down. So sometimes you have to actually make the movie for people to understand how good it really is.

And I know that, you know. So I would rather go make my movies and then present it to Hollywood and say, who wants to distribute this movie? If someone wanted to make a movie today and they didn't want to deal with Hollywood, what would be the formula you would create for someone if they didn't know? Maybe they only got a half a million or a million bucks, or they can only get that from friends and family or an investor, whatever it is. They don't have some huge budget. They want to kind of break the system in some way.

How can they do that from the financial side, the production side, and also the distribution, which seems to be the hardest part? Yeah. How can they do that today and actually be profitable and make a great movie? Well, you know, at some point, you do want to get distributed. You do want the studios to put their machine behind the marketing and promotion and marketing machine behind the movie for awareness

and for you know ultimately you want people to see it you know i'm saying yeah but you don't have to include them in making it you just gotta have you know the courage to to go make your movie and bring them a finished product really and you know that's what that's what you know the movie festivals are for when they have to try beckon this right it's for people to show their movies to distributors and hopefully get somebody to to buy it and put it out but there's ultimately to me so many different streaming services and so many different ways to actually get paid from a movie. It's a lot easier than it used to be. I think people that make movies can get them seen and made and get people to watch them a lot easier than before. Did you feel like you had a lot of criticism when you were trying to transition, though,

from NWA to, I guess, Boys in the Hood, the movies, and doing Friday? Did you get negative energies or people trying to pull you back or saying, what are you doing, trying to do this acting thing? Who do you think you are? Or did you get a lot of support?

I got a lot of support, but, you know, people did raise their eyebrow when I was doing Friday, and they were like, well, you know, people did raise their eyebrow when I was doing Friday. And they were like, well, you know, you do hardcore music. You do, you know, your movies that you've done have been dramas. Like, why do you think you can do a comedy? And that was weird for people. That was weird for people.

But I was used to it because I got the same flack when I did my biggest song, which was It Was a Good Day. Some of my guys was like, man, you do hardcore music. Why do you think you need to talk about a good day? And I was like, well, I don't do hardcore music. I do reality music and the reality is if i'm having a good day i should be able to do a song about you know why should i you know just talk about the heart without talking about everything you know and it's it's my biggest song really talking about a positive thing yeah because it was from the heart wow you know

saying with nwa you know we we didn't know we were going to be big stars with this kind of hip-hop like going that hard we thought we was just going to be underground like la scene yeah yeah you know just you know neighborhood stars you know saying getting the girls in our neighborhood to pay attention to us right we thought that was about as far as it was gonna go and we just came from the heart and then it ends up being our ticket to success Wow and you met I think I heard you talk about meeting dr. Dre and Dre back when you were 12 or 13 and there't that right? 14. 14. Yeah, yeah. The synchronicities that you've had in your life are pretty amazing. Yeah.

You know, from Dre to John for the movie, like he kept just pursuing you when you weren't even acting. Yes. Like you've been, you know, maybe the environment wasn't perfect that you're in, but there were synchronicities that perfectly aligned for you to have opportunities to then take a chance, work hard, show up and create what you created. Yeah, I mean, it's been, you know, and looking back, it's just been right place at the right time.

And also the courage to pursue things that you've never done. Like, go for it. How did you know to trust that courage? As opposed to be like, eh, I'm just gonna stick to football. Eh, I'm just gonna hang out, you know, ride my bike around.

I'm not gonna go pester Dr. Dre and be like, hey, let me learn from you. I mean, I was so interested in the creative process of making records like um first i never thought i was gonna meet anybody who made a record and dre had at that time and dre had made a single you know he made a song called uh dr dre in surgery how old was he then when you were like 14 health he had to be 19. so why would you know why did a 19 year old allow a 13 14 year old to even come hang out with him because i was

dope i was fresh you know i could rhyme i could write so you had some talent i had talent that's the only reason he let me hang around because otherwise otherwise he'd be like, get out of here, little punk. You know, watch out, man. But I was helping him write rhymes. I was trying to, you know, he was in the world class record crew at the time, which was, they were more of a DJ party crew who did, you know, do parties around the city. And then they were starting to dibble and dabble and make records. And I was a good writer.

So I started to, you know, they wanted an L.A. hit. You know, they wanted to be played on K-Day, like the L.A. Dream Team and the Uncle Jam's Army, Egyptian Lover. So they, you know, they wanted to, you know, have getting rotation. So they wanted to get in rotation. And they had a slow song, but it wasn't full-throated hip hop. It was kind of like a slow jam with a girl singing. And then they had these slow, I need love kind of raps. Right, right.

Like Turn Off the Lights or something. Yeah, Turn Off the Lights. So they wanted a hit. And you had talent. You had value you could provide. Yeah, turn off the lights. So they wanted a hit, you know, so I would help. And you had talent. You had value you could provide. Yeah. You weren't just, like, sitting around doing nothing.

You had something to contribute. Yeah. So that's a big thing to know. It's like you had the talent. They didn't have that at the time. I mean, a few of them did, but, you know, when you're trying to get on, it's like best idea wins. More the merrier. The more talent you can find, the more you have the opportunity

to make a hit record. How did you have that confidence at 14 to be like, I'm going to hang out with these 19-year-olds who made a record or made songs that are DJing around, doing clubs and gigs around town. I'm just going to wrap it up. I'm from LA. They from Compton. I'm from gigs around town. It was fun. I'm just going to wrap it up. I'm from L.A. They from Compton.

I'm from South Central. So it was fun. It was a whole new world, you know. Being in Compton was a new world for me, you know what I'm saying, in a lot of ways. It was different than our neighborhood. Yeah. But a lot of it was the same. Uh-huh.

And, you know, hanging out with dudes who, you know, i used to pay to get into the party you know and now i can walk in with the djs right you know we're carrying crates of records and we're moving sarah and vegas speakers and we part of their party you know i'm saying we in the dj booth now we we actually part of the crew of the crew that makes the party happen instead of us going there and just the music already set up. You know, it's already going on. You don't know who's who. You know, now, you know, I was part of the actual wrecking crew in a lot of ways. So it was exciting.

It was different than what was happening in my neighborhood and um i just wanted to be a part of it when did you know like you guys had something special when was there a moment or so like a gig you played where you're like oh people are actually like singing our stuff back to us or there's a crowd here or you know we're in the studio oh this something just feels like we're in the flow when did you know like we got something here well we you know i was hanging around dre but we had our own crew his cousin his name sir jinks it was your neighbor right yeah he lived down the street this This is why I was, you know, even close to Dre because his cousin lived down the street. Then Dre ended up moving in with them until he found his apartment. So, you know, I had better access to him.

Sure, sure. So we had our own crew and we were trying to, you know, do cool stuff. We joined this contest called the best rappers in the west contest and um and we came in second because you know they messed up our music and you know back then it was a tape it didn't start from the beginning it started in the middle and they had to rewind it it just killed our momentum and so we was upset and then and then dre who came to watch us you know do the finals he was like man don't worry about it you guys was good y'all should come perform at dudos where we dj wow compton come come perform one of your songs yeah yeah in front of the crowd, but you got to be good.

Don't mess up like this. Yeah, you got to, you know, and I advise you guys to be funny or put a little fanny in there or something. And we was like, okay. We was thinking about, okay, we got our original song, but we need, you know, we want to do something that's going really get the crowd going and and be funny and you know all the all the ingredients dre told us that we should think about what we did was like you know how weird al yankovic would take a song and flip it, Roxanne by UTF-O, and we did a dirty, nasty version called Diane, Diane.

We was using their cadence, but we was changing the lyrics, and they just went over. People went crazy. Do you still have that recording? Nah, nah. That'd be cool. We did it live. We never recorded it. Yeah, that'd be cool. It'd be cool we did it live we never recorded yeah that'd be cool um

be cool to recreate that one day you know but we did we did a second version of that because we had we performed again and we flipped a few songs so i think we made a record of that that'd be cool to see that yeah yeah it doesn't have a label on it because liso thought we would get sued for you know right right so it just says dirty rap it's just like white label but um that was where we was like oh you know this is just turning the crowd on we should just make original songs. But we shouldn't worry if we're using profanity in that because nobody's going to play us on the radio anyway. Right. What's the greatest lesson?

I know you and Dre had some history at some point because you left the group. But then I think you guys are friends now from what I've read. And what's the greatest lesson that Dre taught you when you were in that season of life or even now? Trust yourself. Trust yourself. And I think that's the biggest lesson there when I really think about it, that it's not about anybody but what's going on inside.

You know, you can listen to all the noise and sometimes the noise can make you change direction. Sometimes the noise can, can get you off your position. And, you know, I look at it like you want to be the tree in the flood, the flood so much, everything is rushing past going, you know, million miles an hour, and the tree is just still there with its roots dug in, which is your conviction. And live or die with your convictions. And I think that's the greatest lesson because we argued a lot making that NWA record. Really? And the arguments was, what's dope, what's not.

Should we use this or not? Should we do this or not? Should we say this or not? You know, it was, you know, us trying to get to the best version of ourselves. And sometimes he would stand on what he believed in sometimes the best argument would move him so if you had something better or you know something that was more impressive you you know you would see him change his position so that was great too because it was like oh you can affect the record you just got to be better than what's already here.

Interesting. Did you ever feel like, I don't know, intimidated, though? Because you're like a late teens, he's his mid-20s. You know, he's a little further, I guess, in success or when he's created a little bit older. Like, did you feel intimidated ever? Or was it more you felt confident to express your argument? Or if he was like, no no then you felt like you needed

to back down or well you know you wanted to argue your point you know you know ultimately he's the producer so what he say is gonna go the intimidation factor was just you wanted him to like what you was presenting right but if he't, that doesn't mean to be discouraged or even what he was saying was true. You had to fight for your position, argue your point. Best argument win. And sometimes you won it. Sometimes you lost. Right.

But you have to come in with conviction. You just can't have an idea that hasn't been thought out. So you just knew you had to come in with conviction. You just can't have an idea that hasn't been thought out. So you just knew you had to come correct. And you knew if you wasn't great, you wasn't going to make the record. So that was something else that kept your quality. He was quality control. So you had to get through him to get on the record. Yeah.

I think that's a good piece of wisdom trust yourself and i'm curious did you ever not trust yourself in the last 30 years of your career was there ever moments of doubt or insecurity you know yeah really just you know to be with all humans i don't think anybody i don't care how confident you portray to be that you can walk into every situation and be totally confident about the outcome you know so self-doubt can always creep in you know i've noticed that the least I'm prepared, the more I doubt. But the more I'm prepared, the least I doubt. So

when you know what you're talking about, you're very confident. When you don't quite know what you're talking about, kind of trying to fake it till you make it, then you're going to not be as confident. then you're going to not be as confident, and you're going to second guess.

You may make a big mistake because you didn't study. Like your first audition. Yeah. Right. It was a big mistake. That could have changed my whole life. Wow, isn't that crazy? Just think if it wasn't John Singleton,

it was just some director, producer who wanted to try me out for a role and i would have blew it that day so you take your opportunity serious or don't take them at all right you know what i should have said was i don't want to do no movie you know that's what i should tell manager. I don't want to do a movie, but I tried to go out, go down there and just see what was up. Wing it. Yeah. And it could have been a fatal mistake. Wow. Which, you know, thank God that he gave me another shot.

What do you think it was in John, what he saw in you, that he kept persisting you for a year and a half, two years. And you show up to the audition you kind of bomb it and he still says i'm going to give you one more shot what did he see in you for the role in boys in the hood i mean he knew i could do it you know he know i could do it before i know i can do it wow really what how did he know that, though? It's like. Because he saw something in me or in an interview or in a. You know, it's what, you know, I've brought in a lot of different actors, you know, from Chris Tucker to Mike Epps, Cat Williams, Terry Crews. You see something, you know, you see something in a person and you're like, yo, I could set you up to win. You know, I see you as something different than what you're doing bigger.

You know, I could see you as a character. And if you look in, you know, it's a lot of talent around here. And, you know, if you really think about John Singleton, he's helped me. Tupac, Busta Rhymes, Tyrese. You know, we were all ludicrous, fast and furious, and hustle and flow. You know, so we wasn't thinking about acting. He saw something in us and said, hey, what you're doing in music is cool, but you had a charisma to be on the big screen. Wow.

And we all are very appreciative of him for that because it opened up a whole new world for us. What is it that you wish people knew about success, fame, and money? Because you've had it all over the last 30 plus years. And I think a lot of people dream about having a career like yours or even a fraction of your career or having some of the success, the fame, the money, but what is it about those things that you really wish people knew before wanting to dive into having it all? For me, it's hard to sustain it. Getting to the top is one level of struggle. Staying there is a whole different struggle. And look, nobody stays at the

tip top. Everybody rolls down the mountain. But the difference is how far do you want to roll down before you stop and find your place. So,

you might get to the tip of the mountain and you know, just know you're going to roll down. Just don't roll down all the way to the bottom, you know, just find a landing spot somewhere near the top and figure out how to maintain, you know, what got you there,

you know? So it's a lot of hard work. It's like the, the duck in the, in the pond, you know so it's a lot of hard work it's like the the duck in the in the pond you know i mean if you look at him from the outside everything is smooth cruising along under the surface it's going down you know i? That's where all the work is being put in. He just make it look smooth, but he putting in work down there. And it's the same thing with success. People see the finished product.

They don't see the feet paddling to get there. And how have you stayed focused over the last three plus decades? And how have you stayed focused over the last three plus decades? Because the whole idea about trusting yourself that Dre gave you early on or that wisdom or what you learned from him, it seems like it's worked for a long time for you. But also you get opportunities every day, I'm assuming, or you have for a long time. You should do this or try this, which could be great opportunities or big distractions. Yeah. How do you know to stay the course and what the course is when you have so many cool opportunities at this level now? Well, know your wheelhouse, know what you do best, know what's outside of your wheelhouse. Know what's going to take you reaching and extra effort and you could fall over trying to get to it.

And, you know, it's like a pitch, a hitter, you know, waiting for his pitch. You know what I'm saying? You got to know what's outside your strike zone or what's outside your wheelhouse. And don't swing at things that's too far outside of your wheelhouse. And when it comes in your range wheelhouse, take advantage of it. So all money is not good money. So know what you're really, know what you can deliver.

Don't accept it if you can't deliver. Have you turned down some big money before? Yeah. Really? Yeah. What's the most you've been offered that you turned down because you didn't feel like it was in your wheelhouse? Well, it's a different situation, but I turned down,

I mean, I've turned down plenty of movie roles. You know, I wouldn't even go audition because I just felt like this wasn't my kind of thing. But, you know, I just turned down a $9 million movie because I didn't want to get vaccinated. Wow. So, you know, that's not in my wheelhouse. Right, right. And so they said you couldn't unless you want to do this movie you got to get vaccinated yeah that was the requirement from the producers that

everybody on the movie has to be vaccinated so i'm like no it's not for you right i don't need it and you know i'll take you i'll get tested right right right but i'm not gonna take something i don't need. Right. Wow. So he turned down $9 million. I remember I had Matthew McConaughey on, and he said he turned down, I think it was $14 or $42.5 million for another romantic comedy role

when he wanted to get out of romantic comedies and do other things. And he was like, first they gave me, they offered me something like $8 or $9. I turned it down. Then it was $11. 11 turn it down then it was 15 and he goes let me read that script one more time you know maybe it's a little funnier a little better script you know yeah without a doubt but then he said you know if i really want to transform into a new evolution of myself and reinvent myself i can't keep doing the things that i've always done and i want to start getting into these more dramatic roles yeah and uh you know he did that and it really took off he won the oscar and all these different things from that so um but sounded

from him he was like i had to take a few years off essentially and risk being forgotten and not working again. Yeah. You have to make that decision. Yeah. You know when you need to pivot. You know when it's time, when you kind of do like, we don't want to dwell so many times on the same thing. It's time to pivot. We shouldn't do nothing until we pivot. Interesting.

It's time to pivot. We shouldn't do nothing until we pivot. Interesting. And sometimes it's better to not do anything than to do the wrong thing for the wrong reasons at the wrong time. Yeah. Do you feel like you mentioned this idea of like getting to the top and staying at the top. Do you feel like you've hit your top of the mountain yet? If so, when was that if you have? And if not, what do you think you need to become in order to get there?

Well, you know, I believe I've done a lot of cool stuff. You know, I'm in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. That's amazing. I'm on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. And now we're going to have something in the Basketball Hall of Fame. So music, movies, sports is what I've been pushing. And, you know, I've made it to the Hall of Fame in all three. So I feel like, you know, I have been to the mountaintop.

But I still got, you know, there's higher mountains out there to climb. So you might hit the top, come down a little bit, then go to the next one. Yeah, go to the next mountain and get to the top of that. So, you know, I feel like I still got a lot of great work to deliver and do and explore. This is, I mean, this is something I'm really curious about is, because you mentioned this a little bit, like sometimes it's really hard to get to the top, right? As an artist, like get your voice out there and, and, you know, pop in an industry and get to the top of the charts or a movie hits number one or whatever it is. It's really hard to make that happen. It's hard to sustain that, right? It's really

hard to sustain that level of success. How do you stay confident? And what advice would you give to others who have first made to the top of their world, whatever that might be, their industry, their town, their whatever, their sports dreams, things like that. But then they keep going and they're not hitting the top anymore. They've fallen down and maybe they keep falling down. How do they stay confident on the way down when they're not the talk of the town, getting the big offers, the one people are calling up for the best roles anymore? How do you stay confident and not doubt yourself and go back to what you said, trust yourself when you're going down?

Well, I think you got to understand that it's not personal. It's not you. It's the Edmund Florida industry. It's the law of nature. What goes up must come down. And you got to really understand your fan base, what they may want from you, what they expect from you. And then you got to decide if you want to deliver on that or do you want to give them new different things that you may have churning inside of you, you know? So I think, you know, when a first when an artist first comes out, he's he's searching for the biggest fan base he can get.

But then there's a point where these fans that you've accumulated are like clientele, like your customers. You got to serve them. You have to, yes. You don't always need to be searching for the new fan the new fan needs to find you so it keeps you from reaching outside your wheelhouse and you stay doing the things that you should be doing you know in a creative updated way but But you got to serve your fans if you've been in the game. To me, if you've been in the game more than

10 years, you have a fan base that you need to focus on, satisfy, and cultivate. And nothing else needs to matter. Everybody else got to get it on the back end.

Yeah. You know what I mean? So kind of get in where you fit in, but these are my folks. These are who I'm going to please with my art, you know, and everybody else got to kind of, if you like it, great. If you don't, great. Right. You know, we're still still gonna have our Wow you know our party you know so I think you have to really you know understand why people like you why you know people have invested 10 or more years into you and figure out a way to touch those people

and let those people know that you see them, you understand them, you appreciate them, and you're going to continue to do cool just for them. Wow. I want to talk about this third mountain you've been climbing here in a minute with the Basketball Hall of Fame. I want to ask you a few questions on that. But this just brought something up for me when you were talking about this with the fans. Because someone on my team, Sammy, you met her beforehand. I guess she's a millennial.

Maybe she's Gen Z. I'm not sure of the exact age range. But she's a big fan of your music, but your music you made 30 years ago. And she was like, for five years, this is what I was listening to, my early 20s, and it's something I still love. How do you as an artist make something that is timeless for your current generation, but lasts for generations to come? timeless for your current generation but alas for generations to come and it's still fresh for people 10 20 30 years later how did you create something like that you know it was it's kind of like a turn of events that happened that created this unique cycle when it comes to my fans and and cycle when it comes to my fans and what they're interested in. When I did the movie Are We There Yet, which a lot of people gave me because they're like,

you do gangster rap. How are you going to do? They call it a Disney movie, but I've never been in a Disney movie. It was actually Revolution Studios. But we did a great kids movie called Are We There Yet? And the reason I did it is because

look, guys told me not to do an R-rated comedy. We did Friday. It blew up. We was like, okay. What if we go PG-13? So we did Barbershop, blew up.

It's like, okay, can we get to PG? Bigger audience. And so I wouldn't go down to G, but PG, I felt, okay, this is great. I did this movie because I knew my fans were having kids now. And I didn't want to be the kind of artist where the parents say, you see Ice Cube? Boy, he used to be. You just don't know.

Boy, he was, man. I didn't want to be that guy. I wanted the kids to know who I was. Interesting. So, doing this movie, my fans would put their kids in front of this movie, and their kids would fall in love with Nick, you know, the guy I'm playing, in the movie, know nothing about my music. And as they start to get a certain age, you know,

people are showing that movie at seven, eight years old. As they start to get a certain age, you know, people are showing that movie at seven, eight years old. But then as they get 11, 12, 13, somebody might slide them barbershop. Somebody might slide them Friday. So now they're like, oh, this is my guy. Interesting. And he's a little more edgy. You know, he's like doing stuff that I'm not even supposed to hear.

You know what I'm saying? So, you know, they love Craig. Interesting. You know, and then as they get a little older, somebody's like, do you know he rap? Wow. So they would slide him my music. And then, so now they're like, Oh wow. Yo, this is, Oh, he's talking some real stuff on this.

You know, I'm ready for the real stuff. I'm mature enough now, 15, 16, 17. And, and what put the cherry on top of all this was the straight out of Compton

movie. Cause now they can actually see, okay, this is how ice Cube became Ice Cube. Wow. So now it's like this. So now these kids in their 20s, they've been through the R.O.R. yet. They've been through the Fridays.

They've been through my music. They saw Straight Outta Compton. Wow. They're locked in. And now they have kids, and they put their kids in front of the whole cycle again. And the whole cycle starts to repeat. Was this strategic for you, or was this just kind of? No, it's just happenstance.

Wow. But it's something I realized that when we did Are We There Yet, we put this cycle in motion that could continue to churn. One thing feeds the next thing, feeds the next thing. Yeah, and it keeps coming around because people love Are We There Yet. Wow. And there's not a lot of black kid movies out there. So, you know, my fan base really puts their kids in front of that. And then we did Are We There Yet? Wow. There's not a lot of black kid movies out there. So, you know, my fan base really puts their kids in front of that. And then we did Are We Done Yet? You know, we did a few of them.

So I think it's the movies and then they get turned on to the music after the movies. And then that kind of just locks them in. And they just become lifelong fans. And hopefully we can just keep this cycle going. That's why I did Ninja Turtles and keep doing that because your parents don't have to say, do you know who that is? Wow. The kids are saying, did you know Ice-Q rapped? Tell my parents, did you know Ice-Q rapped Did you know Ice Cube rapped?

Yeah, we do. Oh, man, that's amazing. Yeah, it's been an amazing set of events that's kind of, it's like creating its own weather in a way. That's incredible, man. I want to respect your time and get to a final few questions for you. Before I get to that, I want to talk about the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame that recently established the Ice Cube Impact Award, which is pretty cool.

Congrats on that, man. Thank you. And this award will honor those who work to improve their community by using basketball as a tool to help kids. And I'm curious, what does this actually mean for you? And I'm curious, you know, what does this actually mean for you? What is – I grew up playing basketball, the neighborhood gym at the park, and it really helped educate me. It really helped give me a safe space. You know, there were some fights here and there, but it was no, like – no one's getting stabbed.

It was just kind of some fists every now and then. But it was a place I could go after school, be on a team, play with other guys, compete and go until essentially my mom called me home, you know, until dark. And for years I did that. And it was a part of my community and my experience going up. So why is this, this award, uh, this impact award from basketball hall of fame so important for you and what do you hope it will do for communities well i grew up loving basketball um ever since you know i couldn't play with my brothers you know they were bigger and stronger and i was and i used to go cry to my mother looking out the kitchen window yeah i can't play she's like you're gonna you'll get big enough one day

you'll be able to play and i'm like hey ben little you know and then one day i got big enough you know they let me actually play and you know i scored a couple baskets so now i was invited to play all the time and and um we used to have some epic battles in my backyard. Like, that was back when it was a physical, physical game. You're not calling fouls. Darryl Dawkins and Moses Malone and, you know, watching those dudes. And we was immolating that, you know. It was very physical games. And I always remembered that, you know.

Grew up playing local YMCA and after school and tried out for my high school team. But the coach was hating on me because I played football, so I came to camp late. Late, yeah. So it's just a game that I love. I even played in the NBA Entertainment League. They had a weekend warrior thing at Crossroads High School.

They would invite people in the industry to come and wear NBA uniforms, have NBA refs. That's cool. Live out that fantasy. We started the Big Three in 2017. We saw that, for one, a lot of guys was leaving the NBA

before we were ready to see them leave. We still knew they had game. And the three-on-three game has been a cousin of five-on-five. It's been right there under the surface. So when you start a league like that. I played so many three-on-three tournaments growing up in the summers. I can't remember what they were called, but like these tournaments that were around the country. Three-on-three tournaments.

Without a doubt. And I was like, why isn't it professional three-on-three? Like, what are we waiting on? And so it was, to me, a void in the industry, you know, and for fans. So when you're starting something like that, you want to start with as much credibility as you can because everybody thinks it's a joke. It's like, what the hell are you doing cube

you sports like basketball what are you doing like the movies yeah you know stay in your lane and so you want to start off with as much credibility to let people know this is the real deal so you know getting hall of famers to coach our guys like Dr. J and Iceman and Rick Barry and Gary Payton and Lisa Leslie and Nancy Lieberman. Like starting off with these Hall of Famers, we knew that would get us instant credibility. And we've been fighting to become, you know, credible in people's psyche. So being recognized by the Basketball Hall of Fame is as big as it gets when it comes to credibility. Because everybody knows the Hall of Fame is ultimately where an athlete wants to be when they're all said and done. So being recognized by an institution like that gives us all the credibility we've been looking for the last seven years.

for the last seven years. And so extremely honored, you know what I mean? Extremely humbled to even be, you know, mentioned, let alone to have an award named after me. And we're going to give it out every year. Wow. Make it a big deal, make it a big thing. It's just as cool as it can be you know for a basketball fan who started this league you know not as a businessman but as a fan too i want to see more hoops yeah

and and to get rewarded by the recognition of you know it is is is very publicized how the nba is not really liking what we're doing. Really? Because they didn't think of it. You know, it's like it's not their idea. I'm an outsider. Right. They kind of want me to go away.

They don't like it, huh? No. Really? No. They don't like because we changed the game. We were the first to embrace mental health. we were the first to embrace mental health you know we were the first to let our athletes get off the opioids and take cbd if they wanted to wow you know so we've you know we we got the four-point shot you know we got our one-on-one in game um you know foul challenge called bring the fire,

where if you don't like, you don't like a foul. Wow. Coach can be like, let them go one-on-one. That's cool. That's cool. That's cool.

If it was a really a fire now, you know, so these are innovations that we've done. Not to this, the NBA or show them up, but this is what we needed to do to make our game interesting and make our game special wow and have little wrinkles that you can't see anywhere else that's cool and so um you know make a long-winded answer short man it's just amazed and and very

grateful wow that's exciting man so how can people get involved in this? If they want to, you know, can someone nominate someone every year? Yeah. How's that? Where can they go to learn more about this? Well, you know, we're going to really set up a committee. You know, we'll be able to have a lot of information on that, you know, if they just stay in tune with me. I'm the first recipient. That's cool.

So we're going to spend this whole year looking for wow that's exciting man next guy so we we want people to to nominate you know is there something that they know can they go online and nominate or where's the right now they can go to the basketball hall of fame okay cool you know but we're gonna set something up where they can really you know dial in that's cool and um and you And kind of get their suggestions and videos. That's great, man. We're looking for great nominees. So if people follow you on IceCube.com or IceCube on Instagram

or Facebook, social media, they'll stay up to date on it there. Yeah, and we're supposed to do the ceremony on January 15th. Wow, that's exciting, man. You'll see more and more as we get closer to that date. I think right around then we'll put this out to announce it for sure as well. That's exciting, man. It is. Congrats on that.

Thank you. Three things around that. One, where can people go watch games live? Is there a schedule online where they can watch games live, or is it on TV to watch? You can watch us on CBS. Our games are on CBS every Saturday or Sunday. Season starts June 15th, and the schedule is going to come out

as soon as we finalize it. We're still locking in a few different cities. But once we lock in the whole schedule, we're going to make it public. That's exciting. We're going to be all over the country. You guys playing L.A. schedule, we're going to make it public. That's exciting. You know, we're going to be all over the country. You guys playing LA too or no? Anaheim. Anaheim. Yeah, so you can see us live. I got to come to a live game. Yeah, come check us

out live. Once you see us live, you'll be hooked. That's fun, man. Seeing seven-footers play three-on-three is pretty exciting. That's exciting, man. If you guys ever do a amateur tournament, let me know so I can jump in you guys, if you guys ever do a amateur tournament, let me know so I can jump in.

No problem. If you ever do an amateur tournament. We just had, you know, this thing. I saw it. Yeah,

the shoe surgeon. Yeah, yeah, you could have bought it. Oh, man. Next time we do it.

Let me know, man. Yeah, I'll connect with your team and see when I come next. That's fun, man. There's so many things

I would love to ask you about Ice Cube, but I want to respect your time and ask you three final questions if that's cool but this is really inspiring just hearing some of your life lessons and the way you think

and the way you analyze life hearing you talk about marriage and love and relationships all these things are really cool I hope people have heard a different side of you that maybe they haven't seen before one of these questions is about what it's like raising your kids and especially your son who got to play you in straight out of Compton, which I thought was really cool. I know

you made it harder for him. You didn't just throw him a layup or an alley-oop, um, to get the part, but he had to really kind of prove himself. What is it like for you being able to raise your kids and be a great mentor and empower them for opportunities in their life as well? What has that been like for you to see them thrive? I think it's, well, it's been great. And I think it's one of the most important things that I have to do in life is to show them the way and be there to support, you know, their dreams.

You know, they don't have to go into the family business, but if they did, you know, we have a path. You know, I told my son, everybody talk about this nepo baby i'm like dude you you second generation hollywood act like it you know i'm saying like don't pretend you ain't gotta go in there like you're brand new go in there like yo my family do this wow you know we we make movies we've been making classics you've been around movies since you were a little baby you've been making classics. You've been around movies since you were a little baby. You've been on set for a long time. Yeah. And so, you know, act like you know. You know what I mean?

Don't go in there like a rookie and tell them they got a vet and that you know all aspects of this business. You know, not only acting, directing, editing, you know, marketing. You know how to sell a movie. You know how to sell yourself. So it was great. My other son just got married and just had a baby. Grandpa.

Yeah, yeah. So it's amazing that he manages my studios. That's cool. He helped me produce Stray Eye Compton. So he's kind of like my Swiss Army knife. That's cool. He helped me produce Straight Outta Compton. So he's kind of like my Swiss Army knife. That's great. He do it all. And just very proud of my kids, man.

They're just good people. And I think that's the most important thing. Whether they get into the business or they follow any of this, it's not as important that they're just good people. And, you know, I'm just proud of them. Wow, man. I saw a video clip online of some billionaire and the interviewer was asking him what his measure of success was. And he said that at this stage in my life, my adult children want to hang out with me. Yeah. Not because I'm rich or have money or whatever it is, but because they just

like my company. And it sounds like, and I want to acknowledge you for being a great example for not only your kids, but a lot of people. I mean, being married for 30 plus years, having four great kids, providing opportunities for communities with this impact award. Like so many things that you've done, you've paved a path for so many people to be inspired by. So I want to acknowledge you, Cube, for your way of life. I'm not saying you've had a perfect life by any means, but you continue to show up. You're consistent. You add value. And you give with your heart. So I really acknowledge you for how you've done this for so long when a lot of people could treat people poorly in your

position. So I really acknowledge you for the man you are, the father you are, the grandfather you are now and all the great things you're doing in the world. Appreciate that, man. Thank you. This question is called the three truths. And so I ask this to all my guests at the very end. And it's a hypothetical question. So imagine you get to live as long as you want to live, but it's your last day on earth, many years away. And you get to create and accomplish everything else you want. All your dreams from here to the end of your life, they all come true. Personal, professional, everything. But for whatever reason in this

hypothetical scenario, you've got to take all of your contents, your music, your movies, this interview, it's all going to go with you to the next place. So we don't have access to your message anymore. But you did get to leave behind on this final day three truths three lessons that you know to be true to you and this is all we would have to remember you by what would be those three lessons or three truths for you always believe in yourself always be yourself and always be grateful I love it powerful believe in self be yourself be grateful final question and I'm curious if you if there's any lyrics that you've written before if you want to answer them with lyrics, feel free to,

or feel free to just answer what's on the top of your mind. Final question. What is your definition of greatness? My definition of greatness is always doing what it takes in real time. That's my definition of greatness. And whatever it takes depends on the situation, but always do what it takes in real time.

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