WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.100 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we are looking 00:00:03.100 --> 00:00:06.919 at a figure who is, I mean, he's honestly a bit 00:00:06.919 --> 00:00:08.939 of a cultural shapeshifter. Yeah, that's the 00:00:08.939 --> 00:00:10.820 perfect way to put it. Because depending on exactly 00:00:10.820 --> 00:00:14.220 when you tuned into pop culture, you might know 00:00:14.220 --> 00:00:17.519 him as the scowl behind the most dangerous rap 00:00:17.519 --> 00:00:20.579 group in history, you know, the voice of a generation's 00:00:20.579 --> 00:00:25.099 rage. Or, and this is the crazy part, Completely 00:00:25.099 --> 00:00:27.600 conversely, you might know him as the lovable, 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:30.859 slightly irritated dad in a family road trip 00:00:30.859 --> 00:00:33.119 movie. It's two different people. It feels like 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:35.369 it. We are talking, of course, about O'Shea Jackson, 00:00:35.549 --> 00:00:38.090 better known to the entire world as Ice Cube. 00:00:38.270 --> 00:00:40.570 It is such a fascinating trajectory, isn't it? 00:00:40.590 --> 00:00:43.210 You really don't see many careers that can span 00:00:43.210 --> 00:00:45.649 from writing Boys in the Hood, which is this, 00:00:45.670 --> 00:00:48.509 I mean, incredibly gritty street level reality 00:00:48.509 --> 00:00:51.450 check. Right. To starring in Are We There Yet, 00:00:51.630 --> 00:00:54.270 which is pure family friendly slapstick. It just 00:00:54.270 --> 00:00:56.250 it feels like two different lifetimes or maybe 00:00:56.250 --> 00:00:58.270 even two different people sharing the same face. 00:00:58.369 --> 00:01:00.469 Exactly. But when you look at the source material 00:01:00.469 --> 00:01:03.359 we have today, which is a. really comprehensive 00:01:03.359 --> 00:01:06.439 breakdown of his life and career right up to 00:01:06.439 --> 00:01:10.079 early 2026, you realize it's actually a very 00:01:10.079 --> 00:01:12.900 consistent line. There isn't an old cube and 00:01:12.900 --> 00:01:15.200 a new cube so much as there is like a singular 00:01:15.200 --> 00:01:18.040 philosophy that he just applied to all these 00:01:18.040 --> 00:01:20.019 different industries. And that is exactly what 00:01:20.019 --> 00:01:23.650 we are here to figure out. How does one guy inhabit 00:01:23.650 --> 00:01:26.530 all those spaces without losing his core identity? 00:01:26.769 --> 00:01:29.629 Because usually when an artist sells out or goes 00:01:29.629 --> 00:01:31.790 mainstream, they lose that original edge. They 00:01:31.790 --> 00:01:34.469 do. They lose the credibility. Totally. But Cube 00:01:34.469 --> 00:01:37.329 somehow kept the respect of the streets while 00:01:37.329 --> 00:01:40.620 selling popcorn movies in the suburbs. So our 00:01:40.620 --> 00:01:43.519 mission today is to unpack how a kid from South 00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:46.500 Central L .A. used a challenge in a typing class, 00:01:46.599 --> 00:01:48.659 of all things. I love that detail. To launch 00:01:48.659 --> 00:01:50.799 a global empire. We're going to look at the gangster 00:01:50.799 --> 00:01:52.859 app, the political commentary, the Hollywood 00:01:52.859 --> 00:01:55.120 blockbusters, and the sports leagues. And the 00:01:55.120 --> 00:01:57.939 controversies. You absolutely cannot tell the 00:01:57.939 --> 00:01:59.920 story of Ice Cube without looking at the heat 00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:02.180 that has followed him. He has never been one 00:02:02.180 --> 00:02:04.599 to shy away from friction, whether it's with 00:02:04.599 --> 00:02:07.180 the police, with record labels, or with the entire 00:02:07.180 --> 00:02:09.580 Jewish community at one point. He leans into 00:02:09.580 --> 00:02:11.860 it. it absolutely we are going to get into all 00:02:11.860 --> 00:02:14.919 of it the good the bad and the very very complicated 00:02:14.919 --> 00:02:17.659 but i think what i'm most excited about are the 00:02:17.659 --> 00:02:22.550 specific surprising details like I thought I 00:02:22.550 --> 00:02:25.090 knew the Ice Cube story, but I did not know about 00:02:25.090 --> 00:02:27.849 the architecture degree. Right. That feels like 00:02:27.849 --> 00:02:29.650 a detail from a different biography entirely. 00:02:30.050 --> 00:02:32.810 That is such a key piece of the puzzle. If I 00:02:32.810 --> 00:02:34.750 had to frame our discussion today, I would say 00:02:34.750 --> 00:02:37.250 the central theme isn't just talent. It's agency 00:02:37.250 --> 00:02:39.150 and authorship. Agency and authorship. Yeah. 00:02:39.629 --> 00:02:42.919 Whether it was music, movies, or business. Cube 00:02:42.919 --> 00:02:45.560 has always fought like tooth and nail to own 00:02:45.560 --> 00:02:48.060 his narrative and maybe more importantly, to 00:02:48.060 --> 00:02:51.020 own his finances. He refuses to be a passenger 00:02:51.020 --> 00:02:53.180 in his own life. He wants to be the driver, the 00:02:53.180 --> 00:02:55.460 mechanic and the guy who built the road. I love 00:02:55.460 --> 00:02:57.759 that framework. That's perfect. So let's start 00:02:57.759 --> 00:02:59.699 at the very beginning. The blueprint, if you 00:02:59.699 --> 00:03:01.800 will. Let's do it. Because before he was the 00:03:01.800 --> 00:03:04.439 Don of the West Coast, before the scowl that 00:03:04.439 --> 00:03:06.879 launched a thousand memes, he was just O'Shea 00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:10.800 Jackson. Born June 15th, 1969 in Los Angeles. 00:03:11.080 --> 00:03:13.979 And his background is it's very working class, 00:03:14.039 --> 00:03:16.479 very grounded. This isn't a story of industry 00:03:16.479 --> 00:03:18.840 connections or anything like that. Right. His 00:03:18.840 --> 00:03:22.080 mother, Doris, was a hospital clerk and a custodian. 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:25.520 His father, Hosea, was a machinist and a groundskeeper 00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:28.770 at UCLA. So he sees hard work right from the 00:03:28.770 --> 00:03:31.969 jump. I mean, this is manual labor, service work. 00:03:32.090 --> 00:03:34.330 This is wake up early and get it done energy. 00:03:35.050 --> 00:03:38.110 100%. He grew up on Van Wick Street in the Westmont 00:03:38.110 --> 00:03:40.729 section of South Los Angeles. Now, this is crucial 00:03:40.729 --> 00:03:43.409 context because while the world associates him 00:03:43.409 --> 00:03:45.750 with Compton, largely because of the Adam title 00:03:45.750 --> 00:03:48.409 straight out of Compton, his roots are actually 00:03:48.409 --> 00:03:50.870 in South Central. It's a slightly different geography, 00:03:51.110 --> 00:03:52.810 though. I mean, the economic realities and the 00:03:52.810 --> 00:03:54.370 pressure of the environment were very similar. 00:03:54.509 --> 00:03:56.360 OK. But the thing that always cracks. me up is 00:03:56.360 --> 00:03:59.219 the origin of the name Ice Cube. Oh, this is 00:03:59.219 --> 00:04:01.939 great. Because when you see him in the late 80s, 00:04:01.960 --> 00:04:07.060 that name just radiates cold, calculated aggression. 00:04:07.199 --> 00:04:09.919 It feels impenetrable. Right, like I'm distinct, 00:04:10.159 --> 00:04:13.020 I'm solid, I'm cold -blooded. It sounds like 00:04:13.020 --> 00:04:14.639 something a marketing consultant came up with 00:04:14.639 --> 00:04:17.740 to sell a hard image. Not even close. It came 00:04:17.740 --> 00:04:20.959 from his older brother. No way. Apparently, when 00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:23.519 O'Shea was younger, he was trying to be cool 00:04:23.519 --> 00:04:25.740 or maybe he was just pestering his older brother 00:04:25.740 --> 00:04:28.579 as younger siblings do, you know, trying to hang 00:04:28.579 --> 00:04:30.459 out with the older crowd. We've all been there. 00:04:30.620 --> 00:04:33.180 And his brother got fed up and threatened to 00:04:33.180 --> 00:04:35.459 slam him into a freezer and not pull him out 00:04:35.459 --> 00:04:37.810 until he was an ice cube. That is hilarious. 00:04:37.889 --> 00:04:41.009 It's such a violently mundane sibling threat. 00:04:41.110 --> 00:04:43.550 It's so specific. I'm going to turn you into 00:04:43.550 --> 00:04:47.410 a literal ice cube. It's so specific. And somehow 00:04:47.410 --> 00:04:50.290 he took that threat, reclaimed it, and turned 00:04:50.290 --> 00:04:52.209 it into one of the most intimidating monikers 00:04:52.209 --> 00:04:54.790 in hip hop history. Well, it speaks to his ability 00:04:54.790 --> 00:04:56.870 to flip a situation, right? To take something 00:04:56.870 --> 00:04:58.870 that was meant to minimize him. You're just a 00:04:58.870 --> 00:05:00.949 little kid. I'll freeze you and wear it as armor. 00:05:01.110 --> 00:05:04.139 But the real ignition point for his career. the 00:05:04.139 --> 00:05:06.500 moment O'Shea Jackson strictly became a writer, 00:05:06.620 --> 00:05:09.279 where he realized the power of the pen happened 00:05:09.279 --> 00:05:12.620 in ninth grade at George Washington Preparatory 00:05:12.620 --> 00:05:15.860 High School. The typing class. This is my favorite 00:05:15.860 --> 00:05:18.860 detail because it's so analog. We're talking 00:05:18.860 --> 00:05:21.139 about a beat machine or a studio session. We 00:05:21.139 --> 00:05:24.040 are talking about a typewriter. A typewriter. 00:05:24.100 --> 00:05:27.860 In the early 80s, he had a friend named Kiddo. 00:05:28.300 --> 00:05:31.100 And Kiddo challenged him to a rap writing contest 00:05:31.100 --> 00:05:33.800 during typewriting class. I mean, can you imagine 00:05:33.800 --> 00:05:36.790 that, teacher? just trying to get kids to learn 00:05:36.790 --> 00:05:39.670 the home row keys, A -S -D -F, trying to get 00:05:39.670 --> 00:05:41.910 their words per minute up so they can get secretarial 00:05:41.910 --> 00:05:44.970 jobs. And in the back of the room, the future 00:05:44.970 --> 00:05:47.089 of West Coast hip -hop is being written on a 00:05:47.089 --> 00:05:49.430 QWERTY keyboard. The rhythmic clacking of the 00:05:49.430 --> 00:05:51.709 keys probably sounded like a beat to him. It 00:05:51.709 --> 00:05:53.689 must have. And the stakes were just bragging 00:05:53.689 --> 00:05:56.389 rights, but Cube took it seriously. Kiddo lost. 00:05:56.670 --> 00:05:58.930 Of course. And for Cube, that was the spark. 00:05:59.209 --> 00:06:01.730 He realized, I can do this. I can put words together 00:06:01.730 --> 00:06:04.029 better than the next guy. It wasn't about being 00:06:04.029 --> 00:06:06.269 a gangster yet. It was about being a wordsmith. 00:06:06.470 --> 00:06:09.009 It was about the architecture of the rhyme. That's 00:06:09.009 --> 00:06:10.870 a great way to put it. But here's where the story 00:06:10.870 --> 00:06:13.290 takes a turn that most people, they just don't 00:06:13.290 --> 00:06:16.110 expect. This is the education paradox. This is 00:06:16.110 --> 00:06:18.529 the part that blew my mind. So he's living in 00:06:18.529 --> 00:06:20.990 a high crime neighborhood, South Central, dealing 00:06:20.990 --> 00:06:23.829 with the realities of the crack epidemic era, 00:06:23.990 --> 00:06:27.329 the police helicopters, the gang violence. All 00:06:27.329 --> 00:06:29.910 of it. But he's not going to school there. Right. 00:06:29.970 --> 00:06:32.889 He was part of a busing program. So he was bused. 00:06:33.149 --> 00:06:36.649 40 miles to William Howard Tapped High School 00:06:36.649 --> 00:06:40.910 in Woodland Hills. 40 miles? That is a wealthy 00:06:40.910 --> 00:06:43.730 suburban school in the San Fernando Valley. So 00:06:43.730 --> 00:06:46.610 every single day he is physically traversing 00:06:46.610 --> 00:06:49.250 these two very different worlds. He's leaving 00:06:49.250 --> 00:06:51.769 the pension of South Central, sitting on a bus 00:06:51.769 --> 00:06:54.550 for an hour, and then arriving in the affluent 00:06:54.550 --> 00:06:57.610 manicured suburbs where kids are driving convertibles 00:06:57.610 --> 00:06:59.910 to school. That has to do something to your psyche. 00:07:00.279 --> 00:07:02.860 It has to. You're seeing the disparity in real 00:07:02.860 --> 00:07:05.040 time twice a day. You're seeing what the other 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:07.379 half lives like. That perspective is absolutely 00:07:07.379 --> 00:07:10.220 crucial for a writer. You learn to observe. You 00:07:10.220 --> 00:07:12.500 learn that the world isn't just one thing. It's 00:07:12.500 --> 00:07:15.019 the code switching, right? Learning how to navigate 00:07:15.019 --> 00:07:16.839 different environments, how to speak different 00:07:16.839 --> 00:07:19.730 languages, essentially. He's seeing what making 00:07:19.730 --> 00:07:21.329 it looks like in the suburbs and he's seeing 00:07:21.329 --> 00:07:23.750 what struggling looks like at home. It gave him 00:07:23.750 --> 00:07:26.370 this panoramic view of Los Angeles that his peers 00:07:26.370 --> 00:07:28.350 who stayed in the neighborhood just didn't have. 00:07:28.629 --> 00:07:31.329 OK, but the real curveball comes after he starts 00:07:31.329 --> 00:07:33.589 making noise in the music scene. Yeah, this is 00:07:33.589 --> 00:07:36.009 the architect chapter. This is the plan B that 00:07:36.009 --> 00:07:38.850 I think defines his whole mindset. It's fascinating. 00:07:38.990 --> 00:07:43.279 So it's 1987. He has already hooked up with Dr. 00:07:43.399 --> 00:07:46.800 Dre. He has recorded with NWA. They are starting 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:49.240 to buzz locally. The energy is building. The 00:07:49.240 --> 00:07:51.860 streets are talking about them. The iron is hot. 00:07:52.060 --> 00:07:54.519 It is. And what does Ice Cube do? Does he go 00:07:54.519 --> 00:07:57.980 on tour? Does he buy a chain? No. He enrolls 00:07:57.980 --> 00:08:00.220 at the Phoenix Institute of Technology in Arizona. 00:08:00.519 --> 00:08:03.930 In Arizona. He leaves the L .A. rap scene. just 00:08:03.930 --> 00:08:05.850 as it's heating up to go to the desert. For a 00:08:05.850 --> 00:08:08.069 diploma in architectural drafting. Okay, wait. 00:08:08.149 --> 00:08:09.670 Let's just pause on that image for a second. 00:08:09.889 --> 00:08:12.569 You have the guy who is about to write, straight 00:08:12.569 --> 00:08:15.990 out of Compton, arguably the most important protest 00:08:15.990 --> 00:08:18.550 album of the decade, sitting in a classroom in 00:08:18.550 --> 00:08:21.329 Phoenix, drawing blueprints, learning about load 00:08:21.329 --> 00:08:23.889 -bearing walls, vanishing points, and scale. 00:08:24.149 --> 00:08:27.009 He did it. In 1988, he got the diploma and came 00:08:27.009 --> 00:08:30.800 back. He literally viewed it as a backup plan. 00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:33.299 He has been quoted as saying he wanted to have 00:08:33.299 --> 00:08:35.379 something to fall back on if the rap thing didn't 00:08:35.379 --> 00:08:38.460 work out. That is incredibly pragmatic for a 00:08:38.460 --> 00:08:42.980 teenager. Yeah. Just so much foresight. Most 00:08:42.980 --> 00:08:45.679 kids who get a sniff of fame, especially in music, 00:08:45.779 --> 00:08:48.039 they drop everything. Oh yeah. They go all in. 00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:49.799 They burn the boats because they believe the 00:08:49.799 --> 00:08:52.440 hype. Cube is like, let me just get this trade 00:08:52.440 --> 00:08:54.620 degree just in case. It speaks to that theme 00:08:54.620 --> 00:08:56.860 of agency we talked about. He didn't want to 00:08:56.860 --> 00:08:59.159 be dependent on the music industry's whims. If 00:08:59.159 --> 00:09:01.379 the record label failed, if the audience didn't 00:09:01.379 --> 00:09:03.840 show up. If the fad died out, he could go draw 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:05.799 houses. He could still eat. He could still eat. 00:09:05.860 --> 00:09:08.200 And I think that draftsman mindset, the idea 00:09:08.200 --> 00:09:10.200 of building something from a plan, understanding 00:09:10.200 --> 00:09:12.860 structure, understanding how pieces fit together. 00:09:13.080 --> 00:09:15.539 You see that later in how he builds movie scripts 00:09:15.539 --> 00:09:17.240 and business ventures. That's a great point. 00:09:17.549 --> 00:09:20.870 He is an architect of his own career. He doesn't 00:09:20.870 --> 00:09:23.830 just feel his way through. He plans. He sketches 00:09:23.830 --> 00:09:26.110 it out first. So he comes back from Phoenix, 00:09:26.330 --> 00:09:29.149 diploma in hand, ready to be an architect if 00:09:29.149 --> 00:09:31.230 needed. But obviously Plan A was starting to 00:09:31.230 --> 00:09:33.169 work. It was working. Let's talk about those 00:09:33.169 --> 00:09:36.629 early days because before NWA really exploded, 00:09:36.830 --> 00:09:40.149 there was CIA. Right. The group CIA crew in action. 00:09:40.509 --> 00:09:43.250 This was a trio he started with Sir Jinx. They 00:09:43.250 --> 00:09:45.429 were performing at parties hosted by Dr. Dre 00:09:45.429 --> 00:09:48.820 and the world class. wrecking crew. Okay. And 00:09:48.820 --> 00:09:50.919 this is where we see a side of Cube that gets 00:09:50.919 --> 00:09:53.899 overshadowed by the angry persona later on. His 00:09:53.899 --> 00:09:58.080 humor. Yes. The parody raps. This feels so distant 00:09:58.080 --> 00:09:59.519 from what the police, but it's the same guy. 00:09:59.659 --> 00:10:02.440 It's the same brain. He had comedic timing from 00:10:02.440 --> 00:10:04.899 the start. They were performing at the Eve After 00:10:04.899 --> 00:10:08.080 Dark nightclub. Run DMC had the huge hit My Adidas 00:10:08.080 --> 00:10:10.240 around. Iconic, yeah. Iconic track about sneakers. 00:10:10.620 --> 00:10:13.379 So Cube gets on the mic and performs a parody 00:10:13.379 --> 00:10:17.320 called My Penis. It's classic teenage boy humor. 00:10:17.500 --> 00:10:20.320 It's juvenile, sure, but it requires a certain 00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:22.620 level of confidence to get up and do that. You 00:10:22.620 --> 00:10:24.399 have to be willing to be the clown to get the 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:26.700 crowd moving. Oh, yeah, and it was effective, 00:10:26.860 --> 00:10:29.100 but maybe a little embarrassing for the venue 00:10:29.100 --> 00:10:32.379 owners. Alonzo Williams, who was the leader of 00:10:32.379 --> 00:10:34.000 the Wrecking Crew, sort of the gatekeeper at 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:37.559 the time, running the glitzy R &B electro scene. 00:10:38.440 --> 00:10:40.700 He actually recalled later that he felt his reputation 00:10:40.700 --> 00:10:43.279 was damaged by it. Oh, wow. He asked them not 00:10:43.279 --> 00:10:45.840 to repeat it, but it shows that Cube wasn't just 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:47.960 a gangster rapper. He was an entertainer. He 00:10:47.960 --> 00:10:50.600 knew how to get a reaction. He knew how to work 00:10:50.600 --> 00:10:53.440 a crowd. That skill translates whether you are 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:55.580 making a joke or making a political statement. 00:10:55.700 --> 00:10:57.820 So he's cutting his teeth. He's making people 00:10:57.820 --> 00:11:00.399 laugh. He's making people listen. And then at 00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:03.659 16 years old, he sells his first song. This is 00:11:03.659 --> 00:11:06.029 the moment. The hobby becomes a profession. He 00:11:06.029 --> 00:11:08.149 sells it to Eazy -E. And this is the formation 00:11:08.149 --> 00:11:10.429 of the empire. Eazy -E was just forming ruthless 00:11:10.429 --> 00:11:13.009 records. And you have to remember, Eazy -E wasn't 00:11:13.009 --> 00:11:15.549 a rapper initially. He was a drug dealer looking 00:11:15.549 --> 00:11:17.610 to launder money into a legitimate business. 00:11:17.909 --> 00:11:19.850 He was the bank. He was the bank. And he was 00:11:19.850 --> 00:11:22.429 trying to put together the super group N .W .A. 00:11:22.509 --> 00:11:25.350 And the song Cube sold him was Boys in the Hood. 00:11:25.549 --> 00:11:28.409 Which is, it defines the genre. It's the reality 00:11:28.409 --> 00:11:31.909 rap manifesto. It's not about partying. It's 00:11:31.909 --> 00:11:35.230 about surviving the day. It really did. But here 00:11:35.230 --> 00:11:38.009 is the nuance that people often miss. Cube wrote 00:11:38.009 --> 00:11:41.090 Boys in the Hood, but initially he didn't want 00:11:41.090 --> 00:11:43.929 Easy to Rap It. He wanted a group called HBO 00:11:43.929 --> 00:11:46.769 to rap it. They were signed to Ruthless, but 00:11:46.769 --> 00:11:48.769 HBO rejected it because they were from New York. 00:11:49.049 --> 00:11:51.450 They looked at the lyrics, the slang, the references 00:11:51.450 --> 00:11:54.269 to the 6 -4 Impala, and they said, we don't get 00:11:54.269 --> 00:11:57.830 this. This isn't us. Wow. They walked out. So 00:11:57.830 --> 00:12:01.009 Dre convinced Eazy to rap it himself. That is 00:12:01.009 --> 00:12:03.509 a pivotal moment in history right there. If HBO 00:12:03.509 --> 00:12:06.049 had recorded it, NWA as we know it might never 00:12:06.049 --> 00:12:08.370 have happened. Exactly. And when Eazy recorded 00:12:08.370 --> 00:12:11.389 it, his delivery was so raw, untrained, almost 00:12:11.389 --> 00:12:13.769 conversational. And that made it feel even more 00:12:13.769 --> 00:12:16.409 real. But crucially, when they got to the album 00:12:16.409 --> 00:12:19.149 Straight Outta Compton, Cube became the primary 00:12:19.149 --> 00:12:21.570 ghostwriter. He wrote some of Dre's lyrics and 00:12:21.570 --> 00:12:24.789 nearly all of Eazy's lyrics. So when we are listening 00:12:24.789 --> 00:12:27.070 to Eazy -E tell these gritty stories, stories 00:12:27.070 --> 00:12:29.850 about Compton, about the specific streets and 00:12:29.850 --> 00:12:33.169 the specific violence, we are actually listening 00:12:33.169 --> 00:12:35.870 to Ice Cube's words coming out of Yeezy's mouth. 00:12:36.070 --> 00:12:38.450 Precisely. And remember, Cube was the only core 00:12:38.450 --> 00:12:41.250 member of NWA not actually born in Compton. Right. 00:12:41.330 --> 00:12:43.049 He's from South Central. He's from South Central. 00:12:43.090 --> 00:12:45.549 So he was channeling the energy of his friends, 00:12:45.750 --> 00:12:48.830 observing their lives like an embedded reporter, 00:12:49.149 --> 00:12:51.549 and turning it into this cohesive narrative. 00:12:52.220 --> 00:12:55.539 He was the storyteller. He was the pen behind 00:12:55.539 --> 00:12:59.019 the ruthless image. He gave EZ the words to become 00:12:59.019 --> 00:13:01.820 the character EZE. That is wild. It makes you 00:13:01.820 --> 00:13:03.980 realize that NWA wasn't just a group of guys 00:13:03.980 --> 00:13:06.500 freestyling. It was a carefully constructed image. 00:13:06.740 --> 00:13:09.620 And Q was the architect of the words. He was 00:13:09.620 --> 00:13:11.720 designing the building that EZE was living in. 00:13:11.980 --> 00:13:14.519 essentially and that contribution is what led 00:13:14.519 --> 00:13:16.279 to the explosion straight out of compton comes 00:13:16.279 --> 00:13:19.100 out in 1989 it changes the world it scares the 00:13:19.100 --> 00:13:21.539 mainstream it energizes the youth it gets the 00:13:21.539 --> 00:13:24.299 attention of the fbi it puts west coast hip -hop 00:13:24.299 --> 00:13:28.840 on the map permanently but by late 1989 the architect 00:13:28.840 --> 00:13:31.019 looks at the blueprints of the business deal 00:13:31.019 --> 00:13:35.059 and he realizes the math doesn't add up the split 00:13:35.789 --> 00:13:38.169 This is legendary in music business history. 00:13:38.309 --> 00:13:42.309 This is the moment where that agency theme really 00:13:42.309 --> 00:13:44.769 gets tested. It is the ultimate moment of asserting 00:13:44.769 --> 00:13:48.110 value. Cube looks at manager Jerry Heller. He 00:13:48.110 --> 00:13:50.809 looks at Eazy -E. He says, wait a minute. I wrote 00:13:50.809 --> 00:13:53.870 most of Eazy's debut album, Eazy Does It, which 00:13:53.870 --> 00:13:56.240 is platinum. I wrote the hits on Straight Outta 00:13:56.240 --> 00:13:58.460 Compton, which is platinum. We are touring the 00:13:58.460 --> 00:14:00.720 world. We are selling out arenas. And my total 00:14:00.720 --> 00:14:04.700 pay is $32 ,000. $32 ,000. For writing some of 00:14:04.700 --> 00:14:06.940 the most iconic songs in history. I mean, even 00:14:06.940 --> 00:14:09.840 in 1989 money, that is. Yeah. Not enough. That's 00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:11.720 a decent salary for a manager at a grocery store, 00:14:11.799 --> 00:14:14.179 maybe. Not even. Not for the primary writer of 00:14:14.179 --> 00:14:16.360 the biggest group in the world. It was a pittance 00:14:16.360 --> 00:14:18.259 compared to the money the label was generating. 00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:21.000 And Heller presented him with a contract in 1989 00:14:21.000 --> 00:14:23.919 that incredibly didn't even confirm he was an 00:14:23.919 --> 00:14:26.269 official. member of the group. It was a bad deal. 00:14:26.389 --> 00:14:29.509 It locked him in without fair compensation. Cube 00:14:29.509 --> 00:14:32.210 refused to sign it. He left the group in late 00:14:32.210 --> 00:14:35.669 1989. He sued Heller, which was later settled 00:14:35.669 --> 00:14:38.409 out of court. But just think about the guts that 00:14:38.409 --> 00:14:40.610 took. NWA was the hottest thing on the planet. 00:14:40.690 --> 00:14:43.230 He was the star lyricist. And he walked away 00:14:43.230 --> 00:14:45.549 because he knew his worth. That's the backup 00:14:45.549 --> 00:14:48.230 plan. Confidence again. He knew he could survive. 00:14:49.399 --> 00:14:50.980 But the industry must have thought he was crazy. 00:14:51.159 --> 00:14:53.840 Everyone said NWA made Cube, not the other way 00:14:53.840 --> 00:14:56.759 around. Eazy was the face, Dre was the sound. 00:14:56.940 --> 00:14:59.259 Who was Cube without them? Just a writer with 00:14:59.259 --> 00:15:01.539 a scalp? Exactly. And the remaining members, 00:15:01.720 --> 00:15:05.080 Ren, Dre, Eazy. They went on the offensive. This 00:15:05.080 --> 00:15:07.460 wasn't a quiet breakup. On the 100 Miles and 00:15:07.460 --> 00:15:09.419 Running EP and the Niggas for Life album, they 00:15:09.419 --> 00:15:11.080 called him a traitor. They called him Benedict 00:15:11.080 --> 00:15:13.379 Arnold. They attacked his credibility. They basically 00:15:13.379 --> 00:15:16.019 told the world, this guy is nothing without us. 00:15:16.139 --> 00:15:18.460 Wow. They tried to bury him before his solo career 00:15:18.460 --> 00:15:20.360 even started. So he's out on his own. He's got 00:15:20.360 --> 00:15:22.580 the whole world watching to see if he fails. 00:15:22.659 --> 00:15:25.419 He had the biggest group in the world dissing 00:15:25.419 --> 00:15:29.080 him. And what does he do? He doesn't try to replicate 00:15:29.080 --> 00:15:32.549 the NWA sound. He goes to New York. This was 00:15:32.549 --> 00:15:35.450 the artistic pivot that proved his genius. 1990, 00:15:35.789 --> 00:15:39.070 America's Most Wanted. Instead of trying to recreate 00:15:39.070 --> 00:15:41.889 the smooth, funky West Coast town with a local 00:15:41.889 --> 00:15:43.490 producer, which would have been the safe bet, 00:15:43.669 --> 00:15:46.190 he goes to New York and works with the Bomb Squad, 00:15:46.450 --> 00:15:48.570 Public Enemy's production team. Which is such 00:15:48.570 --> 00:15:52.389 a clash of styles. On paper, you have the West 00:15:52.389 --> 00:15:54.429 Coast gangsta narrative, which is usually slower, 00:15:54.570 --> 00:15:56.690 more laid back, more rolling in the car music. 00:15:56.730 --> 00:15:59.450 Right. Mixed with that. chaotic noisy industrial 00:15:59.450 --> 00:16:01.929 east coast political production and it worked 00:16:01.929 --> 00:16:04.169 it was an instant hit it swelled rap's mainstream 00:16:04.169 --> 00:16:06.830 integration it was politically charged affirming 00:16:06.830 --> 00:16:09.870 black nationalism the sound was dense frantic 00:16:09.870 --> 00:16:12.809 and anxious perfect for the lyrics he was writing 00:16:12.809 --> 00:16:15.149 which were about a society on the brink of collapse 00:16:15.149 --> 00:16:17.710 but it also drew immediate controversy right 00:16:17.710 --> 00:16:21.529 misogyny oh yeah we can't gloss over that the 00:16:21.529 --> 00:16:24.580 lyrics were harsh aggressive, and often directed 00:16:24.580 --> 00:16:26.679 at women in a way that drew significant criticism 00:16:26.679 --> 00:16:29.500 from feminists and cultural critics. But from 00:16:29.500 --> 00:16:32.080 a career standpoint, it proved Cube could stand 00:16:32.080 --> 00:16:34.080 alone. And he didn't just look out for himself. 00:16:34.299 --> 00:16:36.879 He launched the career of the female rapper Yo 00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:38.799 -Yo and appointed her the head of his label. 00:16:38.940 --> 00:16:41.019 That's a cool detail. He's building his own team. 00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:42.980 He's not just the artist. He's the executive. 00:16:43.639 --> 00:16:47.720 But then we get to 1991. Death certificate. This 00:16:47.720 --> 00:16:52.059 is where things get. really heated. Famerical's 00:16:52.059 --> 00:16:55.440 most wanted was the jab. This was the haymaker. 00:16:55.639 --> 00:16:57.820 Death Certificate is probably his most complex 00:16:57.820 --> 00:17:00.480 work. Structurally, he splits it into two sides. 00:17:00.830 --> 00:17:02.990 The death side, which is a vision of where we 00:17:02.990 --> 00:17:05.230 are today, the violence, the drugs, the despair 00:17:05.230 --> 00:17:07.990 and the life side, a vision of where we need 00:17:07.990 --> 00:17:11.650 to go. Organization, community, self -reliance. 00:17:11.690 --> 00:17:13.750 It's a concept album. It's a concept album. It's 00:17:13.750 --> 00:17:16.369 almost theatrical in its structure. But the album 00:17:16.369 --> 00:17:19.250 represents a moment where the art is almost overshadowed 00:17:19.250 --> 00:17:21.410 by the sheer level of controversy it generated. 00:17:21.569 --> 00:17:24.400 And we have to talk about No Vaseline. No Vaseline. 00:17:24.779 --> 00:17:27.240 This is the response in W .A. calling him a traitor. 00:17:27.400 --> 00:17:30.140 And it is widely considered one of the most scathing, 00:17:30.140 --> 00:17:33.319 most effective distracts in history. He did not 00:17:33.319 --> 00:17:35.880 hold back. He attacked the group, systematically 00:17:35.880 --> 00:17:39.720 dismantling their image telling. Easy was being 00:17:39.720 --> 00:17:43.519 exploited, telling Dre he was a sellout. But 00:17:43.519 --> 00:17:46.480 he saved his most vitriolic venom for Jerry Heller. 00:17:46.970 --> 00:17:49.349 And this is where the anti -Semitism charges 00:17:49.349 --> 00:17:51.230 really come into play. It wasn't just business. 00:17:51.269 --> 00:17:54.930 It got personal and racial. Yes. In the song, 00:17:54.930 --> 00:17:57.210 he blames Heller for exploiting the group, which 00:17:57.210 --> 00:17:59.470 is a legitimate business dispute, but he brings 00:17:59.470 --> 00:18:02.250 ethnicity into it. He refers to Heller as a white 00:18:02.250 --> 00:18:05.720 Jew. a devil and other slurs. And he endorsed 00:18:05.720 --> 00:18:08.339 the Nation of Islam book, The Secret Relationship 00:18:08.339 --> 00:18:10.680 Between Blacks and Jews. During this time, he 00:18:10.680 --> 00:18:12.960 was framing the exploitation not just as manager 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:15.240 artist, but as Jewish manager, black artist. 00:18:15.420 --> 00:18:17.099 And the backlash was massive. You had the Simon 00:18:17.099 --> 00:18:19.299 Weisenthal Center, you had billboard editorials. 00:18:19.359 --> 00:18:21.819 Huge. And Cube's defense was that he was just 00:18:21.819 --> 00:18:24.059 being descriptive, that he mentioned Heller was 00:18:24.059 --> 00:18:25.920 Jewish, just like the media mentions a suspect 00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:28.400 is black. He argued he was just calling it like 00:18:28.400 --> 00:18:32.099 he saw it. But the lyrics call for violence and 00:18:32.099 --> 00:18:34.880 you. racial epithets it was a line in the sand 00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:38.059 he was labeled anti -semitic by many a label 00:18:38.059 --> 00:18:40.940 that has shadowed him for decades it wasn't just 00:18:40.940 --> 00:18:43.660 a rap beef you know it became a societal issue 00:18:43.660 --> 00:18:46.960 and yet on that same album he has black korea 00:18:46.960 --> 00:18:49.720 which also drew huge criticism for being racist 00:18:49.720 --> 00:18:52.299 against asian store owners it did it threatened 00:18:52.299 --> 00:18:55.299 arson against korean -owned grocery stores the 00:18:55.299 --> 00:18:58.339 lyrics were incredibly aggressive but here is 00:18:58.339 --> 00:19:01.359 the reporter side of cube coming out while black 00:19:01.359 --> 00:19:04.339 korea was criticized as racist and the lyrics 00:19:04.339 --> 00:19:06.759 are certainly threatening many people looked 00:19:06.759 --> 00:19:09.460 back at it a year later and said he predicted 00:19:09.460 --> 00:19:13.650 the 1992 la riots wow He was capturing the tension 00:19:13.650 --> 00:19:15.849 in the streets between the black community and 00:19:15.849 --> 00:19:18.650 Korean store owners. He was documenting the temperature 00:19:18.650 --> 00:19:21.089 of the city before it boiled over. He wasn't 00:19:21.089 --> 00:19:23.269 necessarily advocating for the riots, but he 00:19:23.269 --> 00:19:25.210 was warning that the pressure cooker was about 00:19:25.210 --> 00:19:27.430 to explode. He was saying, if you don't treat 00:19:27.430 --> 00:19:29.009 us with respect, this place is going to burn. 00:19:29.130 --> 00:19:32.250 Oh, exactly. Which leads us right into The Predator 00:19:32.250 --> 00:19:35.809 in 1992. The riots happen, the city burns, and 00:19:35.809 --> 00:19:37.609 Cube is there with the soundtrack. He was ready. 00:19:37.789 --> 00:19:40.799 The Predator was recorded post -LA riots. The 00:19:40.799 --> 00:19:43.880 song Wicked references it directly. April 29 00:19:43.880 --> 00:19:47.079 was Power to the People. And this was his commercial 00:19:47.079 --> 00:19:50.019 peak. It was the first album to debut at number 00:19:50.019 --> 00:19:53.380 one on both the pop and R &B charts. Both. That's 00:19:53.380 --> 00:19:56.180 huge. He had It Was a Good Day and Check Yourself. 00:19:56.619 --> 00:19:59.059 He was the voice of the moment. He was the one 00:19:59.059 --> 00:20:01.359 artist who seemed to have anticipated the chaos. 00:20:01.640 --> 00:20:04.140 While everyone else was reacting, he was narrating. 00:20:04.220 --> 00:20:06.539 It Was a Good Day. It's so iconic. It's almost 00:20:06.539 --> 00:20:08.579 a break from the anger. Just a day where nobody 00:20:08.579 --> 00:20:10.660 died. Everything went right. The Lakers beat 00:20:10.660 --> 00:20:13.599 the Supersonics. It's this weirdly wholesome 00:20:13.599 --> 00:20:15.839 moment in the middle of a very hard discography. 00:20:16.059 --> 00:20:18.259 It highlighted his storytelling ability perfectly. 00:20:18.519 --> 00:20:20.220 It showed he wasn't just one dimensional rage. 00:20:20.380 --> 00:20:22.140 He had hopes. He had humor. He wanted peace. 00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:24.319 He wanted to enjoy a burger and a basketball 00:20:24.319 --> 00:20:27.200 game. It humanized the gangsta image. For sure. 00:20:27.339 --> 00:20:30.359 But then we hit 1993. Lethal Injection. It's 00:20:30.359 --> 00:20:33.019 a slide. Or at least the plateau. Well, the shift. 00:20:33.549 --> 00:20:37.009 He moved toward G4, trying to ride the wave that 00:20:37.009 --> 00:20:40.470 Dr. Dre had created with The Chronic. But critics 00:20:40.470 --> 00:20:42.509 felt it was a step down. It felt like he was 00:20:42.509 --> 00:20:45.109 following a trend rather than setting it. And 00:20:45.109 --> 00:20:48.470 truthfully, after Lethal Injection, his dominance 00:20:48.470 --> 00:20:51.750 in rap started to wane. He never quite regained 00:20:51.750 --> 00:20:54.990 that voice of a generation status in music. The 00:20:54.990 --> 00:20:58.150 youth moved on to Snoop Dogg, Tupac, and Biggie. 00:20:58.230 --> 00:21:01.089 The sound changed, and Cube wasn't leading it 00:21:01.089 --> 00:21:04.259 anymore. But, and this is the genius of the draftsman, 00:21:04.339 --> 00:21:07.480 just as the music dominance starts to fade, he 00:21:07.480 --> 00:21:10.349 has already started building a new house. The 00:21:10.349 --> 00:21:11.990 Hollywood pivot. And I don't mean a guest spot 00:21:11.990 --> 00:21:14.250 on a sitcom. No, this isn't just a rapper doing 00:21:14.250 --> 00:21:16.890 a cameo. This is a full career reinvention. It 00:21:16.890 --> 00:21:19.650 started with Boys in the Hood in 1991. He played 00:21:19.650 --> 00:21:21.710 Doughboy. A character named after a song he wrote. 00:21:21.849 --> 00:21:23.990 Exactly. He was playing a version of the stories 00:21:23.990 --> 00:21:26.549 he had been telling. But the pivotal moment came 00:21:26.549 --> 00:21:29.289 from the director, John Singleton. Singleton, 00:21:29.490 --> 00:21:31.089 who was also young and from the neighborhood, 00:21:31.210 --> 00:21:33.450 told him, if you can write a record, you can 00:21:33.450 --> 00:21:36.150 write a movie. There it is. The agency again. 00:21:36.589 --> 00:21:38.349 Don't just act in the movie. Write the movie. 00:21:38.490 --> 00:21:40.410 Don't just read the lines. Create the lines. 00:21:40.589 --> 00:21:44.150 And he took that advice to heart. In 1995, he 00:21:44.150 --> 00:21:47.150 co -wrote the screenplay for Friday. Now look 00:21:47.150 --> 00:21:50.329 at the economics here. They made that movie for 00:21:50.329 --> 00:21:55.819 $3 .5 million. Which is nothing. That is a shoestring 00:21:55.819 --> 00:21:58.220 budget for Hollywood. Yeah. That is catering 00:21:58.220 --> 00:22:00.559 budget for a Marvel movie. They shot it on the 00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:02.519 same street he grew up on. And it's a stoner 00:22:02.519 --> 00:22:04.440 comedy. It's two guys sitting on a porch. It 00:22:04.440 --> 00:22:06.440 shouldn't have been a blockbuster. It's so low 00:22:06.440 --> 00:22:09.740 stakes. But it grossed $28 million worldwide. 00:22:10.920 --> 00:22:13.000 And it completely reshaped his image. He went 00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:15.559 from the political firebrand, the scowl, the 00:22:15.559 --> 00:22:18.200 guy shouting about the death side, to a comedic 00:22:18.200 --> 00:22:20.960 actor. He was funny. He was relatable. He showed 00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:23.099 he could carry a film without a gun in his hand. 00:22:23.339 --> 00:22:25.579 And importantly, he showed that the black experience 00:22:25.579 --> 00:22:27.900 wasn't just about tragedy. It was about joy, 00:22:28.140 --> 00:22:30.579 community, and humor. And he owned the story. 00:22:31.259 --> 00:22:34.319 Friday spawned a franchise. Next Friday. Friday 00:22:34.319 --> 00:22:37.039 after next. He created an asset. He wasn't just 00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:39.529 an employee. He was the creator of the IP. And 00:22:39.529 --> 00:22:41.609 then he just kept expanding. He did Three Kings 00:22:41.609 --> 00:22:44.410 in 1999 with George Clooney critically acclaimed 00:22:44.410 --> 00:22:47.069 war comedy. He proved he could act in serious 00:22:47.069 --> 00:22:51.069 movies alongside A -list stars. Right. Then he 00:22:51.069 --> 00:22:53.809 pivoted to family films. The Family Man era. 00:22:54.750 --> 00:22:56.849 Barbershop. Are We There Yet? I remember when 00:22:56.849 --> 00:22:58.710 Are We There Yet came out, people were shocked. 00:22:58.910 --> 00:23:01.369 The guy who said F the police is making a movie 00:23:01.369 --> 00:23:04.099 about driving kids in a minivan. Right. It felt 00:23:04.099 --> 00:23:05.920 like a betrayal to some hardcore fans. They call 00:23:05.920 --> 00:23:07.759 him soft. But if you look at it through the lens 00:23:07.759 --> 00:23:10.980 of agency, it makes perfect sense. He saw a market. 00:23:11.039 --> 00:23:14.299 He saw longevity. Gangster rap has a shelf life 00:23:14.299 --> 00:23:16.640 for the artist. You can't be 50 years old rapping 00:23:16.640 --> 00:23:18.640 about shooting people on the corner. It doesn't 00:23:18.640 --> 00:23:20.839 age well, and frankly, it becomes tragic. Yeah, 00:23:20.839 --> 00:23:23.859 it's a young man's game. It is. But family comedies 00:23:23.859 --> 00:23:26.019 pay the bills for decades. They allow you to 00:23:26.019 --> 00:23:28.859 grow old gracefully. And he wasn't just acting. 00:23:28.900 --> 00:23:31.380 He was producing. Oh. Are we there yet? Right. 00:23:31.599 --> 00:23:34.680 Became a TV series on TV. He produced Straight 00:23:34.680 --> 00:23:37.880 Out Compton in 2015, the biopic. Where his son, 00:23:37.940 --> 00:23:40.400 O'Shea Jackson Jr., played him. Which is the 00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:43.619 ultimate full circle moment. He literally authored 00:23:43.619 --> 00:23:47.059 his own history on screen, casting his own son 00:23:47.059 --> 00:23:49.460 to play him. Talk about controlling a narrative. 00:23:49.740 --> 00:23:51.619 I mean, come on. He ensured that the history 00:23:51.619 --> 00:23:54.240 books would remember NWA the way he wanted them 00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:56.660 to be remembered. He made sure the context of 00:23:56.660 --> 00:23:58.180 the writing and the business disputes were in 00:23:58.180 --> 00:24:00.339 the movie. It's incredible. And he didn't just 00:24:00.339 --> 00:24:02.930 stay in movies. We have to talk about the mogul 00:24:02.930 --> 00:24:06.829 era, 2000s to today, because he didn't stop rapping, 00:24:06.930 --> 00:24:09.769 but he changed how he did it. He formed West 00:24:09.769 --> 00:24:12.490 Side Connection with Mac -10 and WC in 1996. 00:24:12.869 --> 00:24:15.500 The album Bow Down. This was during the heat 00:24:15.500 --> 00:24:17.380 of the East Coast versus West Coast rivalry. 00:24:18.079 --> 00:24:20.599 Cube felt the East Coast media was biased, so 00:24:20.599 --> 00:24:23.319 he formed the super group to combat that. They 00:24:23.319 --> 00:24:25.599 had a huge hit with Bow Down. It was aggressive. 00:24:25.900 --> 00:24:29.019 It was territorial. It was West Side till I die. 00:24:29.359 --> 00:24:31.799 But even that had a business split, right? He 00:24:31.799 --> 00:24:34.220 seemed to have a pattern of forming groups and 00:24:34.220 --> 00:24:36.220 then leaving when the business gets messy. Yes, 00:24:36.220 --> 00:24:38.779 they disbanded in 2005. There was a rift between 00:24:38.779 --> 00:24:41.519 Cube and Mac -10. Apparently, Mac -10 was upset 00:24:41.519 --> 00:24:43.680 that Cube's film commitments were limiting their 00:24:43.680 --> 00:24:46.910 ability. to tour. And again, Cube prioritized 00:24:46.910 --> 00:24:49.650 his broader portfolio over just the group. He 00:24:49.650 --> 00:24:51.329 wasn't going to turn down a movie role to do 00:24:51.329 --> 00:24:53.170 a club tour. He was looking at the bigger picture. 00:24:53.250 --> 00:24:55.410 He was diversifying. And he's still putting out 00:24:55.410 --> 00:24:59.269 music. He had the album Man Down in 2024, his 00:24:59.269 --> 00:25:02.109 first in six years, and Man Up scheduled for 00:25:02.109 --> 00:25:05.579 2025. He formed a Mount Westmore with Snoop, 00:25:05.619 --> 00:25:09.240 E -40, and Too Short. He stays active. He serves 00:25:09.240 --> 00:25:11.759 the core fan base. But the biggest move in the 00:25:11.759 --> 00:25:14.420 last decade has to be the big three. The basketball 00:25:14.420 --> 00:25:16.339 league. This is where he steps out of entertainment 00:25:16.339 --> 00:25:19.000 entirely and into sports management. Launched 00:25:19.000 --> 00:25:21.640 in 2017, a three -on -three basketball league 00:25:21.640 --> 00:25:25.019 with former NBA players. Most celebrities, if 00:25:25.019 --> 00:25:27.400 they get into sports, they buy a minority stake 00:25:27.400 --> 00:25:29.500 in a team. Right, like Jay -Z with the Nets. 00:25:29.619 --> 00:25:32.480 Exactly. They are a mascot in the owner's box. 00:25:33.000 --> 00:25:35.059 They put their face on the brand. Cube created 00:25:35.059 --> 00:25:38.160 a league. He wrote the rules. He owns it. It 00:25:38.160 --> 00:25:40.539 goes back to that typewriter. I can create this. 00:25:40.720 --> 00:25:42.920 He didn't ask the NBA for permission. He just 00:25:42.920 --> 00:25:45.299 built the parallel structure. It really does. 00:25:45.380 --> 00:25:48.000 Whether it's a rhyme scheme, a screenplay, or 00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:50.660 a sports league structure, he is building systems 00:25:50.660 --> 00:25:54.539 that he controls. He saw that fans loved these 00:25:54.539 --> 00:25:56.640 retired players, Allen Iverson, Joe Johnson, 00:25:56.779 --> 00:25:58.960 but the players couldn't run up and down the 00:25:58.960 --> 00:26:03.029 full court anymore. So make it half court. Make 00:26:03.029 --> 00:26:05.349 it three on three. Introduce a four point shot. 00:26:05.529 --> 00:26:08.569 It's brilliant product design. It addresses a 00:26:08.569 --> 00:26:11.309 market inefficiency. And he's a massive sports 00:26:11.309 --> 00:26:13.750 fan, Raiders and Dodgers. He actually helped 00:26:13.750 --> 00:26:15.950 popularize the Raiders gear in the 80s, which 00:26:15.950 --> 00:26:18.349 became a huge part of the team's identity. OK, 00:26:18.450 --> 00:26:20.950 so we have the architect, the rapper, the actor, 00:26:21.049 --> 00:26:24.450 the mogul. But we can't ignore the ideology because 00:26:24.450 --> 00:26:26.869 Cube is a complicated guy. He's not just a businessman. 00:26:27.170 --> 00:26:29.529 He has a worldview that has caused a lot of friction. 00:26:30.089 --> 00:26:32.069 We touched on the anti -Semitism in the 90s, 00:26:32.069 --> 00:26:34.029 but that thread didn't disappear. No, it's a 00:26:34.029 --> 00:26:36.450 mix of pragmatism and provocation. Let's look 00:26:36.450 --> 00:26:38.529 at religion. He converted to Islam in the 90s, 00:26:38.549 --> 00:26:40.589 but he describes himself as a natural Muslim. 00:26:40.710 --> 00:26:42.990 He says, it's just me and God. He has denied 00:26:42.990 --> 00:26:45.910 being a member of the Nation of Islam, but he 00:26:45.910 --> 00:26:49.089 readily adopted their ideology of black nationalism, 00:26:49.470 --> 00:26:52.529 self -reliance, economic separation. He liked 00:26:52.529 --> 00:26:54.869 the discipline and the focus on black ownership. 00:26:55.190 --> 00:26:56.910 And he's also said some pretty contradictory 00:26:56.910 --> 00:27:00.000 things about religion later on. Right. 2017, 00:27:00.220 --> 00:27:03.619 he said religion is stupid, in part, and that 00:27:03.619 --> 00:27:05.700 he might change religions three or four times 00:27:05.700 --> 00:27:08.799 before he dies. He claims to be on the Christian 00:27:08.799 --> 00:27:11.579 tip, the Buddhist tip. It seems he takes what 00:27:11.579 --> 00:27:13.880 he finds useful from each and discards the rest. 00:27:14.200 --> 00:27:16.660 Again, he is the author of his own belief system. 00:27:16.819 --> 00:27:20.180 He refuses to subscribe to a prepackaged dogma. 00:27:20.259 --> 00:27:23.119 He drafts his own spiritual blueprint. But the 00:27:23.119 --> 00:27:25.819 controversies didn't stop in the 90s. 2020 was 00:27:25.819 --> 00:27:28.359 a rough year for his public image. It was. He 00:27:28.359 --> 00:27:30.240 went on what was described as a Twitter spree. 00:27:30.279 --> 00:27:33.319 He posted memes and theories linked to anti -Semitism. 00:27:33.640 --> 00:27:37.059 He promoted Luz Farrakhan. The Daily Beast wrote 00:27:37.059 --> 00:27:39.079 an article addressing his long, disturbing history 00:27:39.079 --> 00:27:42.160 of anti -Semitism. It seemed like he was reopening 00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:44.859 old wounds, using his platform to amplify conspiracy 00:27:44.859 --> 00:27:47.519 theories. And his response was classic Cube. 00:27:47.720 --> 00:27:50.519 He didn't hire a crisis PR firm to write an apology. 00:27:51.000 --> 00:27:53.259 Not at all. He doubled down. He said, I ain't 00:27:53.259 --> 00:27:55.420 got time to be anti anything. I'm too busy being 00:27:55.420 --> 00:27:58.500 pro black. He dismissed the backlash as hype. 00:27:58.640 --> 00:28:01.220 He refused to back down or offer the standard 00:28:01.220 --> 00:28:03.599 PR apology. He basically said, read it how you 00:28:03.599 --> 00:28:06.279 want. This is where I stand. Wow. It alienated 00:28:06.279 --> 00:28:08.640 a lot of people, but it solidified his standing 00:28:08.640 --> 00:28:11.240 with his core followers who see him as a truth 00:28:11.240 --> 00:28:13.920 teller who can't be silenced. And then there 00:28:13.920 --> 00:28:16.920 was the vaccine situation. This felt like another 00:28:16.920 --> 00:28:20.039 collision. between his personal agency and the 00:28:20.039 --> 00:28:22.579 establishment. This is a prime example of his 00:28:22.579 --> 00:28:24.900 stubbornness or his principles, depending on 00:28:24.900 --> 00:28:27.559 how you view it. In 2021, he was set to star 00:28:27.559 --> 00:28:30.180 in a comedy called Oh, Hell No, later titled 00:28:30.180 --> 00:28:33.500 Stepdude, with Jack Black. It was a $9 million 00:28:33.500 --> 00:28:37.039 paycheck. $9 million. That is generational wealth 00:28:37.039 --> 00:28:38.940 money for most people. That is buy an island 00:28:38.940 --> 00:28:40.960 of money. That is never work again money. And 00:28:40.960 --> 00:28:43.039 he walked away from it. Just walked. Because 00:28:43.039 --> 00:28:45.240 he refused to get the COVID -19 vaccine, which 00:28:45.240 --> 00:28:47.480 was required by the production. That is consistent, 00:28:47.519 --> 00:28:51.339 though. He walked away from NWA over money when 00:28:51.339 --> 00:28:53.819 he felt the terms weren't right. He walked away 00:28:53.819 --> 00:28:55.940 from $9 million when he felt the terms weren't 00:28:55.940 --> 00:28:58.000 right. You can disagree with his stance on the 00:28:58.000 --> 00:29:00.539 vaccine, and many people did, but you can't say 00:29:00.539 --> 00:29:02.920 he could be bought. That is the through line. 00:29:03.099 --> 00:29:05.819 He places a higher value on his personal autonomy 00:29:05.819 --> 00:29:08.440 than on the check. He would rather lose the money 00:29:08.440 --> 00:29:11.480 than lose the choice. It's the ultimate luxury 00:29:11.480 --> 00:29:13.990 of being the architect. You don't have to live 00:29:13.990 --> 00:29:15.789 in anyone else's house. You don't have to follow 00:29:15.789 --> 00:29:18.210 anyone else's rules. And speaking of personal 00:29:18.210 --> 00:29:20.869 life, in an industry where marriages last about 00:29:20.869 --> 00:29:23.569 five minutes, he's been married to Kimberly Woodruff 00:29:23.569 --> 00:29:26.789 since 1992. Since 92. Four children. And he has 00:29:26.789 --> 00:29:29.750 a very specific philosophy on parenting. He teaches 00:29:29.750 --> 00:29:31.869 his kids to question the violence depicted in 00:29:31.869 --> 00:29:34.690 media, including his own lyrics. That's interesting. 00:29:34.849 --> 00:29:37.569 He separates the art from the reality and expects 00:29:37.569 --> 00:29:40.559 his kids to do the same. He didn't hide his music 00:29:40.559 --> 00:29:43.059 from them, but he contextualized it. This is 00:29:43.059 --> 00:29:45.119 a story. This is a character. Don't go out and 00:29:45.119 --> 00:29:47.920 act like this. It's fascinating that the man 00:29:47.920 --> 00:29:49.700 who wrote some of the most violent lyrics in 00:29:49.700 --> 00:29:53.059 history is a strict father who emphasizes critical 00:29:53.059 --> 00:29:55.500 thinking. So let's bring this all together. We've 00:29:55.500 --> 00:29:57.619 gone from the freezer threat to the typewriter 00:29:57.619 --> 00:30:00.359 to the contract dispute to the movie set to the 00:30:00.359 --> 00:30:03.279 big three court. What does this all mean? When 00:30:03.279 --> 00:30:06.000 you look at the arc from the architectural drafting 00:30:06.000 --> 00:30:08.980 student to the gangster rap pioneer to the Hollywood 00:30:08.980 --> 00:30:11.740 mogul, the connective tissue is consistency. 00:30:12.220 --> 00:30:16.029 Whether he is in music, film or basketball. Cube 00:30:16.029 --> 00:30:18.569 has always insisted on ownership and creative 00:30:18.569 --> 00:30:20.490 control. He writes the lyrics. He writes the 00:30:20.490 --> 00:30:22.869 scripts. He owns the league. He is never just 00:30:22.869 --> 00:30:25.789 talent for hire. Never. He figured out early 00:30:25.789 --> 00:30:27.990 on that the person who draws the blueprints is 00:30:27.990 --> 00:30:30.089 the one who controls the building. He realized 00:30:30.089 --> 00:30:32.170 that if you don't own your work, your work owns 00:30:32.170 --> 00:30:34.930 you. He's the draftsman. He is. And here is a 00:30:34.930 --> 00:30:37.569 provocative thought to leave you with. Cube's 00:30:37.569 --> 00:30:40.509 entire career is built on a plan B that became 00:30:40.509 --> 00:30:43.900 a plan A. He got the degree in drafting just 00:30:43.900 --> 00:30:46.900 in case NWA didn't work out. It asks the question, 00:30:47.119 --> 00:30:49.819 how much of Cube's success comes from his raw 00:30:49.819 --> 00:30:53.200 artistic talent, the voice, the charisma, and 00:30:53.200 --> 00:30:55.359 how much comes from that pragmatic structural 00:30:55.359 --> 00:30:58.660 mindset? That's a good question. Did he succeed 00:30:58.660 --> 00:31:00.839 because he was the best rapper or because he 00:31:00.839 --> 00:31:03.559 was the best planner? Because he treated his 00:31:03.559 --> 00:31:06.019 life like a drafting project where every line 00:31:06.019 --> 00:31:08.460 had a purpose and every structure was built to 00:31:08.460 --> 00:31:10.859 last. That is something to think about. Maybe 00:31:10.859 --> 00:31:12.779 we should all go take a drafting class. Seems 00:31:12.779 --> 00:31:14.940 to pay off. Couldn't hurt. At the very least, 00:31:14.940 --> 00:31:16.900 you learn how to draw a straight line. That's 00:31:16.900 --> 00:31:18.819 it for this deep dive into the world of Ice Cube. 00:31:19.099 --> 00:31:20.759 Thanks for listening, and we'll catch you on 00:31:20.759 --> 00:31:21.700 the next one. Stay cool.