Ice Cube: Working with Dre, The TRUTH About Hollywood, & Inspiring Generations

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. I mean, what was the dream for you growing up before you found music? 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, you know, wanting to play football, basketball. I was just a dream. You know, 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. and the higher you go, the more serious the coaches get.

Yeah.

Because they feel like they're gonna lose their job if you don't win.

Right.

So they put a lot of pressure on kids to. To perform. And so I played till it wasn't fun anymore.

Yeah.

I was 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 to 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 form of music that was, you know, 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 like a song or someone you saw that was doing it on the street, or what was the first inspiration?

You know, I was just a fan of the music. You know, I was turned on to the music at 10 years old. 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. He had a boombox in the back seat playing the music and he, 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 cuz 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. I 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 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 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, like, older kids or. Yeah, they were older, you know, they were in high school. We were still, you know, in Middle School, Elementary.

Okay.

You know, it was 12, 11, 12, 13.

Sure.

You know, it was still elementary and they would bring these high schoolers up and they would pop lock in the classroom, you know? And I was just amazed. Wow. And they always had a little one with him, 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. You see a little one with the tall ones, the little one, he's there for a reason. You know what I'm saying? He's better in the tall. So that's, I just said, damn, somebody my age can really, you know, get down and, and, and steal the show. And, you know, so I just was intrigued by the music. And by the time 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 gotta be worth something today. Probably is. Your first rap.

Probably is.

Man, with all the awards and 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.

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. 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 were able to break free of that and reinvent in 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 are 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, I didn't know. You can just be like, Off the street. I think you can do it. Really? You 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 the Arsenio Hall Show. And I had got backstage because I wanted to talk 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. You know, that was what, that was, I was going to plead my case.

Interesting. How old are you at this point?

18, 19.

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 early NWA era, so I wasn't a recognizable face. It wasn't like, oh, that's Ice Cube.

So you guys weren't that big yet.

We were big, but it was all about Eazy E. You know, it was like Eazy E and NWA. I was kind of like Gladys Knight and the Pips. You know what I'm saying? You might not know the Pips, but you might know Gladys Knight. So he comes up, he's like, your ice cube. And I'm like, yeah, yeah. He's like, oh, man, you're an NWA. I'm like, yeah, you know, who are you? You know, I'm an intern working up here, you know? And he's like, I want to put you in a movie. And I'm like, what'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 gonna get it made and I'm gonna put you in it.

Wow.

And I'm like, okay, 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 LA. 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. I met you at Arsenio. You're the one that's gonna put you in the movie. I'm a senior now at USC. Oh my gosh. When I graduate, it's gonna be a big deal.

What about it?

Happen? I'm like, okay, you know, buddy.

Sure.

I break up with NWA. I'm solo now and I'm working with Public Enemy on my first album. and they have a show at the Palace in LA, public enemy. So I'm like, I'm gonna go check out my guys coming right here in LA. I go check them out. At the end of the concert, guy taps me, remember me? He's like, I remember you now, dude. What's up? He was like, you know, I graduated. You know, this is, he's like, this is my last week. And.

I'm gonna 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 them, you know, let's do it on another day, 'cause 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, yeah, you know. his. His ride leaves him. His ride leaves him.

He's still.

Yeah, 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, oh, he comes. He walks around, he comes back, and he's like, man, my ride left me. Can you give me a ride to my dorm at USC? Ah, what the 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, you know, 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, like, iced tea that, yo, I'm a hot rapper. Put me in a movie. So I'll try it. I'm thinking I'm gonna go see basically some white guys that's doing a movie. -huh 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.

Oh my gosh.

Production office.

Casting, that was the whole thing.

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. He's like, yeah. I'm doing, we doing this movie, man. And 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? 'Cause 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 gonna give you one more shot. Wow. It's like, Go home and read my script all the way through. Come back tomorrow, same time. Give you one more shot. But if you just terrible cute, I gotta. I gotta cast somebody else. You know, I need a real actor that could do this. So once I read it, I'm 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 Doughboy was and all this. So when I went to read the next time, I was. I was good. and, 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 to his 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 one's good. You know, we was, like, putting me through film school. He said, Dude, when you gonna write a script? He said, you think everything is gonna be good? 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 in 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 yeah, but but but my third one was Friday Wow, so that was when I you know got it on point on what a movie needs to be and do and 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.

Yeah.

And auditioned and got in 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. 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. It's nothing, it's nothing bigger than a movie if you're trying to paint a picture.

Wow.

You know, 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, you know, which I dig. We even made records that sounded, you know, we have a lot of sound effects and. 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, It was, you know, I was kind of in creative heaven for myself. Wow.

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 in 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.

Wow, man.

You know, a good movie that you can watch over and over again. Because I think that's the, that's the key 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, 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 gotta have, you know, people who really know what they're doing because you have to execute every day. Movies are broken down in today's 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, with our movie Friday, we shot it for 2.3 million. Wow. And we shot it in 20 days.

Oh my gosh.

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 know, 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. Yeah. But how did you know? what you were gonna do for your first movie that you wrote and produced?

Well, you know, I had, Did John.

Help you with that?

You know, John helped definitely. He helped us kind of corral it. 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 gotta get through it no matter what. Wow.

My fiance is 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 in the US 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, you know, 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 gotta mark him over here 'cause he talks from over there. Another guy goes to the refrigerator. So you 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, it's no pressure. The camera's not rolling. So you get the time to run through, you know, you get to kind of to 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 you know now you can go look at playback so you can go see if you're acting in the same scene and 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. 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.

You gotta get it. Because if you. Don't get it, you're gonna be in the edit bay saying... We missed. We should have stayed there another 15 minutes. Oh man. We'd had a perfect shot, now it's funky. It's not really working, 'cause 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, and you do this with each scene throughout the whole movie. Until you know, you finish.

You've done so much creatively as an artist with the movies you've made, the films you've made. I'm curious. And so many of them have, at least they seem to be, so many of them seem to look like you've 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 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's great.

And they make a lot of money. A lot of them, I'm assuming. How do you kind of hit that trifecta where 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, 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 a sweet spot. I think having fun on set, not to the point where you're not handling business, but some people make movies in the set is very hostile and tense and intense and, you know, People act like it's brain surgery. You know, it's kind of like I was saying with the sports, it was like some guys out there having fun, some guys you think they were, they life depended on whether you can 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. And, you know, none of that, you know, hierarchy. 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 gotta 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 it funny. Your scripts funny.

How does some of these scripts get greenlit in Hollywood? That these movies they're out sometimes, I'm like, how did this get past these executives or the financiers 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, you know, with these movies, you know, and sometimes that's more important than making the money. And then sometimes the money 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, you know, 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, 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 want to engineer society anyway, you know, it's kind of, it's just part of their portfolio. Some of these folks are so rich, this is Hollywood's 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, right? But to some, you know, maybe the Rams, you know, this guy who, I don't know if he owns 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, or up, anyway, whether it's, you know, banking or, right. School, medicine, hospitals, colleges, 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 anytime.

Very important. Really? So important that I. 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 bull. 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 till they saw it. 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 is. 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, 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, the formula you would create for someone if they didn't, you 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 want to you do want to get distributed. You do want the studios to put their machine behind the marketing and emotionally marketing machine behind the movie for awareness and for, you know, ultimately, you want people to see it, you know what 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 back at us.

Right. Right.

It's for people to show their movies to Distributors and hopefully get somebody to, to buy it and, 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 that, you know, it's a lot, it's a lot easier than it than it used to be. You know, I think people that make movies can get them seen and made and, you know, 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, 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? Who you think you are? Or did you get a lot of support?

I got a lot of support, but people did raise their eyebrow when it was during Friday. And they were like, well, you do hardcore music, you do 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. 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. You know, 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 the, you know, why should I, You know, just talk about the heart without talking about everything, you know? And it's my biggest song.

Really? Talking about a positive thing.

Yeah. 'Cause it was from the heart. Wow. And I'm saying with NWA, you know, we didn't know we were gonna be big stars with this kind of hip hop, like going that hard. We thought we was just gonna be underground, like L.A. Crip. Yeah, you know, just. you know, neighborhood stars, you know what I'm 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, isn't that right? 14.

14. Yeah. Yeah.

The synchronicities that you've had in your life are pretty amazing.

Yeah.

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 were 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've 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 with, you know, ride my bike around. I'm not gonna go pastor 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, 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 Dr. Dre in Surgery.

How old was he then when you were like 14?

He had to be 19.

So why would a, you know, why would a 19 year old allow a 13, 14 year old to come and come hang out with him.

'Cause I was dope. I was fresh. I could rhyme, I could write.

So you had some talent.

I had talent. That's the only reason he let me hang around. 'Cause otherwise he'd be like, get out of here. He was like, you know, watch out, man. But I was helping him write rhymes. I was trying to, you know, he was in the world class wrecking crew at the time, which was, they were more of a DJ party crew. who did, you know, threw parties around the city and then they were starting to dibble and dabble and make records and, and I was a good writer. So I started to, you know, they wanted a LA hit, you know, they wanted to be played on KDAY, like the LA Dream Team and the Uncle Jam's Army, Egyptian Lover. So they, you know, they wanted to, you know, have getting rotation. and they had a slow song, but it wasn't, you know, full throated hip hop. It was kind of like a slow jam with a girl singing and then they had this slow, I need love kind of rap. Right, right, right.

Turn off the lights, yeah, yeah.

Turn off the lights. So they wanted a hit, you know.

So I would- and you had talent. You had value you could provide. You weren't just like sitting around doing nothing. You had something to contribute. so that's a big thing to know. It's like you had the talent that 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 when.

Right, right.

The more the merrier, you know, the more talents you can find, the more you have the opportunity to make a hit record.

And so how did you have that confidence at 14 to be like, I'm gonna hang out with these 19 year olds who made a record or made songs that are you know, DJing around, doing clubs and gigs around town. I'm gonna wrap it up.

I'm from LA, 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 in our neighborhood.

Yeah.

But a lot of it was the same. 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 and we're carrying crates of records and we're moving certain Vegas speakers and we part of the party, you know what I'm saying? We in the DJ booth now, we actually part of the crew, the crew that makes the party happen instead of us going there and just the music already set up and, you know, it's already going on. you don't know who's who. Now, 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 I just wanted to be a part of it.

When did you know you guys had something special? Was there a moment or was it like a gig you played where you're like, oh, people are actually singing our stuff back to us, or there's a crowd here, or, you know, we're in the studio, all 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's Sir Jinx.

That was your neighbor, right?

Yeah, he lived down the street. 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 till he found his apartment. So, you know, I had better access to it.

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. 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 had came to watch us, you know, do the finals, he's like, man, don't worry about it. You guys was good. Y'all should come perform at Doodles. where we DJ. Wow. Compton.

Come perform one of your songs.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. In front of the crowd. But you gotta be good.

Don't mess up like this.

Yeah, you gotta, 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 an original song, but we need, you know, we want to do something that's gonna really. get the crowd going and be funny and, you know, 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, make it, you know, funny or whatever. So we took a song called Roxanne, Roxanne by UTFO and we did a dirty, nasty version called Diane, Diane, where we was using their cadence, but we was changing the lyrics. and they just went over like people are crazy. Crazy.

Do you still have that recording?

Nah, nah, we, that'd be cool. We did it live. We never recorded.

Yeah, that'd be cool. We could 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.

Let me cool to see that. Yeah.

Yeah. It doesn't have a label on it. because Lonzo thought we would get sued for, you know, for using music. So it just says dirty rap. It's just white label. But that was where we was like, oh, you know, this is just turning the crowd on. We should just make original songs. But, you know, we shouldn't worry if we're using profanity in that. 'cause nobody gonna play us on the radio anyway. Right.

What's the greatest lesson? I know you and Dre had like some history at some point 'cause 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 and 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 get you off your position. And, you know, I look at it like you want to be the tree in the flood. The flood is so much, everything is rushing. past going, you know, million miles an hour and the tree is just still there with his roots dug in, which is your conviction and live or die with your convictions. And I think that's the greatest lesson because, you know, we argued a lot making that NWA record.

Really?

And the arguments was you know, 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, you know, sometimes he would stand on what he believed in. Sometimes the best argument would move them. 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, then you felt like you needed to back down.

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 didn'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. 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 correct and you knew if you wasn't great, you wasn't gonna make the record.

.

So that was something else that kept your quality, you know, he was quality control. So, you know, you had to get through him to get on the record.

Yeah, 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're not, when you don't quite know what you're talking about, kind of trying to fake it till you make it, then you're gonna not be as confident and you're gonna second guess and you may make a big mistake because you didn't study.

Like your first audition.

Yeah, right. That was a big mistake. You know, that could have been. That could have changed my whole life.

Wow. Isn't that crazy?

You know, 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 know, you take your opportunities serious or don't take them at all.

Right.

You know what I should have said was, I don't wanna do no movie. You know, that's what I should tell my manager. I don't wanna do no 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 gonna 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 knew I could do it before I knew I could do it. Wow, really?

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, Chris Tucker, Mike Epps, Cat Williams, Terry Crews. You see something, you know, you see something in a person and you 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're looking, you know, it's, this is, it's a lot of talent around here. And, you know, if you really think about John Singleton, he's helped me, Tupac, Buster Rhymes, Tyrese, you know, we were all ludicrous, think fast and furious and hustle and flow, you know, so we, you know, we wasn't thinking about acting. You know, he saw something in us and said, hey, you know, what you're doing in music is cool, but you had a charisma to be on the big screen.

Wow.

And we, you know, 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?

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?

Wow.

And find your place. So you know, you might get to the tip of the mountain and, you know, just know you're gonna 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, I mean. if you look at him from the outside, everything is smooth. He's cruising along under the surface. It's going down, you know? I mean, 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. You know, 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? Because the whole idea about trusting yourself that Dre gave you early on or that wisdom or what you learned from them, 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 gonna take you reaching and extra effort and you could fall over trying to get to it. And, you know, it's like a. A pitch, a hitter, you know, waiting for his pitch. You know what I'm saying? You gotta know what's outside your strike zone or what's outside your. Your wheelhouse. And don't swing at things that's too far outside of the wheelhouse. And when it. when it comes in your range wheelhouse take advantage of it.

Mm-.

So all money is not good money. So you know what you're really youy 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 was 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 nine million dollar 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 gotta get vaccinated.

Yeah, that was the. requirement from the producers that everybody on the movie has to be vaccinated, so I'm like, nah, it's not for you, right? I don't need it.

And.

I'll take, I'll get tested and everything, but I'm not gonna take something I don't need. Right, right, right.

Right.

Wow.

She turned down 9 million. I remember I had Matthew McConaughey on and he said he turned down, I think it was 14 or 42 and a half 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 eight or nine. I turn it down. Then it was 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.

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.

And.

He did that and it really took off. He won the Oscar and all these different things from that. But from him, he was like, I had to take a few years off essentially and risk being forgotten and not working again.

You have to make that decision.

Yeah.

To you. You know when you need to Pivot, you know when it's time when you've kind of do, like, we don't want to the well so many times on the same thing. It's time to Pivot, and 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've, I'm in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

It's amazing.

I'm on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. And now we're gonna have something in the basketball Hall of Fame. So music, movie, 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, it's higher, higher mountains out there to climb.

Yeah.

So you might hit the top, come.

Down a little bit, then go to the next.

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? Make as an artist, like, get your voice out there and, and, you know, pop in an industry, 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 it's, you got to understand that it's not personal. It's not you. It's the Edmond, Florida industry. It's the law of nature. What goes up must come down. And you gotta really understand your fan base, what they may want from you, what they expect from you. And then you gotta 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, you know? But then there's a, a point where these fans that you've accumulated are like, like clientele, like your, your customers.

You gotta 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 you got to serve your fans if you've been in the game, you know, to me, 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 gonna please with my art. you know, and everybody else gotta kind of, if you like it, great. If you don't, right, great, right. You know, we're still gonna have our.

Wow.

You know, our party, you know what I mean? 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 gonna continue to do cool just for them. Wow.

I wanna talk about this, you know, third mountain you've been climbing here in a minute with the Basketball Hall of Fame. I wanna 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, she, you met her beforehand. I guess she's a millennial, maybe she's Gen Z, I'm not sure the exact age range, but she's a big fan of your music. But your, you know, music you made 30 years ago. And she was like, for five years, this is what I was listening to, you know, 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. And it's still fresh for people 10, 20, 30 years later. How did you create something like that?

You know, it was kind of like a turn of events that happened that created this unique cycle when it comes to my fans and and what they're interested in. When I did the movie, Are We There Yet? Which a lot of people gave me, because they like you. You do gangster rap. How you gonna 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 already 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, what if we 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 wanna 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 wanna be that guy. I wanted the kids to know who I was. That's interesting. 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 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, because 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&B era yet. They've been through the Fridays. They've been through my music. They saw Straight Outta Compton. They're locked in. And now they have kids and they put their kids in front of the whole cycle. And the whole cycle starts to repeat.

So was this strategic for you or.

Was this just kind of... No, it's just it's 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, you know, so... One.

Thing feeds the next thing, feeds the.

Next thing, and it just keeps coming around because People love 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. and hopefully we can just keep this cycle going, you know? That's why I did Ninja Turtles, you know, and keep doing that because you're, you know, the parents don't have to say, do you know who that is? Wow. The kids are saying, did you know Ice Cube rap? Yeah, we do.

Oh, man.

That's amazing. Yeah. It's been, it's been an amazing set of events that 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, 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, 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. Ever since, you know, I couldn't play with my brothers, you know, they were bigger and stronger and I was, you know, I used to go and cry to my mother looking out the kitchen window. 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, I hate being 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. Now I was invited to play all the time and we used to have some epic battles in my backyard. Like that was back when it was a physical, physical game. You know, you're not calling it a physical game. Yeah, yeah. You know, you're not calling it a physical game. You know, you're not calling it a physical game. Yeah, yeah. You know, you're not calling it a physical game. You know, you're not calling it a physical game. You know, you're not calling it a physical game. You know, you're not calling it a physical game. You know, you're not calling it a physical game. You know, you're not calling it a physical game. You know, you're not calling it a physical game. You know, you're not calling it a physical game. You know, you're not calling it a physical game. You know, you're not calling it a physical game. You know, you're not calling it a physical game. You know, you're not calling it a physical game. You know, you're not calling it a physical game. You know, you're not calling it a physical game. You know, you're not calling it a physical I always remembered that, you know, I 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 Leake.

Leake, yeah.

So it's just a game that I love. I even played in the NBA Entertainment League. They had a, you know, weekend Warrior thing at Crossroads High School and They would invite people in the industry to come and wear the NBA uniforms, have NBA refs, and that's cool. You know, just kind of live out that fantasy. And so we started the Big Three in 2017. We saw that for one, a lot of guys were leaving the NBA before we were ready to see them leave. You know, we still knew they had game and the 3 on 3 game has been a cousin of 5 on 5. It's been right there under the surface. So when you start a league like that.

I played so many 3 on 3 tournaments growing up in the summers. I can't remember what they were called, but like these tournaments that were around the country. Yeah, 3 on 3 tournaments.

Without a doubt. And I was like, why isn't it professional 3 on 3? 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 wanna start with as much credibility as you can because everybody think it's a joke.

Right. It's like- some new thing, yeah.

The hell are you doing, Qube, you sports, like basketball, what are you doing?

Take the movies, take the movies.

Take the movies, take the movies. Stay in your lane. And so you wanna 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, 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, and we've been fighting to become, you know, credible in people's psyche. So being recognized by the basketball Hall of Fame, as big, 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.

Wow.

And so extremely honored, you know, I mean, extremely humbled to even be, you know, mentioned, let alone to have an award named after me. Um, and we going give it out every year. I 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 there, and and to get rewarded by the recognition of you know, is is is It's 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.

You know, they kind of want me.

To- 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. 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, you know, file challenge called bring the fire, where if you don't like, if you don't like a file. Wow. Coach can be like, let them go one-on-one and that's cool. See if it was a really a fire or not, you know, so. So these are innovations that we've done, not to diss 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, man.

So 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 gonna really set up a committee. You know, we. 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, so we're gonna spend this whole year looking for.

Wow. It's exciting, man.

Next guy. So we. We want people to nominate, you know. Is there someone 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, you know, kind of get a suggestions. That's great. And, you know, we're looking for great nominees.

So if people follow you on icecube.com or Ice Cube on Instagram or, yeah, Facebook, social media. They can, they'll stay up to date on it there.

Yeah. And we're, we're supposed to do the ceremony on January 15th.

Wow. It's exciting.

You'll see more and more.

Yeah. I think right around then we'll put this down to announce it for sure as well. That's exciting, man. 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. You know, our games 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 gonna make it public. I think side guys, you know, we're gonna be all over the country.

So you guys play in LA too or no?

Anaheim. Anaheim. Yeah.

So you can see us live.

I gotta come to a live. Yeah, come check us out live. You know, once you see us live, you'll be hooked. That's fun, man. Seeing seven footers play three on three is-- that's exciting, man.

That's exciting, yeah. 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. I just had to, you know, this thing. Shoe surgeon. Shoe surgeon, yeah.

Yeah, you could have bought. 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, SQ, but I want to respect your time and ask you three final questions, if that's cool. All right. But this is, you know, really inspiring just hearing some of your life lessons and the way you think and the way you analyze life and hearing you talk about marriage and love and relationships, like all these things are really cool. So 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 Outta 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 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?

I think it's, what'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 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 what I'm saying?

Right?

Like, don't pretend you ain't got to go in there like you 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.

It's been a sad for a long time.

Yeah. And so. you know, act like, you know, you know, I mean, don't go in there like a rookie and tell them they got a vet and, 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, not to sell yourself. So it's great, you know, my other son, you know, just got married and just had a baby.

Grandpa.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So it's, it's. It's amazing that he's, you know, he manages my studios.

That's cool.

He helped me produce Straight Outta Compton. So he's kind of like my Swiss Army knife, you know, he's great. He do it all. And just very proud of my kids, man. They just good people. And I think that's the most important thing, you know, whether they get into the business or they follow any of this. it's not as important as that they're just good people. And, you know, I'm just proud of that.

Wow, man. I saw a, 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 Appreciate that. 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 asked 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.

I hope today's episode inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a rundown of today's show with all the important links. And if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me as well as ad free listening experience, make sure to subscribe to our greatness plus Channel on Apple podcast. If you enjoyed this, please share it with a friend over on social media or text a friend. Leave us a review over on Apple podcast and let me know what you learned over on our social media channels at Lewis Howes. I really love hearing the feedback from you and it helps us continue to make the show better. And if you want more inspiration from our world class guests and content to learn how to improve the quality of your life, then make sure to sign up for the greatness newsletter and get delivered right to your inbox over at greatness.com/newsletter. And if no one has told you today, I want to remind you that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter. And now it's time to go out there and do something great.