Few were as hot button in the 1990s, particularly in popular culture or the rap scene, than Ice Cube (you have to wonder if anyone knows who O'Shea Jackson is considering Ice Cube is synonymous with the man). After his stint in N.W.A. (which struck fear in any white household), he recorded some of the heaviest music of the era with AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted and The Predator, both released within two years of each other.
Stoking the flames of racism and popping the cork on tensions in the streets and the hearts of Americans as riots stormed. The period was a Noah's flood sort of cleansing the land; getting real feelings out in the public before everyone went crazy.
In hindsight, although initially terrified of artists like Cube, his albums and those of Public Enemy and others, probably prevented untold amount of harm giving African Americans a popular release and whites the ability to understand the lingering effects of slavery, Jim Crow and racism.
Through all this, somehow the man became one of the safest African American action and comedic actors. His acting career started in John Singleton's Boyz n the Hood. Singleton encouraged him to write a screen play. It became Friday, which became the launching pad for his second career and Chris Tucker's brief, but enigmatic, career.
Now he does family comedies and beer commercials.
Although, one must consider that although Ice Cube knew the hard streets, he also came from a reasonably stable home life, with parents who worked steadily. Cube himself went to college to study architecture. Maybe he was always destined for Are We There Yet?
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