There was a time when you couldn't just find any song you wanted on iTunes. You couldn't even find them all in music stores. In the early days of rap, artists would sell cassette tapes out of the trunk of their cars. That's the world Ice Cube came out of. He was part of the influential group N.W.A., which stands for something I'm not even comfortable spelling out.
Today you may only know Ice Cube as the star of family movies like Are We There Yet and Barbershop. He produces too, including the Friday series, TV spinoffs of Barbershop and Are We There Yet, and this weekend's new release Lottery Ticket. He also appears in the film as Mr. Washington. Ice Cube still makes music too. His new album, I Am the West, drops September 28 and he just went on tour with Snoop Dogg.
Lottery Ticket stars Bow Wow as Kevin, poor kid who dreams of going to design school. When he wins the lottery, Kevin finds neighbors and women suddenly cozying up to him, close friends treating him differently, and even dangerous criminals setting their sights on his winnings. Mr. Washington is a retired boxer who lives in a basement. Sporting a little gray in his beard, he teaches Kevin that he should do what he loves, regardless of money, and even if he's not very good at it. (Mr. Washington wasn't a very good boxer.)
Ice Cube kept it casual for Lottery Ticket. You can't help but notice the diamond stud in his left ear, but that's the only millionaire touch of bling. Otherwise it's baseball cap, sweatshirt, backpack things we all wear. The talk was stuff we all think about: the arts, the future and what to do with our lives.
SG: Mr. Washington says you should do what you love even if you're not good at it. You happened to be good at music and movies, but is that what you believe?
IC: Well, I feel like if you can do what you want to do and be happy with it, that's more important than doing what you think you should be doing. Sometimes you can think you should be a certain way, your father's a carpenter, you think you should be one but the most important thing is to do what makes you feel good. You'll probably live a lot longer.
SG: Are there a lot more chances now, if you're not an expert, to do what you love on YouTube or iTunes?
IC: I think so. Technology lends itself, if you can use some brain power, you might figure out how to make money with something you love to do. I think still the majority of people out there are doing stuff they don't really love. What they love to do is usually a hobby and they can't really make a living with it.
SG: That's the other side. Is there a danger that you fuel false hopes if someone is trying to make it at something they're just not good at?
IC: Yeah, you can. Especially if it's getting you nowhere, if you're doing something that you love but it's really getting you nowhere in life, then you probably want to put less time into that. You'll probably end up as one of the people who are doing stuff more to survive than what they love to do.
SG: Is there a balance where you can keep it in your life if it makes you happy?
IC: I think so. First of all, you've got to do what you've got to do to survive, first of all. Then I think if you put your brain to work, your hobby, the things you love to do on the side, if you put your brain to work you can figure out how to make money with that and how to make a living at it. But, it might not be as fun at the end of the day.
SG: Once it becomes a business?
IC: Say you like to fish and you figure out how you can make a business out of it, then it might not be as fun to. It is a balance.
SG: Do you miss the guerilla days when people were selling cassettes out of the trunk of their car?
IC: Yeah, because you felt like it had value, what you're doing had value. Now it's like you're not sure if it has value or not. You do it and you don't know if people are going to buy it or steal it or download it or not buy it. If you're making a living off it, it makes you feel like okay, I need to do something else too to make a living at this. Pretty soon there's going to be a generation that just never buys nothing. They just take it. Then if there's a generation that just takes stuff, then there's going to be a generation that don't make stuff because it's going to get taken. So at some point, something's got to give because we're seeing less and less music coming down the pipe, less and less movies being made. It's all because of downloading and internet and piracy and all this stuff.
SG: How do you figure there's less? It seems like five movies open every weekend, and new music sources even if it's just American Idol.
IC: I see that there's less music. As far as the music I do, I know that they're not doing as many deals with artists. It's harder to get a deal as an artist. I know it's harder to get movies made. Everything is tightening up. I can feel the screws tightening up on everything. What it is is the illusion with the iPod and all these gadgets where you can play all this music, it gives the illusion that music is still flowing free but it's not. It's older music you're stuffing into those things. It's not the new, fresh [music]. That's starting to come down the pipe slower and slower every year.
SG: Do the new technological tools make music better or worse?
IC: I think it makes it worse because you don't have the live feel. I don't know kids that are picking up bass. I don't know kids that are picking up guitars, drums. Where's the garage bands? You used to drive by and see one of them playing in their garage in the 80's. You don't see that no more. It's just all computers. It's not even instruments no more. Usually you have the instruments with the computer. Now the instrument's inside the computer. People are playing like that. So it's becoming wacky. I don't know where the new musicians are going to come from. Less music in schools, it's just getting to a point where: where are the new musicians going to come from 50 years from now?, who are going to be playing?
SG: Do you have a way of incorporating technology into your music?
IC: Yeah, I think you have to. One thing you can't fight is City Hall and technology, you know what I mean? You have to keep up. If not, you're going to be left behind so I still get live musicians to come play and things like that just because I'm more comfortable doing it that way. But you know, there's going to come a time where that might feel obsolete.
SG: With all the sensitivity over the N word these days, do you think a group of artists could call themselves NWA knowing what the N stands for?
IC: Yeah. It's like there's a lot of words in the English language. Some of them sting. Some of them don't. That's a stinger, like the word f*ck. It stings every time you hear it. I don't think that will ever go away but I don't think that's going to be a reason that it's not used or that it is used. It's just kind of part of the English language. It's just part of the fabric in a lot of ways.
SG: Was that the point of calling the group that name?
IC: It's kind of taking the power out of the word and defusing it and not making it as hurtful. Words are like a knife. You can cut your food up with it or you can cut somebody up with it. It's as dangerous as the user and it's as deadly as the user so it's always in context. Pretty much every word and everything that's said, put it in context. Sometimes it hurts, sometimes it don't.
SG: The movie is about how quickly money changes you and the people around you. Have you enjoyed the trappings of success?
IC: Yeah, of course.
SG: Is that a healthy part of it, like the earring you're wearing and jewelry?
IC: Yeah, those are trinkets. As far as enjoying it, being able to be in a nice hotel and take a nice vacation and enjoy the perks of luxury is nice. You would be kind of crazy. I'm not going to be a Warren Buffett or somebody who just keeps it all quaint. I just would rather enjoy it, but it's all in balance. I don't want to spend all my money and not pass none down to my grandkids. I don't want to spend it all, so I'm not going to spend it all. Enjoy things in moderation. I'm past the splurge point in my life. I don't think I would splurge because there's nothing to splurge on.
SG: I read a review from Outlawvern.com that on your last tour, you didn't do any NWA or even Amerikkka's Most Wanted or Death Certificate. Do you not do those songs anymore?
IC: I just didn't on this show because I was opening up for Snoop. We only had an hour. Snoop's audience is a little different than my audience. You come to see an Ice Cube concert, I think it's just a little more on the hardcore tip. Snoop's crowd is a little smoother, a little more with the R&B flavor. I just wanted to do enough to warm the crowd up for him. When I come back and I can do an hour and a half, hour 45 minutes, then I'll incorporate the NWA stuff, Amerikkka's Most Wanted, Death Certificate. The complaint I usually get is that I don't do enough new songs. I do more of a retrospective medley from the start of my career to now.
SG: So for the I Am the West tour you'll mix it up?
IC: Oh yeah, hell yeah. You'll see everything.
Lottery Ticket opens August 20.
Today you may only know Ice Cube as the star of family movies like Are We There Yet and Barbershop. He produces too, including the Friday series, TV spinoffs of Barbershop and Are We There Yet, and this weekend's new release Lottery Ticket. He also appears in the film as Mr. Washington. Ice Cube still makes music too. His new album, I Am the West, drops September 28 and he just went on tour with Snoop Dogg.
Lottery Ticket stars Bow Wow as Kevin, poor kid who dreams of going to design school. When he wins the lottery, Kevin finds neighbors and women suddenly cozying up to him, close friends treating him differently, and even dangerous criminals setting their sights on his winnings. Mr. Washington is a retired boxer who lives in a basement. Sporting a little gray in his beard, he teaches Kevin that he should do what he loves, regardless of money, and even if he's not very good at it. (Mr. Washington wasn't a very good boxer.)
Ice Cube kept it casual for Lottery Ticket. You can't help but notice the diamond stud in his left ear, but that's the only millionaire touch of bling. Otherwise it's baseball cap, sweatshirt, backpack things we all wear. The talk was stuff we all think about: the arts, the future and what to do with our lives.
SG: Mr. Washington says you should do what you love even if you're not good at it. You happened to be good at music and movies, but is that what you believe?
IC: Well, I feel like if you can do what you want to do and be happy with it, that's more important than doing what you think you should be doing. Sometimes you can think you should be a certain way, your father's a carpenter, you think you should be one but the most important thing is to do what makes you feel good. You'll probably live a lot longer.
SG: Are there a lot more chances now, if you're not an expert, to do what you love on YouTube or iTunes?
IC: I think so. Technology lends itself, if you can use some brain power, you might figure out how to make money with something you love to do. I think still the majority of people out there are doing stuff they don't really love. What they love to do is usually a hobby and they can't really make a living with it.
SG: That's the other side. Is there a danger that you fuel false hopes if someone is trying to make it at something they're just not good at?
IC: Yeah, you can. Especially if it's getting you nowhere, if you're doing something that you love but it's really getting you nowhere in life, then you probably want to put less time into that. You'll probably end up as one of the people who are doing stuff more to survive than what they love to do.
SG: Is there a balance where you can keep it in your life if it makes you happy?
IC: I think so. First of all, you've got to do what you've got to do to survive, first of all. Then I think if you put your brain to work, your hobby, the things you love to do on the side, if you put your brain to work you can figure out how to make money with that and how to make a living at it. But, it might not be as fun at the end of the day.
SG: Once it becomes a business?
IC: Say you like to fish and you figure out how you can make a business out of it, then it might not be as fun to. It is a balance.
SG: Do you miss the guerilla days when people were selling cassettes out of the trunk of their car?
IC: Yeah, because you felt like it had value, what you're doing had value. Now it's like you're not sure if it has value or not. You do it and you don't know if people are going to buy it or steal it or download it or not buy it. If you're making a living off it, it makes you feel like okay, I need to do something else too to make a living at this. Pretty soon there's going to be a generation that just never buys nothing. They just take it. Then if there's a generation that just takes stuff, then there's going to be a generation that don't make stuff because it's going to get taken. So at some point, something's got to give because we're seeing less and less music coming down the pipe, less and less movies being made. It's all because of downloading and internet and piracy and all this stuff.
SG: How do you figure there's less? It seems like five movies open every weekend, and new music sources even if it's just American Idol.
IC: I see that there's less music. As far as the music I do, I know that they're not doing as many deals with artists. It's harder to get a deal as an artist. I know it's harder to get movies made. Everything is tightening up. I can feel the screws tightening up on everything. What it is is the illusion with the iPod and all these gadgets where you can play all this music, it gives the illusion that music is still flowing free but it's not. It's older music you're stuffing into those things. It's not the new, fresh [music]. That's starting to come down the pipe slower and slower every year.
SG: Do the new technological tools make music better or worse?
IC: I think it makes it worse because you don't have the live feel. I don't know kids that are picking up bass. I don't know kids that are picking up guitars, drums. Where's the garage bands? You used to drive by and see one of them playing in their garage in the 80's. You don't see that no more. It's just all computers. It's not even instruments no more. Usually you have the instruments with the computer. Now the instrument's inside the computer. People are playing like that. So it's becoming wacky. I don't know where the new musicians are going to come from. Less music in schools, it's just getting to a point where: where are the new musicians going to come from 50 years from now?, who are going to be playing?
SG: Do you have a way of incorporating technology into your music?
IC: Yeah, I think you have to. One thing you can't fight is City Hall and technology, you know what I mean? You have to keep up. If not, you're going to be left behind so I still get live musicians to come play and things like that just because I'm more comfortable doing it that way. But you know, there's going to come a time where that might feel obsolete.
SG: With all the sensitivity over the N word these days, do you think a group of artists could call themselves NWA knowing what the N stands for?
IC: Yeah. It's like there's a lot of words in the English language. Some of them sting. Some of them don't. That's a stinger, like the word f*ck. It stings every time you hear it. I don't think that will ever go away but I don't think that's going to be a reason that it's not used or that it is used. It's just kind of part of the English language. It's just part of the fabric in a lot of ways.
SG: Was that the point of calling the group that name?
IC: It's kind of taking the power out of the word and defusing it and not making it as hurtful. Words are like a knife. You can cut your food up with it or you can cut somebody up with it. It's as dangerous as the user and it's as deadly as the user so it's always in context. Pretty much every word and everything that's said, put it in context. Sometimes it hurts, sometimes it don't.
SG: The movie is about how quickly money changes you and the people around you. Have you enjoyed the trappings of success?
IC: Yeah, of course.
SG: Is that a healthy part of it, like the earring you're wearing and jewelry?
IC: Yeah, those are trinkets. As far as enjoying it, being able to be in a nice hotel and take a nice vacation and enjoy the perks of luxury is nice. You would be kind of crazy. I'm not going to be a Warren Buffett or somebody who just keeps it all quaint. I just would rather enjoy it, but it's all in balance. I don't want to spend all my money and not pass none down to my grandkids. I don't want to spend it all, so I'm not going to spend it all. Enjoy things in moderation. I'm past the splurge point in my life. I don't think I would splurge because there's nothing to splurge on.
SG: I read a review from Outlawvern.com that on your last tour, you didn't do any NWA or even Amerikkka's Most Wanted or Death Certificate. Do you not do those songs anymore?
IC: I just didn't on this show because I was opening up for Snoop. We only had an hour. Snoop's audience is a little different than my audience. You come to see an Ice Cube concert, I think it's just a little more on the hardcore tip. Snoop's crowd is a little smoother, a little more with the R&B flavor. I just wanted to do enough to warm the crowd up for him. When I come back and I can do an hour and a half, hour 45 minutes, then I'll incorporate the NWA stuff, Amerikkka's Most Wanted, Death Certificate. The complaint I usually get is that I don't do enough new songs. I do more of a retrospective medley from the start of my career to now.
SG: So for the I Am the West tour you'll mix it up?
IC: Oh yeah, hell yeah. You'll see everything.
Lottery Ticket opens August 20.