Ice Cube

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Ice Cube (2014)
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Ice Cube , civic O'Shea Jackson (* 15. June 1969 in Compton , Los Angeles , California ) is an American rap - musician , songwriter , screenwriter , producer and actor . He was a member of rap groups NWA and Westside Connection and released ten solo albums. In addition to his musical career, he played in several films, including the series of Friday and Barbershop films, which he also produced and in which he co-wrote the script. On June 29, 2016 it was announced that Ice Cube had been invited as one of 683 personalities from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a new member.

Career

Ice Cube grew up as the fourth child of Afro-American UCLA employees Hosea and Doris Jackson in South Central Los Angeles , a district then predominantly inhabited by Afro-Americans. He attended William Taft High School in Woodland Hills, 30 kilometers from his home, at the same time as House of Pain founders Daniel O'Connor and Erik Schrody . At the age of 15 he met Dr. Dre and started working with him. In 1986 he founded the Stereo Crew group with Kid Disaster (K-Dee). Shortly afterwards, Dr. Dr's cousin Sir Jinx to the group that from then on called itself CIA (Cru 'in Action!) And released an EP in 1987. His artist name means ice cubes in German, but is also the name of a type of gemstone . He gave himself this name, according to his own statement, after his big brother threatened to put it in a refrigerator after an argument and only let it out again when it looked like an "ice cube".

From 1986: NWA

Ice Cube in 1987, as a high school student

After the CIA disbanded, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and Eazy-E 1986 the group NWA Ice Cube met the then drug dealer Eazy-E through Dr. Dre know. He asked Ice Cube to write a song for him. The proposed song Boyz-n-the Hood was initially rejected by Eazy E, but was later released on the 1987 NWA debut album NWA and the Posse . After the unsuccessful album, Ice Cube left Los Angeles and moved to Phoenix , Arizona , where he studied architectural drawing for a year. However, he returned in 1988 and recorded the album Straight Outta Compton with NWA . Not only was it the West Coast's first successful hip-hop album, but it was the breakthrough for the group. In the songs on the album, the group members sang the living conditions in South Central Los Angeles and addressed street gangs and police violence. For the album, Ice Cube was responsible for the lyrics together with MC Ren , but wrote most of the lyrics themselves. Due to disputes over the distribution of the revenue with the manager of NWA, Jerry Heller, Ice Cube left the group in 1989.

From 1990: Ice Cube solo

After separating from NWA, Cube went to New York to work with the producers of Public Enemy Bomb Squad and the crew Da Lench Mob on his solo debut album AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted . Released in 1990 on Priority Records , the album reached gold status within two weeks, later platinum and reached number 19 on the Billboard 200 . The album was criticized for the violent and homophobic lyrics.

His second solo album Death Certificate with the same producer team was released in 1991. In terms of content, it was even more radical than its predecessor. In particular, the song No Vaseline , a Disstrack against NWA , was recorded as anti-Semitic . The song Black Korea has been criticized as an invitation to burn down stores owned by Korean owners, as happened during the 1992 Los Angeles riots . The Billboard magazine closed the album of the week published lists of the top 200, although it there reached the 2nd place. This was the first time an artist was banned because of the contents of their album. In the same year, Ice Cube was persuaded to take on the role of Darin "Doughboy" Baker , a leading role in the film Boyz n the Hood . For this role, he won the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Actor .

In 1992 Cube released his third album The Predator , which contains the single "It Was a Good Day" and the collaboration "Check Your Self" with Das EFX . The production was no longer taken over by the Bomb Squad, but by Ice Cube himself, Sir Jinx , Cypress Hills DJ Muggs and DJ Pooh . The album was the first ever to debut at number 1 on both the pop and R&B charts. That same year he married Kimberly Woodruff, with whom he has four children (including rapper and actor O'Shea Jackson Jr. ). Cube worked as a songwriter on Lench Mob's album Guerillas in tha Mist and took on a role in Walter Hill's film Trespass .

After his 1993 album Lethal Injection , which was less successful than its predecessor, he did not bring any solo albums onto the market until 1998. In 1994 he and his former NWA colleague Dr. Dre released the single "Natural Born Killaz" for the soundtrack of Snoop Doggy Dogg's film Murder Was the Case . He founded the label Lench Mob Records , on which several works by K-Dee , Kausion and WC were later published.

From 1995: First film projects

Cube wrote the screenplay for the comedy Friday with DJ Pooh in 1995 . In the film he starred with Chris Tucker . He was featured on the accompanying soundtrack with the title track "Friday" . There were disputes between Ice Cube and Cypress Hill because B-Real accused Ice Cube of stealing parts of the song "Throw your Set in the Air" and using them for his contribution on the soundtrack. B-Real had played the album III: Temples of Boom privately before the Ice Cube was released. In several disstracks , both sides, each supported by other rappers, made various accusations. The dispute ended in 1997 with a joint radio appearance.

Together with Mack 10 and WC he formed the group Westside Connection in 1996 , which released their debut album Bow Down that same year .

In 1998 and 2000 Cube published the two parts Volume 1 (The War Disc) and Volume 2 (The Peace Disc) of the solo double album War - & - Peace . Both parts of the album were not as aggressive and not as successful as the previous releases. They achieved gold status, but could not achieve chart success. With Korn he recorded the song Children of the Korn for their album Follow the Leader in 1998 , which was also released as a single in 1999. Korn, on the other hand, were already featured on the Cube song Fuck Dying from the first War & Peace album. Also in 1998 he completed the Family Values ​​Tour together with Korn, on which u. a. and Limp Bizkit and Rammstein took part.

He recorded along with some other rappers like Snoop Dogg , Dr. Dre, Xzibit , Nate Dogg , Kurupt , MC Ren , Warren G and Eminem participated in the Up in Smoke Tour , which included 44 concerts in the United States.

In the 1990s, Cube converted to Islam.

From 2000: solo break

Ice Cube (2012)

After the double album, Ice Cube focused on acting. With the exception of the 2003 Westside Connection album Terrorist Threats , he was musically only involved in soundtracks and guest contributions. Mack 10 split from Westside Connection because he found Ice Cube's involvement in Hollywood disruptive to the group's development.

Also in 2000, Ice Cube founded the film production company Cube Vision , through which he from then on handled his own film projects. The Friday films, apart from the first, the Barbershop series, All About the Money and others were produced by this company. Also the 2006 reality show Black. White. was produced by Cubevision. In the six episodes of the show, a white and a colored family swapped their skin color using professional make-up to gain experience of what it felt like to be a different skin color. Ice Cube recorded the title track with Warren G. The series has been criticized for supporting racist stereotypes and prejudices as well as populist comparisons. Contrary to what the series claims, the white family consisted of professional actors who were selected at a casting and were unrelated to each other. The series won an Emmy for the mask.

Ice Cube also had leading roles in the action films xXx 2 - The Next Level and Hart am Limit as well as the comedies Barbershop and Are we already there? . He also appears as a film producer.

2006: Seventh solo album

In 2006 Cube released his seventh solo album Laugh Now, Cry Later , which reached number 4 on the Billboard 200. The album was again more aggressive than its previous albums. In addition to Lil Jon , Scott Storch , Swizz Beatz and DJ Green Lantern , the album's producers also include producers with fewer releases such as D'Maq and Mike Epps . The album was the first solo album that was not released on Priority Records, but on Ice Cube's own label Lench Mob Records .

Discography

Studio albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)
Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
1990 AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted - - - UK48
silver
silver

(5 weeks)UK
US19th
platinum
platinum

(27 weeks)US
First published: May 16, 1990
Sales: + 2,250,000
1991 Death Certificate - - - - US2
platinum
platinum

(36 weeks)US
First published: October 29, 1991
Sales: + 1,640,000
1992 The Predator DE60 (9 weeks)
DE
- - UK73
silver
silver

(1 week)UK
US1
Double platinum
× 2
Double platinum

(52 weeks)US
First published: November 17, 1992
Sales: + 2,775,000
1993 Lethal injection DE66 (9 weeks)
DE
- - UK52 (1 week)
UK
US5
platinum
platinum

(48 weeks)US
First published: December 7, 1993
Sales: + 1,935,000
1998 War & Peace Vol. 1 (The War Disc) - - - - US7th
platinum
platinum

(20 weeks)US
First published: November 17, 1998
Sales: +1,490,000
2000 War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc) DE29 (10 weeks)
DE
- - UK56
silver
silver

(2 weeks)UK
US3
gold
gold

(25 weeks)US
First published: March 21, 2000
Sales: +1,105,000
2006 Laugh Now, Cry Later - - CH63 (4 weeks)
CH
- US4th
gold
gold

(21 weeks)US
First published: June 6, 2006
Sales: + 655,000
2008 Raw footage - - CH53 (4 weeks)
CH
- US5 (11 weeks)
US
First published: August 19, 2008
Sales: + 175,000
2010 I am the west - - - - US22 (5 weeks)
US
First published: September 28, 2010
Sales: +95,000
2018 Everythang's Corrupt - - CH63 (2 weeks)
CH
- US62 (1 week)
US
First published: December 7, 2018

Filmography (selection)

actor

producer

executive producer

  • 1995: Friday
  • 1997: Dangerous Ground
  • 1998: The Players Club
  • 2004: Barbershop 2: Back in Business
  • 2005: Barbershop: The Series (TV series, ten episodes)
  • 2005: Beauty Shop
  • 2006: Black. White. (TV series, six episodes)

Director

  • 1998: The Players Club

Screenwriter

Awards (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Emma Thrower: Tom Hiddleston, Emma Watson, Idris Elba, John Boyega and more join the Academy In: empireonline.com, June 30, 2016.
  2. a b c d e f Ice Cube Biography. In: mtv.com. MTV , accessed November 2, 2008.
  3. How it all began: Ice Cube and the CIA In: 90erhiphop.de , accessed on April 15, 2015.
  4. Ice Cube Explains His Moniker And Gives One To Stephen. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert , June 21, 2017, accessed November 2, 2017 .
  5. a b c : The New Rolling Stone Album Guide 2004. In: rollingstone.com. Rolling Stone , accessed November 2, 2008.
  6. Album details. In: discogs.com. Discogs , accessed November 3, 2008.
  7. Discogs : Label Releases. In: discogs.com. Discogs , accessed November 4, 2008.
  8. worldwideconnected.com: Ice Cube / Westside Connection Vs. Cypress Hill ( memento of October 23, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), accessed November 3, 2008
  9. Cypress Hill team up with ex-rival Ice Cube. In: contactmusic.com. Retrieved November 3, 2008.
  10. Four Hours Of Swagger From Dr. Dre and friends. In: nytimes.com. New York Times , July 17, 2000 (English).
  11. ^ Production list Cube Vision In: imdb.com. IMDb , accessed November 3, 2008.
  12. ^ Black. White. Oh whatever. , accessed on November 3, 2008
  13. ^ The Guardian : Respectability? It can wait. In: usatoday.com. USA Today , accessed November 3, 2008.
  14. ^ Awards for "Black. White. ” In: imdb.com. IMDb , accessed November 3, 2008.
  15. Ice Cube (Biography) In: laut.de . Retrieved November 2, 2008.
  16. Discogs : Album Details Laugh now, Cry Later. In: discogs.com. Discogs , accessed November 3, 2008
  17. Chart positions: DE AT CH UK US
  18. a b c d e f g h i Worldwide album sales On statisticbrain.com, 23 August 2015, English. Retrieved November 1, 2015.