Ice Cube

**O'Shea Jackson Sr.** (born June 15, 1969), known professionally as **Ice Cube**, is an American rapper, writer and actor.

Ice Cube initially gained recognition as a member of the hip hop group C.I.A. in 1984, which gained limited commercial success prior to disbanding three years later. Ice Cube, alongside Dr. Dreand Eazy E, then formed the group N.W.A, where he gained extreme notoriety as the group's primary songwriter and performer, noted for becoming one of the founding artists of gangsta rap, and pushing the boundaries of lyrical content in mainstream popular music, as well as visual imagery in music videos.[1]

After leaving N.W.A in December 1989, Ice Cube embarked on a successful solo career, releasing the albums *AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted* (1990) and *Death Certificate* (1991), both of which have attained platinum certification in the United States, while also being classed as defining albums of the 1990s. Much of his musical output has contained harsh socio-political commentary and storytelling, which has earned him several accolades from multiple publications and artists, often cited as an influence and one of the best rappers of all time.[2][3][4][5][6]

Following the release of *Death Certificate*, Ice Cube transitioned into film, where his popularity was further enhanced by his starring role in *Boyz n the Hood* (1991), where his performance was heavily praised. He also wrote and starred in the *Friday* film series, which contributed to reinventing his public image as a movie star. Ice Cube has also featured in the *Barbershop*, *Ride Along*, and *XXX* film series, while also serving as a producer to several other films, including *Straight Outta Compton* (2015), a biographical film depicting the career of N.W.A..

As a businessman, Ice Cube has founded his clothing line, Solo by Cube, as well as the 3 on 3 basketball league Big3, which predominately features retired NBA players.

## Early life

Ice Cube as a senior in high school, 1987

O'Shea Jackson was born on June 15, 1969, in Baldwin Hills, South Central Los Angeles, the son of Doris, a hospital clerk and custodian, and Hosea Jackson, who worked as a groundskeeper at UCLAand a machinist.[7][8][9][10] He has an older brother[11] as well as a half-sister who was murdered when Ice Cube was 12.[12] His cousin is Teren Delvon Jones, also known as Del tha Funky Homosapien, who is a part of the rap group Hieroglyphics and who has also worked with Gorillaz; another cousin is Kam of rap group The Warzone. Jackson grew up on Van Wick Street in South Central Los Angeles.[13][14] In his early teens, Jackson developed an interest in hip hop music, and began writing raps in Los Angeles George Washington Preparatory High School's typewriting class.[15] Jackson penned his first rap song in the ninth grade after a friend named "Kiddo", challenged him to write a song during a typewriting class. Kiddo lost.[16] On the origins of his rapper name, Ice Cube says that it came from his older brother. He is quoted as saying "He threatened to slam me into a freezer and pull me out when I was an ice cube. I just started using that name, and it just caught on."[17][18][19]

At the age of 16, Jackson sold his first song to future N.W.A. member Eazy-E.[7] Jackson also attended William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills, California.[7] He enrolled at the Phoenix Institute of Technology in the fall of 1987 in Arizona. Being passionate about architecture, he studied architectural drafting.[7][20] He completed his diploma within one year and returned to Los Angeles to pursue a rap career. Not sure of whether his rap career would work out, he would turn to become an architecture draftsman as a career backup.[7][21]

With friend Sir Jinx, Ice Cube formed the C.I.A., and they performed at parties hosted by Dr. Dre. Dre soon entered the recording industry as a member of the World Class Wreckin' Cru. Dre saw Cube's potential as a writer and had him assist with writing Wreckin Cru's big L.A. hit track, "Cabbage Patch" as well as joining Cube on a side partnership which the duo called Stereo Crew. Stereo Crew produced a twelve-inch record, "She's a Skag" released on Epic Records in 1986.[22]

While Dr. Dre was DJing at L.A. dance club Eve After Dark, Ice Cube would rap over his music, often parodying songs by other artists. One such example of this was the song "My Penis," a parody of Run-DMC's "My Adidas."[23] In a 2015 interview, club-owner Alonzo Williams said that he felt that this song damaged his reputation and asked for it not to be performed.[24]