#2004 - Ice Cube

Man, that's what you was doing. He just wanted to go smoke weed with Joe and shit. I couldn't keep up with Snoop. Snoop just keeps going. Man, Snoop, he got a fucking professional bud roller.

I think he's paying 40 grand a year or some shit. Really? I don't know how much, but I know it's a dude who's eight hours a day. He's just bringing Snoop like a hundred blunts in a bag. Here you go, Snoop.

He's the one dude that's exempt anywhere he goes. No one's going to fuck with Snoop with weed. He smoked weed at the White House. Did he really? Yeah, he went in the bathroom and got down.

I said, oh, man. You know, I said, yeah, you know, he blaze anywhere, you know, church, swimming pools. He inside the pool blazing underwater. He's got a card. You can just let him slide.

Yeah. Yeah. He's Snoop. You know what you're going to say? What are you going to say?

What are you going to say? Man, everybody loves Snoop. Same thing with Chappelle. When we go out with Dave, Dave just fire up in a restaurant. Hey, man, you know.

Got to let them know you in the house. Nobody says anything. Yeah, what they going to say? I mean, who wants to be part of his next comedy special? The person that told Dave Chappelle you can't blaze in a Ruth Chris.

Nah, sorry. Nah, nah, nah. Well, hey, man, thank you very much for being here. I really appreciate it. You want some coffee?

No, thanks for having me. You know, I probably had too much coffee. Yeah. Today, you know, I mean, I probably had about two cups already. So I should be cold till this afternoon.

So I saw this video where you're. you said you're doing just a podcast tour. Yeah. I mean, everybody, you know, everybody want to talk to me. You know what I'm saying?

I just want to be able to get the message out to the people, talk to the people. You know, I've been trying to push, push. my league and mainstream sports media have really, you know, basically ignored what we're doing. Why do you think that is? I think they're nervous about the NBA.

They're nervous about their relationship with the NBA could be damaged if they promote the big three. I would think it would help everybody.

Yeah. I mean, it's basketball in the summer.

You know, they got the WNBA, but we really don't play at the same time. You know, they got the games. We got our games.

And, you know, what's. what's crazy is? we got there. You know, former Hall of Famers as a part of this league, and they wanted to be a part of this league. So it's not like we hijacking them or we.

Yeah. You know, kidnapping them. They want to be a part of this league. They wanted to be successful and they want to make money in the summer. So I don't know what the NBA is thinking about.

trying to deprive. Dr. J and Rick Barry and Iceman, George Garvin, a little check in the summer. Like, what's the problem? Yeah, it doesn't seem like it would compete at all.

It seems like it would enhance. It would make. it's when you have more basketball for basketball and basketball fans, they have a season. And when it's over, it's over. Yeah.

The fact that there's more basketball seems to me, but I'm a person. It's like. I feel like there's enough pie for everybody with everything. I feel like that with fighting with MMA, when there's a new organization comes out, I'm like, good, good. Give people more opportunity to make money, without a doubt.

You know, and it's about who do it the best. And we're not trying to compete in any way, shape or form, with the NBA. We're very complimentary. So I don't understand why they would, you know, do some of the things that's being done behind the scenes that. Well, they're like encouraging people to not do it.

Encouraging people to not sponsor us. I mean, like. Really? Yeah. I mean, encouraging networks not to play us.

Really? Yeah. Those things we've been able to survive. But, you know, at a certain point, it's just redundant and ridiculous. And we got to fight back some way, shape or form.

It. just in my mind, it seems silly. It seems like it only enhance. But that's what happens when you get big corporations, Matt. Yeah.

And you know what, Joe? It's not the players. It's not the owners. It's not gyms or scouts, because they, you know, name a big owner. He probably loves the league.

And we've heard from a lot of them that they love the league. They would love to invest.

And the players love the league. They come to the games. They play in the league when they're done with with the NBA gyms.

Scouts come sit next to me on the front row and be like, oh, man, you know, and they even pull. some more guys, put them in the G League. A couple of guys made it all the way back to the NBA, you know, 10 day contracts, things like that. So it's not the culture of the NBA. It's just the suits.

It's the corporate people. You know what I mean? It's the brass. It's the, it's the top guys that are scared of what we got. Just scared of competition in general always.

Well, they think they own basketball. They think like we own basketball. But it's nuts. It's fucking nuts because I don't hear kids running out saying, mom, I'm about to go play NBA. Right.

No, they say, mom, I'm about to go play basketball with my friends. Yeah. So basketball doesn't have an owner.

And they are, I think, intimidated that we have changed the game, you know, and we haven't changed it just to change it. We've changed it for the better, and we've changed it within our own version of the sport. So we're not trying to change five on five. We're just trying to introduce three on three and elevate it to the professional level, which we have. I only think that would be a good thing.

Those suits are silly. It is a good thing, man. They are silly. That's why I'm here, man. You know, it's like it's time for these, you know, suits to get out the way and, you know, let the relationship flourish, if it's going to flourish.

And even if it don't, look, we're doing fine. We're in our sixth season. Our ratings are growing. You know, we did, you know, 500,000 people on CBS this Sunday. That's awesome.

It's crazy. Where did this idea come from? Me and my guy, Jeff, you know, we've been working together for over 25 years. Like everything in the last 25 years, we've kind of been, you know, cooking it up. So, you know, we see Kobe score 60 points in his last game.

Now this idea had been brewing in me, but it was like, you know, it's sports. I'm an entertainment guy. You know, I'm in rap. I'm in the, you know, music and movies and television and that. So it had just been sitting there, and this dude hit 60 points in his last game, and then there's nowhere else.

you can see him play. He's done. Bye. Wave. Go in the tunnel.

And we're like, that sucks. It sucks that we cannot ever see Kobe Bryant playing a professional basketball game again. There's got to be other guys that people want to see. that still got it. They may not be able to play 82 games.

You know what I mean? They may not be able to play back-to-backs and three games and four nights, but half-court, three-on-three to 50, they're going to look like all-stars. And so that's where the idea started to germinate. That makes sense, too, that it's just the breakdown. As you get older, you just can't do as many games.

That makes sense. Yeah. I mean, they still can play. Like if you put them out there one game, give it all you got against the 20-year-olds, they'll do great. But if you haven't played the next day, you know, they just can't recover as fast as the 20-year-olds.

So they look like they can't play the next day. So by having a week off, you get to recover. It's like football. You get a chance to let your body recover, heal. So, by the time that next weekend come around, you're 100% ready, good to go.

Let's do it. Especially with the way guys train today, where older guys can train today, you know, with the science of sports, nutrition, science of recovery. They're just so much better at it now than they've ever been before. We changed our mind. We got rid of this.

We heard you was on, Joe. What can we do? This is so stupid. That's the thing with older fighters, too. They have a hard time getting through camps.

That's part. It's like they can still fight, but getting through an eight-week camp, two-a-days, all the sparring. Yeah, too much. Yeah. I remember I got the football player.

He played for the Giants receiver, Plexico, Burris. Plexico, Burris, the coaches hated him because, I ain't going to say, hated him, you know, I'm just exaggerating. But they didn't like the fact that he would not practice at all. Come in the game on Sunday and score a touchdown. It's like it goes against everything that they preach.

You have to practice. You have to practice. You have to practice. Then you are conditioned to score the touchdown. But he's like, no, I got to recover.

I got to recover. I got to recover. And then by Sunday, I can go out and score a touchdown. And that goes against coaches' philosophy. But he knew his own body.

Of course. And, you know, we all know our own body to a certain extent. Yeah. And I think you should always save an athlete from himself, but you shouldn't push an athlete before he's ready to go. Yeah.

Yeah, it's always different for different people too. Some people recover quicker. It's just, you know, as athletes get older in particular, they get more and more wise to that, more and more wise to, like, how their body works and what they need to do and not need to do. Yeah. You know, I heard one player say that, man, they don't pay me to play in the game.

Like, I'll do that for free. 70,000, 15,000 fans, who wouldn't do that for free? They pay me to practice. They pay me to show up on time. They pay me to do all the stuff I don't want to do.

And, you know, that makes sense. But sometimes you don't practice somebody just because you're paying them. Yeah. Well, the difference being, like, you can never do this. when football players are done.

They're kind of done, because just the damage they take. Some, you know, I think it depends on the style. You know, I think you could, do, you know, an interesting flag version of football. I think you could sell it if it was, you know, thought about and really worked on to be, you know, pleasing to the fans. How would you do that?

Because people love touchdowns, but they also love tackles. They love people getting hit. Yeah. I mean, there's a few ways to do it. You know, you could do pads, 7-on-7 and kind of, you know, open the game up a little bit.

so it's not so many collisions coming from so many different angles. Yeah. Less people, more space, more skill set, not so brute, but a little bit of hitting. Could do it that way, too. Yeah, that could work.

The flag one, I would think, would be kind of tough. It's tough because people look at flag as kind of like a side, you know, a byproduct of football, not real football. Almost like football for kids. Yeah. But, you know, guys will go out and play two-hand touch all day, you know.

Yeah. So maybe that's it. Who knows? Well, it's interesting when fighters figure out ways to do that, too, like what Floyd is doing. What Floyd is doing is so interesting.

He retires from fighting and he says, I'll just start boxing people who have no chance. Hey, why not? You know? I mean, exhibition. Like we saw that in, what, was it Rocky III or something?

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he started doing exhibitions with Hulk Hogan and, you know. Yeah, exactly, exactly. And got caught.

I mean, he got hurt, like, you know, dealing with that. So, I mean, I think people want to see Floyd fight. You know, some people want to see him lose. You know, I never wanted to see Floyd lose. And so he'll always have some interest, you know, even if he's fighting, you know.

What he did is just complete genius. Yes. First of all, from just changing his style, right, where he broke his hands a lot. So when he was younger, they called him Pretty Boy Floyd. Yeah.

And then he changes his name to Money. And when he changes his name to Money, he turns heel. Yeah. He became, like, this guy, taught, and everybody wanted to see him get beat. Yeah.

And he's the most unhittable guy in the history of the sport. Yes, sir. He's right up there with Purnell Whitaker. Like, those are the two guys that I say are, like, the most elusive guys in modern, you know, past Willie Pepp in modern era. Purnell Whitaker and Floyd.

Floyd's even more impressive because he stands right in front of guys. He stands right in front of you and you can't hit him. Right in front of you. And you can't get a good one on him. You can't get shit on him.

It's one of the most amazing skill sets. He's like a, you know, one of those, like, Minnesota Fats kind of pool players that know all the trick shots. Yeah. You can't beat him, you know, a guy that can, you know, play a hand or board game or ping pong. You just can't beat him.

He's that way in boxing. Yeah. He just knows all the tricks of the trade and he's just better. He has way more information about where you should be for, where he can hit you and where he should be where you can't hit him. He's got it all in his head.

He knows what punch can be thrown, at what time and what punch can't. And so he, just, when he knows you can't throw a punch, that's where he is. And when he knows you can, that's where he ain't. My favorite fight, I've had a lot of favorite fights of his, but one of my favorites was the Canelo fight, because it was just a masterclass. Yeah.

Masterclass. And just a young, incredibly promising champion, a guy who's going to be an all-time great, but not yet. Not yet. You're not ready for that guy. You know, Floyd always catch him young.

He. catch him coming up. Catch him young or old. Yeah, catch him young or old. Yeah, you know.

And he'd tap you up and then he'd say, thank you. Yeah. You know, next. He did a smart thing too. He got him to cut down 152 pounds.

Yeah. Got him a little lighter. Yeah. A little smaller. A little more dehydrated.

A little weaker. Yeah, a little weaker. And then just box him up. Yeah. But if you see what it did to Canelo's game, like you see Canelo, when he fought Danny Jacobs later on, he was moving like Floyd.

Like he mirrored that. You have to. Yeah. I mean, you're dealing with a master. And when you fight a master or you, you know, if I rapped against a master, or if, you know, you spar against a master, you better take a few tricks of the trade.

Yeah. Which, you know, that's the whole thing about respecting the game. Daniel Cormier always says you get the rub. Like when someone fights for the title and you fight a world champion, you feel what that's like. Like, okay.

And you either get way better or you kind of like realize, I'll never beat that guy. You'll never get that level. There was like a lot of, like during the Tyson era, nobody got the rub. He was like, he got in there and you were like, fuck this. I mean, Tyson had you so many, he has so many psychological advantages.

Yes. You know, everybody else, you know, you know, give me the pretty robe, put this satin on the robe. I need to, you know, I need to look, I had to have flares coming from my, my tassels, you know, have to be right. You know, I got to look pretty. coming in there.

Floyd. come in there, gladiator style. Yeah. Mike had a towel over his head with a hole in it. And, and, and no socks on.

He ain't here for none of that. He just here to whoop your ass. It was the best. And, and, you know, and he psychologically beat a lot of people before he even landed that fatal punch. Oh yeah.

Even after the Buster Douglas fight, he, that didn't even take it away from him. A lot of times when a guy gets knocked out, like their aura of invincibility goes away. But with Mike, it was still there. Yeah. Cause people are always scared of the, you know, when you snap, nobody want to deal with crazy.

You know what I mean? Everybody could deal with everything, but you know, everybody get out the way of crazy. Yeah. Yeah. When Mike was screaming, I'll eat your children, man.

Yeah. This is the walkout. Look, he's just pushing everybody out the way. Nobody even want to give him a dap, cause they don't know if he gonna knock them out on his way to the ring. Yeah.

That's, I mean, this is some of the G of shit ever. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like just a tap, cut the towel in half, man. Yeah.

You know what I mean? I ain't got time for this shit. I'm ready to knock somebody the fuck out. It was a special time in boxing because it was a long time where the heavyweight champion, you know, Larry Holmes, didn't get his due because he beat up Muhammad Ali. Everybody's always mad at Larry.

And then, when Mike Tyson came along, it was like, all of a sudden there's like a real heavyweight champion, or everybody wants to see him fight. Yeah. You know, he was my, my first experience of a guy who was just, you know, the incredible Hulk like going and knock people out, you know, two or three rounds. It's over. And, you know, I grew up watching Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes and all the other fighters in between.

You know, I wasn't really, you know, old enough to appreciate Joe Frazier or nothing like that. But, um, when Tyson came around, he was like, Oh, this is what, this is what you want in a fighter. That's why he was a superhero. Yeah. It was like, this is what you want.

You want that attitude. You know, pretty fighters are okay, but you want, you want a ferocious fighter. Yeah. Pretty fighters are fun to watch. Floyd's fun.

Look, as a person who appreciates, but Floyd can do the way he expresses himself. It's just, it's genius. It's genius. Boxing. When, you know, a lot of people want to know who's the best ever.

I feel like you go on, who got hit the least, who won the most fights and who got hit the least. If you look at that, Floyd's at the top of the heap, by far, like no one's even close. Yeah. And count the money. Yeah.

And count the money. Yeah. I, I gotta say he, you know, he is the best. Um, you know, when you want to see like a destruction, the Mike Tyson fights were a completely different kind of an event. Yeah.

You know, the thing is, is, you know, I think people would love Floyd if he, you know, had a little more pop on the punch, you know? I mean, he can hit you and get you and pop you and drop you and, and back you up and do all those good stuff and make you look bad. And, and I think, you know, he's, he's just, um, people, you know, fault him for not, you know, when he hit it, you know, it, it hurt. Well, he always had hand problems and he had multiple hand breaks. Yeah.

What was very unfortunate, but that also probably contributed to how skillful he was. Cause he couldn't get guys out with one shot. So he had to just always be in the right spot, piece you up, hit, not get hit. Just the way he did it, standing in front of people. It's just, I don't think folks understand how hard that is to do.

So crazy. Yeah. It's, uh, it's almost, uh, like magic. It's almost like magic. You know how, you know, like.

you're standing there and you're saying, come on, come with your best shot and you can't get it. You can't land it. How, how, why, why can't I land this shot? You know what I mean? Everybody thinks they can too.

That's what's interesting. Yes. Especially in this whole promo tour he's doing where he's just running around, doing these exhibitions. They all think I could probably land a shot. No.

He's 46.. Nah. They're talking about him fighting Pacquiao. About them doing it again. I've watched that.

Yeah. I mean, hell yeah. Fuck. yeah. I don't think, I don't think age, um, should really keep you from checking out somebody, you know, who's a master.

Yeah. Like, especially if he's fighting someone, his age. Yeah. It's, uh, it's two masters going at it. Um, and you know, age is, is just a number, you know, it's really just a number.

It's not, it's not reality. Reality is how you feel. You know, it's a, it's a saying, if you didn't know how old you were, would you know how old you are? Hmm. Some people would.

It's a, it's an indicator of how well your body's functioning. It's a pretty good indicator, though. Like if you said someone wants to fight and they're 60, you go, 60.. Yeah. 60 is too old.

Yeah. You know, it's too old to see fast skills. Yeah. But have you, have you ever seen an old man fight? It's pretty interesting, you know, couple old dudes, you know what I mean?

I seen on the internet, a couple old dudes get at it and it's, uh, it's pretty, it's fun. You know, one round get down. Yeah. It's like we got the 60 year olds with the one round. get down.

We're going to go as long as they can before they fall out. You get fucked up. as a 60 year old, though. You don't recover. Yeah.

That's true. As a 60 year old, you might be fucked for the rest of your life. Yeah. You're risking a lot. Yeah.

Some people would do it, though. You know, I've seen some guys are young, they got fucked up. They were never the same. You know, it's, um, it's the, it's the roughest way to make a dollar in sports. The roughest.

Um, and UFC even take it to another notch, cause, you know, somebody can kick your mouth open. Kick your jaw open. Yeah. Knee you in the face, elbow you in the eye. socket.

Yeah. Or just, you know what I mean? You know, pull your shit out of socket. Yeah. Yeah.

It's like, it's a rough game. It is. It's a rough game. You know, tap out, baby. Tap out.

Yeah. It's just, but it's the most exciting thing to watch. Combat sports. to me, it's just like, man, when you watch like a world title fight, there's very few things, whether it's boxing or MMA, like when Terrence Crawford's going to fight Errol Spence. Yeah.

That fight is going to be crazy. Yeah, man, that is a crazy moment where you got two undefeated champions in their prime. Yes. And no one knows what's going to happen. You're like, I don't know.

Yeah. You know, it's, uh, it's interesting. You know, sometimes those fights, um, they're just too skilled. You know, have you ever seen this fight? They're too skilled and they, they just both missing, cause they can't hit each other, cause they both got the skills, you know?

And they don't want to take too many chances and open up. Yeah. So, uh, hopefully it's not one of them. I don't know. Hopefully it's one of those, uh, they take it personal from the first couple of rounds, and.

Yeah. I can't imagine. Terrence Crawford's never been in a boring fight ever. Neither is Errol Spence. I think they're going to go after each other.

Well, they know how to tattoo the opponent. So I can imagine them just tattooing each other, you know, back and forth. Yeah. I mean, I'm interested to see how Terrence, what stance he uses too. Cause he, in my opinion, he's the best switch hitter since Marvin Hagler.

Like nobody switches like Terrence. Yeah. Terrence, just, he's Southpaw, then he's Orthodox, and it's just as good from both sides. And you got to like, do all this calculating in the middle of the fight and switch it up. Everything's coming from a different angle.

now. Yeah. Your brain is, is not moving as fast as it should be. That's such a big body. Can't move that fast.

If your brain is right, you have to think, and so much. Yeah. Yeah. It should be instincts, but yeah, it's going to be an amazing fight. And, you know, I'm worried a little bit about Earl.

You know, he's been in those car accidents. Was it one? There's one. The Ferrari. That's a crazy car.

He could have died in that 100.. If he didn't have a seatbelt, or he wasn't wearing a seatbelt, but if he was wearing a seatbelt, he might be dead. If he was wearing one. Yeah. He got thrown from the Ferrari.

He was in a convertible. Have you seen it? No, I haven't. I seen the car. You seen the video?

I haven't seen the video. Oh, shit. Watch this. This video is crazy. Here it goes.

Wow. Yeah. So he got thrown out of the car, and that's how he survived. I didn't know it was like that. Yeah.

Geez. Dude, 100% could have been dead. Yes. 100%. I mean, that was a terrible accident.

It's hard to say that you 100% out. I mean, he rolled like five, six, seven times. Look at that card. If he wasn't a master athlete, could he had survived that? And who knows what happened to him when he survived, right?

Like, did he hit his head? Did he hit his neck? Like, what is he? Okay. Like, is he 100%, or is he always going to be away?

a little fuck from that? There's another angle. Wow. Jesus. Oh my God.

That's one of the most horrific ones I've seen, but he was okay. That's good. Amazing. Amazing. Because, like a talent like that, take that guy at a young age.

So horrible. Yes. Yes. It would, it would be, it would be devastating. They give these dudes money and they, you could just go buy one of those cars.

It's kind of crazy. You could just go buy a 700 horsepower car. You don't even know how to drive. Yeah. You just have money.

Yeah, I know. I used to, uh, there was a trip, cause I remember being at the studio Echo sound one time, and Tupac came. He pulled up in the Benz. It's like, Oh, man, Pac, you got your Benz. He's like, yep.

I don't have my license, man. I hope I don't wreck it. Man. Park, that car, man. I don't know how to drive it.

He's like, nah, man. I've been in New York, man. So long. I'm worried about driving. I'm like, Oh, you know, I think he did wreck it a few times.

You know what I'm saying? It was all said and done. Learning how to drive.

Benz, you know, like 500.. What was the first thing you bought when you started making money?

Um, man, the first thing I bought, um, like the first car. Oh man, I bought a, uh, a Honda Accord. I bought a Honda Accord. You know, they had just come out with a new model. It was about, it was about 20 G's.

And I was like, you know, I'm sick of rolling around here. You know, at first I had like a, uh, sidekick, you know, a Suzuki sidekick. Oh no. Suzuki made cars. I remember those.

Sidekick, you know, I was like, man, I need some, I need some luxury. You know what I mean? I'm starting to make money. You know, let's go down here and get this Honda Accord. Kim, she's my wife, but she was my girlfriend at the time.

So we went down there, place on, uh, I think it was La Cienega. They had a Honda spot. And I just went in there and bought a black Honda Accord. Cash. Wow.

Yeah. That's a pretty reasonable car, but you didn't go crazy. I only had 20 G's. So if I had a head, 40 out of both, you know, probably a BMW, you know what I mean? Three series of some.

So, uh, you know, at the time it was the first cool thing I was able to buy. and, and not sweat it. You know what I mean? Like that's the key is the buy it and not sweat it. Right.

Yeah. if you buying it and you sweating it still, and you like, damn, I remember, I remember one day I'm going to drain yellow. They got checks. I think they got checks for like $35,000..

Next thing. I seen them, they had both had vets. I think Corvettes. And I was like, how much you put in 31?? How much you pay?

fuel is 33.. I'm like, y'all broke now.

So what? We look good.

It's funny, but that's the temptation, you know? Yeah. I mean, you know, you,

man, you, you like, you only live once, and we know a lot of people that die young. And so it's kind of like get it while the getting is good. Yeah. It's also, you're young when you're young. When, when I first started making money, my manager thought I had a gambling problem.

Yeah. He called me up. He said, uh, you are, are you having a gambling problem? Cause he knew how much money I was burning through. I go, no, man, I'm eating lobster.

I grew up poor. Yeah. I'm like, I'm eating steak and lobster. I'm taking my friends out. I'm like, I'm spending money.

Yeah. I mean, that's what you do, you know? And it feels good. Yeah. It feels good.

It was good to finally be able to treat and, and, um, not, you know, worry about what it's going to look like. Or, that's the big thing is the worry. I remember the first check I got, I got a check from Disney for a development deal from Disneyland, 1993.. And when I got the check, it was like, weight lifted off my shoulders. It was like, Ooh, like I could look in my bank account.

I go, I got money in the bank account. Yeah. I could pay the bills. I don't have to think about the bills right now. And it was like, like I was lighter, like, without a doubt.

Yeah. I mean, it does weigh on you when you can't, you know, when you, when you don't know exactly where the money's going to come from, you know, the bills here, you know, when you got to pay it, but you really don't know exactly how this is all going to come together. You know, you, you hope the universe bless you with an opportunity. Yeah. And, um, and so to not have that worry, it is a weight lifted off, you know, and I wish, I wish more people could feel the weight lifted off, but there's another thing, the more you make, the more you spend.

And so sometimes the weight comes back on, you know what I mean? The weight comes back on. And then you have employees, and that's another weight. That's a different weight. That's like, you think about other people's families, and yes, you're making money for them too.

Yeah. You know, you really, you know, that's why I don't do nothing crazy. You know, I'm not in the skydiving, nothing like that. You know, I'm definitely not going down in no damn submarine. Yeah.

What the fuck? Titanic. I don't do, I don't take those crazy chances, because, you know, I got generations depending on me. Yeah. And so, you know, got to take that responsibility serious, because you never know when others in my family, bloodline or whatever are going to be able to have the opportunities that I have, you know, even though my son, O'Shea junior, you know, he's working constantly.

He's in Spain right now. Yeah, he is. That's amazing. That's amazing that he's, he's just carrying on. That's beautiful.

It is. I must make you very proud, man. It's like the best one. One guy asked me, you know, how does it feel saying your son, you know, straight out of Compton and, and does so well. I said, it's like, it's like winning the Superbowl on a team.

And then your son comes and win the Superbowl for that same team.

That's the feeling. I don't know if anybody has ever had that feeling, but it seems like that's how I feel. It's like I won with NWA and he won with NWA. That's amazing. And what a perfect person to play.

I mean, how, who, who would be better to play you? Exactly. It's perfect. I mean, I, before he, you know, decided to take the movie, I was, you know, I would take him on tour with me, and we would do, we was doing that anyway. He would jump on stage.

He would do dope man. And, you know, I'm like, Oh, this is my son, you know? And, um, I'm like, man, he, he got that swagger up here. Mommy of a young me. Okay.

So when it was time to do the movie, when it was really a go, I went to him and I said, uh, Hey man, this, this NWA movie looked like it's going to go. Um, he was like, cool, man. That's good. Good luck, man. That's great.

Like, hold on, hold on. I said, um,

I want you to play me. He was like, okay. And I'm like, wow, that was too easy. You know what I mean? That was like, you know, that was, he was like, okay.

And he just kept on walking. I'm like, wait a minute. And then I said, I got to see if he's serious, uh, or he's just, you know, saying, okay, just say, okay. But it's a hell of a lot of work. So, um, I started putting him through the, through the ringer a little bit.

You know, I was like, Hey man, we got to act. And we got to act and coach for you. You know, you need to go down there on Thursday. You know, you need to be there at this time. And that boom, boom, boom.

Like, Oh, all right. All right. And he would go. and I'm like, okay, he's starting to go, but is he just going, is he participating? Is he into it?

You know, boom. So I said, I'm gonna try something else. I sent him to New York, to, to a guy, uh, for, for, you know, training, acting, like I'm sitting all the way in New York. Let's see if he'll do that. Cause that's when he'll bail.

Be like, Oh, you know, I got something to do. So he, he got on the plane, flew to New York, work with this cat,

flew back. Now, when he flew back,

I, I was checking him out, saying what he was doing. You know, we was far from actually casting a movie at that time. And then he was like, uh, he came up, he was like, I'm gonna go work with my coach today. I'm like, what? He said, yeah, me and my acting coach, we're going to get together.

We're going to do a couple of things. I'm like, he's into it. He's into it. Yeah. So then I let him do that.

So now I have to approach Gary Gray. Now, Gary Gray is the director of straight out of Compton. He also directed Friday and he directed, uh, it was a good day. You know, these are some of my biggest projects. And when I told him, he was like, yeah, man, it's cool.

You know, he. just, he was just thinking about who we're going to get to play here. I said, okay, guess who? I want to play? ice cube.

He's like, Oh, I said, my son, he was like, ah,

cute.

What the fuck, man? I thought we was making a real movie, man.

We are making a real movie. What you talking about? I said, he's going to be great at it. He's going to be great. If you get the part, he'll have to audition and universal sign off on him, but you're going to work with him.

Just like John Singleton. work with me. You know what I mean? John put me in boys in the hood. I didn't act.

I wasn't no actor. I was just a rapper. And, um, he saw something in me, put me in the movie and he helped me through it. And the rest is history. And you're going to do the same thing.

So make a long story short. So audition time, screen test time. Now my son going there and he said he got pissed off. Cause it's five other fucking ice cubes. They audition.

He's like, these dudes think they're about to take this. He said, man, I felt like I had the family name on my back. I had to go in there and house this shit. And he said, you know, when he left the, the, the, the screen test, Donna Langley from universal called me. And it was like, your son was great.

He was actually the best one. And we're going to sign off on it. Wow. Yeah. It's cool.

Cool story. That's a great story. It's great story. The way you made him do it too. That's so smart.

He worked harder than any of the other actors, like two years of grinding, because you know, the coach's son. always, he get it to worse. You know what I mean? And, and it was no different on this movie. Of course he had, I had to make sure that he won and he set up himself for a career in this game.

That's amazing. That's amazing. Your career, like. it was one of the things that's so fascinating about your career. It's like, there was never anyone like you before that did what you did.

You went from gangster rap to like family movies. Yeah. Like no one's ever done that. And then sports entertainment, like you, you branched out into so many things, but the, the key part of it that people need to understand today is when you guys came out, when NWA came out, the whole world went, what the fuck? Yes.

The whole world. I remember I was on, I was in Revere, Massachusetts. I was on an elliptical machine at the gym and a friend of mine told me, you gotta listen to this shit. And I had a cassette Walkman. Yeah.

So I'm there with a cassette Walkman on the elliptical shit, elliptical machine, listening to straight out of Compton going, holy shit. Like, this is why there was nothing like that before that. And I remember like laughing while, while I was riding the elliptical, I'm like, these guys are out of their fucking mind. This is crazy. And then there was, like the tipper Gore shit where Al Gore's wife was trying to censor rap music.

The, the PMRC parents resources mute against music council or something like that. And, um, that was the Democrats folks. That, that's the reason you have an advisory sticker on the record, because that was the compromise. They were saying, you know, I sent my, sent my daughter to the record store to buy a record. She came home with the fucking two live crew.

I know this shit was going to be like this, you know? So, you know, the compromise from the, the record industry was, we'll put a parental advisory sticker on the record too. So if a parent was buying a record for Christmas, you know, they, parents was like, I want too short. You know what I mean? They go buy the too short record, put it in.

And then you're like, what the hell? So we were the first group to put that sticker on our records. We were the very first group because priority records designed that parental advisory sticker. And, uh, yep, that sticker. And it was, it was actually, it had to be stuck on the record, like a sticker.

And they had to go through all our records in every record store and put the sticker on. So the next time we did artwork, we just planted it in the artwork. Wow. And then kids wouldn't buy your shit. If it didn't have to say,

it's like he was putting a, putting a sticker on clean records. That's hilarious. It's like a clean record, not one ounce of profanity on it, but they was putting the parental advisory because kids was looking at it. It was like, we're just sticking with notes. Ah, that's a, there's the opposite effect.

It promotes it. Yes. That's what exactly what happened and promoted it to live crew was the first band that got arrested. though. Right.

When they, the first band that got arrested, um, on stage, I believe. Yeah. I'm not sure. You know, his rap got a long history. You know, I don't know if somebody, you know, tackled, you know, cool, Herc or somebody.

But, but, uh, that's the one that went, you know, nationwide news. Um, and yeah, he got arrested. Yeah. Yeah. Luke, Luke fought for all of our freedom of speech, to be honest.

You know, if they would have took Luke down and the two live crew at the time and said that this music is too obscene and you can't sell stuff like this, you know, everything was probably be, so, you know, sterile right now, you know? Yeah. Oh, for sure. It, that's the same thing with Howard Stern and radio. Yes.

No, they went after Howard. They, they, they find them insane amounts of money for the Howard Stern show. Yes. I remember. And if he just folded and gave into that, there probably no podcasts or it would have taken a lot longer.

Exactly. To figure this out. Yeah. Um, it's incredible. It's incredible.

When, when you stand up at the moment of truth, you know? Yeah. Like, it's important for us to stand up at the time that is going on and not back down and then try to regroup it and then go at it. You know, it's, it's really important. It is for people to stand up for themselves, but it's, it's hard.

Yes. It's hard, today more than ever, because you get so much pressure. people like, especially during COVID, people ganged up on people. People were doing the man's work for the man. It's like, who the fuck are you trusting?

Like, why are you trusting these people that have been lying forever? Yeah, man. It was wild during that time. Like it, you know, people, um,

being bullied into doing things that they didn't want to do. A lot of them didn't want to do it. They, they did it because of their work or their, you know, their, um,

situations, or, yeah, a lot of them are, are hurting right now. You know, I know, you know, I know, um, a guy that's, you know, been dealing with tinnitus since, since he got it. And so I, you know, it's just, I know quite a few people that got fucked up. Some of them pretty bad. It's just, it was just, there was, if you wanted to do it in a textbook way, like if it was a conspiracy, that's how I would do it.

I'd isolate people, make them stay at home, take away their livelihood, make them scared, give them small checks, you know, and then give them this thing that you got to take to get back to normal. Want to get back to normal? Yeah. Go, take that. Don't worry.

Safe and effective, safe and effective, safe and effective. And then you have all this pressure and everyone is yelling at you. If you don't do it, if you don't do it, we're not going to get back to normal. And everybody got scared and everybody just stepped in line. It was strange.

It's strange. Yeah, it was. Um,

you know, stepping in line sometimes is not the way to go. No, it's not always the way to go. It's, you know, you're trying to prevent, trying to make things all smooth and easy and no issues, and, and back to normal and all that. And the world might be back to normal, but are you normal? Well, you got to be able to make informed decisions.

Yes. And when you can't make an informed decision and you're being pressured anyway, it's like, what, what do you, how long? And this is the thing that was driving me crazy. Before the election,

all, when Donald Trump was president, all they were talking about is I'm not going to take the shot. You're going to take a shot that Trump made. Who's going to take that shot. Even Biden was saying it. Who's going to take it.

Kamala Harris is saying, they were all saying it. Don't take that. I would never take that. And then, all of a sudden, Biden becomes president. No, you got to take it.

Like, is this the same thing? This is the same thing. You know how long it takes to develop a vaccine. This is the same vaccine. Same one.

You guys were just talking shit. And, you know, no matter who tried to give it to you, at the end of the day, it wasn't ready. It's not ready. You know, six months to try to turn this thing into something effective. Um, that was totally, you know, experimental, totally experimental.

Um, and everybody who, who took it was, was basically signing up to take an experiment. Experimental drug. Um, and I'm not anti-vax. I've been vaxed before. Like, I've had vaccines.

How about all of them? Everyone I was supposed to get. Exactly. Uh, but those have been, some been around 80 years, some around 50, 40.. Um, and I just wasn't comfortable.

after six months. I was ready to take it. The UFC allocated 150 vaccines, I think, for all their employees. And this was when we were doing shows during the lockdown. So we'd go, there was a COVID bubble.

You get tested, you get tested the day of the event. And I was there and they said, Oh, we got the vaccines. You want to take it? I said, yeah. So I, I called up the doctor.

I said, Hey man, can I take it? And they, and they said, yeah, hold on, we'll, we'll set it up. I was going to tell you, like before the show, I thought it was just like a flu shot. Give me that thing. It's normal.

Right. And they call me up and they say, no, we can't do it until Monday. Uh, we have to, it has to be done at the clinic. Can you, can you go on Monday? I said, I can't, I'll go, but I'll be back for another event.

Two weeks. Okay, we'll do it then. And during that time, it got pulled. during the time it got pulled for blood clots. And two guys I knew had strokes.

Two guys. Wow. Yeah. Wow. And then I was like, okay, what is going on?

And then my friend got it and got over it quick. And I was like, what's going on? And then my real estate lady had it. And she didn't even have any symptoms. She tested positive twice.

And she's like, well, I got to isolate, but I feel fine. And then I was like, well, what is this? Is this a death sentence? Or is this like, how many people are asymptomatic? You find out like 65% of the people are asymptomatic.

Like. what, what the fuck is going on here? Yeah. And then, uh, I knew some people that got it and got real, real sick, but they were fat, or they were out of shape or there, they had other problems. And then I knew a few friends were real healthy that got it.

They got wrecked because they didn't take it seriously. And they kept working out. So there was a lot of confusion. Yes. And, you know, it was a lot, a lot of fear.

But when I finally got it and I got over quick and then they started attacking me for taking a horse medication, I was like, what the fuck is going on? Shouldn't you be more interested in the fact that this deadly disease hit this 55 year old dude and he was better in three days. Isn't that more interesting? Like, why don't you ask what I took? Like, why did I get better?

What is it? Yeah. I wasn't vaccinated. Yeah. I wasn't vaccinated, but I got over it quick.

So what's wrong with that? in any other fucking rational, sane world, when there's a disease and someone goes to a doctor and gets medication for that disease and gets better in three days, you go, Oh, well, that's a way to get better from that disease. It's not, this is one singular thing that you have to do. that. I can't even do now.

Cause I already have antibodies. Like this is stupid. It's crazy. And you know, the thing is, is when money, is the driving force and,

you know, I don't know if they can even get money off of what you took. You know what I mean? Uh, it seems like something that's been around for a long time. That's just one of the things I took and, and, and there's no money in it. Right.

No new money in it. Yes. So real money in it. So that's really what it's all about. You know, it's not about if it worked or if it's effective, it's about, they can't make no money off of it.

And we got this new stuff that we can make billions. So that's where the pressure comes from. And that's why they pushing it. That's why you have to think for yourself, because money is driving these people to, um, give you bad advice or give you the wrong advice, or, or to hide, um, you know, solutions and cures and remedies, uh, from you. And, um, you know, you gotta, once, once you peep that out, you have to take a step back and make sure that you're, you're following the money to make sure it's not gone.

It's just so hard to do in the middle of a pandemic. That's why it was so hard, because everybody was just like locked in their house and scared, especially in California. The, the attitude in California was so much different than the attitude here. We came to Texas. I'm like, don't have some fucking mask on.

This is crazy. Yeah. We're just out normal. Yeah. Cali, they went crazy with it.

You know, I was using the mass really as a disguise. So I finally walked, finally walked through here and nobody asked for a selfie. You know what I mean? Cool. So, you know, I kinda like, I got the mass in my pocket for that too.

You know what I mean? Pop it on, go to the airport. It's just a disguise now. Yeah. Well, finally you can wear a mask.

Yeah. The other time. And that's what I tripped off too. I was like, they letting all these people stand around in these stores, walking through these stores with their face covered. Yeah.

And banks. Yeah. When, yeah, exactly. When is a guy just going to pull out a pistol? And like, I don't know.

They all have mass. We don't know who it was. He was a man. Who's that mass man. Well, it's happening so often in New York city.

They made people take their mass down when they went into stores. They made that a rule so that the camera can get a shot of your face. Lord. It's so stupid. It's so stupid.

I'm supposed to keep this on to protect everybody. Well, and then they, they found out real early that it didn't even work. They knew early that those things were bullshit, but it was a, it was a thing that it get you to comply with. Yeah. And it's also, you did it.

So you didn't feel like an asshole. If everybody had a mask on, you, didn't, you felt like an asshole. So I put a mask. Yeah. And you know, people were looking at you like you're the one spreading all the COVID around here.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was crazy. Um, I knew a guy got sick wearing the mask.

Like he had this cloth mask that he just felt it was the thing that was going to protect them. I'm like, dude, you're breathing in and like wash that thing. You know what I'm saying? You breathing that you, I don't know what you breathe. You breathe in last week's, you know, bad breath.

Yeah. Fat burger. Like, dude, you know what I'm saying? Take that off your face. Yeah.

You wouldn't want that on a wound. No. Right. You know, a dirty ass rag over a cut. Yeah.

He's breathing through it all day, every day. Getting right in your bloodstream. Yeah. You smoking weed through that thing, man.

Take it off. Yeah. It was just weird. This is a weird time. I saw that you would, you would have to pass on a movie because they wanted you to get a shot.

Yeah. You know, they,

strangest thing, you know, say we're doing a movie. We're doing a movie. Um, I'm like, okay. And then, um,

all the producers in Hollywood decided that they don't want anybody on their movie set. that haven't gotten a vaccine. And what year was this? This is 2020.. Okay.

So it's in the middle of it. Yeah. Um, I mean, we're coming out of it. Um, I think it might be 21 when we know, okay, everything is going back to normal, but it, the, the, the, I believe the news came out, um, during 2020.. And so, you know, I never thought it was a producer's mandate.

You know, I thought it was a studio mandate, but I think the studios really wanted to have, you know, kind of a little out. So they put it on a producer. Like, this is not us. This is this production, that production, this production, that production. I'm like, but it is every production.

So you mean, tell me, every producer in Hollywood has this mandate. Give me a break. It has to come from the studio to hit every producer, because every producer don't think the same way. Right. Every, some producers, you know, um, had their own different opinions.

So, anyway, it was a studio mandate. They put it on individual producers.

So producers talking to my people and they're like, if he don't take it, you know, we, he can't be in a movie. It's like, it's not taking it. It's not taking it. So I go, okay. Can't do the movie.

Okay. No problem. Now I didn't go out telling everybody what happened. I didn't, um, put the word out that I didn't even tell people that I wasn't vaccinated. I didn't tell people not to go get vaccinated.

I didn't tell people that I'm not doing this movie cause I don't want to be vaccinated. Uh, but somehow, some way the news hit the, you know, I don't know if the Hollywood reporter or somebody put it out that this is why cube is not doing the movie. And I thought it was chicken shit. Thought it was, you know, um, it's like what happened to the hippo laws, you know, or OSHA, one of them, I forgot. I think it's hip, you know, where you not supposed to, to reveal a person's medical status.

And here it is. They print in mind. Um, and so I just thought it was bullshit. And, um, and it just kind of snowball, you know, I'm like, what they want is for people to tell me I'm stupid. You know what I mean?

They want people to tell me, you turn a nine, you turn it down $9 million. You stupid. You know, I'll do anything for $9 million. How stupid can QB? Um, and I don't care about that.

You know, it's like I didn't lose $9 million cause I never had it. Like, if you never have some shit, you don't, you can't lose it. Okay. You lose it when it's in your bank account and then you look up and it's gone. You know what I'm saying?

But if you never had it, I didn't lose it. It just was never given to me. And so, you know, they, they tried to, you know, put my business in the street, put pressure on me, everybody around me, telling me how stupid I am. so I can go get vaxxed and say, you know, please let me do the movie. You know, that was never going to happen.

I don't care if it was 20 million. Um, that was never going to happen. And if you got injured from that vaccine, you would have paid that 20 million to be healthy again. Damn right. Damn right.

Yeah. Damn right. There's a lot of people out there that wish that they weren't forced into making that decision. And that's where the real lawsuits are going to come, from. The real lawsuit, since you can't sue the vaccine companies, they're going to start suing these businesses and they're already lining up, without a doubt, without a doubt.

It was a gigantic error. And, and there, you know, they, they fired a lot of people. You know, I think they fired a lot of, um, cops in New York and they had to hire them back. And give them back pay and give them back pay. But what about the ones that were injured, that took the vax?

Yeah. You know, they gotta have some kind of repercussion, because, you know, they, they just proved that they just kind of told on they self that we got this wrong. Yeah. And nobody wants to talk about it. That's the crazy thing.

Cause all the nobody can, you know, that's when I'm talking about the gatekeepers, nobody can talk about it, because, somebody above them told him, no, um, from this outlet, that outlet, you know, the NBA. and going back to that, you know, I'm, I'm just kind of putting it in perspective, but the guys in the NBA used to talk about the big three. If you go back to year one all the time, and then they just stop. And then I asked, you know, I asked my guy, you know, um, what happened, man? Why y'all stop?

They told us we couldn't mention the big three anymore on air.

So I'm like, that's chicken shit. You know, that's that, that's that bullshit that I'm talking about, that, that, you know, I'm talking about what happened to me, but it obviously happens everywhere, to all of us. You know what I mean? And, and we got to somehow, some way, get these people out of our way or, um, not support what they're doing and producing. Um, you know, some of these mainstream outlets are really just an extension of these corporate conglomerates who want to, you know, kind of control our emotions, control our movement, control our spinning, control our personalities, control our mind.

and you know, what are we going to do about it? Like, at the end of the day, you know what I'm saying? Like we're going to just sit here and let it happen day after day to where.

steamrolled and, and, and, um, wore out and have no fight in us. Or are we going to stand up where we can, you know what I mean? And push back when we can. I know everybody can't in all situations, and don't feel bad when you can't, but when you can and you know, you can do it. Yes.

Do it. Like. when you have the leverage, take it. Yeah. Take it.

Like, like UFC, when you got the leverage, you got to go. Yeah. Use that to your advantage. You might not always have the leverage. You might not always have, you know, the right, uh, timing, but when you do, when you can, we, we gotta, we gotta buck, buck back, you know?

Um, if not, we're just going to continue to get steamrolled and not be heard and canceled and all this kind of stupid stuff. Yeah. And we're just repeating patterns that have played out throughout history. Yes. When people get power, they want to have ultimate power.

They want more power. The, any obstructions they see to their goals, any things that people were doing that would get in the way, they want to silence, that, stop, that. They want to bust unions. They want to do whatever the fuck they can to consolidate their power. Yeah.

And it's, uh, at a certain point, it's just ridiculous. Yeah. um, it was not good for us. These are some of the most unhappy people in the world, who is just concerned with more and more power, and they're powerful. You know, whenever you saw a guy who was maxing out,

you know, bench pressing or whatever, blew out his shoulder, like. Lunch times. Like, it's like you was maxed out. The last time you maxed out, why are you trying to max out even more and more, and more and more? And then you blow out your shoulder.

So I'm saying, so at a certain point, you got to know when you got enough for this and enough for that. I think the money. people, though, they never think that way, because it's all about numbers. Like the whole thing is numbers. It's not like, look, I put out a new album.

Look, I put out a new movie. I'm creating a thing. I'm putting together stuff for them. It's always numbers. It's all numbers.

It's just numbers. And so you never feel satisfied. And there's always a guy with a bigger jet. There's always a guy with a bigger house. There's always a guy with more of this, more of that.

Yeah. Yeah. And usually, you know, you can find happier people with way, way, way less. Way less. Way less.

Yeah. If your goal is happy, that is not the occupation you should be in. That's not. No. Yeah.

Those people are miserable. Yeah. And they're always chasing and they're never satisfied. You know, that to me is torture in itself. Well, it's also stupid.

And if, and if you're running a corporation, it's actually your obligation, your obligation to your shareholders that continue to make as much money as possible. So you're trapped in a system that obligates you to behave and think that way. And if you don't, you won't be competitive. Yeah. It's, uh, it's an ugly game, you know, and I don't see where, where people are being thought about in these types of situations, you know, it's all about, you know, capital.

don't care. Yeah. Capital has no emotions. Capital only respects capital. Yeah.

The only time it respects people's opinions is when people boycott shit and it works like this bud light thing. Yeah. Then, and now people are like, don't do that again. Yeah. Like, be careful.

Cause. look what happened to bud light. Well, who controls bud light? That's the question. Why would they make a dumb decision like that?

Are they trying to ruin bud light? And why would they want to ruin bud light? Are they trying to take down some of our most iconic American brands? And why would that help? I don't think they were trying to, I don't think they had any idea this was going to happen.

This is a ESG thing that everybody has to dedicate a certain amount of their time to, you know, woke stuff. Who, who, man, who mandates that? That's a good question. Where's the ESG money come from? Is that a government?

Like, where's that come from? And it's, they, they have scores and the, the ESG score of your corporation determines what you get. And the problem is also you get these people that are coming out of college like this, this lady who made the decision for bud light, you know, she's gone through the university system. She's in the corporate system and she's a woman. and she thinks, you know, we have to be more inclusive, and that's all the language everyone's using today.

So they don't know any real people. They don't know regular people. They have no idea that if you take a brand bud light, which is like known for, you know, blue collar drinking people, that they like to fucking watch football and drink bud light. And then all of a sudden you have this mentally ill person who's just an attention whore, and you make a big deal out of putting this person 365 days of womanhood. You put that on a bud light can and they freak the fuck out.

Yeah. And then kid rock shoots a bunch of them and then it's on. Once kid rock shoots your cans, you got real problems. Yeah. I'm pretty sure you do.

Uh, yeah, man. It's kind of like, I think you gotta, you gotta still ask why, like, what? do you think there's? like a conspiracy? Well, you know, who's getting hurt?

Who's getting hurt in this whole thing? Is it the bud light?

and how's your Bush brass? Are? they, are, would their bonuses be affected with their checks and salaries be affected? You got this lower level person fired and bunch of middle class guys are paying the price because you got distribution centers, you know, guys that deliver the beer, nobody want. And now they're out of a job.

Now you're really attacking the middle class, um, by, by making a brand that's so big, um, take a hit like that. You know, it says here, the quickest destruction of a company in history, bud light sponsors, Toronto pride parade.

So, you know, it's, um, oh, there's a, when was this? That was just the other day. Oh, that's so silly. They lean into it. The gays are mad at them.

The pride people are mad at them cause they didn't support Dylan Mulvaney. So they, they like, kicked it out. You don't win, you don't win, you know, either way, at the end of the day. But, um, you know, I think about the companies that own these companies, the people that own these companies. and why would they let a decision like that take the company down?

I don't think they thought it was going to, I think this is a legitimate public outrage one where they just pushed too far and people went, fuck you. And it wasn't even like a real, like promotion. It was a thing. They sent a can to. this person is Dylan Mulvaney person, but I don't think it went anywhere else.

I think it was just like, here, this is for you, and you put it on social media. They made some sort of a partnering deal, you know, and that was it. So why target? do the same thing? Well, I think that's an ESG thing.

That's an ESG thing. Right. And target lost billions of dollars too, because people, people are sick of this shit. They're sick of social things like that, that are controversial, getting stuffed into your face and we, you have to accept that. Yeah.

And people are like, I don't want to accept it. It's just like, I'm just coming here for fucking toilet paper. Yeah. I think, you know, people got to keep it in perspective as well too. You know, I don't think people grab a beer to be so, I mean, the, the, to, you know, to learn about the newest social event, or the social situation going out, grab a beer.

Cause you want a beer, hang with your buddies or hang, you know, people that enjoy beer and y'all shoot the shit. And politics really shouldn't be in somebody's beer mug. You know, they just don't get it. They think it has to be in everything. Everybody, because of social media, everybody feels like they're fighting some sort of social battle with everything they do.

And, you know, and this is one, this is another one. It's like, it's like forced compliance. You have to, you're forced to comply with this. And, you know, it's fucking up women's sports in a huge way, in a huge way. And, you know, some organization are pushing back against that.

And some people are pushing back against the organizations that are pushing back against it, which to me is insane. Like, if you care at all about biological women, you should be against that. Without it. I mean, what if, like LeBron, said, he wanted to play in the NBA? I'm retiring from the NBA cause I'm 49 and I'm going to play in the WNBA.

Well, they wouldn't be able to stop it. If he just decided to say publicly, I identify as a woman, what are they going to do? They can't do anything. And then that would be the end. That would be, Dave Chappelle's a bit about it.

Yeah.

LeBron scores a hundred again tonight. Well, and then knucklehead that was getting interviewed, they said, if Mike Tyson identified as a woman, should he be able to fight women? And they were like, well, the short answer is yes. Ah,

Lord.

It's so crazy. It's okay. And there's also different specifications. It's like what you have to do and how long you have to take hormones before you can identify as a woman and compete as a woman. Like just fucking stop.

I mean, who's going to check all that? Yeah. There's a reason why there's women's sports and there's a reason why there's men's sports. And it's weird. You're not talking about who, who you are and what your truth is.

Live your truth. I mean, title nine just got, you know, what? Just turn what?

30 or something like that. You know what I mean? So, protecting women's sports. Yeah. Yeah.

Which is, which is great because it forces schools and, you know, they make a lot of money, you know, teaching whatever they teach in them schools and they should carve out some for women to be able to play for their school. You know, that's great. um, so I don't understand,

you know, sometimes things don't make crazy man sense. And when, when they don't make crazy man sense, I just back out and stop thinking about it. Yeah. It's probably a good move, because you're not going to solve it. I mean, if people are, I think ultimately it gets solved where people just don't accept it anymore.

And then hopefully it'll go. I mean, maybe they could just develop a transgender league where trans people play against trans people. That would be great. Why not? But you can't pretend you're a biological female just because you wish you were like, you can't pretend when it comes to women's sports, you can't pretend when it comes to women's rights issues.

It's like, like, and that's not, this is, you don't want men dominating that, because that's what it is. It's men entering to women's spaces. Yeah. And whether they're ultimately they identify as a woman, that's great. But you, physically, you're a biological male.

Yeah. Yeah. And you want to compete against them? You want to play rugby against women? Get the fuck out of here.

Get the fuck out of here. That's crazy. So they want to dominate. They want to dominate. There's a lot of that.

They want to dominate. They want to be winners. Yeah. If all of a sudden you can be a woman and a winner and just fucking kick everybody's ass. Yeah.

You know how you used to like play the kids in basketball and like they ate Shaq out there.

You just Shaq. Yeah. Right. Is the ultimate sandbagging. You know, it's like, you know, you have a giant advantage.

Like the one that drove me. the craziest was the MMA fighter. Yeah. Cause, that person became a woman for two years and then started competing as women and not telling them and saying it was a medical issue. That's, I don't have to disclose a medical condition.

Like that. No, no, no, But if they, if that person said that they were a woman and and competed against women, that's deception, That's a fucking lie. But if you said you're biological male and the women still want to fight you, okay, All good. Yeah, you know, It's tricky man. It's like a slippery slope.

Yeah, you know, that really starts to Get bizarre after a while, you know, cuz, where does it? Where does it? Actually in? At the end of the day, you know, yeah, what does somebody say? I don't, I don't identify as black, I want to be another color.

Yeah, purple, I'm purple.

What you laughing at me, you get purple. you laughing. I'm a cancer. your ass, you laughing at me, cuz I'm purple.

Yeah, that's basically yeah, well, we, you know, you might as well, you know, I'm. I'm. uh, I'm a chicken dinner.

I'm macaroni and cheese. I'm rice.

I'm the rolls. Yeah, you know, I'm a chicken dinner, man. Yeah, identify this. people identify as younger people. It's like the whole.

it is a slippery slope. Yeah, cuz people can. You know, People always can be extreme with stuff like that. They're extremely there and they keep pushing boundaries and they're pushing boundaries on age of consent now, which is crazy, You know, there's, um, there's people that are also pushing back against be calling people pedophiles. I'm saying you should call the minor attracted persons, man.

Come on. It's insane. I mean you're getting Academics that are saying this It's insane. Yeah, it is, is, you know, it's Borderline madness Somewhere almost there. Yeah.

Well, it's the end of an empire. Yes, and you know, there's this guy, Douglas Murray. He's this English, British intellectual, and he said that every time a civilization is close to collapsing, They become obsessed with gender. it happened with the ancient Greeks at the Romans. It's just like some weird thing that happens when everything is just going too good and life is too easy.

People get obsessed with just the weirdest things, and now we're obsessed with gender.

Tune. yeah, who knows? I mean, maybe we'll bounce back. You know, Get a good president in there, you know, turn it around.

Well, I wonder what would happen if Robert Kennedy jr. Got in there Very interested to see what happens with that guy. Yeah, you know, he's a.

You know, he's. he seemed like a guy who, At least, is down the deep dive, yeah, and.

Talk real and, and You know really try to.

Dissect what's really going on instead of just going with the herd.

Which would be easy for him to do like go ahead, you know, he may be, you know, Even ahead more or he may even be doing better. You know when they pull, thinking like 20% of people or something, but yeah, he'd probably be doing better, I'd be doing better, and you know, instead of, You know, maybe He'd be one of a one of the guys, and so by him going this route, it's.

Seems like he's on a more noble route and we just check him out and see how he Navigates some of this stuff. He's definitely on a more noble route and it's definitely not something he planned to do. Initially, I mean he was an environmental attorney. He was a guy that cleaned up the Hudson River. They would go after these corporations that were dumping toxic waste and that was his thing Mercury in the water and, and you know, trying to hold the corporations accountable.

And then these women started showing up every time he would speech Give these speeches, and they said we want you to look at the mercury and vaccines. Yeah, and so this is 18 years ago. And so for 18 years this guy's been saying all this stuff about environmental concerns, And that was what his whole thing was. and then it wasn't until Kovac came along. and then he wrote that book, the real Anthony Fauci Detailing, you know what it is that these people are actually doing and how they are Engineering these viruses, and they give grants and it's it's dangerous gain-of-function research.

And then they give you one medication that you have to take and everybody gets on board with it. And they're making fucking billions of dollars. Yes, And no one's talking about what he's saying and he's saying it in a well-informed way and he's expressing it to people like this is This is the playbook. They always use and they just used it on everybody look.

He's dealing with the same people we probably all are dealing with, and and it's really time for us to really.

Come up with a, with a plan on how we gonna deal with this, because it's just gonna continue to happen. Yeah, it's just gonna continue to happen. You know, I don't have all the answers.

But I think we need to collectively start to, You know, not just give, give a pass to people doing things like this, and You know, we've got major outlets. That's not.

Delivering the right message to the people.

Not delivering the right message.

Basically steering them the way that You know. these super rich people want us to go, And it's not cool. No, it's not, and I'm hoping people wake up enough to at least slow it down. because, Yeah, we're pushing in a very obvious and very specific direction. They want digital currency, centralized digital currency that they control, and They want to get everybody on a social credit score system.

They'll probably connected to some sort of a vaccine app. Well, if you want to travel around, all they would need is another pandemic to try to push that shit through. And they're already talking about that. it's very spooky, because when you look into the history of this, this lab and Them funding it and this getting out, and the way they responded to it, The whole thing is so scary because it was effective. It was effective and very, very financially effective.

I mean they made a lot of fucking money. Yeah, and if they could do something similar again and then clamp down more on people, That's what scares me. this, this talk of centralized digital currency That's they have in China. if they, if you fuck up in China and you get a bad social credit score because you tweeted something They didn't like, what? now you can't buy a plane ticket Now you can't buy a car now.

You can't get a loan now You can't do something. you step the fucking line and people self-censor. Mm-hmm. They don't want to be a part of that. Now they got you.

Yep. They got you once you self-censor. Yeah, Got you where they want you. Yeah, we know that they were involved in Twitter. We know that the government was involved in silencing different voices.

You know, they stopped that hunter Biden laptop story from getting out before the election. It's just. It's so obviously dirty shit. I did a record card. Everything's corrupt and.

It is when you really look around. yeah, it's like where is the?

Where is the people that's doing the right thing? Yeah, you know where they at. Have you thought about doing anything with politics? No, I would never. I would never do nothing with politics.

like, does anybody try to pressure you What you mean? like you, you should run for mayor. I tell them I'm already the mayor.

Only thing I would do I was, I said, a king, me, you know, just Only thing I would accept is it turn you into a king, turn me into a king President and a politician begging as politician.

Powerless puppet. Oh, no. Oh, no, You're not. I talked to one guy who actually Spends the money that the government Allocates. so You know that Congress say this industry is gonna get this many billions.

Um, it's up to him to say where that money goes. and I'm like well, How often do you talk to people at? Congress? said never.

Said they can't even get me on the phone. I'm like what say. let me say, these people can't even get me on the phone. man. I don't listen to them.

You know, I mean, I just tell him where the money gotta go. Wow, so he gets to decide. You know, he's part of The government that you know. when they allocate the money, it goes to these different agencies and departments and and then they allocate Where it goes, they can't spend any of it, so they can't Take it right. I can spend it and then they could develop relationships with the people that give money.

Yeah, so So, you know.

The people in Congress To me actually powerless, there's just theater At the end of the day. Well, the theater who also gets to inside trade. Yeah, that's the beautiful thing exactly. I mean, they know where that money's going. Yeah, you know, I mean they might not be able to touch it, But they can be on the other end and make sure You know, their investments are carved out and they make them pretty penny off.

Well, not only that, they do it openly in front of everybody. It's not illegal, and every time people call to ban it. They were like Nancy Pelosi's, like what now? Yeah?

Yeah, ladies are 200 million dollars. she makes 200 grand a year.

She's better at stock trading than Warren Buffett and George Soros. Yeah, why wouldn't she be? You know where all the body, I mean, she know where everything is gonna hit. That's, you know What what's gonna hit, when it's gonna hit and how much it's gonna hit for. and unless that's illegal, Fuck you.

Like. look, fuck your whole system. exactly, cuz you know It's easy to. You know, it's easy to corrupt these people. You know, I mean, it's our money.

Did you ever think you would have to think about it so much though? Like, I didn't think about this so much like 10, 15 years ago. Well, I always have my kind of. You know every sense, you know, people like Tipper Gore come after you. Oh, yeah, you pay attention to where the shots are being fired, you know, so Before then, just a little.

you know, sitting my pops would look at the news and yell at the screen.

That's how. that's how Noah was bullshitting, what was real, you know, cuz, and then you know, I started doing my thing and then like

The law, the FBI, you know, all these agencies started to come down on us, really scared of shit, out at the record company, because we wouldn't, we could care less, like we was like.

The day we got the FBI letter. What was the FBI letter? We got an FBI letter. They sent the letter to Priority records.

Saying they one guy was like, I'm, you know, Part of this Department of the FBI and we're very concerned with this record. cause straight out of Compton, You guys got a song on there called fuck the police and we think this song could encourage, you know, people to go against law enforcement and blah, blah less and blah, blah that and.

Basically, you know, we'd like it if you guys Took it off the shelf, you know, I'm saying to that tip. So You know, they call us up there, you know, they panicking.

We don't know why they want to come. is man? you got to come here? we got to talk to you. Get up there, and it's like plot this letter FBI.

It's like man, do you know what this is? fucking agent? He sent me this letter and you know, they was all like nervous and shit. and we're looking like a letter. That's all you get.

They're not gonna come in here and try to fuck with us like they not gonna. you know, I mean Arrest us, cuff us, rough us up. None of that. and we're like y'all, scared over a fucking letter. Come back, come back to South Central with us.

You know, I mean deal with the sheriff's down there. You know, I mean they do way more than give you a letter. So we felt that it was like, you know, easy was like we're gonna be big as fuck after this.

But but the guys at the record company, this is the first time they ever dealt with like pushback. First time the government probably even knew they existed. So they were freaked out and we, uh, We were like Okay, we was looking for him to raid our houses and shit like damn, because we not seen the battle ram. We're not saying them run up in people houses on Dope charges or whatever, you know, especially in the late 80s, early 90s, that's like they got a kick out of just running up in people houses and shit, so

We were like looking for that to come for the in the next, you know, next few weeks. We was looking like oh, they bought his and it never happened. So we was like What's the, what's the issue? What's the problem? So it was just that letter and that was it, just that letter.

and then we made the letter public and.

They kind of just backed off. Came this big story of. you know, the FBI hates this group. I think we was on the cover like one of those, you know, New York magazines and it was like The FBI hates this group. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah hates this man.

Yeah, Easy was right. Yeah, he was. that's the letter. Wow, Look at that. a song recorded by the rap group NWA on their album entitled straight out of Compton encourages violence and Disrespect for law enforcement officer and has been brought to my attention.

I understand your company recorded and distributed this album and I am writing to share my thoughts and concerns with you. Advocating violence and assault is wrong and we in law enforcement community take the exception to such action. Violent crimes, a major problem in our country, reached an unprecedented high in 1988 78 law enforcement officers were feloniously slain in the feloniously Slain the line of duty during 1988. for more in 1987, law enforcement officers dedicate their lives to protection of our citizens. recordings such as the one from NWA are both discouraging and degrading to these brave, dedicated officers.

Music plays a significant role in society and I'd want you to be aware the FBI's position relative to this song and its message. I believe my reviews reflect the opinion of the entire law enforcement community. Huh? Yeah, never met this dude. Nah, not now, interesting.

Yeah, 1988 was a different world. And that was the first that was like the first Moment of that where the you know, we had heard that, like the government and politicians were concerned about rap music, without a doubt, and then it just no, they didn't come after me, but all these other different agencies was starting to hit us up, and You know, they were going. they start going after ice tea, you know a little bit, because he body count did a song called cop killer, and Yeah, you know, it was, it was a. It was a time when we grew up real fast. We had to understand that.

You know, this is bigger than hip-hop, and we got a. we got to stand up for what we know is true and right. It's like we're not making shit up, you know, let's go down, you know.

I've seen guys tell Cops, you know, I mean take off that gun, take off that badge, and we can knuckle it up in the streets and do it like men. and So, you know, we knew that sentiment was out there where people was really like, you know.

If you're not gonna, if you're gonna act like a thug, you know, I'm saying, let's thug it out, You know, I'm saying are you gonna act like an officer? Then we'll, we'll, we'll. you know, You know, We'll respect your authority. It's not me. So it was a lot of cops that we respected that came through that and they would treat us like, you know, Real humans, you know, not like, you know.

Suspects, you know, I mean, you don't want to buy. come through, just treating you like a suspect. You ain't out here doing nothing, these dudes. So we knew some dudes that would come through and talk to us. tell us, you know, Y'all need to watch out.

be careful, I'm saying, and you know, Do anybody know something that happened around the corner and all these little stuff, and we like nah, nah, nah. But they was respectful and and we respected their authority. Then there was others that would come through, you know, look at you, crazy Harass. you, you know, we was kids on the bikes. We saw one day they came like eight, nine years old, man.

We got our bikes laid down. We made a ramp, We all kicking on the grass, resting looking at our bikes like they're fucking motorcycles and shit, like, you know. and man, Sheriff's hit, get the corner, came all up on the grass and like Get against the car. that you know, bullshit, but we kids, they know, we kids sitting on bikes, man, What, what you think we did? You know, I'm saying like roll on some my grass.

Hey, what you think we are here do Yeah, yeah, so what was it like when the album came out? like interacting with cops? Most of them was cool. Actually, so most of them, most of them, said they listened to the song.

In the movie we get ran out of Detroit like they ran us off stage because we sung the song. a lot of Undercover police, you know, throwing m80s and shit on the stairs. Yeah, so we thought they were shooting at us. So we run off, they catch us, they round us up and You know, they like Thought she was gonna come to Detroit right, talking that cop. I mean that, uh, fuck the police, shit and Can't come to Detroit talking that we should run y'all to jail.

You know, I mean we should lock y'all up and blah, blah, blah. and we like listen, and we listening, and he said.

But if y'all got a couple of pictures, I got a couple a by tens. I'll sign it for my daughter.

We're gonna have no problems. so You know, we was pissed, but we was like man, easy, was like getting t-shirts get them everything they need. Come on, come on. Come on. Come on.

Come on. And so, you know, we signed the shit, you know, reluctantly, you know. But the concert's over. Yeah, they turned the concert out. Yeah, I mean they ran us off stage after Three songs and they got pictures, and then they got pictures and they got autographs for their daughters and they let us go.

They just say you can't come to Detroit. that bullshit. Wow, so it was only Detroit. That was the only place that fuck, Cincinnati. They ran us off.

really, man. They would, they would. they would, uh, have us. they would, before every concert, the Sergeant or captain or somebody would come in with a city ordinance Of what was obscene in their city, in their town, and what could be said on stage? And what couldn't be seen.

and if you say any of this or do any of this, we will arrest you after your performance. Wow, Like what words I? Mean. fuck, motherfuck. Really?

Oh, my god. Yeah, it was the 1950s again. Yeah, it was like on that tip. Wow, and This is 88 around there. Yeah, 88, 89, Wow, and we hit the stage.

We, like man, we would tell the audience You know what these motherfuckers told us backstage. They said we couldn't say fuck, we couldn't say shit, we couldn't say this, we couldn't say bitch, you know, I mean, we're gonna start this off with a bitch is a bitch.

You know, so we would do our shows, you know, sometimes they would just let us go, and then sometimes you would like, after the show, you'd Have to look and see the look in Like the security, and everybody face, and you know, okay, they honest. so Many of times We we come offstage, But then we like switching jackets, like people handing you jackets, handing you different Shirts and shit, so you can put them on and walk through the backstage. because now cops was like We're there, you know, we're those guys. that was on stage and, uh, in Cincinnati I had to. I saw him coming, I saw him all like looking around and I didn't have a chance to change my shit.

So they was looking for me. And so I hit the exit. I just I went outside, I went outside the concert and it was people like flowing in and out and It was like you, what you doing out here, man, and looking for me. he's like I Jumped in the car with him, like fans. a shot.

They drove me across the bridge. It's the Kansas City. I mean, uh, Kentucky is right across from Cincinnati. We sitting there waiting for anybody to Drive up. Nobody drove up and they end up driving me back to the hotel and then you got easy.

and Dre, Where the fuck was you? Where'd you go, man? We all got citations and we got to come back here. They want us to fly back here To go to court and they couldn't kick. they was looking for you.

They couldn't catch. I was like man. I did, I did.

And I'm a dip again next show, you know, I'm saying it was it was crazy. Did they have to go back? They had to go back to court. Yeah, I had to go back to court and fight it. and what happened.

I don't remember. cuz I end up leaving the group And leaving the group, so I don't really know what happened. kind of after 89, with everybody, you know. Wow, what a wild time. It's crazy, crazy, but fun, like we were living the time of our lives because We never knew we was gonna be this Popular throughout the country.

We thought the records that we did were Just local, you know, we was gonna be. you know hood stars, you know, I mean right there in our neighborhood, people was gonna love us. but outside of Compton, South Central, Long Beach Watts, We were like, you know people. they not even gonna know what we talking about, right? Little did we know that Everybody was kind of going through the same things that we were going through.

That's so wild. So what, like? what was it like when it blew up? I mean that had to be for you to be a young guy in this. You know hip-hop, just in general, was relatively new, Yeah, and for it to blow up that big, that had to be a wild like change of your life.

it was, you know, cuz you think you think you're only gonna be an underground artist like before. we sold our records. records like ours would be in the section with, like the, The Red Fox records and Richard Pryor, the Eddie Murphy, the dirty, you know. You know, comedy, dirty comedy records. That's where you would find These dirty hip-hop records.

and there was a few, you know, there's a dude named.

Blowfly, blowfly would have songs called. he had a song, he got one, a song called rap, dirty and like. those kind of songs would be in this section and nobody went to, unless you just wanted to laugh or something, so we thought our records would end up there and that being and.

It just. it just blew up. MTV banned our straight out of Compton video, and That blew the group up because people wanted to know why? Did they do something that even MTV was scared to show? and so we went from?

thinking we were gonna be in that little bin to they putting us in the front of the record store and Promoting that you can get straight out of Compton here. Wow. And so it just took us from You know that Back of the store stuff to prime real estate. How many records is straight out of Compton? So, um, I don't know the exact End figure, but even that, while I was still in the group, We was like two million records, and then it was just growing.

So by now It's got to be up to at least four. Wow, That had to be a fucking crazy experience to not think that that was ever gonna happen. and then, boom, It was a controversial band in America. We went from being straight locals to like being everywhere. matter of fact, I I went to school after I was in the group like I Was like, you know, I can't, I can't, I'm not gonna be able to live, you know, I mean on dirty rap records, you know, I can't play them on the radio.

You know, only underground people are gonna Hear it. So I went off to a trade school, Phoenix, Arizona, called a Phoenix Institute of Technology, what'd you go to learn? Architectural drafting. Really? Yeah.

Wow. Yeah, I took drafting in school and I dug it and Sent some pamphlet in the mail. You know, if you want more information, fill this out. little postcard filled it out. a Fucker showed up to my house and I was in there talking to my mother and father.

I'm like what the hell You're going to school. what I got a show. I know you're going to school. Damn, hey, how long was that for a year? Wow.

Yeah, Yep, fall up, fall of 87 to the.

Fall of 88. Wow, so you got out of trade school and then the album blows up. Yeah, I mean We got out of trade school and then we was working on easy. So long, easy does it? his solo album came out right before in W a and had written, you know.

That blew him up and we were along for the ride. The NWA record came and he was part of the NWA group. it just Put a spotlight on on the group and then the record was crazy. So Just took it to the next level. What was your earliest influences in hip-hop?

Curtis blow run DMC.

Sugarhill, gang.

Or I can. big daddy came, biz marquee, salt-and-pepper. You know, like the greats, all the great Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, for sure, you know, we loved LL. LL was the man always.

And so do you. when was the first time you actually performed? how old were you? I was probably.

15. Is that local thing? Yeah, well, you know, we would do rap battles. So we would go up to people's school and find out, you know, Everybody didn't rap like like. now everybody raps, but back then it was like a niche group.

So We was, we had honed our skills. so we would go up to different high schools and hop, defense and and Nutrition and shit and like, find a spot in battle, you know, I mean, so it was. it was fun. I was like. It was like a karate master looking for a spar, you know, walking around It's like who go to that school can't date who rap over there, who over here?

It's like me, some dudes in my school man. They can bust me. I should come up here. You know, I was trying to set it up for Friday. Y'all come up here.

Friday, hit the fence, You know, bus, and then y'all got to get out before. you know, I mean the counselors come. Well, I'm saying so we'd find ourselves going from different high schools. We would ditch our own school to go up to different schools and and rap against people. but first time I really hit the stage.

we we did this contest called the best rappers of the West contest and we Entered our song and man, we, we made it all the way to the finals. They did the finals at the Olympic Auditorium in LA. That's where they used to do all the old wrestling matches and fights, So they used to roll a derby here, too.

Thunderbirds. and so We there we performed. Drake came, you know, Dre was in the world-class wrecking crew, DJ crew, you know. so everybody, our family, friends, and they messed up our tape like Well, you know our music was instrumental, but it was cassette, and when they hit it it was in the wrong spot. They didn't rewind it.

So We got it was off cue and then they had to rewind it and then start over. The thrill was gone. We lost, we lost. we came in second place. And so that was my first taste of, You know, hitting the stage.

She knew that's what you wanted to do. I loved it. You know, I had a great time. Yeah, I did. and hanging with Dre more and more, You know, he saw us that night.

He knew we had got kind of robbed a little bit and he was like, we'll let you, we'll let y'all perform at doodles, Which is the club he DJ'd in Compton. It's right there on Central Boulevard, Central Avenue, and We went down there, you know, it's, It's a party. I mean full of bloods. It's like full of Compton bloods, Piru's all through this place. this is right in a neighborhood.

Dre is like. y'all better be good, Better be good. I don't know what they gonna do. They might throw shit at you, you know, I want to fuck you up. Y'all better be good.

That's all I kept saying. So we were like damn, I Think it's something clever. We have to be good. We got to be good. So we started doing parody raps.

We take the hit song and do a dirty version of it, Roxanne. Roxanne was the hit song that was out utf-o and we we made a song called Diane Diane, And it was dirty version of it. It went crazy. It went crazy. So we knew like, oh damn, this, this is a style like we can.

we can do our own raps, Hardcore like this. We'll have to Try to be you know, what? Fat boys, I'm gonna try to have to try to be mainstream. Yeah, these we can just give it to them. We're all how they want it.

Talk about the neighborhood, you know, yeah, that's what we start doing. So That's interesting like that. So that sort of led to the way the band became doing that show. Yeah, yeah, and doing that show. We see, I wasn't in NW, I had my own group.

so

We start working with easy and NWA is actually an all-star group. it's it's easy kind of plucking different people from different groups, putting them together and saying we're gonna make, We're gonna huddle up and make these dirty records and then, after we finish, y'all can go back and make y'all clean little records. That's kind of how NWA was formed. Wow, Yeah, so they grabbed Dre and yellow from wrecking crew. They grabbed me.

I was in a group called stereo crew. We changed our name to CIA Criminals in action, but Lazo made us call ourselves crew in action because he was like nobody gonna buy a record. That's like criminals.

So so. and then you had easy, you know, I mean so. we formed NWA. Rain come, came later when I went to school. That's when rain came, MC rain, so Yeah, and then what happened is we do the record, it blow up and everybody say, Tell the groups, a man, this shit is popping it in no way in the world.

We are going back to being.

Nobody in our groups, you know, I mean we got a run with this and it. just I'm still running with it. You are always known for your lyrics. you're a great writer, like if you did, you Always have that ability. Do you wait?

Did you write before you wrote lyrics? Yeah, but you know What I, what I did when I was young, you know, the teachers would always ask, like whoa, Okay, what you do over summer vacation? Would you do right right down? which guys do so? mine would be Thorough, you know, I would be able to really explain everything that I did, and they were really impressed.

my teachers were impressed that I could remember all that and put it in a comprehensive form where they can read, you know my whole summer really. and so by getting those kind of, You know, Extra credit for being good. or, you know, teacher, hang your stuff up there, you know, you're like, okay, I can do this. I could do this same with art, you know. and Actually, they had me do a speech Doing my sixth grade graduation.

I taxed me. you go up there in the trust graduation class, so You know the writing, that speech, these things I knew. okay, I could. I Could put words together and I can speak them in front of a crowd, and it wasn't a nightmare. So when it was time to rap and time to rhyme, Which was a couple years later when I was turned 14, then I was able to Put it together and feel like, okay, I'm not alright and I'm not a rap.

so jump in front of the crowd, Get busy. That's amazing, That's a, that's. that's so interesting that that's the genesis of your writing, because it makes sense, Cuz, like your writing was always so thorough, well thought out, you know, And when you went solo that was like very evident. It was very evident, like this great fucking writing, like the, that the lyrics back then, like that's my favorite era. Yeah, hip-hop is like early 90s, late 80s, early 90s, like in the East Coast, like cool Modi.

Yeah, yeah, Yep, prolific. Yeah, Set the bar. You know those guys started to set the bar higher and higher, and You know, you had to keep up to even get attention. So, yeah, you know those early Pioneers of hip-hop, even LL was. you know amazing lyricists, Word Smith, you know the original rock, the bills.

He's another guy's done everything. Yeah, He's a movie. I call him, you know the hip-hop LeBron, you know He. he been doing this since he was 15 at the highest level and never came down, you know. Yeah, so it still looks great.

Yeah, still, you know, looks like Superstar. yeah, so it's cool, you know, to you know, to be friends with these guys, that, uh, That I looked up to so much as a youngster. That was a. there was a weird time though the East Coast versus West Coast, shit. Yeah, very weird.

Yeah, it was, uh, you know, people equated to Tupac and shit. I mean in bad boy in death row, but it was actually bubbling before that. it was to me an industry thing, in a way like New York had the throne for so long, and here go well, at least a decade more. and here comes these West Coast rappers, you know, kind of taking attention away. and So the The, the industry people, is started to bubble up with them.

that y'all, We're doing real hip-hop. they're just doing gangster records, you know, and so that started to To kind of get into the artists, you know, I mean that that that sentiment Started to poison the artists, and the artist named Tim dog Did a song called fuck Compton, like out of nowhere. It was like damn, we, we like New York. why y'all, you know, why, why he take a shot, and.

Nobody really rebutted him. like, you know, they kind of let it slide and then more and more artists start taking shots here and there, and and then the thing with Bad boy in death row. It kind of just took it over the top. It just Made it because they were the hottest labels, Had the hottest label on the East Coast, battling with the hottest label on the West Coast, so that made that undercurrent of Animosity that was growing Blow all the way up. It looked like it was a feud.

Hmm, How did that ever get resolved? I? think, when, When a Tupac got killed and then Biggie was murdered shortly after?

People realized this is a dead-end road, like People stopped listening really to East Coast and West Coast at that time. And that's how the immersion of the South came. Hmm, you know, the South was there bubbling. they was doing a thing. They had groups that were.

That was making a dent. but at one point All the hip-hop fans were so fed up with the East Coast, West Coast beef. They said, you know, we're just gonna pay attention to what the South is doing you guys.

Heal your wounds and come back. And so that's the emergence of the South. and you know All the groups that came out back then were you. were you touring on the East Coast? Yeah, So what was it like when you were touring on the East Coast in the middle?

all that shit? I Mean it was always love, you know, I mean some fans took sides, But most, most of it was, you know industry stuff, and they were kind of caught in the middle. So I Did it. I did a record called, you know, bow down with the Westside connection, which we addressed a lot of the beef, because we felt like Most of the industry was in New York at the time. so We felt like if we didn't stand up for ourselves in some way, shape or form, what we accomplished the last decade would be erased and eroded and dismissed, discredited, and We wouldn't.

we would be played out. You know, I mean we wouldn't have longevity. so

You know, there was, you know back and forth, but at the end of the day, Mm-hmm, You know Tupac being killed, Biggie being killed, was just a wake-up call for the whole industry. That's sad. That's how did, that's how the wake-up call had to go. It's crazy, crazy. Yeah, I mean that was.

I remember I was on news radio, on the set of news radio, when someone told me Tupac killed Everything. how is that possible? How is it real, Um?

Yeah, I just you know, it was a new day like. it's like oh, we, we're in a new era where.

Celebrity means nothing. You know, celebrity means nothing. Anybody can get it. Yeah, so it's damn near like we back where we started from back in the hood, you know, trying not to get it, and Here your celebrity and you could still get it. How dangerous did that feel to you?

back then?

You know, no more dangerous than It feels when any of people, you know, any person I know get shot, you know, feels like, you know, damn No, This never ends.

Yeah, I don't remember taking Any more precaution then. now usually would, But I knew people, you know some dudes getting bulletproof Trucks and shit and bulletproof vans and all this stuff. I was like nine going to that extent.

It's just a crazy time in music history too, because you know, they've never been like Rock bands that were feuding with each other. the point where you were worried about people getting murdered. No, not that I know of. You Know rock bands do feud. They usually don't do this records either, right?

No, they just feud or they have subliminal Subliminal disses. It's never like the disc record thing was wild. That was really the first time artists ever went after each other like that. Yeah, it's, but you know, it's it's like.

It's like spawn, it's like battling, it's like, you know, it's part of the game. So it's welcomed. in a way, You know, you you spar, you practice, you know how to fight and then Somebody, getting your face and challenge you like, okay, this is what we do. There's a rumble, you know, I'm saying. So it's like you grow up battling.

You know, you got your raps. you say you're cocky shit. You know, I mean.

and Somebody wanna, you know, put it on wax and Battle like we can battle on wax Any day, you know, I'm saying so let's go for it. When did it feel like for you? all that shit sort of like went away? Like the feud stuff, the every. when did it seem like it was just back to just making music?

For some reason, I think.

Like 9-11, like that tragedy of 9-11 for some reason, like it seemed like. from then the feud and stopped and mmm People kind of reassessed and reorganized their thought process when it comes to that, like they, it was like That. that's when it seemed like a ceasefire. just was The best thing to do. mmm, yes, you know, Like the country went through a crazy shakeup.

Yeah. Yeah, and.

It's a trip, you know you had groups like.

Rocking a red, white and blue, and he was like into you know.

Patriotism and.

really into. You know, oh, you know, we got.

Other forces out there that's trying to take down New York City, you know, I mean we can't, can't be hating right on New York after that, like we all got Banned together. That was the sentiment. It's crazy, It's sometimes it takes something like that, like a national tragedy, to wake people up to what's really important. Yeah, major shakeup. So, how the fuck did you go from Nwa, your solo career and then?

movies and then Family movies, like. was that was there like a resistance for that? people like did you listen to his old shit?

You know, I mean because people were taking their kids to see those movies. Then those kids became ice cube fans and then they go into your old shit like wow. Yeah, I mean it's a great.

It's kind of like, you know, they're caught in the ice cube, vortex, in a way, you know, I'm saying cuz.

Here's how it happened like.

I'm in the NWA. I go solo. I'm just trying to be the best rapper in the world. That's all I'm concerned about. and I meet this kid, John Singleton.

Who's an intern. I meet him at the Arsenio Hall show. He's an intern there. I'm there to talk to Arsenio to say dude, You had two live crew on. Why don't you have NWA on?

so never had that conversation with Arsenio? Cuz. John Singleton is talking my ear off and he's like, I'm a junior USC. I'm put you in a movie. I'm like, dude, What?

I'm not an actor. You know, I mean, I thought you had to go to Juilliard for 18 years to be actor. So I'm like what? what you talking about? man?

No, and then he pursued me. two years, dude. Two years, he. and then he finally said, you know, I got the movie, you know, we're gonna do it. And.

and so that was boys in the hood. so he discovered me. that's how I got into movies. and When we doing that movie, he's saying when you gonna write a movie Like what? Dude, what are you talking about?

Why you keep hitting me with this stuff that I don't do? He said, man, you can write a song like that. You can write a movie like that like okay, I go by a computer that same day and final draft, which is a script writing, and I start writing a script. like Don't know one thing about writing a script, just start writing one, and it was terrible, but he helped me. he just kept telling me keep writing, keep more pages, just keep going till you finish it and.

Long story short. I end up a few years later writing Friday. Okay, Friday 1995 comes out, big cult classic.

So as I, as the years go on, Got these little kids coming to me doing all these cuss lines from Friday.

like what's your little ass doing watching Friday, you know, so So I did. I did another movie called barbershop. now that's a already comedy Friday. so I do barbershop. it's Good reaction, people love it.

It's pg-13. so the movie is bigger because it Appeals to a bigger audience.