Ice Cube
Background
In 1987, Ice Cube released the Dr. Dre produced single My Posse under with his group C.I.A. (Cru' In Action!). After the collaboration, Ice Cube showed Eazy-E the lyrics to "Boyz-n-the-Hood". Eazy-E, although initially rejecting the lyrics, eventually recorded the song for N.W.A. and the Posse, the debut album for the group N.W.A that also included Dr. Dre, MC Ren, and DJ Yella. Ice Cube was the only member of N.W.A who is not from Compton, California (where it was formed).By this point Ice Cube was a full-time member of N.W.A along with Dr. Dre and MC Ren. Ice Cube wrote Dr. Dre's and Eazy-E's rhymes for the group's landmark album, Straight Outta Compton, released in 1988. However, towards the end of 1989, Ice Cube found himself at odds with the group's manager, Jerry Heller, after rejecting Heller's proposed contract terms. Ice Cube wrote the lyrics to approximately half of both Straight Outta Compton, and Eazy-E's solo album, Eazy-Duz-It, but he was only paid $32,000 and his contract did not confirm that he was an official member of N.W.A. This led Ice Cube to leave the group and bring a private lawsuit against Jerry Heller, which was later settled out of court.[18] In response, the remaining N.W.A members attacked him on the EP 100 Miles and Runnin', and on their next and final album, Niggaz4Life. -Information from Wikipedia
Position Today
Actor
Following his role as Doughboy in Boyz n the Hood, in 1992 he starred alongside Ice-T, and Bill Paxton in Walter Hill's action film, Trespass, and then in The Glass Shield. Ice Cube was offered a co-star role with Janet Jackson for the 1993 romantic film Poetic Justice, but he refused to play the role, which was given to Tupac Shakur instead. John Singleton had encouraged Ice Cube to try his best at screenwriting, telling him, "If you can write a record, you can write a movie." With this encouragement, Ice Cube wrote the screenplay for what became the 1995 comedy Friday, in which he also starred, alongside then up-and-coming comedian Chris Tucker. Friday earned $28 million worldwide on a $3.5 million budget, and spawned two sequels, Next Friday and Friday After Next. (On March 9, 2011 he announced that he was making the final sequel called Last Friday.) That year, he also starred in his second collaboration with John Singleton, Higher Learning, as university student Fudge;a role for which he earned award nominations. In 1997, Ice Cube starred in the action thriller Dangerous Ground as a South African exiled to America who returns 15 years later. He also had a supporting role in the film Anaconda that same year. He wrote, executive produced, and made his directorial debut in The Players Club in 1998. and in 1999 starred alongside George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg in the critically acclaimed Three Kings. In 2000, he wrote, produced and appeared in the Friday sequel Next Friday. In 2002, Ice Cube starred in the commercially successful movie Barbershop, as well as All About the Benjamins and the third film in the Friday trilogy, Friday After Next (which he again wrote and produced). In 2004, he appeared in Barbershop 2: Back in Business, and Torque; in 2005 he starred in the action movie xXx: State of the Union, as well as the family comedies Are We There Yet? and Are We Done Yet?, co-starring Nia Long. Ice Cube also starred in the 2014 box office hit Ride Along, alongside comedian Kevin Hart, and reprised his role in the sequel Ride Along 2 (2016).In early April 2007, Ice Cube was a guest on Angie Martinez's Hot97 radio show and stated that he was interested in bringing back Chris Tucker as Smokey in a possible Friday sequel, but that was only possible "if New Line cuts the check." In an interview with BlackFilm.com, Ice Cube stated that he would be interested in involving all major characters from the Friday franchise in a possible sequel, but added "I know I'm not going to get Chris [Tucker] back, but I'd love to get everybody else back." As of December 2011, Chris Tucker has agreed to be in "Last Friday".In the Movies is a compilation album of Ice Cube songs that have appeared in movie soundtracks, which was released on September 4, 2007.Ice Cube and basketball star LeBron James have paired up to pitch a one-hour special to ABC based on James' life. Ice Cube's Are We There Yet? television series premiered on TBS on June 2, 2010. Based on the 2005 feature film of the same name, the show revolves around a family adjusting to the matriarch's new husband (Terry Crews) and trying to deal with normal family situations. On August 16, 2010, Are We There Yet? was renewed for 90 additional episodes. In an August 2010 interview with UrbLife.com, Ice Cube expressed excitement about the show being picked up for the run, which will pan out to around six seasons. He also credits Tyler Perry for opening the door for him at TBS. He also had a role in 21 Jump Street and in its sequel 22 Jump Street. In 2014 he appeared with Elmo as a guest on PBS children's show Sesame Street. -Information from Wikipedia
