Monday 10:00 a.m. podcast brought to get in early. Now, we appreciate you coming through, bro. You're fucking obviously a legend and appreciate you coming through. No prob. What's your like day-to-day? Like how busy are you even? Just like today. I'm
pretty busy today because I'm doing promos for the Ninja Turtles and shit. I'm I'm playing Super Fly. The villain in in the new Ninja Turtles animation. So that's fucking awesome. Awesome.
Oh
shit. What's it like being involved in that
is fun because I remember taking my
my sons and my daughter to see the Ninja Turtles when they did the first movie and so and I know it's been like several movies and shit so I was cool too.
To kind of see the evolution of it. And like this one is directed by Seth Rogen. So damn, this is, you know, it's next level this year. That's your first animated, first voiceover, no, I've done. I've done a few. First one I did was
Damn. What's the fucking movie called? Play The Candle Maker?
Even the Beast?
Nah no no. It was a it was kind of a Latin flavor. I didn't see that one to the name of come to me.
Man. What do you like doing better than animated or the real films?
Both of them. Cool. You know both of them do.
Dope animation is, is a lot easier. Yeah. And a lot less time consuming. Yeah, you know, you going there maybe seven eight times and you do like three four hours of VoiceOver pretty much so you can get it done quick. Yeah, I
feel like, I feel like the animated movies are harder to get into nowadays.
Paired to like the old ones like Lion King Finding Nemo. Like there's just so many
classes odor, that's why. Yeah, you got more responsibilities probably, you know, I mean, but if you was a Youngster, you know, I mean, you probably be able to get into it because less things on your mind, you know, when you're younger
or Seth Rogen at this one, it's probably it's pretty funny, right?
It's funny, you know, but I mean, it's PG. So it's not like, it's not like it's
It's probably as crazy as he wanted to go. Yeah. But it's his hella entertain and I saw yesterday when is it
coming? I saw Saturday. It come out a
little later. This summer. I think around.
August 4th I think. Alright. August 4th. Will attend the premiere with you if you want. Come on with it. Let's do it. Come on with it man. What's your favorite part of like that industry to like work and like what's your favorite role to play? I like I like writing, you know, I like producing.
Acting is fun directed as hard as hell. I like editing, really cut it to be. Why don't physically, you know, how much the keys? Yeah, but I do cut the, you know, flick and like make sure it is. Yeah, it is. Make sure it's moving in the right way. Make sure it's entertaining. Make sure don't have no dead spots.
Make sure it's good. Make sure we're using the best shots because sometimes, you know, the editor is not on the set so he might not remember all the shots. Yeah. So you have to sign, you know, you can only use one, you shoot a thousand different angles, but you only can use one
and you're on set. So you can remember like this angle was, like, I remember this. One was fired for a certain
reason. Yeah, you remember certain things that you say that should be in the movie and when you see the cut and it's not in the movie, you got to be
Like yo, look for this shot, because it's way better than shot. Using,
that's dope that you play like every role, like that
to me, that's the best part of it. That's the fun of it. Like,
I really watch them when they come out when they're done cuz you know we spend months. Getting them done getting it right. It's like
A guy putting together a car something, you know put it together. They may not drive it a lot because his his fun was putting it
together and when you're right, like are you kind of just like coming up with like a concept and giving it to a script writer or you like actually writing like a script or sell
right now? That's not touch the keys on that. Yeah. So what do
you think that Celtics app or some shit?
Or I use final
draft, it Celtics very likely.
Rookies. I don't know what
Celtics music. So I'm on that. I gotta switch the final
draft. Final draft to me. Just what I always been using. John Singleton, who discovered me? Put me in my first movie, boys, in the hood. That's, that's what we we worked out on because he, he's the one who got me in the right and not waiting, you know, a lot of actors are waiters, but I'm a writer. So, I'll
Right? What I want to be in and now wait for somebody to come up with it,
we have this podcast but then we also have like a channel that we do more like sketch. Funny shit. Yeah. So we write some shit to what's like, the best way to get like a script to stand out to like a producer, something like that, you know, it's
to me is to try to have a personal conversation with them, you know if you if you know a producer you want to kind of
Talk to him and let him know the concept that you working on and see what kind of reaction you get. Most, most of the time you ain't going to have the opportunity to do that. So I think a script just got to be like a great meal or you know you got to have the right ingredients. The right enough food enough, different courses.
To be, you know, feast and so if you don't have that, if your movie don't have the right ingredients and probably won't land and and so that's kind of what I think about before writing writing a script writing a movie, does it have enough juicy shit that I want to see in it without even writing it? Just thinking about it?
To even start, right? How long did it take you to write from start to end Friday
to actually write it as probably?
Three months because I was a first-time, right? And so what was my first time writing? But I was new at it to me about three months and I was on tour in Europe at the same time. So you know, it was what I was doing in between torn and I was writing it with DJ pool, who's here in the state. So a lot of conversations a lot of back and forth.
And the Polish it up and it took probably another month or a month and a half to actually get it. Where it was good enough to, to attempt to make a movie. Are you like surprised by that? Because it goes from like, by like a passion project, and now it's like one of the most iconic movies of all time. That's what we was hoping what I knew if I had a hood classic, which I had one went out, when I wrote Friday, because I have boys in the hood. Yeah, but I felt like
You know, I needed to get some Classics under my belt and then my career will be long, you know? So we was out to make that like a neighborhood classic. We didn't really care if the rest of the
Rest of the country got it or kick, you know was into it was like anybody who noted this kind of living anybody in any kind of neighborhood. Like this is going to get it and so sometimes when you focus just on you know, your clientele so to speak.
Everybody else join in. Yeah. Sometimes when you're trying to get everybody you even miss show main audience. Yeah. So always go for your main audience and let everybody else get in where they fit in.
It's so crazy. Like, because everybody even me who can't relate to that at all. Loves that movie, you know what I'm
saying? I mean, you can relate. Here's the, here's the movie. We'd here's why you can. Here's why you can relate, because here's what the movie is about, very basic. It's the
The day to bully gets his ass kicked. Like so everybody loves that day. Yeah, it's true. Everybody loves the day, the bully, finally get it. So that's what that movies about. And everybody can sit on a porch. They stupid friends and shit and clown the neighborhood, you know. So, is is basic, and it's in its structure. What is real.
About, you know, now it has a lot of ingredients of crazy shit. Yeah, going on to tell that story so you know, that's why you can relate. Even though you're not from that neighborhood, you can relate because you're from a neighborhood, and you've done that before, like, you've sat around you, you know, everybody got it, stupid friend, crazy friend, or maybe you stupid crazy friend but everybody got one.
You know, and and you know they trip on them and don't be shit to do and you make up shit to do, you know you get into shit cuz of that. So it's it's relatable in all those aspects, you know?
The the things that are happening might not be, you know, I don't know how many people getting, you know, a drive-by done on them for $200 but you never
know. Was there a real-life Debo when you were growing up?
Yes. As several of them. Did you actually did you
actually ever take your one fight?
Not never fault. I never fought to do. We considered Debo?
he was actually, you know, my brother had fought him, my brother's older than me he had fought in before and so
I guess he didn't want to really,
He don't want no more of our family in that way.
Fuck yeah, yeah.
So I don't have to deal with him. Like most people did
what was it? Like one of my favorite movies that is like, 21, Jump Street and that series. What was it like, working on that movie?
It was fun.
It's a trip because I met Johnny Hill, who was at some kind of some kind of event where they were honoring, Quentin, Tarantino and was bored shit. So, I walked down in the lobby and Jonah Hill's out there. He see me, he starts to wrap. It was a good day. Had you met him before and I never met him
before just walks up to engine starts
rapping. Yeah, yeah.
And he was he said he was hitting all the bars, like he was doing it. Well,
yeah. He was dope. And and so, he was like, yo, man. Nice to meet you, boom. Boom, boom. He said,
He's I wrote something
that you'll be perfect for just laying we re doing, 21, Jump Street, I'm like 21, Jump Street. So I remember this show. Yeah, undercover cops on TV without what's a boy named? Damn, I can't remember his name Pirates of the Caribbean.
Be so what? Johnny Depp Johnny. Yeah Johnny Depp Johnny Depp and he was on TV show so I was like let me see it and
and so when I read it I was like okay this is like some real crazy shit. So I wanted to do it and I just was like, if I do it I just want to be the meanest Captain that's ever been around. Like I don't want to play around want to be the one when you think of me caps because I grew up watching them. Yeah, you know from Beverly Hills Cop, you know, the
It's just all kind of TV shows. You always got to mean, black Captain yelling. So I'm like, long as I could be the meanest. Like, I don't want to. I don't want to mess around.
Okay, so here's my question for you because in the movie in the movie. Yeah, he's gonna sleep with your daughter.
Yeah, that's the second one.
It's all right, 22. Yeah. How do you, how do you get into character for that? Like what scenarios give to play through your head, to get pissed off? And be that mean guy?
Easy. Just think about
It it for real. And you know what you want to do to Jonah Hill. That happened song is very easy to get into it. Like you saw what I did today?
Yeah,
one take we didn't want to take, so
is there stuff that you get offer? You probably do just curious but stuff that you get offered. When do you turn stuff down
all the time? You know, if it's stupid.
It or if I can't see myself playing that role or the the characters are Sucka and I mean I want to play that. I'm not a, I'm not like that, kind of actor. Is there a role that like a challenge? That would challenge yourself that you really want to do one day? I really, you know, I take it as a come
You know I'm saying. So I'm you know, I want to do movies that people can watch over and over and over again. Yeah, that's my that's my goal. It's now really to play this role of play that wrong because if you only watch you once and then you don't never watch it again. What difference does it? Make that I played. Yeah, this guy like the movie got to be good.
When it come on, you got to check it out. You know, I'm saying, if you see it on TV, you got to stop and just watch it, you know I'm saying? Like that's that's to me the measure of a great movie. Not how much money you make. Now, how many Oscars are get? But how many times can you watch it?
Yeah. That's a good way to look at it was Friday. Yeah and boys in the hood yeah over and over and over again. Never get old. How is like the the industry changed like over the last like 10 years like it's kind of like there's not a there is movies and theaters and stuff like that but has like the new model of like Netflix and Hulu and all that has that changed like the industry in any way. Or no. I think it's strange.
I think it's changed things in some ways for the better for the audience.
The audience if it wasn't Netflix and these streamers have to stuff that y'all like that, y'all see? I wouldn't even get because
They wouldn't do the numbers at the box office and so they would never get made like the box office started to get greedy, you know, it's like all or nothing. So you got to either have a movie, they make a billion dollars or or they don't even really want to talk to you. So look at all the movies you miss out on, if you always just trying to get the billion dollar movie, so that's what Hollywood.
Wanted to, to just get franchise crazy. So then you start missing.
Those in between movies, that that we end up loving more than those super big as billion dollar movies, you know, you just start losing that. So, so either they want to do is super cheap or super expensive and you get, you miss those mid-range movies that usually are the best. Like, if you think of some of the most juicy movies that you like,
They were not Blockbusters. Yeah, no, they were just good ass movies so they had stopped making those. So when you have Netflix and these other ones coming in, they started to make those movies because it wasn't about box officers about getting people to subscribe. So a lot of movies that and TV that we would never see ends up.
Getting made because of the goal is different with the streamer than it is with the box office.
Damn, that's fine. Yeah, once it comes about the money at all kind of changes to, right?
Hollywood is always money. Yeah, I mean, sometimes it's about the propaganda,
but like the passion, it seems like it's kind of how so, what you mean. How is it like, when is it about the propaganda?
Every other movie damn near? Yeah, it's always about the propaganda and some movies get made, because of propaganda over
profit.
And some movies get made because they know they're going to make a
profit.
Movies, get settled. But both movies are just as important to Hollywood profit and propaganda.
Is there any movies you think that are just like propaganda? You don't have to but if you want a lot of them, that's how they all. It
seems like the movies that should be like,
The titles like the title could be Styrofoam cup, but when you watch it, it's about deep State taking over your life. It's like wait a minu, you know, why is this called Styrofoam cup? You know, it's called styrofoam cups so you don't look but is made its made really to spread a
message. Yeah, I see a lot of people complaining about that recently like
Like a lot of right-wing people, like, they'll they'll bring back an old movie like little mermaid or something. And then we'll make like, Sebastian the crab like gay or something, which I always thought he was kind of like a fruit ball in the first movie anyway. So I think that they're just, you know, I don't have a problem with that specifically. But you know what I mean? Well I mean he was always a little weird Sebastian, the crab like you could kind of tell him the first one. I mean I heard I heard Snow White.
And the seven doors that the dwarves are really your mood swings when you're coming off of cocaine,
really? Yeah,
you have Snow White and you have grumpy and angry and sleep. You had all the flavors, all these things. That's what I. So, you know, movies have sometimes, it's in
Chinese like holy, fuck
a sinister.
You know, adults make cartoons. So you got to be careful
a lot of those Classics. I feel like though, there's always those like deeper messages that people
Miss always
even like with SpongeBob effort. A bunch. Yes. SpongeBob came out to
write came out
where he came out. It's like gay too. I don't know, nobody know you did no but I'm saying is like there's a lot of hidden messages in that show. Apparently. They're like way dirtier and raunchier.
But yeah, I don't know how deep you want to get into. I used to see all these like, YouTube videos. Like Disney has all these like really weird like sexual things and stuff like that. Like,
yeah, that's, that's, that's just a whole nother level. Yeah, you know, but
all right, let's talk about he's gonna get you in trouble about the big three,
big three. Yeah, big three is a season 6.
Best season ever. Hear it. Come all summer, long starting. June 25th, we in Chicago. But, you know, playing New York, we plan Boston, its championship in London. Championship is in London. Playoffs is in DC. When Memphis Charlotte
Dallas, I got an idea. I think we can get John Moran to the big three. What do you think? Hell, yeah, come on.
Man, he's on his way there
bro. Hey you know I will welcome him with open
arms. What do you think? Like how does that happen? Two times.
Yeah, what's up with him? You know, I can't tell you what's, you know up you know it's his business but at the end of the day I think you know, it's sometimes it's hard to
It is just as hard to take successes, it is failure. And you know when you're very successful you go from being you know one of the one of the homies to the homie, everybody want to talk about, you know, everybody dealing with you in a different way. So a lot of people don't like that. A lot of people really want to put the genome Genie back in the bottle and they want
Just you know, go back to Day Life how I was or be treated from their family and friends how it was, but them days are over, you know, he's a, he's a star on his way to be a superstar and he got to make the adjustment. Even if his, you know, be becoming a little different with his family and friends because they're little different with him, right? Yeah.
The NB a young boy.
Album just got him to fired up and like I think something right.
That's what do you mean? Who knows? You know,
Yeah, you know, I can't say because I wasn't there, but, you know, look like he just having too much, fun.
Eat. What about with with your leg? You have like a personal relationship with a lot of the players, or do you just kind of? Yeah, we're see,
I'm cool. I mean, a little both, you know, I gotta, you know, make sure I set the stage for him and I got to be fair to all of them. And, and so, you know, I got a personal relationship with, you know, most of
The lead, you know, but I still gotta, you know, be fair to everybody so I can let that cloud my
judgment. And where did the passion for you come from to start the legal just loving basketball or
sicko? You know, Sports is bullshit in the summer. It's just whack. Yeah. Like I don't like just baseball. I mean this midseason baseball is cool but it's not like, you know, post these. Yeah.
Then you have, you know, the NBA got the summer league, you know, that should last about a game or two, you know, once you see the best player, play org a player, they got pick number one, you realize who he playing against them, dudes ain't going to be in the NBA so you just tune out after a game or two. Yeah, golf tennis you know pickleball shit. Y'all play Pickleball? No I don't know. Yeah fuck no so priest.
In football, you know? So, you know, only only game in town is the big three. Yeah, the only thing that really is hard-nosed competition, ten weeks. So it's quick, you know, it's not, like, you got to watch 82 games or 160 games, it's ten games. And so, it's the perfect time for the perfect game for the perfect season. And so, that's what we are.
Who's a player that you've been, like, heavily trying to pursue to get to come and you just can't get him.
Oh, you mean? Well, I haven't been pursuing to the point where I just want him to get in and they haven't got in. But, you know, we want Isaiah Thomas, we want Dwight Howard, we want to Paul Millsap, we want Lou Williams Boogie cousins, LaMarcus Aldridge, you know, these are guys that just left Italy and we want them. So,
You know, come on, come to the big three, have some fun, you know, you still want a ball stop
playing. You gotta compete with like the overseas though that are paying bags like because the whites and like Taiwan or something, right?
Yeah. You know, but they the bag is okay for them overseas, but they want to play in front of Taiwan Town. Hometown crowd. You know, saying they want to play in front of everybody. And we don't CBS all summer long. You know what they use to, you know, nobody's saying it.
Taiwan
I want you to get invaded soon, probably too. So he'll probably get back
here. Well, yeah, we let's not let's not hope that happen but but at the end of the day you never know. The world is very volatile right
now. Okay, I got another guy for can't get job. Why don't we go get Dillon
Brooks. Yeah, he come play with us. You know, we like we like trash talk and see he won't get text. Yeah, you know the NBA is they need to cut that shit out like 10 people love.
Looking at each other crazy. You know we big three you can dunk on somebody you can talk about the mama you can you do on me stand over them whatever you think you want to do to to to elevate your game or to whatever you know you could be yourself in the big three and I think that's what people like about the league, we're not robots. We don't pay to see robots, you know, AI is taking over, you know.
Maybe David Stern. Won't I mean not David Stern was just heading over. Yeah, maybe his ass wants some AI basketball players and then he can keep him quiet and tell them what to do and turn them off and turn them over when you want to.
You can hit that have these guys mic'd up out there bro. If they're really talking like that.
We all CBS do, you know, I got it. We gotta, we gotta, you know, thread the needle a little bit. We already got them, you know, yelling all kind of fucks and shit.
Social media or something. Yeah, we do. You know we might up Clips. Yeah. Funny. We
do. You know it's usually the guide is losing. Don't want poor know where Mike? Yeah. Middle of the game. He think the mic is the reason why you lose. It's late.
All those guys are the worst are the cheese
guy. Yeah, it's this might,
it's always something, bro. They tear off their sleeves is not right. About the Jersey
all that though. They had been in the crowd when they having a bad game. It's like, it's not the headband is that.
That bullshit jump shot, bro,
what do you think you got to do to just grow this thing to be like you just have your audience view bigger than it's ever been?
Um, well, we getting back to the model, you know, for the last two years and even after, you know, the year, we had a cover year, we had to shut down. And these last two years we've been kind of in a bubble because we just worried about covid, then we was worried about monkey pox and all kind of shit. So,
Who's in a bubble the last two years, this model wasn't built for a bubble, it was built to go around the country. So getting back to the to the model. A do it getting excitement that we had going in, you know, 2018 and 2019 getting it back? You know. That's, that's the key for this year is gonna happen because, you know, we still got the best thing to watch in the summer. Yeah.
Oh, yeah. So you're kind of like the Dana White, like basketball, like the way you're running it, like, no, fucks, like, kind of just doing what you think works. Not being so, like political and proper.
So, I think, you know,
Boxing boxing ignored, the, the the mixed martial art UFC style. They dismissed it as, you know, Savage. Yeah. Nobody would ever turn onto that over boxing and was on that, you know, outside looking in. Now at this point, you know, UFC I think is a little more popular. So
Same thing might happen with the NBA, you know, right now the playoffs is great, but the regular season is boring and their dismissing. What we doing. Never know, you know. Yeah. You never know.
Are you still watching you? So watch them being the Lakers are now their run.
Yeah, but not as intense as I used to, why? Because I'm not a fan of the NBA is like I used to be.
Just think it's changed that
much. Yeah, I do. How so
I think his leadership.
They need new leadership
at what level, like the very highest level like the commissioner. Yeah. The commissioner.
Mr. Burns.
What would be your first change if you were the next commissioner?
Our first thing you do find Adam, so no, but if you were in his position to change the league,
well, I'm not worried about his League. I'm worried about my league, so I'm worried about the big three. He got his own problems and, you know, he'll deal with him accordingly or not. Yeah, doesn't matter to
me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Even like the NHL commissioner he's like soft as fuck to. It's just like a thing. I don't know why but
this really lawyers, you know, they're not real squirt smell to it. Not real like, you know, I'm an entertainment guy. It's not like I'm straight from the NBA but I'm not a, you know, not just a lawyer, just giving the job because I'm a lawyer,
true? Yeah, yeah, no. I mean, where can we watch? I watch all the time. So, I'm excited. Appreciate it, man. June 25th, season six and where's game one in Chicago, Chicago.
Yeah, fuck yeah. Yeah man. You should come out.
Yeah, I'm down. Wait, so when
June June
21st, June 25th? Yeah. Okay. So going back to because we were talk about boys in the hood. Your son was in. He played you and Straight Out of Compton. Yeah, you are castrated that. Probably or like, how big of an accomplishment or how proud of you to see that happen.
Dream come true in a lot of ways. You know, once I knew we were actually going to make the movie for real because
Is it you know the movie had had actually you know taking four years to really get it all the way ready? So,
I just went to him because he had had been on tour with me. I jumped onstage and performed and, and I saw that he wasn't shy when it came to the mic and, you know, just being out there. So, I asked him. I'm like, yo, you know, look like we're going to do this in wa movie and guess what? It was like, what I said, I want you to play me.
He's like okay
that's it. Just like these,
are you serious? He said yeah I do it but he he didn't seem like he was serious. I said okay I got it. I got to see if he really want to do it because it's better for him to tell me know now or figure out, figure it out, that it's not going to happen now then to put him through the process. So I started to kind of
Run him through the wringer. You know, through sending to a couple of acting coaches one in LA.
He did that and then I sent him to New York, he did that. But I still didn't know how serious he was to eat. Till he came to me and said, I'm supposed to go meet with the acting teacher today, or whatever coach. So I'm like, okay he taking initiative itself to do it and so,
Then I had to you know once I got him serious then I had to go to to Gary gray, who directed the movie? He directed Friday. He directed it was a good day video for me too. So I had to tell him and he was, he was mad. When I told him I said, guess who I want to play me? He he said, who I was like my son.
He was like,
man.
Q. What the fuck? That was making a real movie. I said man this is a real movie. This is a real movie. What you're talking about? I said he can do it. I said you're going to help him do it. Just like John Singleton. Help me on my first movie you going to help him?
It's going to be right. I said he auditioned everything if he's not the right, dude, you find a better Ice Cube with will take the better one so that made me feel a little better. So then I had to convince Universal because Universal Donna Langley at Universal. She really had the last say
You know, she could have vetoed it. She could have said, no, let's find a trained actor and so
She said, let him do a screen test, so he did a screen test with about four other at fake-ass ice cubes. He was the best one. So you got the job. So, I
was right. Did it turn out like, where you pretty happy with how it all turned
out? Yeah, did an amazing job? Not just him, but everybody everybody in the movie did an amazing job and Nene.
They definitely took on the or skate anywhere when we was younger. Yeah. And up
was there any like politics or was it tough to? Like, get everyone to kind of sign off to get that going? Like, what was
that? It was hard. You know, we had
Get drowned board. He didn't want to make a movie about NWA thought we was gonna, you know, most most movies about groups, artist's art bullshit, right. It's only a few great ones and thank God. The last great one was was Ray at the time, so I had I was like, man, we gonna do something on the level of re, you know, it's not going to be, you know,
No, some bullshit bro. Real quick Jamie Foxx does not get enough credit for his performance in red. He killed he Jamie Foxx and you know
I just want to say, get well soon. Yeah, is one of the most talented people out here. He's one of our most talented people. Yeah. You know, he can sing, he can, can and Harrison a comedy, you know, and I can pretty much do it all.
Yeah,
we've had him on here before and he was just going crazy on the bat with all the impersonations and yeah, he's so funny.
Yeah. He's one of our most talented people.
How much did they come to you? So they come to you dress Snoop and father making the movie and getting your guys opinions on things.
Or what do you mean? I produced a movie?
No, I know, but like with Dre and Snoop as well.
Yeah, I mean Dre was right there.
But are there like, disagreements on how things happened? Or
Yeah, we worked all that out in the beginning. You know, it was about talking about what happened, getting everybody's Viewpoint of what happened and figuring out how to make it, you know, take ten years and turn it into two hours. So it was a
You know some things were summaries more than boom boom. Boom. And something is your actual event. So it was a mixture of you know you still have to tell a story, you know. I mean you can't just do a documentary. Yeah. Yeah.
How tense was like that time compared to like what's going on now would you say it's like more tense now or back? Then
I don't know, you know, it
it all feels the same sometimes like,
Big crowds and Hip-Hop events, you know, they pretty much feel the same. So
Not more intense than then, you know, when we was doing it with NWA, but not less either.
You know that there's always a threat, you know, if you any if you anywhere and somebody could have a gun on them, it's just more tense like we could be in here. If you knew somebody had a gun on, you would you would be tense without even tensing up. So, you know, it's the same thing.
Is there a point when you changed his obviously, in the movie and, you know, you come from South Central? LA. Yeah. Do you still have that same mentality that you grew up
with? I think I do know. Why is how I grew up? I love her
once you get like money in Hollywood does things change. Like was it hard for you to do? Are we there yet? Because it was so like
nah you know, activist acting gig, you know, it's a character and I did it for a purpose.
I know that my audience had kids and I wanted to, I want the kids to relate to me and not and not their parents that have to say Ice Cube, man. He used to be 20. You should have seen him when he was doing it. Like I don't want them stories. I want the kids to run on be like yeah. I want to see the new Ice Cube movie. Yeah. So that's what are we here?
We there yet, you know delivered and and so you know that's why I did just Ninja Turtles.
Movie, cuz that young audience.
See, kids are always going to come, they always going to have something. Parents are gonna have something fun to watch. Yeah, and if they get familiar with you as they become a kid, once they get of age and then start hearing the music.
You're already cool. You know, say a soda music, just take another, take your career to another dimension. So now you have another
Fan has grown up from this big to y'all big, you know, and and they keep coming because they keep watching. Are we there yet? I didn't watch the Ninja Turtles. Now, the kid come Mom and Daddy. Push Are We There Yet? In front of him? Saw the movie, don't go nowhere, but the kids keep coming and they keep growing into
You know, many little ice cube fans.
What there? Would there ever be a Straight Out of Compton like to, or like a kind of extension of the movie? What happens after could be? Because the end you know, it like
it is
It would be very difficult to pull it together but it's not impossible would be the hardest part of it. Like putting it together. Just getting everyone on board and stuff again. Yeah, getting a cash back together and and everybody still
Was dedicated to.
You know, becoming those characters again? Yeah, I'm saying. So it's a
Physical dedication to,
I guess? Yeah. With the movie. So legendary like that too. It's the stakes are high because you got a crush the second one too, right?
Yeah, yeah. Did you
feel that pressure when you were doing Friday with, like, next Friday? Friday. After the next did, you always want to make the sequel? Like, you know, this has to be better. Was there pressure because Friday? So such a hit?
No, not the key was not to even try to top the furnace one. The key was to make to make next Friday. Stand on its own as
The movie whether you seen Friday one or not? Yeah. And then do the same thing with the third one to make it just a good movie. Whether you seen the second one or the first one. So, no matter where your which one you see, you going to see a good movie. That's not really leaning on the last
move. I'm sure you've talked about this. I just don't know. I'm curious what that was Chris Tucker, not talked about being in Next Friday when I was my gaps,
but yeah, he we wanted him, you know?
He he turned it down, really? Yeah, he turned it down. You'll hear thousand different stories but we wanted to pay him twelve million dollars to do that movie and he turned it down. He said it was for religious reasons. He didn't want to, he didn't want to cuss and he didn't want to smoke weed on camera.
Bro. I mean now I'm going to tell you Mike, but Mike Epps are great job. Next Friday was hilarious but it's just he was so great in the first one that's just
wild. Yeah, I mean but I'm glad he didn't do it because we wouldn't have Mike. Yeah. Mike, you know to me is funnier, you know, just as a pure comic yeah,
as a kind of switching up. But as I OG, what do you think about this new wave of rappers the new house?
The industry is kind of going now.
What do you like about it? Why you what don't you like about it?
May I like the Beats, I mean, the the artists are getting lost in an auto tunes and, you know, now that you had AI computer, you know, I think people don't want a computerised rapper no more. You know, they want, they want to hear your voice. Like, I don't know any rappers by they voice no more. I used to know all the rappers, just hit a voice know who
that is so I think they need to they need to figure out how to put that auto Tunes down and we need to hear what people sound like and if you know they're there is good because I think AI is
Demonic. I think AI is going to get a backlash from real people, real organic people. And so I think artists need to go back to to using a real voice and and making sure people know this is authentic and not made from a computer.
What you're saying artists are like using AI
Well, I think Auto Tunes.
Sounds computer, like, right, and I think it's all starting to sound artificial.
Is there anything because of AI? Is there any people use autotune like T-Pain's? Got have a pass on Auto-Tune, right? What
T-Pain is an original? Yeah, yeah. So I don't, I don't fault T-Pain T-Pain's. Fire. Yeah, he's an original. So just like, just like Roger Troutman is an original. See they can use it.
Without any, you know, that's their style. Yeah but a lot of people took their style and ran with it and now everybody uses it and I think it's going to be a backlash because of AI. I think people are going to want things organic and not artificial.
Yeah, it sounds artificial.
I think AI scaring a lot of artists to write because like, the AI artist, I don't know if you're on Tick-Tock or anything but like they're everywhere on Tears. Like, there's family. I Drake's. Just snapping on
Tick-Tock. Yeah, I think that's. I think that's
terrible. Yeah. Have you heard the AI Drake song? Nope,
I want to hear a. I drink some me neither but I know she went on the internet. Yeah, I don't want to hear that bullshit.
There's
an abscess or whoever
I
made it. There's a ice cube coming for you, bro.
Yeah. And I'm gonna sue the motherfucker who make it to, and the people hitting the platform. They play, like, somebody can't take. Can't take you. And, and it's like a sample. Yeah, I mean, if somebody can't take your original,
Voice and manipulated without having to pay.
Yeah, it's crazy how it could do that because they just record like a reference track and then the computer just changes it to whoever's
voice. Yeah, you know, to me it's like sampling knots and you know, if I still somebody baseline or sample, I ain't gonna say steal that if I don't pay for it that is still, it still somebody Baseline and come after me. No matter how much I manipulated and
Computer and change the notes and whatever they recognize it and it's a sample and come after me. So I started should do.
Is there any artists like who's like your favorite kind of new artists? Is there any
I don't know about like favorite anyone use nobody. I'm not really like, it's nobody. I'm just breaking my neck to get they record.
Yeah. Because a lot of rap shit now it's just like you listen to it for a second. Then it's just kind of like
Stale pretty quick,
right? Yeah, don't have a long
shelf life.
why they think that's so because our behind just think it all sounds,
like people are getting tired of that artificial computerized sound because I
What was the last rap album? You like actually bumped for a long time study? Finally Rich? Chief Keef? No. No. Well, oh get rich or die. Trying to solicit all the time. No, I'm saying more recent shit. Why don't know? Yeah. You think what's more is mine? Do you bang the oldies? Like that all the
time? You're older. Sometimes I get into it. Yeah. Yeah.
How often do you ever like go just go to the studio just to like try and see if you can put something together.
Making music right now. I got an album coming out called
Man Down.
When is that coming out?
Hopefully, a little later this year that's that
obviously paying respects though, Jesus. But do you think it's tough now to compete with the newer
guys are competing with nobody. Nah, nope, I don't have no competition. I got clientele.
Oh yeah.
People that like Ice Cube shit. That's who I serve everybody else getting where they fit in or get out.
Love that. I was at your one of your shows with Snoop, in Nashville. Yeah, whatwhat's. Your like relationship with Snoop now.
Now very cool. You know we're in the same group together, you know, I mean Mount Westmore so number love, you know, it's always been like
that. What do you think about him? Buying Death Row
Records. I think it's dope. You know, he started off on death row, we got a lot of history and, you know, I think it should be in control of him over. Who had the shit. No.
Bradley or one of them toy companies or some shit had it. And and so I think it should be in control of the people who made the music.
How about how about dr. Dre, are you guys still cool
or yeah, just text me this weekend. He went down the Brea saw picture and wa took it and and
text it to me and
You know, so we we hitting each other up all the time he working on music right now him to Snoop. So looking forward to hearing with that sound, like
that's the up. You have any other passion projects, like, but you haven't gone to do yet that you have to
accomplish. You know, at this point is really about, you know, making sure the big three is successful. And, you know, once I'm happy with that, as far as I'm happy with with the progress and that the
Can can stand on his own two feet, then I'll I'll look for other passion projects. But you know, this is probably the biggest project I got going and it's been a seven-year run. So you know, I expected to at least be a 10-year run and then we'll see what's
next. I mean, it seems like everything you've done that we've seen spend pretty fucking successful,
right? I hope so. And I mean not everything.
Thing, I think, you know, it's really about quality, you know, entertainment is is is fickle, so you never know if your best work is even going to get accepted or you're your worst work. Could could be loved more than anything. So I don't think you can really worry about that. I think you just do your best and get people quality.
And whoever come across it run across it, you know? Hopefully they like it and it's not a waste of their time, money. And that's really all you could do. What do you think is some of the the best advice you've ever gotten? Just to in the industry are from a mentor that you've had to be an original?
You know, be
authentic.
And let the chips fall where they may.
You know, don't worry about pleasing people, just be yourself and let the chips fall where they may.
That's pretty do. Yeah, one more thing I want to ask about was like in the 2020 when you kind of supported Trump and stuff like that, what did you think about? Like, because you're a Hollywood, you know, there's a lot of like propaganda and stuff like that. What was that? Like, getting Flack for
that? I mean, I never supported Trump or Biden. I never asked to speak to the Republicans or the Democrats. I created a
document called the contract with black America that spelled out a lot of different issues that
We Believe were the reason why it was so much unrest after George. Floyd was killed, and I released a document and everybody wanted to talk to me, the Republicans asked to talk to me and the Democrats. I went to talk to both of them about the contract.
The Republicans ask could they Implement some things from the contract in the into their proposal and I said, the document was open for anybody to use in any way they desire. So they just want to use it as educational purposes. They could, they wanted to add more, you know, pair
Graphs or more ideas to it. They could, they wanted to use it to chain. Get a law change. They could. So I didn't mind them using it. I met with the Democrats. The Democrats said we like 90% of what's in there.
And we'll talk to you after the election about it. And I said, okay.
And I felt like after that everybody started to pile on and say that I was for Trump and I was for this and I was for that, it's not true.
Yeah, I didn't see the issue that because it's like I mean it's just cool that you're trying to to make a difference, right? Yeah. You gotta like start somewhere and advocate for social justice forever.
Yeah, I mean, whoever's in power, you have to have to talk to the people in power, you can't.
you know, even enemies talk like,
Russia's fighting Ukraine, you know, these people get on the phone and talk to each other.
So just because you might not agree, are you be, you know, so-called hate or mad or whatever but you have to dialogue if not you know, what's the next step? Fighting? If you don't talk,
you think there's like a stigma amongst like the a firm African-American Community to like Republicans and stuff like that.
I don't know what's going on in the African-American Community. When it comes to that, you know, I mean
I mean, like,
Black people have.
Supported Democrats, you know, overwhelmingly for 50, 60 years and and nothing has changed. So something's got to change,
he has an outsider like it seems like you can only like, think one way and you kind of get like I see like people getting criticized for like having their own opinions and stuff like that.
Yeah. That's that's pretty much how things have
kind of,
Fell out. You know it's like you got you got one or two ways to do
things
or you know if you're if you're not in lockstep with everybody else then they think you're against them.
Yeah. Yeah. Would you do anything in 2024
anything? Like what
just like be involved in any way or I doubt
it. You know one thing I did would what I set out to do is put out the contract of black
Pika. And it's still a document that anybody can use at any
time.
Where did all that passion? Just for like activism and stuff. Was there a certain moment in your life where you knew you had to be this guy?
Um yeah, when you got the mic you got to use it. That's all I know when you got the bike you got to use it
but growing up and stuff you just became very passionate about it because it's also big in the
movement when you grow up. You know you grow up black in America. I don't see how you can grow up without being passionate about, you know, rights and getting, you know, getting your rights and getting things done.
The way they should be done.
Cool. I will do during this is awesome, bro. We don't know. Hold you too long way to the man. Big shit, every June 26, 2015 2015. Yep. Chicago are on like TV
same day, June 25th. We on
CBS is it every certain day.
Every every Saturday or Sunday,
every Saturday Sunday. What time
you know the times very, you know, sometimes it's 1:00 Eastern. Sometimes it's through 3:00 p.m. Eastern.
I only turned into that Ginger stronger and we'll see you there.
Alright guys, we appreciate you about. Thank you.
