Ice Cube

Ice Cube was born as O'Shea Jackson in South Central Los Angeles, California. At age sixteen, Ice Cube developed an interest in hip hop music, and began writing raps and performing at parties hosted by Dr. Dre. In 1987 Cube and Dr. Dre released the EP My Posse as CIA band. Then Ice Cube launched cooperation with Eazy-E writing songs for the group N.W.A. (short for Niggaz With Attitude) formed by Ice Cube, Dre, and other rappers. In 1988, they released Straight Outta Compton, a piece of rap classics. However leader of the band Ice Cube was not satisfied with the terms of the contract leaving him a tiny sum. He decided to start a solo career. Cube's first solo album was released in New York City, with his group Da Lench Mob, and the Bomb Squad (Public Enemy's production team), in 1991. AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted was a revolutionary effort making rap as popular as never before. The easy-to-understand, yet rude and straightforward, lyrics caused Ice many problems. He was accused of racism and misogyny. This success was followed by Ice's cinema debut in John Singleton's drama, Boyz N the Hood. Also in 1991, he released the sensational EP, Kill At Will, the first hip hop EP to go both Gold and Platinum.

His second album Death Certificate was a more mature work with irksome social problems focused lyrics. This time human rights activists, politicians, religious leaders and some critics blamed him for being anti-white racism, misogynist, and anti-Semitic. Cube participated in Lollapalooza in 1992, which contributed to his audience growth. Ice Cube released The Predator in November 1992, dedicating this record to the continuing LA uprising of 1992. The Predator was the first album to top both pop and R&B charts. Singles from The Predator included It Was a Good Day and the Check Yo Self. The album remains Cube's most successful release, with over three million copies sold in the US. However, after The Predator, Cube started losing his fan support. Lethal Injection which was released in the end of 1993 and represented Cube's first attempt at imitating the G-Funk sound of Dr. Dre's The Chronic, was not well highly appraised by music experts. However, this record included some of Cubes best songs Really Doe, Bop Gun (One Nation), You Know How We Do It & What Can I Do? After 1994, he suspended music activities and got focused on movies and promotion for other rappers.

In 1995, Cube had reunited with former N.W.A. member Dr. Dre to release Natural Born Killaz. Then followed his solo album War & Peace Volume 1 as the sequel War & Peace Volume 2 was released only in 2000. The creation of these involved Dr. Dre and MC Ren, but the albums were not greeted well as they did not seem as good as Cube's first works. In 2000, Cube also joined Dr. Dre, Eminem & Snoop Dogg on the Up In Smoke Tour. In 2006, Ice Cube released his eighth solo album, Laugh Now, Cry Later, on his Da Lench Mob Records label. This was a commercially beneficial record, although old fans found it simply a product of pop-culture and an act of betrayal. He released his eighth studio album, Raw Footage, on August, 19 2008. It features the controversial single Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It. Apart from an outstanding solo career, Ice Cube formed Westside Connection, an alliance of rappers from the Westside of the States to make a stand against the Eastside rap school, and showed his skills in the sphere of cinematography, performing as an actor, producer and director and writer. . Ice Cube released his ninth studio attempt entitled I Am The West in 2010. That long play was recorded at the rapper’s independent label, so Ice Cube was absolutely free to create and finally the musician successfully realized all his ideas. It is worth mentioning that Am The West was critically acclaimed and the experts noted the traditionally high level of performance and interesting lyrics. Ice Cube released his ninth studio attempt entitled I Am The West in 2010. That long play was recorded at the rapper’s independent label, so Ice Cube was absolutely free to create and finally the musician successfully realized all his ideas. It is worth mentioning that Am The West was critically acclaimed and the experts noted the traditionally high level of performance and interesting lyrics.