- [Narrator] "Where It All Started: Ice Cube."
Coming straight out of Compton,
we meet the hip hop legend in 1988 as a member
of the LA rap group NWA.
Which contributed to the wide spread of gangster rap.
When Ice Cube went solo,
he gave us a political side to the rap game
with his debut album, "America's Most Wanted" in 1991.
Followed by "Death Certificate" and "The Predator."
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He gave us hit singles like "It was a Good Day,"
"Check Yo Self," and "You Can Do It."
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- You're rolling down with Ice Cube from NWA.
- [Narrator] Cube broke into cinema with his role
as Doughboy in "Boyz 'n the Hood."
This opened the door for him to become an actor
and executive producer.
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From his iconic films, "Friday,"
"All About the Benjamins," "Barbershop,"
"Are We There Yet?," and the list continues to grow.
- You know, rap is for everybody, you know,
not just New Yorkers.
You know, New Yorkers, they was like the pioneers of it,
you know, and we learned a lot of stuff from them, you know.
Now they can learn a lot of stuff from us
because the rappers out here are not just, you know,
by themselves, they're like entrepreneurs, you know,
like Eazy-E, Too Short, Iced Tea, you know.
And they're like, you know, even Tone Loc.
You know, they think about getting groups
and getting their own labels started.
And, you know, they're not just by themselves, you know.
They're helping out other people making a lot of money
that way.
- [Narrator] He was inducted
into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of NWA
in 2016.
And in 2017, Ice Cube was honored with the star
on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
- I would never have a career if it wasn't for this dude.
A whole lot of people in this business
that wouldn't even think about getting into show business
would not be working, living, feeding their families,
if it wasn't for Ice Cube, give it up.
(crowd cheering)
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- [Narrator] Ice Cube gave us nothing but hits
over the years, from music to films.
But let's not forget his three on three basketball league,
Big Three.
Alongside entertainment executive Jeff Kwatinetz,
Ice Cube founded the league Big Three in 2017,
which consists of 12 teams whose rosters
include both former NBA players and international players.
- [Ice Cube] Coming back after the pandemic
to cap it off with champagne in the Bahamas, like why not?
- [Narrator] Cube is more than a rap icon,
he's a phenomenal actor, mentor, and entrepreneur.
- You know, it's nothing that you really even think about.
As far as when you getting into the game,
you just wanna be respected by other MCs that you love.
And I've kinda achieved that.
And now being honored, you know, it's just kinda,
it's the icing on the cake as far as, you know,
what I've done in my career as far as music.
- [Interviewer] If you could do it all over again,
would you change anything?
- Nope, wouldn't change nothing.
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Right now I'm about to start shooting "Next Friday,"
which is a sequel of "Friday."
And I got a movie coming out with George Clooney
and Mark Walhberg called "Three Kings."
That'll be out, November.
- [Male Interviewer] You really made a great transition
into acting, was it tough for you?
It seems like it was pretty easy.
- Well, you know, I'm not gonna say it was easy,
but it's just, you know, once you're focus and determined
then you just jump in.
Ain't nothing to it, but to do it.
You know, that's my philosophy so.
I've just been trying to grow, get better as an actor.
You know, get better as a director, and writer,
and everything (indistinct).
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- [Narrator] From Compton to Hollywood,
this is where it all started.
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