Ice Cube’s BIG3 Makes History As First Black-Owned Sports League

    Ice Cube and the team behind the BIG3 League have reached another milestone with the organization now certified as the first and only Black-owned sports league.

    The 3-on-3 basketball league announced on Friday (October 14) that it has been fully recognized as a Black-owned and Operated business by the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc. and ByBlack.

    With its inclusion in the ByBlack network, BIG3 will now be in position to work directly with Black businesses at every stage and foster relationships with Black Chambers across the country, the supporting the league’s commitment to supporting Black entrepreneurs.

    “Myself and the entire league are honored to be officially certified by ByBlack and the U.S. Black Chambers,” the West Coast rap pioneer turned entertainment mogul said in a statement. “From day one, the league has been dedicated to providing opportunities for Black players, fans, investors, and partners, and we are proud to be a part of a nationwide network of Black business owners.”

    Ice Cube added: “Supporting Black enterprise is a lifelong passion of mine and the BIG3 will continue to build upon its successes and lift up other Black entrepreneurs.”

    The new relationship with ByBlack and the USBC also puts the BIG3 and Cube, its CEO, in a better position to leverage a deal which he struck with the NFL earlier this year. Through the newly established Contract with Black America, which the actor and director also co-founded, the NFL has earmarked $125 million to invest in and partner directly with Black-owned businesses.

    “USBC is energized by the BIG3 basketball league becoming a certified ByBlack business,” said USBC CEO and President Ron Busby Sr. “This is the first step of what we deem to be a fruitful partnership, with Ice Cube’s commitment to helping other Black-owned businesses get ByBlack certified.

    “We applaud Ice Cube for leading the way in this initiative and it is our goal to continue this partnership by collaborating with Ice Cube, BIG3, and other Black-owned businesses in the sports and entertainment industry.”

    The new certification is one of several major moves BIG3 has announced as it gears up for its sixth season. During season five, which wrapped in September, the league introduced a series of NFTs called Forever Experience Action Tokens (FEATs), which not only let consumers buy into the league by leveraging blockchain technology, but also give token holders access to exclusive real life experiences.

    Season five also saw BIG3 introduce a new technological advancement called Heat Vision, which allows players and coaches access to real-time data on every single shot, including arc, rotation, and depth. The exclusive 3-on-3 tracking software is powered by Microsoft Azure and Noah Basketball Analytics.

    Ice Cube Says Warner Bros. Rejected Two Scripts For New ‘Friday’ Film

    During an interview last year, Cube called BIG3 his most challenging career accomplishment.

    “This the biggest thing ever and the hardest,” he said. “Doing music, I grew up with Dr. Dre living down the street from me, so, you know. Not saying that was easy, but I was in a position to really be right there. In movies, John Singleton saw me one day and said, ‘Hey, I wanna put you in a movie.’ So, that career took off, you know, with being discovered like that.

    “This is something we had to conceive from scratch with all kind of people telling us that we was crazy, what are y’all doing, you rap what are you doin’ in sports, you do movies and now you doin’ basketball. So, we had to push this rock uphill. This has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

    Meanwhile, Ice Cube recently revealed he submitted two scripts for the fourth film in his stoner comedy franchise Friday, but that both were rejected by the studio.

    Cube joined N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN as part of a live taping of Drink Champs during LL Cool J’s Rock The Bells weekend in August, and criticized Warner Brothers for not supporting the culture.

    27 thoughts on “Ice Cube’s BIG3 Makes History As First Black-Owned Sports League

    1. is this what your celebrating? cool congrats, but adding first black inherently brings you down that you are different. we are all the same. he maybe black but hes STILL A MAN. stop with this first stuff. next article will be on the first black man to do a cartwheel!

      1. Right. We’re all human. Truest words ever. Black, white, asian, etc. We’re all humans, and those who are CIVILIZED are welcome to run by my side. It’s ONE LOVE. Bob Marley man. We gotta love each other, share culture, and bring out tbe good in humanity. It’s easy to be so negative with the internet… but I’m sick of it. Spread the respect and love. Because most people on earth are good, not evil. It’s that 1% of humans that are scum. Which amounts to millions of scumbags, being that there’s 7+ billion peoples on earth. It’s an issue, but this racial division isn’t worth it. We truly have to come together, because at the end of the day, the system screws us all. The racial division and other divisions are purely political to keep that powers that be, in power.

    2. All this race crap is so divisive. Why cant we just all be the human race ? If you got a good product, im buying. I dont give a fuck about the color of the owner.

      1. Remember who started it! It’s easy to say let’s all be a human race after a 400 year headstart… and regardless of your background, re-educate yourself. Let’s go Cube!

          1. Please STFU while you are behind. You sit comfortably while stealing and benefitting off black culture and spread hurt feelings on hip-hop site comment sections. Truth of the matter is that you would be arguing over mayonnaise if black culture didn’t bless your pathetic life.

        1. black “kangz” as u call them sold the own people. stop blaming todays white people for something that happened centuries ago. you think daymond jones sat around complaining? NO. he got off his assss and worked. wypipo as you call them are NOT holding you down. WORK. you think diddy and master p sat around complaining that their food stamp money is late. NO. they got off their assss and worked. 400 year headstart? buddy try 30,000. i know thats a big number but its over a “band.” gtfoh and go to work.

          1. Oh that’s right white people were never racist for 400 years Jim Crow laws and slavery was just a way of life huh?

      2. People like you are so silent when the telemundos, polish museums, japanese monuments, etc are in your face everyday… but once you see anything black owned, you cry “WE NEED TO BE HUMAN AND NOT SO DIVISIVE!!!” We see through your racism and your cloudy tears.

    3. Okay, cool I guess? Lots of black owned things. We need more transgender, lgbtqai++ owned things. Black people own tons of things. Who do you know that is lgbtqia++ who owns a sports league? Exactly. Black people jave had it easy compared to us. We are stilled crucified worldwide for who we are. Accept us. And accept us converting your children to our kind. We are good. Straight baby makers are evil.

    4. So its ‘all black everthang” okay then, guess I won’t be buying because you don’t respect my people. FOH with your black baby league then

      1. Y should black people respect white people who treat another race like second class citizens and at the same time steal their culture?

      1. At a time we were Kings in fact we were a dynasty still are to this day but in the eyes of white people like u Africa is a shit hole country where Africans live in huts and walk around half naked carrying spears

    5. I love the white people on here acting as though black people invented race – it’s a big joke to me. other whites don’t say much because they know just mentioning these issues makes them complicit. these people on here every article yelling about black this black that just make me laugh. they actually believe in their pea size brain that black people identify themselves by their skin tone when only whites do. the grand trick of our times

    6. imagine if a white guy was on the headline sayin white owned business. shit would flip it self. blacks ppl are racist ecen against thier own, white ppl are generally racist against anything under the sun, they steal and rip off anything they could profit from. azn are racist against everyone , the story goes on. just be happy for ICE CUBE, dude is actually doin something positive, and helping the community.

    7. If it’s a black own business, that only supports blacks, then I won’t be supporting. Hope all the blacks that it supports, support it back.

    8. They accuse white people of preferring white business partners and as a response they are doing the same and build a black owned business circle.

    9. What’s up with these negative comments? You’re on a website about a black art form… And you’re complaining about black owned businesses supporting each other? Makes no damn sense

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