Bloomberg Politics’ John Heilemann sat down with Ice Cube for his latest “With All Due Respect” interview, in which the new Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee explained N.W.A’s political impact.
Earlier this month, N.W.A was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame making them the fifth Hip Hop act ever voted in and putting them alongside Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Run-DMC, the Beastie Boys and Public Enemy.
When asked if Ice Cube and his N.W.A fellow group members Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, DJ Yella and MC Ren thought of themselves as a political act, the rapper explains the impetus behind creating the type of music they did.
“We said, ‘You’re about to witness the strength of street knowledge,’ meaning you are about to witness a knowledge coming off the streets or out the streets that you may have never witnessed before,” the rapper-actor says. “We just wanted to be real. We just wanted to honest. Street knowledge is a term to me. It means letting the streets know what the government, politics, police, whatever authority figures are doing up to exposing them and also if the politicians, if they’re listening, letting them know what the streets think and how it’s going. Hopefully, there’s some understanding that could be made in all of this.”
The induction has been met with criticism from Kiss frontman Gene Simmons who feels that Hip Hop nor does N.W.A have a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since they don’t play the guitar. Ice Cube has been vocal about asserting N.W.A’s position, explaining that rock and roll is not an instrument, it’s a spirit.
Elsewhere in the interview, the Barbershop actor further gives his thoughts on the Presidential political race and the Black Lives Matter movement.
“I think the fact that you even have to say Black lives matter lets you know how bad the problem is,” he says. “I know a lot of people blur the lines and say, ‘Well, do Black lives matter to Black people?’ Of course they do. And they talk about Black on Black crime, but all communities commit crimes against their own so there’s White on White crime, Mexican on Mexican crime, Chinese on Chinese, Japanese on Japanese, Indian on Indian, whatever. Everybody does that. What we’re talking about is and what they’re talking about in Black Lives Matter is the government killing citizens. That is a whole different texture and a whole different argument and it’s apples and oranges to me. When the government is against you, who is with you in this country?”
The full John Heilemann “With All Due Respect” interview with Ice Cube is as follows.
Shut the fuck up you guys didnt have shit in mind for political activism at that young age all you wanted to do was make music for a living which is a dream and make money doing it showed when the bottom all fell out over money and fuck tha police was a coincidental thing its basicaly dropping an F bomb every 10 seconds real positive message to charge forward on right? And as far as dre eazy e and cube dre got out as soon as he could to make money look at his networth now whats really important to him? Eazy e was all about money setting up the dealings with heller behind the others back and getting himself larger portions of the pay would be worth what dres worth today if he was alive.and cube he jumped right away and went on his own solo making all the dough and writing movies and now whats the guy worth again? Moneys his priority and hell its mine too but dont say your about something when all your doing is trying to capitalize and play out the race card which is a hot item right now and people make millions off it everyday selling products to “fight racism” because its a trending issue right now instead of personaly profiting off it how about giving that money back? Oh wait i forgot never right? The only thing ice cube knows about cultural diversity at this point being a millionaire since the 90’s is what he sees on the news just like everyone else and nothing more as him and his friends (a majority white believe it or not) sit down over lobster and steak and discuss race issues and poverty amongst eachother as the table creates a $200+ bill for the 1 meal while at the same time some poor child sits at home hungry with no water cause it got turned off and no power literaly with nothing and powerless when that $200+ meal could have turned the water or electricty back on… just pisses me off when these assholes try to show all these things matter yet they do very little in means of there own luxurys vs people having nothing either be about something and give everything you can to the cause your preaching wether it be money belongings or even just time aiding these people your preaching about but no nothing just a few dumb media interviews bringing it up giving $10,000 to a charity that only gives $1,000 of that donation to the cause and oh dont forget to write it off and get your money back from the tax payers as well guys just riding the wave because of his skin color hes a little bitch and so is anyone who thinks nwa was a political movement GTFOH
So Ice Cube is an artist and doesn’t deserve to get paid for it? GTFOH. He’s not Mother Theresa. We need to pay our own damn bills. You sound like a crab who thinks everyone should be “broke” to be real. He is one if the few who do have something to say. Yet you diefy Micheal Jordan, Jay-Z and and other celeb who openly sell out and couldn’t give two shits about your black ass.
Then be an artist make music make movies dont sit and act like your some political activist paria and your looking out for so many people just to boost your sales when your only looking out for yourself its evil have you even fucking seen the tracklist on the NWA album? Political activists and helping out the black community? You got to be fucking kidding me 8 ball? Gangsta gangsta? Dopeman? Parental discretion iz advised? A bitch iz a bitch? And then eazy e pointing a gun at the camera? Yeppp reallll political activists just like back then they were fake ass gangsters pretending to be something there not just because they grew up around it and wanted to seem bad ass just like now ice cube pretending he cares about the african american community when like i said the only experience he has with it was over 25 years ago and now what he sees on the news ice cubes the male beyonce when it comes to selling race and BTW im white just the fact i believe in equality on all levels and all races and cant stand when people try to capitolize on others suffering and misery thats why i said be about it or dont be about it wanna roll around in a rolls royce way beyond your means have 5 houses 10 cars then say you care about the poor or race issues when you live on beverly hills and are the farthest from it as possible and dont contribute 10% of what you make towards your cause me im about my money i make it i keep it deal is i say that out that gate these corny ass celebs all talk about starving people and immigration and racial violence and discord and shit and only give a few thousand a year when they can easily afford to give 10% and actualy stand behind there cause if every one of these lying ass celebs like ice cube beyonce and everyone else preaching racial equality and peace gave just 10% of what they make i guarentee the issue would settle itself using that money to combat corrupt police departments and politicians who stand behind these corrupt officers but noooonlets just keep bitching it just gets sickening after awhile
U don’t see he get pay to say them shit to ppl
Exactly kinda what im saying hes a sell out and doesnt give to anyone or anything but himself or his spoiled kids
Exactly kinda what im saying hes a sell out and doesnt give to anyone or anything but himself or his spoiled kids
Holy shit you are a sad idiot, try going outside or something.
Holy shit you are a sad idiot, try going outside or something.
Wise white man is a bitch boy! I hope he get cancer
So hows alabama in your momas basement you dumbass imbred white trash goat fucking redneck? And i hope its rectal cancer from afrika pounding your loose already very pounded out bunghole real slow and eat away at you someone like you deserves that
“wise” white man was molested by afreaka bambuutaa. #fact #realtalk
Very true
You a Dumbass bitch I will piss on yo house & burn it down!
How can a bunch of chimps be “political” LOL
You seriously have enough time to post under numerous usernames and say the same thing? Your a fucking retard you imbred wellfare collecting mid life crisis having pile of dog shit
You have a lot of issues with anger, try learning to respect the opinions of others sometime.
I respect the opinion of others when its worth respecting the only thing anyone should do to your mouth when you speak is staple it shut and nail those fingers together
Why are people so racist and nasty in the comments. It’s really sad.
“We wuz all political and shit”
I think people in n.w.a is way better than bettermost of Governments deuchebags
Man, fuck this. Shit was 30 years ago. Shuttup cube. The movie is so god damn overrated, and I hoped it woulda been better. U show everyone dissin each other, you show no Vaseline, you show fuck wit dre day, but no real muthafuckin Gz???? The best of the 3 diss tracks???? Movie was Hollywood bullshit, much like dres career. And I’m a huggggge dr dre fan, but true fans like myself know that dre always uses ghost producers. Fuck nwa at this point. It’s old news, and isn’t helping ANYBODY move forward in this nation, just holding people back.
Df is having a nervous breakdown. Get over yourself keyboard gangsta.
A break down? No im not a keyboard gangster and is that you wise white man? Did i hurt your wittle feewings not respecting your opinions boohoo
Hey hiphopdx owners. You must be happy with the absolutely disgusting comments day after day after day on your site because you do nothing about it. Use Disqus. It would go some way to getting rid of these keyboard gangsters who hide behind their monitor in their basement.
This website is descending into a shambolic state in the comments. How could there be so much racism in a hiphop site? Tf is this? Fix up dx. ????