Ice Cube
O'Shea Jackson (born June 15 , 1969 in South Central Los Angeles ) better known by his stage name, Ice Cube , is an American rapper, actor and film director. Regarded as one of the greatest hip hop artists, he began his career as a founding member of the famously controversial rap group N.W.A. , and later launched a successful solo career in music and cinema . In 1992, he married Kimberly Woodruff, with whom he has four children. Later, in 1992, he converted to Sunni Islam . From the mid-1990s onwards, Cube focused on acting, and his musical output has slowed down considerably. He remains one of the most visible West Coast rappers , having helped originate gangsta rap . He is particularly well-known for his incendiary raps on political and racial topics, particularly the treatment of blacks in the United States,In 1987 Cube and Dr. Dre released the EP My Posse , under the alias CIA. After the collaboration, Cube showed Eazy- E the lyrics to " Boyz-n-the-Hood ". Eazy-E eventually recorded the song, which debuted on N.W.A. and the Posse , the debut N.W.A. album.
By this point Cube was a full- time member of N.W.A. along with Dr.Dre and (to a lesser extent) MC Ren . Cube wrote Dr. Dre and Eazy-E's rhymes for the group's landmark album, Straight Outta Compton , released in 1988 . However, as 1990 approached, Cube found himself at odds with the group's manager, Jerry Heller , after Heller responded to the group's financial questions by drafting up a new arrangement. As he explains in his book:
"Heller gave me this contract, and I said I wanted a lawyer to see it. He almost fell out of his chair. I guess he figure, how this young muthafucka turn down all this money? [$75 ,000] Everybody else signed. I told them I wanted to make sure my shit was right first