Club 520 PodcastClub 520 - Ice Cube on Big 3 vs. Olympics 3x3, Kobe Bryant 60-point game inspiring Big 3 creation
On a special edition of the Club 520 Podcast, Ice Cube joins Jeff Teague and the fellas live from the 2024 Big 3 Championship in Boston! Ice Cube updates Teague and the crew on the situation with FIBA and the Olympics, and why the Big 3 should represent Team USA in future 3x3 events in the Olympic games. Cube talks about Kobe Bryant's legendary 60-point performance in his final game, and why that inspired Cube to start the Big 3 league. And don't miss Cube and the guys talk about his acting career and some of his greatest hits in the movie world! #Volume #Club
The volume. All right, we're back another episode of Club five twenty podcasts. I'm the host. My name is DJ Wells. This is a special, special guest episode. I know a lot of times we talk about having legends, but we got a real life legend of pioneer and everything that you see like entertaining Audi above, we're gonna introduce my man's last to my far left, we got my dog Bishop be hearing out the pearles. How you was nasty cool and let's get to a baby Yes, big day, Yes, sir, wonderful guests. I'm I right, my dog, young Nacho, young tig.
How you are Man, I'm good, I'm chilling, bro happy to be here. Got a huge guest. I'm a huge fan. Had an opportunity to be at the part of the Big Three with him. So I'm like, come on, man, all Star team Man, lucky me, lucky me. But listen, man to my left, we have one of the most important people ever, a mogul in his alright, everything that you've ever seen this man done. He has been successful and dominated his film listen, music, acting, and more party right now than man got his own basketball League's starting up with a super Dog. We got the Living Legend and the build an Ice CB Big Dog. Appreciate you sliding on this, man.
Yeah, yeah, any time. Man, thanks for having me.
Man, this is I don't know howy'all felt about this. I know you don't make people with this geek for me because you know what I'm saying. You were part of like my life doog from music to movies that will be here.
We talking about them DVD days when we were running out.
Come on, man, yeah the bootleg dB. Yeah. I used to sell your ship for five I know.
But man, listen, man, we're right here for the big three strive gains of this weekend. We got the All Star Game, Celebrity game. More portly, we got the championship. But just man, just for our fans listeners, how did this come about?
Man?
Just being a fan? You know, I'm a fan of ball and played a little bit. You know, we had some epic battles in my backyard a youngster.
Hold on, hold on, did you hoop a task?
I didn't hoop task because they was hating on me. The coach was hating on me because I played I played football, So I came over late to try to play basketball. You know, it's already started pretty pretty much by the time footballs is over. With so David, he was like, man, you ain't getting no love. Even though I worked at point guard at practice. We did a little one on one, but you know, he wouldn't let me play.
So just watch. I just had I tried to, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Listen, bro, he got a tripled up with the pick up game.
He's a go.
He was keeping status.
No, I fucked around double. I was just got a triple double. Different.
It wasn't even like I was trying. Yeah, yeah, light work. Yeah, but who'd you start to Big three with? Started it with my manager. You know, he's my partner, Jeff Kuantis. You've been you know, we've been working together.
Man.
So I got to be twenty five, almost twenty seven years something like that, and we big sports fans, and you know, seeing Kobe score sixty points in his last game, I was kind of hot. I missed the game, and shit, I was shooting a movie in Atlanta. My wife, you know, kids, they went to the game. They was all hype. Then I was like, damn, I started just a realization of I can't see this dude, hoop no more like I cannot go nowhere and pay to see this dude play, and that's some bullshit, you know.
And so I was like, man, it's got to be a way.
So now I'm starting to think of this idea I had in the back of my head for years about three on three. I used to be like, why haven't they been elevated to the pro level. So now these ideas are starting to come together. I'm talking to Jeff. We're shooting the shit, and we're like, what would a league look like? So, you know, we just bullshit, you know, talking about it. We spent the whole year, like all twenty sixteen talking about rules. You know, I would do it like this, I would do that. I wouldn't do this because you know they do that shit in the NBA. Niggas don't like that, you know what I mean when they get out. I would do it like this. And so we just was like, damn, this is a good ass idea, you know what I'm saying, Like, it's tight, business models tight. So we start asking, you know, like niggas we knew from the game, would y'all be down with something like this, like a you know, a Clyde Drexler and you know, Kenyan Martin and Chauncey Billups and these dudes. Was like, oh yeah, this is tight. And then that's how I just was like, man, let's.
Go for it.
You swore boy, because uh, I was gonna ask you what I thought about it. The niggas old so you kept a half court.
But you know I played three on three full court before. It's bullshit.
You just get a bunch of cher dude standing down to throw it, do it. You're throwing the ball way down there, soth'ing like nobody want to see that.
You know, half quarter is the way.
And you know, it was just about elevating it because everybody liked three on three.
Everybody liked to play.
It because you get to touch the ball. You're really involved in the wind, you know. So I was like, Yo, this could be done if the pros buy into it, Like if the you know, if the niggas that play on that level buy into it and want to play, how couldn't everybody else get into it?
You know what I'm saying. You got the best in the world doing it.
You gotta ask how I feel like, you know what I'm saying, coming straight out of the league to see that as another opportunity. Like you said, a lot of times players don't want to retire. A lot of things take place, front office, health, injury audio above. Now you've got an outlet still because y'all still hoop. It don't matter the next day y'all steal basketball players. I still want to get to it. Now have another outlet to show your skills and live your dreams.
As far now, it was huge for me. It's more like a financial thing. He brought another league. For some guys when you retire, they go through this little part where it's kind of a rough patch, and then he kind of gave them like another outlet to even make some money. But like you said, as a competitor, to be able to get out there and hoop and then still have fans in the stands, get to talk crazy, have some of your highlights showing around the world, and stuff like that. To play on TV. Still, it's a huge opportunity. I mean, I appreciate it because it was cool for me. Like y'all know me, I hoop every day at home, but to get back and be on TV and people talking crazy to me and stuff, I wasn't used to that, so it was cool to be back in that kind of and that kind of moment.
I feeling to take you and knowing your body is shattered. Take that. Take that. Yeah, it's a cube bro Rock with the handicap.
A lot. I got a question though, did you know it was gonna be the Olympic sport when you was like first started.
No, we didn't know. They Actually we just jumped out there because we was like, we looked at feb and we was like, nah, that's that's that's amateur basketball. You know what I'm saying, that's the amateur version. We're gonna elevate just to something better than that. And so we were just moving forward. And then once we launched, I think about three months later, the Olympics said, Yo, we're gonna put it in in the Olympics, and you know, we was like, Yo, this just gives it more credibility.
Yeah, I'm credibility for s.
And like you said, Man, we seen you coming out talking about let cube handle that. And the thing I don't like about it is it's very possible. Like you said, we know the rules, we know the guidelines. Man already has the infrastructure in place to make that happen. We got to make that happen, man, because what they did out there, now, we got to redeem ourselves.
Man, come on, man, everybody know we got better players, everybody like Dawn And so I think it's pettiness, you know. I think, you know, the NBA, they don't like what we're doing. You know, even though Adam Silver told me he did like what I was doing, and you know his his his words exactly was the more basketball, the merrier, you know, which we you know for you know those bullshit now.
And so.
They involved with USA basketball. We've been asking since twenty twenty, since they didn't even make it in Tokyo. Y'all know our three or three didn't even make the Olympics qualify. So we asked again. They was like thank you, but no, thank you. We got it and we see what they got.
Yeah, yeah, they probably gonna be asking now. It's gonna be in LA too.
Come on, man, yeah, hopefully you know, if they know what's good for them, they should act and our guys will play.
You know, our.
Guys been you know, they'd love to represent the country in three on three.
Come on to you. You know what I do years ago, right.
Forty this left.
Oh, I'll go out there, keep your rotation. Sub let's go, we get it.
What about the expansion cities though, like you playing on expanded to more cities?
Like how many cities you want to be a part of it? We?
Uh, we got twelve teams. Now we're gonna sell a twelve and put them in different cities. Okay, right now, we got LA Miami, Houston, and Detroit. So once we place these other eight, then we'll look to go to sixteen teams, maybe twenty teams. Man place those in cities. Okay, And and you just open up the fan base. You know, we feel like we've proven the sport. People dig it. Now if you connect these teams to cities and people even be more invested into the league and to the players into the teams, and you know, it's just it'd go to a different level from there.
Yeah.
And that's the dope part about it, is like for you to start your own league and that we're all growing with the league, and a lot of people don't remember like back in the NBA days before it was super Power was on tape to let it's like to see this league grow in real time, especially with the players and the social media and everybody saying, you can see that we're walking in this and now you're getting the cities involved. You know how many people got feelings and cities about and pride about their city. Is this dope to see the evolution of this, Like you got some of the younger players who may not have super long careers, like the Isaiah Briscos, and somebody got the YouTube players that playing the balls life guys. It's just growing all this stuff together. It's dope to see it progress like this.
Yeah, you know, we felt like, you know, three on three is its own sport. You know, just because you was dope in five on four, Wow, that don't mean you're gonna come out in the Big three and get loose. You gotta you gotta have all skills set. You gotta be able to pass, dribble, shoot, and defend or you're gonna get exposed. So we felt like, well, we can develop our own athletes. We can develop our own stars, you know, like Isaiah Brisco. You know, people might not have saw him in the n b A or might not know how much game he got, but you know he's a good player. Uh, the Kevin Murphy's of the world. You know, Garland Green. You know, these dudes who really making a name for theirself in the in the three Big Three, in the three on three game, and they might have missed their calling a little bit.
In the NBA that don't matter.
No ball and this ball and a baller is a baller. And we got them on display. You know, we got the best three league in the world without a doubt to the m v P.
Mike Bees, ye might be bucket five book.
Now, I ain't gonna lie too like playing like you're talking about the cities, Like going to Jersey this year, I ain't. That was crazy, That's what I ain't had that kind of feeling a long time. The crowd was amazing. It was packed in there. And then for Briscoe, like you said, for be from there and how the crowd was behind them talking crazy.
It was a vibe in there. Then you don't win that game though, Yeah, you know we want.
That's why you like this somebody man.
For Briscoe to be going on like that in Boom Boom Boom were one.
For sure. This is cool. That's what it's all about.
It's putting these guys back in the arena, back where where they belong, you know what I mean. Even to see our coaches. You know, you got Gary Payton about to go against the Year, even going against Cooper. You know, they they been yelling at each other for since the eighties. It's dope to uh to see them guys back, you know, not just waving to the crowd. Hey they go Iceman, you know, but they coaching and they want to win, and they yelling at the reps, yelling at each other. You know, it's funny shit to see Iceman cussing that Rick Berry and.
Yeah they're still on that. You know, they won't let it go.
And Rick Mchorn and these dudes, you know, still got that competitive fire. And the NBA don't have no coaching job for these dudes, you know what I'm saying. So for us to have it in the Big Three is just that cherry on top full fan.
So, like you said, you're preserving the legends and introduce them to younger crowd, let them know. Like I said, a lot of people don't know who Michael Cooper is, but you should know who Michael Cooper is.
If you know basketball without a.
Doubt, one of the best players they ever do it, you know, especially on the defensive end.
Sore man, I would be remissing the buck man. We are all huge fans, huge fans, you know what I'm saying. I got to ask you, what's some of your favorite movies that people may not you know what I'm saying. No, like we know the Fridays like Our Ghost, But like, what's some of your favorite movies you've been a part of and I've.
Been a part of, Yes, Siry, oh man, I love I mean Boys in the Hood.
Come on now, you know Barbershop.
Barbershop is just slept On Trilogy.
Yes, slept On Shop. Though you know I love Three Kings.
Uh. You know.
See you got a lot about Condom on Jump Street, two.
Of them condo dope, you know what I mean. I played it in the kind of the only reason I did it in the kinda is because I was like, if y'all want me to do the movie, you know, Nigga can't die and matter of fact, I want to help kill the snake. It was like, what like, yeah, if you want me in the movie, Nigga can't die and I want to kill the snake. I want to help at least, and they was like, all right, you had to make that requirement. You had to pull to make that requirement. Yeah, come on now, hey look, you know somebody had to do it. Because if you can see every movie before that, nigga get killed. The Curassic Park nigga didn't last like the opening scene. Damn, he didn't even yeah like he didn't. Hum me, I said, nah, nah, we got it. We gotta put the end of this ship.
He j oh, you for that, because you was the first one to make it. So he was the second one. He was the second one.
You know, I'm saying, yeah, you gotta set the tone, man, we gotta cut.
This ship out.
I wanted to ask you which set did you have more fun? Like on the Friday? Which Friday was the most fun?
The most fun was Friday after next, the last one, because the first one we were having fun, but we were like, this is our first movie producing and writing. The director was you know, this was his first movie, Gary Gray. He had directed you know a couple of my videos, a couple of my Saint I's commercials and ship and so that was a more liquor.
Before your.
Yeah, there we go.
So you know, we was all new, so we were just trying to make sure we was getting it right. And we shot that movie in twenty days. That was like four weeks. It was just crazy, like yep.
In a month, it was done and so classic.
By the time we got to Friday after next we all seasoned vets in the game, knew how to make a movie.
You know.
We had all you know, damn near the whole cast back, and we was just having fun.
You know.
Every day was just fun, fun, laughing like hell, stomach hurt last.
That's I don't know how y'all rememberized our lines. I know y'all was playing all day around that motherfuckery.
It's funny now to go back and watch it, you know what I'm saying, with a different quality of stuff and looking at y'all faces bit to while other people talking, y'all be laughing like.
It's hard to man because a lot of you know, a lot of the movie. You write it, but then you shoot what you right, then you'd be like, okay, we got that. Now you can go whatever you think of, hit me with it. Whatever you think of, hit me with it. So these comedians be coming off the dome man and sometimes you ain't ready for that shit that they be saying and make you laughing. But if you laugh, you're gonna kill it. You're gonna kill the take. So got hold it in. But yeah, man, they these dudes is funny. They're clever and they say something different every time and shit, so you gotta be ready for him.
You know, which was heard, Like you mentioned those two movies and particularly you know what I'm saying, you put one Indianapolis on on the world side, mister Mike, and it's crazy. It's my favorite to work with and he embodies Indianapolis to a t. So to see him and these movies that represent us the white he represented us. Man, it really felt different for us becaus he is Indianapolis to a t. One of the funniest people.
Ever, without a doubt, you know, naturally funny. You know, you don't have to give him no lines. You know, if he walked in this door, he'd make you laugh just because that's just his essence.
That's how John.
Witherspoon was Witherspoon, you know, play Pops in the movie. He just make you laugh just talking about He could be talking about some shit happened to him on the corner got you rolling. So Mike, you know, we you know, we're good friends to this day. We just you know, sometimes just get on the phone and we be on the phone for hours, just talking shit, laughing, and so it was cool would be able to work with him. Man, I've done a few movies with him. You know, all about the Benjamin Classic.
Promoted that's what we called here.
I had a Carcis three hundred like you. Yeah, it was the butt that was my traffic that had the bullet hole. Yeah.
So yeah, he one of my favorite dudes in the world.
Man.
I love Mike.
Man.
All about the Benjamins another class.
It's all crazy, man, because like we didn't even get to how you first got to this with music, Like you started off as a pioneer music. One thing I always want to give you credit for is the fact that, you know what I'm saying, one of your favorite movies, you know what I'm saying, them documenting how they came up with w A.
When you went in that office, Bro, you became a true legend. Uh, you were crazy.
We always had what.
It was like, they used to roast me all the time because since that movie, I haven't been to the theaters, like, y'all was it for me?
You know what I'm saying. You know what I mean.
I had to see there before like four times, so that bad scene is special to my heart.
Yeah, it was special to mine too. It's a trip because in that.
Scene, if you look at my son, he's saying, uh, you promised me this, man, I'm getting the house and I got a baby.
On the way. What a baby on the way was as that? You know what I'm saying.
Yeah, yeah, so uh yeah, you know it ain't. It ain't a proud moment, but I was happy I did it, you know what I'm saying. Like sometimes you know that pencil pin ship, that lawyer ship, you just gotta shown.
Man, he was thinking ahead of the game. You gotta show him.
You know, we ain't We got to take it back to you got to take it back to the eighties on this one.
We ain't readegotiation.
We was like, well ice cube, dude. But the no part about it, like it showed how you obviously you are serious about your art, but you were always like, Okay, I need to be compensated for my art. While am I having conversations if I'm showing up and doing it every day. And it makes sense with how you progress with everything, how you progress through music, how you progress through art and film, and how you progressing with the Big Three. For somebody that's starting off, what would you say was the most important thing that should probably lock in no matter what they got going on.
Well, I think you gotta believe in yourself for show, and you gotta to me, you know, not really take no fun answer when you know that is the truth. What you're talking about is real, what you can really make it happen. You know, sometimes somebody say no today, but me I go asking the same goddamn thing. Y'all wait two weeks and then that's the same thing because he might have just been having a bad day, or you know, you give it a little time and you acts again.
You go again because the.
Person you acting circumstances might change and then they you might be just the person they looking for. You dig like, so believe in yourself. Don't take no fun answer. You know, Noah's like, Okay, two weeks, I'm gonna ask you that's again, and then I might wait another two weeks and I'll show that's again. Funny story you know real quick. We was trying to get the Big Three started. We went to talk to one network about.
The Big Three. They told us, ah, nah, were good.
So my man Jeff called and was like we was talking that Friday was like, damn man, this sucks. They turned it down because only a few networks that really can blow you up, you know what I'm saying. Everything else is, you know, on the under So he said, I'm gonna call him again this weekend. I'm gonna just talk to him like we're doing it. Called our way up and just got into the conversation like it's happening, and dud was like, hey, man.
Didn't you did you hear that we turned that down?
He was like yeah, but I was just want to just talk to you about how cool it would be if we had it. And by the end of the conversation, dude was like, you know what, Monday, I'm gonna go in there and talk to him again about I think we should I think we should put this on. And he was like, yeah, all right, let me know. On Tuesday, was like, when can y'all come up here and have a meet you know what I'm saying. So, you know, hearing a note don't mean it's or no, you know, it means acts again later.
I want.
Before the n w A how that start?
Oh group, We was in a group called the Stereo Crew me, Sir Jinx and k D and uh. We put out a record on Epic Records. It was called She's a Skag and uh.
And uh it was a frisbee.
You know what I mean, nobody you know, yeah, it was a frisbee.
And so.
We was like, we wanted to do another record. We got dropped and shut off Epic, so we want to do an independent record. And everybody felt like, man, y'all gotta change all name because you know, if the radio station here see that Stereo Crew and they ain't gonna want to, you know, bump it, they ain't even gonna play it.
So we changed it to uh. Uh. We tried.
We tried to change it to Criminals in Action, Okay, but then late, I mean Linzo who was running the record company, was like, man, y ain't about to be no criminals and nothing.
If y'all want this name, y'all got to be Crewing Action.
So we changed it to Crewing Action and we did three songs and they was Frisbees too. You know they was wack too, you know what I mean, all produced by Doctor Dre. That's why I wanted to ask. I ain't never heard you speak one my fault. Yeah, yeah, So come on there, man, this is my son Yo.
I'll be remiss if we didn't ask.
Obviously, man, but you've been to West Coast legend, especially in the rap scene, and obviously you had a couple of lessonary distract yourself. Not how you fussed about to pick a side, but you know, since to see k Do and Draco back, how was that to see that type of energy. You know what I'm saying. You was once a part of that. To see it going on now, how was that to see that energy? Especially back at home.
It's always fun, you know, it's always fun to see a heavyweight battle.
Yeah.
You know, we've been getting them for a long time in hip hop, you know all the way ll Coumo d carras one mc shan uh.
You know.
So it's legendary, you know, me n w A Dre and the Easy you know what I'm saying. It's just it's legendary. So it's part of the game. It happens and so you know, to see even fifty and Jill rule just you know, as long as you don't get physical, it's it's cool.
It's it's part of the game. Fans love it, you know.
So it's really all about uh, you know, ship man, you can't hold back.
If you did them, I ain't like you. You was out of pocket for naming that motherfucker no Vassellia.
I wanted to be very you, no doubt.
I want to hurt Chilling, and we made it much better.
It's like seeing the movie to say, what let up to it and then you drop it was like that's.
Yeah, you know it's ah. I wasn't near when they heard it. So I was learning ship making the movie. I was like, I was listening to it, like yeah, yeah, we was listening to that, okay, So you know it's a trip making that straight compon movie because I had to. I was learning stuff that I didn't know because I was on this side of town, they on that side of the town, and you know, we're kind of going through this in a parallel universe. So I was discovering ship and they was probably discovering what we was thinking on that side of the table. So it was, I said, Man, if I'm learning shit from this movie, everybody gonna be learning ship from this.
Definitely.
That's dope, man, that by Felicia.
Everybody nobody knew that.
I don't, but nobody knew that don't just experience at the same time. But to go back and look at that you saw about you and Dre like to see where y'all were then. Obviously y'all was already successful then for y'all to be muggus the way we are now, how is that To look back and reflect on that, sometimes.
It's beautiful, you know.
It's uh, we all just stuck to our to our convictions, you know, in our own way, and you know, we had a lot of opposition coming up, a lot of opposition not only from you know, the music business, but the government. And to see us just you know, still do it our way and kind of let the chips for what they may and then you know, we was able to land on our feet. It's it's a pretty cool story and hopefully it inspires, you know, anybody coming up behind us that you know, sometimes you gotta do it your way, you know, even if it's if it's not popular at the time.
Sometimes you just gotta You're happier when you do it your way, whether it works or not.
And I've seen people make it, you know, and they had pop songs and shit, they hated performed them every night they was on tour, but they hated performing their own songs. And so I was like, I never want to be like that ever.
So it's real, as we said, you're a testament both of y'all keeping around, standing true to ourselves. Obviously you can tell that reflects for the Big Three and the reasons why it's growing away it is. You got young teag up out there hooping.
Man.
Man, I appreciate y'all.
Want to thank you for real, because, man, you gave me a huge opportunity, had a dope experience. Hopefully I'm back next year. Try to get MVP or win or something. Yeah, that's all I'm saying. I gotta come back out of revent my team a little bit, but we'll be.
Hard, no problem. Hey, thank you for playing man.
You know, we always look to add big names to the league and use one of them, man, and you know you added excitement to the league, you know. And when he was on the floor, it was like, you know, Butter appreciate it. I can't wait to see you hoop tomorrow. Yeah, and uh and hey, let's let's keep it going next year, baby.
I appreciate it. Yeah, we appreciate your time. Man.
We're gonna do this again sometimes, and next summer you might see a little bit more Big three five twenty collaborations.
Stay tuned.
We appreciate the people before we get out of here, be here and tell the people that can grass some march at.
Shop clubfove twenty dot com.
Yes, sir, we appreciate youall. Club five twenty, Big three, Goodbye the Volume
