On Episode 5 of Club Shay Shay, Shannon speaks with rapper, actor, and activist Ice Cube.
Shannon & Ice Cube talk at length about the murder of George Floyd and the protests taking place across the country in support of racial and social justice. Ice Cube also details his own involvement with the movement for civil and human rights, detailing his plan to address racial and economic inequality + prison and police reform with the Contract With Black America (CWBA.world).
Ice Cube also revisits his early life and career, growing up in South Central LA and joining N.W.A. and Ruthless Records. He talks about writing “No Vaseline” in 90 minutes, the dynamic between him, Dr. Dre, MC Ren, DJ Yella, and Eazy-E, his musical inspiration, and much more.
Shannon & Ice Cube also touch on Ice Cube’s extensive film career, from being sought out as an actor by John Singleton for ‘Boyz N The Hood’ to writing and producing the classic film ‘Friday.’ The conversation is filled with behind-the-scenes stories and gems about the many artistic projects with which Ice Cube has been involved over the years.
This episode was recorded on August 13th, 2020.
#DoSomethinB4TwoSomethin & Follow Club Shay Shay:
https://www.instagram.com/clubshayshay
https://twitter.com/clubshayshay
https://www.facebook.com/clubshayshay
https://www.youtube.com/c/clubshayshay
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Hello, Welcome to another edition of Club Shah, and my guest today is father, husband, actor, activists, rapper, the Og, Mister ice Cube himself. All my life, running all my life, sacrifice, hustle back, Chris one a slice, got the bron dice swathing all my life. I've been running all my life, all my life, the running, all my life, sacrifice, hustle back, Price one slice got the dice swathing all my life. I've been running all my life. Cue. How are you doing today? Yeah? What's suddenly? Man? How you feeling shading? I'm good, bro? I mean, are you getting ready for doing Remaker? Tom Hayes The Black cast Away? What's going on? Hey? You know, you know I had to let it grow. Man. You know that's that's that wisdom coming through then. You know what I'm saying, that's that wisdom coming this wisdom coming through the chin right here. Bro, I really appreciate if you give me a few moments of your time today. I really appreciate it. I know you're very busy, but to give me a few minute minutes of your time today, I really appreciate it. Now. I appreciate you doing it, man, you know I love you know what you're doing TV. You know, to meet you one of the best personalities on TV talking sports and just human. Uh, you know, just get down, you know what I mean, just just telling it like a t I is and I love you on TV. So man, I'm glad you got this show. Now you can keep it going. Thank y'all really appreciate it. Well, let's start you we'll get back to where the origins. But let's start with the basically the hot thing of what's going on today, and that was the murder of George Floyd and what's the tensions and the uprising the emotions that we're starting to see spill out in the black communities. And a lot of people I think don't realize where you got your start from. You were in a group called NWA, and so I think people are a little surprised shock because they think you had gotten away from that. Talk about your emotions and why you've been so active the resurgence of the IQ of the original o G. Well, you know, with my music, I talk about and I've always talked about, you know, the things that's happening in our communities. You know, I call it street knowledge, and uh, I've always been kicking that from day one. But in my movies, you know, I felt like when somebody spends you know, maybe a hundred dollars when it comes to them, they want and getting something to eat, parking driving, it might want to have a good time, and it might not be about just the struggles of being black in America. Some of my movies are usually fun, but I've always had a passion for our condition in this country and what needs to be done and to do it from you know, my bandage point, you know, which is art. But when this happened, I felt like it was time for me to step up as a OG. You know, I felt like it's my generation's turn to take the man on when it comes to not just civil rights, but human rights, just human dignity, economical, uh, you know, freedom. You know, it's it's hard time to step up. So I wanted to step out outside of music in movies and just speak as a as a man, as a father, you know now grandfather, and I just you know, can't see this perpetuate and keep going on another you know whatever years. Why do you think that George Floyd murder hit her so different? Because they're with Eric Gardner. There was Philando Castile. There was Alton Sterling, there was Walter Scott, there was Sandra Bland. There was Tamerror Rights. There was Treyvard Martin. There've been so many. Why did this resonate so much, not only in the black community, but seemed to grip America? Well, you know, we as a people never accepted slavery, correct, We never went for that. You know, I don't care what they tell you. That was never cool with us, and we wasn't never down with it. We tolerated it, we lived under it, but we didn't accept it. No, we had to, you know, to survive. And so when when one one of us would get out of hand, they would pull everybody around to watch the discipline take place. And we've seen that in movies countless of times. This was a replay of that, seeing this man uh begging for his life, even to his mama, and so to have a man on top of him with his hand in his pocket, looking right at the camera. Let us all know that our life means nothing, and that's unacceptable in twenty twenty. It was unacceptable back then, but we couldn't do nothing about it. Now we can do something about it and we're not going for it. And you know, I always said the country has got to change, or we will change it. And that's what's happening right now. We're in the process of changing it, and it's gonna happen. And so you know, that's why now is the time. Why is it so hard for those outside of our communities to hear our cries to see us as human not less? Then why is it so hard for people to accept that there's something raw in America and we won't change it. Why is it so hard for them to see that? Well, I mean, it's not happening to them. You know, usually people are really concerned about their own situation, their own family. It's not easy for the average wide American today. So he maybe feels or she maybe feels like, hey, this is part of it, you know, this is part of the struggle of pull yourself up by your bootstraps. But if they realize we've never even had a pair of boots to pull ourselves up by, so speak as a as a community, and even when we tried to prosper, it was stumped out in uh, you know, different places across the country like Tulsa and you know, and other wood roads, wood other communities that we know about and hear about, and the ones that we haven't heard about. So you know, our progress and side avertaged in a lot of ways. It's a systematically fixed where you know, that's why they're so surprised when one of us get through and get ahead and and don't count me and you we we we go through the path that's at least resistance, which is entertainment in sports, right, you know, we gotta look at you know, how many people you know are not Ice Cube and Shannon Sharp and how can they get through? So, you know, just to end that, I just think it's people that just look at their own situations and if it's not happening to them, it's hard for them to understand. But as you mentioned, is that when when people look at you and I and they think that all black people, well Cube you made it, Shannon Sharp, you made it, Oprah, and you got Lebron, you got Denzil. But we're the only race for people that if you can succeed and they say, well you did it everybody else. But that's not how White America views it. White America doesn't look at and say, well, Jeff Bezo has one hundred and eighty three billion, so everybody else is good. They say it's not. We need to get everybody up to get economic prosperity. You look at the Asian community, you look at the Jewish community. Everybody is about pulling everybody else up. But in the Black community, say well, if you feel you get out, you good. Yeah, that's that's just not true. And even we've had help. You know, I couldn't have made it without at the time of Record Company just distributing the record and putting it out. You know, Easy had the label, but he had to go through Makola as a distributor. So you had to you know, play on the broncos. Uh, and that don't make you a bad guy, and the Ravens to you know, to do your thing, you know what I'm saying. So, but you but those organizations were still in place. So that's a form of health and our community. Of these we got businesses that if they could get a loan, if they can get some just a little capital, a little help, they can grow that business and hire more people and expand and and and and have different franchises. And but when we can't get that initial spot of capital to help us jump start even a home loan. You know, we're shut out. We only get three percent of all the money in the bank loaned out to black people in their businesses. Now ninety seven percent go to other communities. Now we're thirteen point five percent of the country. If they just bump that to thirteen point point five percent, loan out and you know where guys can borrow, not not unqualified guys. I'm talking about prime lending. No, we we'd all it help us catch up, because the gap is what's killing us right now. Every for every dollar a white person is worth, a black person is worth ten percent, and that just can't stand right now. We can't survive off off of that wealth gap. And it's not getting smaller. It's grown, it's growing. And the thing is is that you know, look, I'm not saying, and I think you're echoing is saying the same thing I'm saying. I'm not saying, helped me because I'm black, But please don't deny me because I'm black, thank you. I mean, just like you know, three trillion dollars was given to two companies, you know, I mean six hundred dollars was given to some Americans, but for the most part, they built out all these different companies and uh and these different you know, billionaires. But how many black companies were built out with that three trillion dollars? With thirteen point five percent of the country. We should at least got thirteen point five percent of that three trillion dollars to help our companies. Forty two percent of black companies went under during this COVID situation. And that's that's a shame when they're helping companies. That's that's been built out over and over and over and over again with the American people money, and thirteen point five send me that money's ours. So uh, you know, of course the numbers shift here and there, but you get my drift, You get my point. You have something a contract with America. You said you want to address racial economic inequality. So in your contract, how do you how does America make it right with black America? Man, It's a lot of simple things they could do, you know, just take government contracts. If we got thirteen percent of the government contracts out there, that would give our communities a big boots. Like I said, with lending, you know, lending money, you know other things that we need to do. Of course, we need to reform policing, but also the justice system and the prison system. You know, if you don't reform all three, what it happened is you reform the police and then you know, if you do get arrested, you get a bad DA or you know prosecutor that don't give up the evidence and give up all the the the discovery and do all these games. Now they don't railroaded to the prison. Prison got their own games where if they're not feel to the top, the prison have to pay money, so they're gonna make sure they feel to the top with guilty and innocent people. So it's a thing where this is a business ran on off off you know, our pain, not just black people, but brown people. It's off our hand read people off our pain, and these systems, you know, continue to thrive and grow and people get big money off them. So all these things got to be reformed. If we're treated fair, you don't have to defund the police. If you just get good guys and make the bad guys accountable and get them off the force, then we would love the police like any other community. But when you keep the bad guys and they come abuse us and beat our head in. Of course we don't want them then, right, And the thing if you mentioned bank and finance reform, is that we play a higher lending. We play a higher rate on the loan, but we're quicker to get floor clothed on all that. You know, every game in the book is played off us. We pay more, I mean, we pay more in taxes, property taxes for the police, and then they the ones beat our head in. So all these little games that's being played on our backs, that's relegated us to the bottom of this economic pyramid. We have to sniff them out and cut him out and and things would flow and you won't see so much frustration. You know, people with that cold pay their bills and do their thing and and you know know where their next meal coming from. Don't think about going out in the street looting. So cute that seems to be. It seems to me doctor King said, riots is the language of the unheard, And it seems it seems to me that black people say the only time you hear is is that when we burning stuff down where we're blessing out of windows. We were crying for four hundred years, and it seems to be when you get the sixty five or watts right, or you get ninety two, or you get the Ferguson, or you get Baltimore, or you got the uh what we just had George Floyd, he said, that seems to be the only time that you hear us. Why can't you hear us before we burn down stuff? Why can't you hear us before we look and steal stuff? Why does it take that to get your attention? I mean that's a good point. I mean, these things that's in the Contract with Black America, they're not new concepts. It's not like we came up with something that you know, people haven't talked about and studied. People a lot smarter than us have put their whole life around some of these issues. And so it's the political will. It's it's uh, you know, people knowing what they need to do, but they don't want to rock their own boat, right, So we have to force people to have the political will. And it's really all these people are scared to not get reelected. So if we if we harness that energy and harnessing our vote and sniffing out people who don't want to help us, that's in high places, that's been there, and get them out of there and replace them with people that's better. Well, you know, we'll continue to run into this problem. We have to use our real power and you know it's silent, but it's deadly because you get somebody out of there and they know you're gonna get them out of there, You're not gonna vote unless if they unless they support your platform and your agenda. Then that's that's really real power come from. That's where real change in this country come from. The looting, riding and all that will only get you so far. Correct the end of the day, we got to change policy, legislation, hearts and minds, you know, and that's that's that's when you know, when it's all said and done, that's the only thing that really, you know, gets people out of this pain. The one thing that we know about power Cube is that people in power want to stay in power, and power Caun sees nothing without demand. Nobody said, you know what, I've been in power long enough. I think I want to go. You know what, I want to be fair about this, You have to demand it and you have to take actions. Yes, that's why, you know, the Contract with Black America was a necessary foundation of taking action, of acting for things that we need, you know, as a whole. You know, I don't hit everything. You know, there's a section that I believe that we need to do on Black women when it comes to the Contract with Black America that need to highlight the things that you know, our women are going through, you know, when it comes to the workplace and in America period. So you know, it's room for improvement, and I want suggestions. You know, I'm not a legislator, so I really want the people whose job it is to do this to grab this thing and run with it. So to me, we have to you know, first of all, spread the word. Make sure everybody going to uh c WB A dot world. You know, we got a four page version of a contract. We got a twenty three page longer version of the contract. Make yourself familiar with either version and push forward, because this is what we can do to to make these candidates that's running in November do something and not just hold them take our both for granted, and you know, leave us. You know, have you ever walk in in the club with some people and they supposed to get you in, they forget to look back. Yeah, they get in themselves, but they leave you standing. Yeah, they get to look back and uh they I thought you was right behind me. And that's how they've been doing us. We get them in office and you know, they get in and get to look back sometimes. So we're gonna make sure we grab them out on them and say hey man, we with you. We're going in with you, and uh, we need you to do the things we need done them cut. Why is it is that when we say we want this, why does why they're like the black community says, Okay, we want our we want our voices heard, we want our voting rights. We won't. We won't economic equal, we want economic equality, we want us racial and social justice. Why does it if we feel if a certain demographics feels like if we get those things, we take something from from you. It's all right, we're not taking. It's not like we get you give. It's just that it's supposed to be. Well. I mean, when you got people who've been taking advantage, they want to they want to keep getting their extra you know, decimals and dividends and whatever. They you know, really like get off on you know, not help people. But let me tell you this, money don't trickle down, No, it doesn't trickle up. The trickle up I mean everybody at the bottom of the pyramid. When I say the bottom, I mean the bottom of the economic pyramid. If you gave them money today, they would go buy something right from somebody rich, right who has it. So the money trickles up, it don't. It might not ever trickle down to the bottom, but it will trickle up to the top. So I don't understand why it's so hard to understand that if they supply our community with the capital that it's that that old just a fair share of the money we put into the kiddy, then the money was still making its way up to the Bezos and the these and the day you know, it would still make it up to them. It just might take a little longer, and it might make people a little happier. I mean, what's wrong with that. There's a reason why Jeff Bezos and I don't begrudge him. I happened. I've made him annoying. There's a reason why he made seventy seven billion dollars in five months because the stimulus money that you were getting you needed things. You needed cleaning supplies, you needed things. So that twelve hundred bucks that they were sending you, guess what. As soon as you got it, guess what you had to do. You had to go buy something, You had to go grocery shopping, you had to buy products. So guess what. The money that you got it went right back to him, Thank you, And but you still got your product that you needed to sustain your family. So you don't mind that, you know. If but if you never see nothing at the bottom and he just making seventy eight billion at the top, and you haven't gotten what you need and you what your family needs, you're pretty upset that somebody can get all that and you have nothing. In a place like America, it just shouldn't happen this way. As you mentioned to you, people at the bottom don't have what they call disposable income where you can invest. When people say the economy is good, it's good for people that can invest in the economy. If I don't have any money in stocks and bonds, what DoD is the economy roaring? Does me? I'm trying to make is is me? I gotta pay rent, I gotta put food on the table, if I got a car payment, if I got if I got to catch the bus. So how does the economy benefit me if I can't if I can't read the benefits from it. Hey, you know, it's a thing where you know, some people are are at the bottom and they're not gonna starve. They're not gonna go hungry, No, let go provive. They're gonna survive. And hopefully they don't survive off somebody who has investment in something or has you know, it's like these you have to help. You know what I call our you know, weakest link. You know what I mean, the weakest link in our chain is our people in poverty because they are hurting and frustrated and they can't get the basic things they need to thriving this society. And there's plenty to go around, but the greed that's going on is keeping people from thriving in this society. And it causes riots, it causes fresh stations because it's looting, because it's things like that. And you know, you can call the black community all kinds of names for the things that they have to do to survive, but I mean, you would do the same thing if you were in our shoes or the same thing. Q. There have been a lot of the monuments have been coming down Stonewall Jackson, Robert, if you leave, they're taken down, the Confederate flag. What's your thought on those? Do they go far enough? I say, Look, symbolic gestures are fine, but tell me get down to the meat, get down to the nitty gritty. What are you going to do to help the minority community these times? I don't care about I don't care now about no statue. I don't care no about no flag. Yeah that's fine, take it down. But I'm saying, at the end of the day, if you take that flag down, if you take those monuments down, and blacks are in the same position, what have you done? You know, I think every gesture in this situation count you know, would take the small victories and the big ones. I don't think you should promote traders of of you know what this country is and what has grown to be. You know, we don't have any you know, German soldiers or you know, we don't have any that I know of, no Japanese soldiers from World War Two who fought against us around Maybe I'm wrong and you know, so, I don't understand the necessity for those you know, so I would love to see him go. You know, do I have to see him go. I'm not worried about it. I really would like, you said, see some real uh systemic change that's gonna really help people, you know, live a better life. You know, that's the most important thing. Feeling good for a moment or you know that, don't do anything. It's really about what can we do generational because the situation that we're going through, the wealth gap, is a generational thing, correct, So we have to start to build generational wealth, correct through ownership, homeownership, a business, ownership, being able to pass some land, correct, being able to pass things down. That is the true Promised land. But if you notice, you they only remove these statues. They only retake down a Confederate flag after tragedy. If you look at the Confederate flag coming down in South Carolina, what did it take Dealing Ruth to go into the church and kill nine parishoners at Mother Emanuel. It took George Floyd. It takes things you're not doing that out of the kindness of your heart. See that's the main Yeah, and see What they're hoping is that if we do this just a little bit and then they'll get distracted and they'll start talking about something else. They'll think about a car, or a bag or a band, and they'll forget all about it. Yeah. I mean, that's that's the whole that's been the game. It's to calm them down, hear them out right, give them nothing, you know, that's the that's been the playbook. You know. I know, you know you make a living covering sports. But me, I didn't want sports to come back, you know, to me, you know, I want us to deal with this issue on a why basis. I understand it's the need, it's and necessity, but I really wanted people to shut it down because until there's some kind of economic threat, they'll continue to do the same play, which is commers down here south and give us little or nothing. So until we figure out economically to shut systems down that don't want to cooperate, it will continue to happen because nobody's doing anything out of the kindness of their heart. It's all will, political will, or you know, the will of the almighty dollar. Right, So you you don't believe that like the guys that are in the bubble, the basketball players and they wearing the Black Lives Matter T shirt and they say say her name to keep mentioning Brianna Taylor the w NBA. Do you believe that's had an impact? Do you when they kneel for the national anthem, do you believe that like some obviously there are a lot of people in the black community understands why they're kneeling, why they're wearing the T shirts. But do you believe that that some of that is trickled into the white community and they're asking themselves, we really have a problem here in America that we really need to deal with that we hadn't adequately dealt with before. Well, I think it's it's it's it's working on a lot of levels. Yeah, it is bringing a lot of awareness. You know, it's a double edged sword, uh, in a lot of ways, because it is you know, keeping people looking and seeing it visually, you know, in their face. But at the same time, it's also you know, kind of getting back to normal. And you know, back to normal is a bad word to me because I don't want to go back to before George Floyd right now, I don't I'm not trying to go back there, you know, I just want to go forward. I want to go to the future, and back to normal ain't the future. So that's what I just don't gig back to normal feel of it. But it is, you know, creating more awareness. And you know, we get frustrated because things don't happen as fast as we want them to. But I'm feeling that a lot of people understand the need to change that didn't even want to hear it, hear us out before George Floyd. They do now understand that it's a need for change because this protest went all over the world and it's still going. It's still going, and it's still growing and up in places where they thought it was settled down. So you know, they know any little thing can have people back in the streets and have us back in square one, so to speak. But they had four hundred years to try to figure this out. But see, here's the thing. The problem, a lot of problems that I have is this is that they always will what do you want us to do? You never you never asked the victim, well to tell the perpetrator, Now this is what what could I have done? To so make sure you don't harm me. What you could I have done to make sure you don't victimize me. But that's what they ask us, Shannon, What do you want us to do? You put us in this situation. Go back, go back to sixteen nineteen, when you brought us here, robbed the fuzz our humanity, robbed us of our dignity, robbed us of our name, robbed the fuzz our religion, of our of our language, treated us less than, told us we were less than, gave us nothing. Let's go back. Let's start with that treat us. You say, all men to created equal. You you hanged on the Bible, you say, oh the Bible, say love that neighbor as that self. You you, you, you, you do do all this stuff. But then when it comes to a black man, you treat it less than it. And you've always treated them left dand but now you want me to tell you how what you can do to make it right? Yeah, I mean it's part of what I call a stall game. You know, It's like keep stalling, keep figuring out a way to perpetuate the same thing. You know, keep the status quo or whatever you give them, take it back systematically, you know, in the years to come, right, So there's always been a trick, there's always been of you know something where they could really pull back on anything they give because it's people who want to perpetuate this system, a system of white supremacy that you know has have them feeling superior. And you know, people give you a lot of things, but it's hard to people to give you power. And that's what they have to give up a little bit of power because we're not power hungry people, you know, we're we're not people who just want to run everything. And now we see we're people who don't mind enjoying sometimes when other people run it as long as we get what we need. And so I don't know if that's a worry, but you know, exploiting us is lucrative, and so a lot of people want to keep those systems in place because it's lucrative. Because here's the thing. Let's just say for the next four hundred years, black people rolls the power and did to white America what they did to black and other minorities, the Native American communities. They're like, oh, they couldn't stomach it. You know, it would never happen because it's not in our nature. No, no, people like that, that's not how we're very forgiving people. Yeah, it would never happen. So that's something that we couldn't We couldn't conjure up something like that to uh, to do people like that. So that that's a worry that that they can just forget. They can sleep good at because if you look at the situation where the female police officer I think it was dollars and she goes into the gentleman's house, both of them john, and she kills it. And the brother at the trial walks over and hugs her, says, I forgive you. Do you leave? If the shoe was on the other foot, that would have happened to you. You never know, man, You know some people they break free of all this, you know this, these chains of racism, So you never know. But I know we are very giving people, and you know, we just want to do something to be ce. Do I have to forgive you to borrow? Can it take like six months? Can it take a year? Me? You know, somebody kill my people. I don't know if I'm gonna forget it. But it's some forgiving people out here. It is. I know, I know, you know, when it comes to us as a people, if you give us our fair share, we're extremely loyal and you know some of us won't lead a job were standing in fifty years if you keep us exactly. And so that's just the kind of people we are. You treat us right, we're very loyal, and you treat us wrong with a problem. So I don't understand why they haven't figured this out. Before we move on, you mentioned police reform. The police unions are very very powerful to you. It's the problem death and that. But these police unions are gonna be hard to break, and I believe that is the prous of your problem. Yes, I mean I love unions until they abuse the system too. You know, people union up so they can you know, make sure they're being treated fair by the company or an employer or whatever. But when they get the numbers, if they start doing the same thing, or if they start taking advantage because they got the numbers and you can't fire nobody and these type of things, uh, it just defeats the purpose, and you know, they become the problem. And so police unions, you know, you play with a guy, did you play with Bill romomous I did play Romo Romo when he was on your team. You probably loved them. I wouldn't. We we had issues because I think, and you know the thing is, I would talk, I said, and I was I was like Romo, a lot of the things you do are unnecessary. But it wasn't until the incident with J. J. Stope, which was the breaking point for me. And although he did not do it to me, he did it to a man that looked like me, and I think, so we had a conversation even if we had a team meeting to you, we had a team meeting to god boy, that thing with Fraction. I had to have a twenty thirty minute combo with Romo outside of the team meeting because I was so upset being Maybe it just hit me differently. I think being from the South and having a man spitting your face, especially a white man, it does something different to you. It does something that that crossed the line. That crossing the line. Let's go up to the games before that incident. You know he would be when he played with you. You know he got on the same helmet you got on. You could tolerated a little, yes, okay, and on the other team, you're doing it. It was like I was doing an official with Robo was holding or grabbing someone's faith mask. He on my team. It wasn't like I've let in to the official. He's holding it, he's grabbed his faith mask. So so it was just one incident where you had to you had you couldn't let that go because it was being football. Correct. Now, So I see, you know the police, they're taught to win all the civil rights stuff and I know my Constitution all that. They want to go home at night, right, that's the that's winning the game, right, So if they got a couple of Roman nooskies, that's gonna help them go home at night, they'll tolerate that, right. But when you know, you know Bills. I don't want to drag his name, but I'm just saying, when you got a guy his plan a little outside the lines, you'll tolerate them when they on your team, and you won't tolerate them when they and not on your team. So what I'm saying is sometime that mentality goes into the force and they see a guy doing a little somebody, Hey, this guy helping me make it home, and not after that, not to cut you off. After that conversation, Romo and I had a better understanding, and he knew and like I said, I don't want to I don't know what's in his heart, but I think our relationship changed after he saw how upset I was about that incident and and the things that he was doing that I thought was unnecessary. So he and I formed a referendship and a relationship after that was a lot better than before, because, yeah, I think he got he got the good stuff. Like you know what, I might have a problem in my own ranks if I continue this type of behavior. There you go, he got some understanding. And it's nothing wrong with getting some understanding, right, you know. That's what's trying to happen here between the community and the police departm Like we've had enough. I hope that they understand that, and I hope they change and get the bad guys out the ranks and then come to us with the good guys who can still do their job. And every black person I know something happened to them, they don't want to call the police to get it settled. So this is a situation where if they clean up the guys that they send to us, it won't be an issue. If they want these you know, these you know bullies, you know these these racists, these dudes who they know have no love for the community whatsoever in their heart. They keep sending those dudes, it's gonna be pushback, pushback, push back, because you think about it. You look at the police department as a team. You look at a football team. I played on a team. If you had a bad apple, what did the team try to do? Que They try to get them up out of there because they don't want that to you know, to infiltrate the team. And then you have especially if the guy as a leader. If the guy's a leader and he's a bad person, you really need to get him out of there because what he can influence others. Well, if you if you got officers that's been their team fifteen years and they're bad, what can they do? They become influence on the younger guys, and then when the younger guys get ten fifteen years, what they've been taught the behavior, Now you keep a cycle going. That's what happens, you know, and you've made a good example while you gotta get it bad a player that won't play right out there, the off the team because what is he gonna do At a critical moment, He's gonna cost you fifteen yards or more, you know what I mean, At a critical moment, he's gonna cost the whole team. And that's what's happening. These bad apples are cost him the whole team. You got good cops out there being called names and being harassed and not respected because of the bad guys. Right Well, you know for me is that James Baldwin once says it, like the police officer he said, he might be a nice guy, but I ain't got time to figure that out. All I know if he got a badge and a gun, and he can take my freedom and he can take my life. So my job is can try to get him on his way as quick as possible. But if you assume every black is a threat, why shouldn't I assume every cop is bad? Because you make that assumption, I threat when we see you bring white guys in that kill people that have a R fifteens, we see our homes that shot up Denver the movie theater. They take him alive. We see Dalan Ruth, they take him alive. We see these guys that kill up that hoot people in these playing parenthoods. They bring him in alive, a guy they think, well, he made a suspicious move or he had a cell phone and you kill him. Huh. Yeah, it's it's uh, it's the value on on our lives. That's why we gotta walk around, you know, with a slogan like Black Lives Matter. You know it's it's it's the devaluation of black life from day one in America that we're still trying to fight. I'm trying to figure out, how are you nervous? How are you on edge? You got a tailor, a baton, a gun, a bulletproof vest, and a flashlight, but you view me as a thread in jeans and a T shirt. Shouldn't I be the one that's on edge? Yeah, you should be the one on edge. But you know when they you know, they got something called qualified immunity you give, you give a racist police the h the license to kill with no repercussions, right, and they're gonna take that one day. Yeah, of course, because because as you mentioned, qualified a mute, because they Supreme Court says you have to put yourself in that man shoot at that moment, not right now, at that moment. Well, anything that he view they say, anything that's viawty of the threat real or imagine shoe just imagine I'm in the grocery store. Oh you gave me a bad look. I filed for you. Well I felt threatened. You can't do that, but yes, for the police you can. Yeah, And it's it's ridiculous and it's getting a lot of people killed. Yes, because officers are quick on the trigger because they't know nothing that's gonna happen, and they kill people they don't have to, and they know they're gonna walk home and not get anything done to him. So you put that in the hands of a racist officer, you got a dangerous man a woman on your hands. Let's go back to the beginning. You growing up instead, you grew up in south central LA. Yeah, And if Cuban growing up, what did you what did you want to be when you became an adult? Uh? You know, when you're young, it's of course football player, play a little full back, little outside linebacker. So you know, I wanted to play football, and you know I really got to the music young about thirteen fourteen, you know, we started to you know, spray paint and pull out cardboard and try to break dance and do all the stuff that we've seen everybody else doing. And so I started getting into music real early. Never thought I could make a living at it because all the professionals to me was on the East Coast. It was in New York, a New York driven game back then, and so you know, I just thought, you know, I could just get a regular job that just don't pay off. I went to school for architectural drafting because I liked drafting when I was when I was young in school. I ended up after high school, ended up going to a trade school, and so that was cool. But the music started to take off, and that's really where my heart was, and I started to just wrong with it. So how old were you when you joined the group and how did the NWA come about? I was probably about seventeen when I when I joined in WA. We we were all in different groups. Everybody everybody without in a different group. Everybody else was doing their own thing. So how did you guys decide to come together? Well, a group that that Dre was in called Directing Crew. Dre and Yellow was in that group right, and they were kind of like they was making the most noise in La out of all of us. The world last which the Recking Creup World Class Wrecking Crew. So Linzo, who ran the Wrecking Crew, really wouldn't let Dre do the hardcore records that he really started to want to do, right, So so me and Drey started doing mix tapes and I would do the hardcore raps on the mix tapes, talking about the neighborhood. Well Easy with his Drey's old friend got one of the tapes, trapped Dray down and was like, Yo, you know I've been hustling on the street. I don't want to flip some of his money, so I want to start. I want to I want to have a label and I want to call it Ruthless Records. And so he had these groups that he was trying to get on Ruthless Records. But but he asked me to write a song for him. I wrote a song called Boys in the Hood and the group didn't want to do it because they was from New York. So Drey convinced Easy to do the song. So Easy ended up doing Boys in the Hood the song, and he was like, we should do an all star group. This is what Easy said, we should do all star group. We'll take the best out of you know, I'll be easy. We'll take Drey and Yellow out of the record crew, will take Q out of out of a group called CIA, take QUB out of that, and then we don't, you know, we just do the side group hardcore records, you know, and then y'all can't go back and do you know, slow jams and whatever y'all was doing. So we ended up doing that record, and man, it just started to pick up a minium and it was just sounding better and better and better. So we all ended up quitting our groups and just stay with art, you know, with us forming this all star group. And uh, one day they came to pick me up and Easy was like, what we're gonna call you know, he was saying what we're gonna call the group? And I said, what we're gonna call it? He said in wa I'm like what that means. When he told me what it meant, I was like, oh, yeah, we're about to start some ish right now. So you know, from there we just was tight and we just was just figuring out what we need to do to start making noise in the hip hop scene. Did you know that when you joined this group, you guys were going to become What you became is that you guys are really the originator of the gangster rap, the hardcore rap. Did you know that at the time? Not at all. At the time, you know, we thought those records were gonna be They had a section in the record store what they would play all the dirty comedy records like Richard pryor you could get Eddie Murphy record over there, Red Fox. It was this dirty rapper by the name of Blowfly Dolomite. You can get all them kind of records. So we thought our record was gonna be over there in that dirty section. So when they started to put it out front where all the regular hip hop was and people just start buying it, we knew we had a style that that was unique, that was different. But you know there was other people who who was dibbling and dabbling and what I would call gangster rap. You know, you had Iced Tea out there, right, Scoomy d h. He had a song called psk Uh and then you had you know, Boogie Down Productions had did a record called Criminal Minded that he's loved that record. So it was a few people who had dibbled and dabbled in that style, right, I mean that became Iced Tea signature style. Think Iced Tea and n WA where the first two real jump offs, and then the Ghetto Boys came through, right, you know, and it was other groups. But but yeah, you know that's kind of how it jumped off and that's how it started. So when you're in a group, how do you determine who's gonna be lead on a particular song or is it like you know, like Teddy Pendagraphs when he was with you know, the blue note, like Teddy was always out there was it was you know, Harold Melbourne feature Teddy pendagraph and then Teddy got bigger than Hal and then he wanted to put him out. So how do you determine who's gonna be lead on a song? I mean you got a producer like Doctor Dre, who you know, usually arranges who's gonna wear you know, what rhyme is gonna go wear, and so you know, just kind of leaving it up to him. You know, he was a master at it on who's gonna lead Some records, I would go first, some records, Easy was on. He would go first and it was just really on him. Sometimes it determined who wrote the rock, you know. You know, I wrote a few songs that I was so long, and then we would just have Easy on at the end, Like I did a song called Gangster Gangster and Easy just comes in at the end. So we was just being real experimental. But you know, Drey was the lead producer. He would kick you off that joint if you didn't you didn't come with the right lyrics. You he'd be like, you ain't on this song? You all? So, so Drey was really like Dray way back then. Yeah, yeah, without a doubt. You know, him and DJ Yeller were they was like mad scientists with it and Drey he was a perfectionist. So if you didn't come with dope lyrics, if you didn't come with a dope delivery, he would kick you off the record. Like getting almost records, so you so you had to so basically you had the brain. He you had to bring five Yeah every time you hear the record, right, yeah, so the record is he and then you know, so a few a few times he sent us back to the drawing board. You know, he was like, man, you know, I like the first half of that rhyme, but the second half you gotta do a little say something, you gotta talk about something difference. So, you know, he was a real he was a great producer, and he just got better and better with each album. You know that he would do. He would just get better and better. You know. Now he's you know, the man. So anytime you have success and there's a group, eventually they're gonna be some bickering, They're gonna be some fighting, They're gonna be some issues. Who's getting what, who's doing what. Why did NWA break down fall apart? I think it's really because, you know, Jerry Helen, who was the manager at the time, was really loyal to Easy. You know, Easy was his guy. You know, we were like, uh, you know, it's just kind of the group, you know, you know, and and so I just think he underestimated what we really meant to the whole you know, success of Ruthless Records, right, So he just was and Easy, you know, was learning the business basically at the same time we were. When it comes to me, him and Ring, we're all learning at the same time. Even though he's older and dre and yelling at me. The business a little bit more, but nobody was experts, you know, right, so right people leaned on Jerry to you know, make make things right. And it just was a you know, one or two things that just didn't smell right. And you know, when somebody starts to, you know, lie when there's no reason to, he just makes you suspicious, okay, And then you know, the more you look, the more you find. And you know, I confronted him and they they'd rather, you know, make me the enemy, and instead of rectifying the situation, and so I left so when you could you could run to Jerry Heller, the rest of the group turned against you. Well, Jerry talked too easy right and Easy. You know, he was the head of everything. So once Easy was against me, you know, Jerry convinced Easy I was a trouble maker. So then Easily started to talk to everybody and then you know, pretty soon I was the eye man out at right end of the day. But they didn't kick you out and fast I left. I left because I was like, this ain't gonna work. They're not gonna fix it. You know, all he had to do is fix it. And what did Garry Heller need to do to make it right back you. I think he was you know, at the end of the day, he was trying to give me to sign a contract that my lawyer never read. Okay, So to me, that's a bad business and it's a bad contract. You don't want my lawyer to even look at it. And you know I have a lawyer. He kept ducking me and saying, you know, I'll say it, I'll send it, I'll send it. Uh before I had the lawyer. Before I told him I had the lawyer. I had the lawyer, but I didn't tell him. I was just trying to get the contract. So I told him, I said, just send it to my mama. I thought he was gonna think, all right, send it to her, saying I know what she's looking at. They're gonna sign it, and I'm gonna get it back. But he wouldn't even send it to her. I'm like, man, damn, you won't even send it to her, right you know, So we knew something was fishy, Like he can't if he can't send us the contracts, definitely can't sign nothing. Were you the only one in the group that had a lawyer outside of rufus record lawyer. I think so, but I had offered that whatever my lawyer tell me, I'm gonna tell you guys. And you know so y'all my lawyers like, y'all law y'alln't have to get a lawyer if you don't want to, I would advise you to. But but I'll tell y'all what he's telling me. So I would, you know, talk with Ran a lot. Me and Ran the same age. We would talk a lot. Who was the youngest in the group, right, and uh so Ran knew everything that add that my lawyer was telling me, which was don't sign nothing, don't sign nothing, and so it was time to sign. I was like, I can't sign that. And it was the best move I ever. Did you leave the group? You strike out on your own death? Did they did you first? Or did you right? No vaseline me first? They did you first? Yeah, they dissed me on a record card one hundred Miles and Running. It was like an EP that they released after straight out of Compton. It was a it was a disc but it wasn't It wasn't like heavy hand. It was like a line, like a little line. So okay, it back to him. I gave it back to him a little bit on the jacket for Beats. Right at the end of Jacket for Beats, it's one line where I mentioned one hundred miles and I have your hundred miles and running right. And so when they did uh their next record, they dissed me real good, you know what I mean, call me Benny to Arnold, all kind of all kind of names. So what happened? Okay, they dissed you on the line, you kind of dissed them back on the line. Did you think it was over? Okay? You said, Jordan, I said, man, I'm done, let's move on them. You thought it was over? Yeah, because I still liked them dudes. You know, they were still you know, I had a problem with Easy and Jerry, but I still I'm still cool with Dre and Yella and n Wright, DLC and them dudes. I was still hanging around. I saw. I was just surprised that they would like take again. So they dissed you heavy. I mean, they came with it, you like, I got to come back hard. How long did it take you to write no Vassili? It took me ninety minutes. Ninety minutes ninety minutes. So that so another word that had been brewing. You knew, you knew they were gonna come back. If it only took you ninety minutes, you knew they were gonna come back. So you've been plotting, You've been lading and waiting. It wasn't like that. It was I was. I was mad. I had build up, right, I was on a boat that the one of the heads of Priority Records. He took me on a boat because you know, I had went in there with a bat and and like tore up the company, like right, So we was trying to smooth things out. So he was saying, I want to play this for you. I want to be the first one to play it for you. And he played me to this that they did to me. But we still had two or three hours on this boat, which I didn't want to be on no more. I was like, man, take me back. I'm ready to ride a rhyde take me back. So I had like two or three hours to build up. For about a time I got to my room, to my equipment, pain and pad. It just all came out and I got interrupted a few times. So it probably would I probably would have wrote it faster. My sister didn't interrupt me a few times. So how was your style different than Easy, different than Drade? What was your style? I mean who who did you draw inspiration? Bro? Yeah? I used to like hardcore rhynders. You know, I would like Mellie Mail like a iced tea caress One Chuck D Run from un DMC. You know the ferocious rappers, the riders that that really kind of came at you. You know, it was a style that you know, those different styles floating around, you know rock Him and EPM dy Usher than that's that that calm, you know style of rhyman where you didn't have to be as ferocious in the mine. And you know, then you had the rappers who were smooth, you know, the heavy ds of the world, you know, salting Peppers, you know people who were you know, just a little more style. You know, slick Ricks of the world who were and Dan and Danes were super creative. So you know, so that that would be my style. You know that that Carras one Chuck d you know, ferocious in your face kind of hip hop. Who are you? Who are your top five greatest rappers of all time? And I just named them all I got. You know, it's hard to put him in the greatest of all time, you know, but but like our favorite m sees in the world are melody male because he ushered in you know, a serious you know, a commentary about the neighborhood heist tea. You know, a dude from LA who put La on the map when it comes to being you know, top notch pro MC like like there was all through New York Chuck d because of subject matter right and delivery carras one, you know, once again styled delivery flow subject matter you know l coo J just to me the young femine. You know, he was all Lebron, right, yeah, you know what I mean. He was all lebron just you know, sixteen seventeen, eighteen years old, just at the height of rock, you know, so and and had sustained it his whole career as far as you know, just being able to you know, transcend eras and you know he's still the man on TV now, you know, and still can you know we did uh this little see kings out of mac back here. You know that that was you know l headline, me Publican and me and day our souls so you know that's that's like creaming the crop when it comes to hip hop. How different is it writing a throng as the post to writing a movie? I mean, you failed, it took How long did it take you the right Friday? For If it took me about three months to write Friday? You know I had I had a help of course from DJ Pooh, but also had had a lot of help from from a manager I had named Pat Charbonet. She's also a producer on the movie, you know, between cool and her. Uh, you know about three months of us, you know, me writing, sending the pages, then giving me feedback, and you know, the process take about three months till we had something we felt okay, this is a movie we can go shoot. So how long So it take you three months to write Friday? How long would it take you to write an album, A complete the song, an album? You know, I don't really put a time limen on right now album, you know, I don't. I don't. I just kind of go with the inspiration. You know, when you've been in the game as long as I've been in the game, you don't really want to reach for inspiration. You want it to just come to you right, you know, and then you do songs as the inspiration comes. So so you might write a song, so it might take I write one song one day and then take two or three days off write another, or you might go half a song. So it's not like you're just fitting down every single day, putting pain the pad. No. No, I think that's forcing it. And I think you know, a song will come to you. And to me, the best songs are the fastest that you write. You know, if it take if it take you a long time to write the song, it's probably not as good as a song that that you can write like that, because you know, it's just to me, that's just how the inspiration comes. When you've got a good song, it just pours out. When you're forcing it, you have to, you know, dig it out. And I don't like digging out songs. I like to I like to write a song, let it flow, and then go record it, you know, find the music for it, go record it, and then I might sit on that song. I might sing on a song for the year two three years. What yeah, yeah, because well, you know, put it out when it's right, or when the time is right, or when the out, you know, make that part of an album. Uh. You know, I don't want to just throw songs out every time I'm finish them, right. Sometimes I like to keep them and make sure that they first of all, I like to make sure they're gonna stand the test a time for me, you know, and then then I'll put them out. So I got different, different styles and different techniques, but always let it flow. How different is the rap game that you came up in compared to the rap game today. Well, when I first came up, there was you know, people who would usher you into the game. There was certain avenues that you felt like you had to go through to even be taking serious. So you know, people weren't rocking around pressing records up, you know, just without without really thinking long hard pressing you on the record, making sure the record is is good enough to press and just really running you through the ring. And before you could do a record right, you know, as hip hop came and more independent labels came out, that became a little looser. So that was the game back then. Now you know, you could be in your own you did the track, and you can put it out all over the world. That man so there's really nothing holding a hartist back from being creative. Uh might hold you back from from chasing the money and finding the money, but being a creative person and putting something out in the world, nothing is holding you back. And when we were coming up, it would be obstacles that if you didn't cross, or it was threshold you didn't you didn't cross, you wasn't going to be heard or seen. You're just gonna have a demo. So it's just a new game, man. You know, anybody can to be creative and put our music. So do you need a record label, do you need a deal? Or can you do all of that on your own? You know, everything is promotion and you can do it on your own. But if you don't really have the money to promote it, it's gonna be a big uphill battle, which is finn. You know, some artists got to do what they gotta do, right. Most artists want to be discovered by the label and and a lot of a little or the dirty work is done for you, right, and you kind of come in on a different plateau, right, and so you can try to go up from there. So but to me, it's no magic formula, man, you know, Soldier Boy became a star from creating that, you know, the Superman in his room, right, you know, and so there's nothing that that can hold you back if you're super creative and people just got to hear your stuff, you know, if you got that time make yourself known. You obviously you've been in the game and you understand the game. But it seems to be now that the rappers and the artists today like realize that only your masters's where it's at. And it seems to me that they're trying to incorporate that. Whereas before, guys, I just want to I just want to produce, I just want to sing, I want to do music. I want to get an album out, and they forgot about that. Is that worth? Is that worth hitting? Now? Well? I mean, you know, if you really look back and think about it, you know, most people come in the game and not even think about masters or thinking of think about They just want to be on the radio, they want to be at the cancer, they want to do a video, you know, do those things. And once you're in the game a little while, you realize, you know, why is everybody getting money except me? And then you realize if you don't own the masters or the publishing, the money's gonna go elsewhere. But I think artists have discovered that from the beginning of the time. You know, you have artists going all the way back and fighting for their masters. You know, you have artists, you know, they come into game owning their masters, you know, like the Masterpiece of the World and uh uh Luke, you know, Luke Skywalker, Luke Campbell, Luke the Campbell owning his master's easy, you know, owned his masters. So you know, death Row and and and you know, I believe James Brown owned a lot of his masters. So artists have fought for this from the beginning of the time. But it's just you know, either have the leverage to to get it or you don't. If you, you know, are doing something on your own and they come to you and need to get it from you, like they had to do with Master p who's doing his own thing, then you can walk in there owning your masters from day one. You know, if you go sign with a label, they're gonna own the masters because they're putting up all the risk. So it depends on you know, independent there's a hard way, but you you start off own and that's the key, owning ownership. So I think it's something artists can always fight for, you know, to the end of end of music. So what who do you like today? If you're in your car, you're riding around, who are you listening to? Man? You know, thank god I got the eye, uh you know that the iPad, so I can listen to oldies. I'm listening to everything. That's what's cool. You know, I can listen to everything right now. And you know I'm still you know, bumping that easy Brother's greatest hits. So you know, I ain't really worried about the new artists right now. That's how I listened to the grooves. I listen to the old stuff, but I ain't got it there anymore. Cube, I ain't gonna even like, don't worry about it. Man, you know, you know what you like and man, as long as it's still around, then then you're a happy man. You're doing the music. You're good in the music. When did you know you wanted to do acting? I didn't know, you know, I was just stubborn by John Singleton. He really saw me, you know, as dough boy, and he saw me like, yo, I'm doing this movie and you perfect for it. And that's how he came at me. And for two years I kind of didn't take him serious until he finally sent a script and and when I walked in and saw that he was actually shooting this movie, that's the first time I said, okay, okay, damn, I I guess I'm gonna be an actor. And so, uh, you know, thank God for John Singleton, rest in peace that he uh, you know, he pursued me, you know, and he did that with a lot of dudes. You know, busting rhymes put him in a movie, and you know, he worked a lot with too Pok. So he he was always going to the artists, and you know, they put Jane Jackson in the movie. He always saw in artists movie stars. And you know, thank god, even Tyrese. You you put Tyrese in the movie who came from music. So this dude just saw something in us as entertainers and stepped up and made us movie stars. So once you got cast in that movie, the acting bug hit it bit. Yes, yeah, man, I mean boys in the Head. This is my first movie. The movie went to the can Film Festival in the South of France, right so you know, we young, and I got my wife with me, see my girlfriend at the time. But we're in the South of France. Man, you live loved life right now. Man, I'm like, oh man, I'm a movie star. You know. It's like ROSI and we did a screening. I was nervous at the screening because here we was showing a movie that I wasn't sure that America would get, you know, Boys in the Hood. Here it was about to be shown with subtitles in French. So I'm like, oh, you know, these people ain't gonna understand what this movie is really trying to say. Eddie Murphy was there, Quincy Jones was there, and they showed a movie and we get a Standing innovation man, And so I was like, okay, this the movie has power that the music has. It has the power to show people a world that that they have never seen before. So from then on, I wanted to do movies. But one is through worth, the other through picture. Yeah, but there's you know, I do music, but when it comes to movies, there's no bigger canvas and artists can can paint on the you know, in a movie screen. When you say you took you took your three months to write Friday. Did you know Friday was gonna be Friday? I was hoping it would. You know, when you grow up in the Hood, you got your classics, you got your yeah, you know, your uptas Saturday Nights, you got your coolie hides. Yep, you know what I mean. You got car wash movies, car washs. These movies are kloeen. That's just staples in your in your household. You know that, you know, these are movies that that your family love, you love you can watch over and over again. Right, So, right when I start getting in the movies, I said, man, we need a Hood classic. We need we need one of the movies that they love us for Like we love car Washing, right, we love you know ron On Neil Right, they're super flyer. He was a king, you know to us. You know. So so we was like, man, we gotta have one of those. You know. I felt Boys in the Hood was a good a good one, but I wanted one that was a comedy that that people can laugh and have fun with. So we went out to write Friday for it to be that Hood classic. We never knew that there would be so many people around the world that would love that. That that real Hood classic. You know, Brouh Friday is the godfather of the Hood classics. If every if it everybody's top five, I mean, it doesn't matter that's in the top when you say, okay, give me a top five. You know, when we talk amongst ourselves, Friday is in there. Friday in there. People like Friday and House Party. I love Players Club. I bet hey, but you gotta you gotta have. Let's talk about some of the people that you've cast. You've casted some great comedians. You had Bernie Matt, you had Witherson John Witherspoon when you did you and this was before Bernie Mac came Bernie Matt. Yeah, I mean I love to put people in a position to win and so they can showcase their talent. You know, Russell Simmons was doing it with Death Comedy Jam, you know, introducing a lot of people who you probably would never see unless you went to a black comedy club. You know. So I saw Bernie on and Chris Tucker on that Death Comedy Jam, and I'm like, man, these dudes need to be an emotion pitch. If I ever have power to do a movie, I'm putting these dudes in the movie. And I saw the same thing with Jamie Fax with Players Club, you know, and I'm one of the first guys to kill Jamie in the movie. So you know, I just would see these you know, hilarious people that I thought, like, yo, I'm not a comedian, so I'm gonna surround myself body's top comedians and let them go off and let them do their things. See that's the key, Like if I was a comedian, I was feel intimidated by how many laughs this one is getting in, that one is getting it, So I would suppress that, make sure I was getting on the laughs. But by me not worrying about that, I let this guys shine, you know, for Cat Williams, my gaps. You know, just let them go and blow and do their thing, and you know they're going on to have great careers, man, and I'm really proud of But the thing about a comedian is that they really at that beast when they add live with the improvisation. So how much do you let them go as opposed to what you've actually written. I always, you know, think you gotta start with a great script. You know, if the script is not making you laugh out loud. You should keep writing because a comedian a great comedian and not only take that line you wrote, but he'll piggyback off that and continue to ride with the ad libs. So if you give him a great jump off point, then they'll start running with the ad libs and then they'll come back to the script. Right, And so that's the that's the key to my movies. And so I would say about seventy percent of it is written, but thirty percent is you know, letting guys do what they do. Because when I look at when I look at Bernie Mack and playing Dollar Bill in the Players Club, yeah, he and Jamie Foxx playing Blue It's unbelievable. You know, that's one of the most underrated performances of Bernie Mack in the Players Club. He went off, they went off, you know. And so I wrote the movie with him in mind. You know, I didn't. I didn't have nobody else in my head, but uh but Bernie, right, yeah, And I'm glad he took it and he ran with it. And no, I'm just proud probably to be a part of their career and proud to show people, you know what they got. You mentioned you put a lot of guys, from Jamie Foxx to Bernie Macncat Williams to John Witherspoon, Michael Clark, Duncan began Good U, T J. Johnson. I mean, there's so many. I mean, I'm thinking back. That might have been their first pace in the movie business. It is when you put them over. Yeah, I mean we was learning together, you know, it's it's their talent. Really, they put him on, you know, I just thank god I was in a position to showcase it right, and you know, and you know, I look at him and I see them doing their thing, you know, and I'm I'm extremely proud that they were able to take that run with it. The only thing I hate, Cube is that, uh Chris Tucker got so big he didn't come back with number two, but that the one. I don't know. I don't know if somebody's gonna ever come out with a Hood classic better than Friday, I don't know, because I don't know how they do it. I really don't hate, you know. Like I said, we did that movie in twenty days and it was magic. Every day, Like every day we felt like, damn, this is special, you know, it's like because everybody, everybody is funny in the movie, from from from from Smokey to you, to to Dad to a big worm to uh, Smokey's mom. Everybody is funny. Yeah, everybody got a chance to do the thing. And it was beautiful to do and and and to see it. You know, this is the first movie that I ever wrote and produced, so it was it was new to us, and and so we were we were really just having fun. And and you know, lucky we had somebody as good as Gary Gray to capture it and shoot it and direct it. And you know, we were just like, man, this is this is a movie we want people to watch every Friday if they want to, you know, kick back, and this is just gonna be one of those movies that you gotta keep in your rotation. If it comes on TV, I'm watching it. If it comes on I'm white, I don't care. I can't be flipping the channel. Then all of a sudden that movie is on because I'm up, say there. I mean, it's a special movie in a lot of ways. You know, it's a movie that most people don't detect, but it's it's the day the bullet gets beat up and everybody remembers and loves that day when the bullet gets finally get it what he deserves. So that movie has a lot of special specialness to with just on other tips that people don't even really detect most of the time. Oh yeah, and Regina King was in the movie. The a longer than the movie. Yeah. But let me ask you a question. When you have such great success and you write Friday and it's beloved, do you run into the things like I gotta write another Friday? Because a lot of people say what happened to Michael is that when he wrote Thriller, he was always looking for the next album to sell twenty five million. And that's not always the case. Sometimes you have it, you have you write something, you do something that you're never gonna be recreated, and you have to be okay with that. That doesn't mean you stop trying, but that means you have to be okay with that. Yeah, you know, sometimes it's a moment in time right now, you catch lighting in the bottle as they say, you know, I had violent mont to even do another Friday, but the fans had loved it so much right that I said, Well, if I'm an entertainer. My job is to get the people what they want, entertain the people, not just what I want, to give them what they want, right, So I worked hard at work, right, and you know the next Friday, which introduced Mike Ups, you know, and and uh, you know Peaky, you know all the other you know characters that you end up loving. So, you know, but I never felt that I was chasing the first one, even with you know the barber shops, right, you know, we did that. The first one was yeah, it was it was, you know, a home run epic in a lot of ways. But with two or three, I never felt I was chasing it. I always felt like, I need to do a standalone movie. So if one never existed, two has to stand on it and be a comprehensive its own thing and not just borrow off the jokes from the first one. And so that's what I really worked at doing, is making each movie standing on his own funny and not just regurgitate jokes from the last one. Uh. You know, the only thing you're gonna see in all of them is you got knocked up out, you know what I mean. You see that in all of them. But for the most part, you can watch three and never seen two or one, or you can watch two and never seen either of them and still and still enjoy the movie as as its own than I love Rowie Fanclaus through Ricky Smiley. Yeah you know Ricky. You know, he a comedian. He wasn't used to doing all that physical comedy. So by the end of me whooping him with that Christmas tree, Ricky was about done with my ass. He was like, man, man, how many more times you gotta hit me with this trip? We gotta gave another angle, man, a couple more angles and we'll let you go. Man. Yeah, but he was the man, and you put Terry Crews in, Yeah, Terry Crews. I had met him on next Friday. He was doing security right outside my trailer and we just talked and he's good dude. And now I was like, you know what, if I ever need a big I ever need a debot part two, I'm I'm gonna get this dude. So when we when we thought of Damon as you know, the landlord's son who just you know, it was like, yeah, yeah, he's perfect, he's perfect. So what's what's next. I know the pandemic is going and so there's not a whole lot of production going on. So what's next for Q? Is it? Is it a record? Is it a movie? What do you have on the horizon? Got a couple of things, you know, up under my under my sleeve, working on something. I can't really talk about it right now, but it's it's real cool and it's on the music tip. But as far as movies, we we was in the middle of a movie called Flint Flint Strong, you know about the Clarissa Shields who's uh, you know boxing female boxing was her story and I was playing, uh, Jason Clutchfield, who who's a trainer, and so we was in the middle of that or just starting, so you know, hopefully we'll be able to jump back on that song, finish that movie up. Talking to DJ Caruso about doing another movie called The Killers Game, but we'll see how that come come about. So you know that that is like what I'm doing on the professional tip, But personally, it's really all about, you know, fighting with this contract with Black American trying to get trying to get some freedom and equality for our people here, and you know, I'm just fighting that with all my heart. A few more thankful, I let you go cue. Your son follows your footstep. I think a part of us all want our sons to do what we did. If you're a lawyer, you want your son to be a lawyer. You're a doctor, you want to be a doctor. I professional athlete. You would like to see him following your footsteps. Did you ever think your son would follow in your footsteps? I never thought that. You know, I've never pushed my kids to be a part of entertainment. You know, I think that's something that you It's a dream that you have your own right in your own and and then you do what it takes to get it. You know, with this situation, you know, we had an opportunity to do the straight out of Company movie. Right I knew they were casting it. I knew I had took my son on a lot of tours with me, and then he jumped on stage and he can he can wrap my songs, you know, not as good as me, but damn there. And so I knew he had the chops and the personality to do it, but would he take it serious? And so I put him through the ringing man. You know, two years of training and you know, acting coaches here in la and in New York and just getting them ready. And he came through and he did a great job in the movie. And really because he looks he looks like you. I mean, I mean people they actually thought it was you. He sounds like you. I mean, he did a great job. Then he showed me he was serious, which is most important because you know, to see a finished movie is cool, but to see what somebody has to go through right actually do the movie is growing. And so he ran the full marathon with a smile on his face and and happy to be a part of the business. So as a family who was just real proud of him. And then he started to get more movies off of what he did was straight out of confidence. So you know he's a bona fide actor. He working more than me. Now that yeah, I think the movie is Denner Thieves. I thought he did a job of that. I think you yeah, he was great. Now, you know that movie was a little tough to watch for me because you got these these fake, fake police. But but but you know, in the end, you know he's the man. So I'm proud of him. You know, the whole family is you say that cube is that people look at the finished product. They see the movie. And that's what I tell all you do is see the people that with an athlete winning the game. But you don't understand the off season. You don't understand the practices, you don't understand the meetings what led to the winning of the game. Man, most you know, most athletes, I play the game for free. You're paying them for all that other stuff you got them to do to sending and you know, dealing with all the books the BS is, that's what he's taking the money. Folk. But you know most you know, most of the time, you know, we enjoy to do the finished product. You know what we enjoy showtime, game time right now, that's when we know it's time to get the people what they pay for. And when you got that mentality, you always do your best and get hunting ten. And so that's the most important thing is is uh, we don't take the work for granted. That's why the finished product comes out the way it does. Cuba had a coach if we were at meeting, and he said, what I love about Shark, if that shark would play the game for free, And I said, yep, Coach you're right, but I neven know if he played for free, because I don't playing for free. That's what I'm saying. You know, if we're all playing for free, I love I love, I love some freedom. But if we're all playing for play, I love some paydom. Exactly before I left, you go, Cube, I want to get you on this one. You know, Uh, I don't know how well you know Kanye. I think he's a great writer, he's a great his songs. I love his music, or maybe should I say I love his music? But now he's running for president? What do you make a Kanye running for president? You know, I think he, you know, started off a little too late, you know, for people to really take him all the way serious. And you know, I just hope that that you know, he's not being used, you know, and that is his decision. If it's his decision. You know, this is a free country. You can do what you want to do. But if you know people are pushing him to do it, you know, I don't think that part is cool. But yeah, I just think you started off too late to really get in the gag for real. And so, you know, I think it's a moment that's gonna end up passing them by. Yeah, what are the Lakers gonna do? Everybody's bullish on the Clippers. Everybody said, Clippers got this Clippers. The Lakers gonna go out in the first round if they play Portland. Everybody's saying the Lakers are going out in the first round. Now, the Lakers won't go out in the first round. We're not worried about the Zippers. You know the Zippers, you know, they they try to steal the thunder. They try to, you know, pretend like they got a squad that can really go to the home. Mind, I've never seen him do it. So you know, they gotta show me something. The Lakers are showing you that they can make it to the top of the mound. So I'm believing in that old purple and gold. Your team is no longer in California, the team that you root for, that you admired as a kid. If you go to the game, you have fill real black, you have half, you have jacket, you have all the all the paraphernalia. Now they're in Vegas. What do you what's your rate is gonna do this season? You know, I hope they you know, at least make it to the playoffs. You want a good way, stop playing. We're gonna stop. We're gonna stop that. Uh them horses out there. Well, first of all, you know you got that that guy. They got a young quarterback in Kansas City. But homeboy, people, we'll be a wild car. No, we'll be y'all not gonna even win nine games, y'all, not even with y'all might y'all might not even win eight games que every year. You know. Terrible horse shit, that's all I got. Now we all the time we do beat We beat you guys when we really didn't have even good team last year. Imagine we're gonna be better this year. He y'are coming in new stadium. What y'all wipe the damn feet off and none of that horse stuff on your feet when you stepped into that new stadium. Okay, well, first of all, look, I mean, y'all should be used to playing in front of with no fans because there wasn't a whole lot of people showing up anyway, y'all keep moving. You moved to LA, moved to Oakland, moved back to LA, moved back to Oakland. Same thing. So now you and we still got more fans, and we still got more fans than Broncos. Moving away. They still love us, They still love us. Man. We can't do no wrong. Thank you, Matt. I appreciate it all the best. Moving forward, Thank you for giving me a few moments of your time today. Enjoy bro and man double less man you the man man much love. Appreciate you, Appreciate your brother. Yeah, all my life, running all my life, sack fights, custle, pricing. One slice got the brother dice swap all my life. I've been grinding all my life, all my life, running all my life, Sack fights, hustle, back prices, one slice got the broll dice this way all my life. I've been running all my life.