O'Shea Jackson Sr. (born June 15, 1969), known as Ice Cube, is an American rapper, songwriter, actor, and film producer.

[3][10] After a monetary dispute over the group's management by Eazy-E and Jerry Heller, Cube left N.W.A in late 1989, teaming with New York artists and launching a solo rap career.

[11][12] He entered cinema by playing Doughboy in director John Singleton's feature debut Boyz n the Hood, a 1991 drama named after a 1987 rap song[4] that Ice Cube wrote.

[21][22] In ninth grade at George Washington Preparatory High School in Los Angeles,[23] Cube began writing raps after being challenged by his friend "Kiddo" in typewriting class.

During 1990, his debut solo album, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, found him also leading a featured rap group, Da Lench Mob.

[5][32] With friend Sir Jinx, Ice Cube formed the rap group C.I.A., and performed at parties hosted by Dr. Dre.

Since 1984, Dre was a member of a popular DJ crew, the World Class Wreckin' Cru, which by 1985 was also performing and recording electro rap.

Meanwhile, the Wreckin' Cru's home base was the Eve After Dark nightclub, about a quarter of a mile outside of the city of Compton in Los Angeles County.

[35] At 16, Cube sold his first song to Eric Wright, soon dubbed Eazy-E, who was forming Ruthless Records and the musical team N.W.A, based in Compton, California.

Cube wrote some of Dre's and nearly all of Eazy's lyrics on N.W.A's official debut album, Straight Outta Compton, released in January 1989.

[43] In early 1990, Ice Cube recorded his debut solo album, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, in New York with iconic rap group Public Enemy's production team, the Bomb Squad.

[13] Following Lethal Injection, Cube focused on films and producing albums of other rappers, including Da Lench Mob, Mack 10, Mr. Short Khop, and Kausion.

Feeling neglected by East Coast media, a longstanding issue in rap's bicoastal rivalry, the group aimed to reinforce West pride and resonate with the undervalued.

[51] In 2002, Cube appeared on British DJ Paul Oakenfold's solo debut album, Bunkka, on the track "Get Em Up".

In 2004, Cube featured on the song "Real Nigga Roll Call" by Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, the then leaders of rap's crunk subgenre.

Cube soon toured globally in the Straight Outta Compton Tour—accompanied by rapper WC from the Westside Connection—playing in America, Europe, Australia, and Japan.

[53] Cube's eighth studio album, Raw Footage, arrived on August 19, 2008, yielding the singles "Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It" and "Do Ya Thang".

Its producers include West Coast veterans like DJ Quik, Dr. Dre, E-A-Ski, and, after nearly 20 years, again Cube's onetime C.I.A groupmate Sir Jinx.

In 2012, Ice Cube recorded a verse for a remix of the Insane Clown Posse song "Chris Benoit", from ICP's The Mighty Death Pop!

Meanwhile, Cube declined to costar with Janet Jackson in Singleton's 1993 romance Poetic Justice, a role that Tupac Shakur then played.

In 1997, playing a South African exiled to America who returns 15 years later, Cube starred in the action thriller Dangerous Ground, and had a supporting role in Anaconda.

In October 2021, Ice Cube was set to star in the comedy film Oh Hell No (now titled Stepdude[79]) alongside Jack Black, but left the project after refusing to get vaccinated for COVID-19.

[81] On May 11, 2010, ESPN aired Cube's directed documentary Straight Outta L.A., examining the interplay of Los Angeles sociopolitics, hip hop, and the Raiders during the 1980s into the 1990s.

[85] In front of the television cameras, rather, Cube appeared with Elmo as a 2014 guest on the PBS children's show Sesame Street.

[87] He converted to Islam,[88] though he denied membership in the NOI,[31] whose ideology against white people and especially Jews led to its categorization as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

[97][98] When asked about the balance between his music and parenting in 2005, Cube discussed teaching his children to question the value of violence depicted in all media, not just song lyrics.

[100] Ice Cube is a notable fan of the Las Vegas Raiders, originally supporting the team during their tenure in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994.

[105][106] Death Certificate also contains the song "No Vaseline",[48][107] which uses racial slurs against the other former members of N.W.A and refers to the group's manager Jerry Heller as "devil" and "cracker".

"[105] In 2015, Cube expressed regret at including the word "Jew" in the lyrics of "No Vaseline" and explained that he intended to attack only Heller and not "the whole Jewish race".

[48] The article was a response to Cube's day-long Twitter posting spree the day before, during which he promoted Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.