It's tough to talk to Ice Cube about the Canadian tour he and Snoop Dogg are undertaking without first addressing whether or not it will actually happen.
The duo is slated to appear at Rexall Place on Wednesday. Tickets ($39.50-$65.50) are available through Ticketmaster online or by calling 451-8000.
Not that the Cube isn't jazzed about coming to Canada. Beyond larger centres like Vancouver and Toronto, he's never really been up here before, whether it's as a star rapper or movie star. Same goes for Snoop.
"I'm more excited about doing this tour than doing the States," exclaims Cube, 37. "I jumped at the chance to see the fans who have always been down with me, but never had a chance to see me live. I've been in the game for 20 years, so I hope somebody up there likes me.
"It's that pure West Coast-cut hardcore hip hop, y'know, that you can't get nowhere else. And there's nothin' like gettin' it from the source. Where else can you see two California boys, straight out of the streets, who became hip-hop superstars? Where else are you going to see that in Canada?
"(The idea) doesn't really surprise me. It's just surprising that it's happening."
Well, hopefully. Cube isn't so much in doubt, but given Snoop's rap sheet of late, no pun intended, it remains to be seen whether Canadian immigration lets him across the border.
Last fall alone, Snoop was arrested three times, brought up on charges ranging from weapons violations (for attempting to bring a collapsible police baton aboard an airplane) to possession of marijuana.
It's the kind of trouble that hasn't reared its head since Snoop, whose real name is Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr., was a member of Long Beach's Rollin' 20 Crips gang.
And while Cube's new album - last year's Laugh Now, Cry Later - pays homage to herb on tunes like Smoke Some Weed and his upbringing on the rough, gang-infested streets of South Central, L.A., he doesn't view himself as a role model.
"But I am an example that, no matter where you come from, you can make it. That's about it," he states.
It's a message he's no doubt teaching to his four kids - Cube has been married since 1992.
Born O'Shea Jackson, Cube first made a name for himself as a member of the controversial N.W.A. (Niggaz With Attitude) alongside Dr. Dre in the late '80s. He's since parlayed the group's success into a healthy career as an actor, director and, lest we forget, rapper.
The demands of Cube's acting schedule have been such that recording a new album hasn't been the easiest thing to mitigate - Laugh Now, Cry Later marks his first album in six years.
"I'm always writing rap," he says. "Whether I put out a record or not, it's still one of the best stress relievers I can think of. So, I'm always writing.
"But ever since I started doing movies, it's hurt my record career because I haven't had a chance to promote or tour. To actually work on a record, I'd have to be pulled off a movie and then get back into the groove. It stifled my record career in some ways. With this record, I made sure all of my movie obligations were out of the way. I put movies off for about a year and a half."
Films, he notes, are also the product of much larger collaborative process, whereas an album's success rides mostly on his shoulders. Aside from a distribution deal, the album was released and, to a degree, promoted independently, because he says he didn't want a major label screwing things up.
He also wanted to craft a new album for the right reasons. "I just wanted to worry about my fans. Not even rap fans; just Ice Cube fans, who have been down with me since the N.W.A. days. Wherever I go, they've asked me, 'Where's the record?' So, I just wanted to do this record for them.
"I kind of stripped away all the baggage that people take into the studio with them. I wasn't not going to worry about radio or Soundscan. None of the stuff that shouldn't even make it into the studio."
He does proudly note, however, that Laugh Now, Cry Later has almost gone platinum. So, don't let his trademark scowl fool you - times are good.
This year, he'll be starring in Are We Done Yet?, a sequel to the 2005 comedy, Are We There Yet? A series he won't likely be revisiting, however, is xXx. Cube starred in 2005's xXx: State of the Union - a sequel to the original Vin Diesel - starring as xXx - but he's confident film historians will look back on his X-rated turn as the pinnacle of over-the-top camp.
"In a lot of ways, the movie is kind of laughing at the whole style of making movies like that. I think the script and story is better than the first one - it captures you a little more. And I'm 10 times better than Vin Diesel."
