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Even before he released his debut solo album AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, Ice Cube was used to living in a spotlight of infamy and controversy.
But after 20 years in the game, hip-hop elder statesman Ice Cube says he just wants what's best for America.
On his most recent album, Laugh Now, Cry Later, Cube -- born O'Shea Jackson -- takes aim at politicians like George W. Bush and Arnold Schwarzenegger for helping perpetuate a system that keeps ghetto-raised blacks trapped in a cycle of violence and poverty while simultaneously contributing to the decay of metropolitan warzones like South Central.
The plight should sound familiar to Canadians -- and Winnipeg residents in particular -- as there are obvious parallels to be drawn between blacks in America and Canada's aboriginal populations. Just don't come to Cube looking for answers.
"When you're dealing with capitalism, you're dealing with the bottom of the pyramid and the top of the pyramid," Cube explains from his home in L.A. "To have a bottom, you have to have communities like these ... It's a shame when the government preys on its own citizens, but our communities have constantly been put on the bottom, and the top controls all the guns and the drugs and the ammunition."
Besides, Cube isn't sure the government would be interested in a solution even if one existed. He describes the situation as "a plan that's been put in place," suggesting those in power need things to stay the way they are so prisons remain filled and free labour remains available. But just because people find themselves locked into the bottom of the pyramid, doesn't mean they have to stay there, he says.
"Don't dwell on the bottom," he says. "Just because you're on the bottom doesn't mean you have to be a bottom-feeder ... You may have to swim upstream but don't stay in that cesspool."
In that respect, Cube would be considered a success by anyone's definition. While still a teenager, he formed the pioneering gangsta-rap group NWA (Niggaz With Attitude) with Dr. Dre and Eazy-E, with Cube supplying the lyrics to controversial hits like Straight Outta Compton, Boyz-N-The Hood and F-- tha Police, the latter earning them the enmity and attention of the FBI.
Cube left the group amid the usual squabbles over money and hasn't looked back. In addition to his music, he's also made a successful transition to acting, appearing in critically acclaimed flicks like Boyz N the Hood as well as the wildly popular Friday and Barbershop franchises. But he's careful not to describe himself as a role model.
"I guess I'm more of an example than a role model," he says. "I don't want everyone to follow what I do -- I want them to be their own person. But I am an example that it can be done."
As with the 1992 single It Was a Very Good Day, a somewhat anomalous account of a day in Cube's life where "nobody I know got killed," he's been careful to include material on each album that accentuates the positive. His sophomore album Death Certificate was even divided into a Death Side (a vision of where we are today), and a Life Side (a vision of where we need to go).
"Ultimately, those records are supposed to be fun and supposed to be entertainment," he says. "I don't want my records to be downers."
Fat chance of that.
Tickets to the Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg double-bill are $49.50 at Ticketmaster (www.ticketmaster.ca or 780-3333).