Ice Cube: "I never left the game, the game’s trying to leave me"

Rap is still a relatively young genre and you’ve been recording for most of its lifespan, but tastes can be temporary. Your old pal Dr Dre has T.I ghostwriting his verses and cuts about Ibiza clubs with David Guetta to keep an eye on what’s current. Do you not concern yourself with what’s happening in contemporary music, or is it a case of ‘fuck that, I’m Ice Cube’?

Mostly it’s the latter, I really just do me. I’m not here to make radio happy; I’m here to make my fans satisfied. I’ve got a figure-it-out-yourself mentality, and I don’t want to listen to what’s hot. To the hip-hop nation, the way of the world is out with the old and in with the new. We’ve still got good hip-hop, and I don’t think the youngsters are doing it any better than we are. That’s why we’re still here.

The lyrics in the latest track [Drink the Kool-Aid] from your new album [I Am the West] single out Lil Wayne, Eminem and most notably Dre as people you explicitly are not...

Yeah, but me and Dre are cool – he knows I didn’t diss him. We’re always going to be cool. If you listen to the whole record, it’s a record saying ‘I’m not this, I’m not that, I’m Ice Cube’. I ain’t dissin nobody, you’ve just got to listen to it without thinking ‘I heard this person’s name, it’s a diss.’  On my blog I’ve got the lyrics written out, so there shouldn't be any mistake.”

Is that what I Am The West is about – reasserting your position?

Yeah, when you’ve been at it as long as I have you’ve gotta piss on a few trees, let ‘em know you’re still here.

As you creep into your forties, did you picture a life as a career entertainer?

Yeah, everybody dreams to be doing it till you die. I always looked at the history and longevity of rap artists and felt like I was going to be the one who broke the mould.

When did acting become a realistic path?

It was definitely accidental; John Singleton – the director of my first movie Boyz N the Hood – sought me out. He kind of followed me around for two years. It was cool because he knew exactly what he wanted, and I’m glad he chose me. That’s how it all started.

Some said Boyz N the Hood glorified the violence in Los Angeles at the time, others claimed it was highlighting a few uncomfortable truths about America. The same could be said for your early albums with NWA and as a solo artist. Did the negative attention and media hyperbole get too much?

Nah, I think everything is what it is. Some people understand what we’re doing, others not. Boyz N the Hood, to me, showed a lot of people that the kids you might see on the news going to jail are not animals and they come from different circumstances. That movie was showing the world this for the first time, you hadn’t seen this anywhere else, so it was very necessary.

Now, the whole world glorifies sex and violence in some way or another, you can find sex and violence at a football game – it’s everywhere. Of course it’s in the music; of course it’s in the movies. When it’s already everywhere, showing it isn’t always glorifying it.

The Scottish press and criminal defence were quick to associate the violence in your lyrics with the unprovoked stabbing that ended in tragedy at your Barrowlands gig in '94. How did that impact on you?

I never understood why somebody got stabbed that night, because everybody had so much fun. It was one of the most electric shows that I’ve ever had. To hear when we got back that somebody had been murdered, it was devastating. I’ve not gone back in years because of that, I couldn’t get a show there no more.

I don’t know if I’m the first person for somebody to get hurt at their show like that, I don’t know how many stabbings go on in Scotland, I don’t know what music will make me go stab somebody. These are human, social problems, there have to be other forces at work here. You really can’t blame the entertainment for that, it’s a people issue. I hope they look past that and invite me back.

I suppose it's the same stigma Marilyn Manson endured around the time of the Columbine massacre, a similar witch-hunt...

Well, you know, it’s an easy target. People never understand why we want to do these kinds of records, they always just attack what we’re saying on the record. They never want to go deep enough to figure out why it’s coming out this hard. What’s the problem in society? Where is it? Let’s deal with that.

It’s easy to deal with the surface, the artist who goes a little bit over the top for a certain person’s tastes, and now they’re the reason why anything bad happens. We live in a world of hypocrites, of people that want you to do as they say and not as they do.

Your kids appeared with you on the back cover of Lethal Injection as toddlers. They must be of an age where they listen to all types of music now. Do they listen to yours?

They listen to them – but I’ve been there to explain the world to them. See, they don’t know the streets, they don’t come from the streets. That’s a parents job, to make sure their child understands the world that they’re up against. I try to do my best; sometimes they listen, sometimes they don’t. Hopefully there’s an understanding, that’s all these records are about – a little more understanding between people.

Have you observed a greater understanding since those social ills reached fever pitch and the LA riots tore your city apart all those years ago?

Yeah, I know people are aware, but I don’t know what they’re going to do about it. People are looking for ways to escape. You either fight or you flee. People drink, smoke, buy material things, go to clubs, and fuck just to escape. But that’s only going to last for so long, pretty soon reality comes in and you realise you can’t escape and you’re going to have to fight for what’s right. To me, we’re still in escape mode in Los Angeles, everyone’s trying to get away from their problems without confronting them.

What do you want to say to people about your perceived retreat from the forefront of rap music after Lethal Injection?

When did I depart hip-hop? After Lethal Injection came the Westside Connection album, after that I put out the War disc, after I put out the Peace disc. After that I put out another Westside Connection album, then I put out Laugh Now, Cry Later, then came Raw Footage. So I ain’t never left, the mainstream media pushed my movies as though that was all I was doing, so it is a perception thing. I never left the game, the game’s trying to leave me.