The Ice man cometh
It’s been more than 25 years, and Ice Cube’s still got something to say.
The 48-year-old entertainer has come a long way from his start as part of the West Coast rap group N.W.A. and later a solo artist, branching into movies and now founding a soon-to-be-launched half-court basketball league. But some things haven’t changed, like his willingness to call out law enforcement on the way he sees policing done and to speak his mind on race issues, like he did recently when he took late-night host Bill Maher to task for his use of the Nword during a show.
He brought that attitude to the 25th anniversary re-release this month of his 1991 solo album, Death Certificate, with its newly addedon lead single, Good Cop, Bad Cop. Asked for his thoughts about where the country is with policing, especially in the wake of several highprofile shootings of minorities by officers, he was blunt: “Same as we always been.”
“Police have a philosophy, they have a theory, they have a way of doing stuff, it’s win at all costs,” Cube, born O’Shea Jackson, said. “Win now, apologize later, that’s the model.”
He has seen changes he thinks are positive, he said, pointing to officers in fatal shootings at least getting to the stage of undergoing trials, even if convictions are still extremely rare.
In the days of his youth, “police could do no wrong ... now you fast forward 25 years later, at least the cops are being put on trial for their actions.”
And it’s not just the police that Cube is willing to, well, police.
His appearance on Real Time With Bill Maher was noted for his strong criticism of Maher, who had jokingly referred to himself by using the N-word during the previous week’s episode.