Ice Cube

Ice Cube (born O'Shea Jackson on June 15, 1969) is an African American actor and rapper, originally a member of the controversial group N.W.A (Niggaz With Attitude) until launching a successful solo career in music and cinema.

Ice Cube (born O'Shea Jackson on June 15, 1969) is an African American actor and rapper, originally a member of the controversial group N.W.A (Niggaz With Attitude) until launching a successful solo career in music and cinema. In recent years, Ice Cube's acting career has overshadowed his career in music. Many children and teens are too young to remember his platinum selling music career, and know him primarily as an actor.

Ice Cube was raised in South Central Los Angeles by his parents, both of whom were employed at UCLA. He began writing raps while attending school at William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills, California, most notably "Boyz 'N Da Hood", a song which later became famous when done by N.W.A. Cube and a friend, Sir Jinx, rapped as a partnership called C.I.A. at parties hosted by Dr. Dre. After a brief stint in a group called "HBO", Cube showed Eazy-E "Boyz 'N Da Hood" and the pair, plus Dr. Dre, and MC Ren formed N.W.A. Cube took one year off to earn a degree in architectural drafting in Phoenix in 1987 but returned in time to participate in N.W.A's debut album, Straight Outta Compton. The album was a masterpiece of old school rap and attracted much notoriety for the group, from the FBI and concerned citizen and parent groups.