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Ice Cube also reveals what he misses most about Eazy-E.
With the release of the N.W.A biopic around four months away, Ice Cube caught up with Rolling Stone to discuss various topics relating to the upcoming picture.
Discussing his impetus for making the movie, Ice Cube says he wanted to show fans exactly what N.W.A was about.
"I wanted to show why we made N.W.A, what made us, what was happening in our lives at the time that made us make music like that," he says. "And then I wanted to show what influence N.W.A had on the neighborhood. It forged us, and then we changed the 'hood."
In addition, Cube says the movie accurately depicts what N.W.A were like when recording in the studio.
"You'll tease a motherfucker if he ain't getting it right," he says, adding a laugh. "You can get real personal. All that comes out in the movie, and it's great that we were able to produce a movie at that level."
The recording of Eazy E’s solo record “Boyz-n-the-Hood,” which was wrote by Ice Cube, is shown in the movie’s trailer. During his interview with Rolling Stone, Cube recalled the internal struggle he endured just to get to that point.
"We were trying to make records that can go on the radio, and when we started doing mixtapes – which we knew wasn't going on the radio – that's when we really started to talk about the neighborhood," he says. "Talking about what really led into the style that we ended up doing, which is now called hardcore gangster rap. Back then we was calling it 'reality rap'; 'gangster rap' is the name that the media coined.
"We was just talking about shit that we was going through," Cube adds. "Me and Dre started off making the first mixtapes: He would do the mixes, and I would rap at the beginning of them. We'd talk about shit you couldn't talk about on a record, that we didn't think you could until Eazy-E came into the picture and said, 'No these are the kind of records I want to make, not just mixtapes, not just for the 'hood. Let's do these kinds of records for everybody.'"
Ice Cube Outlines What He Misses Most About Eazy-E
Ice Cube also highlighted what he misses most about fellow N.W.A rapper Eazy-E, who passed away twenty years ago last month.
“His sense of humor,” Cube says. “His sense of marketing and just how he knew what people wanted all the time. He was just a smart cat."
Later in the interview, Ice Cube spoke on the movie’s soundtrack, a topic that has been subject to much discussion as of late. When asked about the possibility of new N.W.A music being featured on the soundtrack, Cube says it’s ultimately up to Dr. Dre.
"It's always a hope and a dream and a wish to get new music out of Dr. Dre, so it's all how he's feeling,” Ice Cube says. “If Dre feels like it, he's going to do it. If not, then it's cool."