Nuclear Beef

Fresh Air Interview Audio Beef Today. Not Music! Ice Cube answers burning questions from NPR's Terry Gross.

'Fresh Air Interview - 01/10/2005' (64KHz Mono MP3, 47 Minutes, 22mb) by Ice Cube and Terry Gross from NPR's Fresh Air, January 10th, 2005

Here's an interesting interview with former NWA member and gangster rap pioneer Ice Cube on NPR's talk show Fresh Air. Cube was appearing in order to promote his new family comedy Are We There Yet?, which was number one at the box office this weekend. Cube and Terry Gross talk about the history of NWA, gangster rap and Ice Cube's career evolution from rapper to actor to producer. They cover a lot of ground, but Terry asks the most important question right at the very end of the interview.

TERRY GROSS: Can I ask you one dumb question?

ICE CUBE: Please.

TERRY GROSS: This is very dumb.

ICE CUBE: Ok.

TERRY GROSS: Do you think of yourself as being Ice Cube or Ice Cube? Or does it.. does it matter?

ICE CUBE: I don't know that, what was the difference between Ice Cube or Ice Cube?

TERRY GROSS: What, where the emphasis is.. on the first or the last word, and if it's Ice Cube, it really sounds like the ice cube.. and if it's Ice Cube.. I.. I don't know, I've never..

ICE CUBE: All my friends call me 'Cube'

TERRY GROSS: Ok.

ICE CUBE: And you know, if you know me real good, call me 'Cube', I'll respond to that.. but uh.. I don't know, I think I'll debate that.. whether I'm Ice Cube or Ice Cube.

TERRY GROSS: I'm over thinking this.. I've obviously overthought this.

Oh Terry, don't be so hard on yourself! I'm proud of you for not being afraid to ask a question that I'm sure millions of people have wondered about over the years. It's too bad that Cube didn't give us a definitive answer...

(I've always thought he was Ice Cube, myself. When I first heard this interview on the radio, I admit I was a bit thrown that Terry called him Ice Cube. That said, I absolutely cracked up laughing when she actually asked him. Classic. And yes, I know you can listen to this in RealAudio at NPR's site. That's where I encoded it from, because Real Audio is teh mecka suck. Also, anders over at Music (For Robots) links us to this fun cover of Cube's verse on 'Straight Outta Compton' by Nina Gordon, formerly of Veruca Salt. Giggle. Cinnacism doesn't like it, but she's not the boss of me!)