O’Shea Jackson Sr. (born June 15, 1969) is an American rapper, actor, and filmmaker better known as Ice Cube. His lyrics on N.W.A’s 1988 album Straight Outta Compton helped to popularize gangsta rap, and his political rap solo albums AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted (1990), Death Certificate (1991), and The Predator (1992) were all critical and commercial successes. Ice Cube was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2016 as a member of the N.W.A.
Jackson, a Los Angeles native, created his first rap group, C.I.A., in 1986. He co-founded the pioneering gangsta rap duo N.W.A. with Eazy-E and Dr. Dre in 1987. As its lead rapper, he penned some of Dre’s and most of Eazy’s songs on Straight Outta Compton, a landmark album that molded West Coast hip hop’s early identity and helped differentiate it from East Coast rap. N.W.A was also known for its violent lyrics, threatening to attack abusive cops and innocent civilians alike, which sparked controversy. Cube left N.W.A in late 1989, teaming up with New York artists and launched a solo rap career after a monetary dispute over the group’s management by Eazy-E and Jerry Heller.
Ice Cube has had a successful cinematic career since the early 1990s. He made his film debut as Doughboy in filmmaker John Singleton’s feature debut Boyz n the Hood, a 1991 drama named after a 1987 rap song written by Ice Cube. Ice Cube also co-wrote and acted in the 1995 comedy film Friday, which launched a profitable franchise and transformed him into a bankable movie star. He made his directorial debut with The Players Club in 1998, and he also produced and curated the soundtrack. He had appeared in approximately 40 films as of 2020, including the 1999 war comedy Three Kings, family comedies such as the Barbershop series, and buddy cop comedies 21 Jump Street, 22 Jump Street, and Ride Along.