O'Shea Jackson
| Ice Cube | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
O'Shea Jackson June 15, 1969 Compton, California, United States |
| Occupation |
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| Years active | 1984–present |
| Spouse(s) | Kimberly Woodruff (m. 1992) |
| Children | 4, including O'Shea Jackson Jr. |
| Website | icecube |
O'Shea Jackson Sr. (born June 15, 1969), known professionally as Ice Cube, is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, actor and filmmaker. He began his career as a member of the hip-hop group C.I.A. and later joined the seminal rap group N.W.A (Niggaz With Attitudes). After leaving N.W.A in December 1989, he built a successful solo career in music and films such as a role in drama Boyz n the Hood. Additionally, he has served as one of the producers of the Showtime television series Barbershop and the TBS series Are We There Yet?, both of which are based upon films in which he portrayed the main character.
Ice Cube is considered one of the founding artists in gangsta rap, and much of his musical output has contained harsh socio-political commentary. He was ranked number 8 on MTV's list of the 10 Greatest MCs of All Time, while fellow rapper Snoop Dogg ranked Ice Cube as the greatest MC of all time.AllMusic has called him one of hip-hop's best and most controversial artists, as well as "one of rap's greatest storytellers". In 2012, The Source ranked him number 14 on their list of the Top 50 Lyricists of All Time. In 2014, About.com ranked him number 11 on their list of the "50 Greatest MCs of All Time".
O'Shea Jackson was born on June 15, 1969, in South Central Los Angeles, the son of Doris, a hospital clerk and custodian, and Hosea Jackson, who worked as a groundskeeper at UCLA and a machinist. He has an older brother as well as a half-sister who was killed when Ice Cube was 12. His cousin is Teren Delvon Jones, also known as Del tha Funkee Homosapien, who is a part of the rap group Hieroglyphics and who has also worked with Gorillaz; and Kam of rap group The Warzone. In his early teens, Ice Cube developed an interest in hip hop music, and began writing raps in Los Angeles George Washington Preparatory High School's keyboarding class. Jackson penned his first rap song in the ninth grade after a friend challenged him to write a song during the middle of keyboarding class. At the age of 16, Jackson sold his first song to future N.W.A. member Eazy-E. Jackson also attended William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills, California. He enrolled at the Phoenix Institute of Technology in the fall of 1987 in Arizona. Being passionate about architecture, he studied architectural drafting. He completed his diploma within one year and returned to Los Angeles to pursue a rap career. Not sure of whether his rap career would work out, he would turn to become an architecture draftsman as a career backup.
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