Not only is Ice Cube a hip-hop legend, but he’s also amassed quite an impressive filmography as an actor. Today, a snippet of his upcoming interview with Kevin Hart on the Hart To Heart show has landed, shedding a bit of insight into the early days when Cube first caught the acting bug.
Taking it back to the early nineties when he was in the midst of a thriving solo musical career, Kevin Hart inquires as to whether or not starring in Boyz N The Hood drove Cube to pursue further acting opportunities.
Ice Cube in Cannes, France, 1991. Pool ARNAL/GARCIA/PICOT/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
“Yeah,” reflects Cube. “[Boyz N The Hood] went to Cannes Film Festival. I haven’t been back to Cannes Film Festival since ‘Boyz N The Hood.’ It’s not even playing in America yet, but [they’re] going to go show it in France. [They] want [me] to come. So we go, and I get there and I’m like, ‘Oh this is a big deal.’ Cannes is crazy. I didn’t know nothing about it.”
“I’m at the height of my solo career,” he continues. “Just dropped AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted, I think I either just dropped Kill At Will, or was about to drop my second EP. It was rolling. I was working on Death Certificate. So we get there, and I’m like ‘when are we showing the movie?’ They’re like ‘we’re going to show it Thursday.’ We got there on Monday. And then I started thinking these people speak French, how are they going to understand the movie?”
Ice Cube & John Singleton at Cannes, 1991. Pool ARNAL/GARCIA/PICOT/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
Upon realizing that the film would be screened with French subtitles, Cube’s heart sunk. “They are not going to understand this movie,” he recalls. “This shit about to be torture. We get there, Quincy Jones is in the audience. Eddie Murphy. Gregory Hines. All these dudes is in there, and they gave it a standing ovation after the movie was over. I was like damn, if they love it here…wait until they play this in the States. It’s over.”
When Hart asks if the acting work caused any difficulties at his record label, Cube explains that everyone was supportive. “Playing Dough Boy was kinda parallel to the music we were doing,” he considers.”So it felt like a natural progression. And then, my next movie was Trespass. Playing Savon, another street dude, it kinda fell into place. But I was offered O-Dog in Menace To Society, but I felt I was playing the same character. I felt I would be trapped in the L.A. gangbanger…I knew about typecasting.”
For more from Ice Cube and Kevin Hart, who previously acted together in the comedy movie Ride Along, check out their conversation on Hart To Heart below.
WATCH: Ice Cube and Kevin Hart catch up on Hart To Heart