2014, better known as Ice Age.
Forget being one of the most important originators and innovators of gangster rap, forget platinum albums (see: AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted, 2.4 mil sold) and Grammy nominations, forget Boyz In Da Hood or “The Lakers beat the Supersonics”. There’s a whole demographic of people that have no idea that their favorite movie star, and the man behind a slew of box office hits, including January’s record setting Ride Along, was a part of any of those career marks. He may be the most interesting man in showbiz, most notably because the second leg of his career is as startlingly successful as his first, and he’s showing no signs of letting up.
In the new issue of The Source Magazine, on newsstands everywhere this Thursday (April 10), Cube sits down with our owner and publisher, L. Londell McMillan, and chats extensively about everything his current life entails, including his movie production company, his new album Everythang’s Corrupt, and spending the better part of the past quarter-century in the immediate spotlight.
You can read a couple excerpts from Cube and McMillan’s intimate conversation below.
On Ride Along, and pushing his own Hollywood agenda with Cube Vision:
Ice: You know, I feel great, no doubt. I feel like we hit the sweet spot. We had all the ingredients for a great movie and we pulled it off. And people like it. When everybody’s happy, you did your thing, you did what you was supposed to do. The movie company is happy because they made money. We’re happy because of the prestige of having the No. 1 movie and because a movie that does that much business sets us up for our next project, so we’re happy. Then the audience is happy because they enjoyed the movie and they felt their time was well spent, so they’re happy. And that’s the trifecta when you’re doing a movie, that’s what you’re trying to achieve.
Londell: So to play on words a bit, do you feel you’re just “riding along” on a great wave of a career in which you’ve put in great work, or do you feel you’re driving an agenda that’s in your own “Cube vision”?
Ice: Both, because one of them is bigger than Cube Vision. Cube Vision is my movie and TV company. And so I’m trying to push my agenda through that. I want people to, when they see Cube Vision, to know that this is how I see the movie. But as a career, I accredit baseball even though I like football and basketball, but baseball has the best analogy for careers. Some careers, I call them foul tips, because you go straight up and they go high. They go up real fast, but they come straight down and usually when they hit they don’t count. But my career, and how most people want their career, is to soar like a home run. It just rises, and rises, and rises, and rises. It gets distance and when it comes down, it’s money. So that’s how I’ve been planning mine, just a long distance.
Londell: Was the soaring a result of a strategic planning or was it your faith, your hustle and hard work, or a combination of all those things?
Ice: Got to be a combination of all. You got to have a plan. You’re not getting nowhere without a plan. You can’t even get to work without a plan. You have to have a plan to get anywhere you’re going. Can’t walk to get you nothing to drink without a plan. Gotta know which way you going and how you’re going to get there. Same with a career, can’t just be floating around waiting for your manager to call you and say, “I got this for you.” “Oh, okay.” [Laughs.]
Can’t wait until Thursday to read the full story? You can purchase a digital copy of the new issue for your iPhone/iPad, Amazon Kindle or Google Play.
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