90 Quotes by Ice Cube

Today I didn't even have to even use my A.K ! I got to say it was a good day

I do what I do. You like it, great. You don't, go listen to somebody else. I'm stickin' with the people who stuck with me.

I think the worst thing you can do about a situation is nothing.

Create your own path, hone your talent, be ready to show your talent, and don't doubt yourself.

Truth is the ultimate power. When the truth comes around, all the lies have to run and hide.

I think, to me, reality is better than being fake.

Sometimes you got to start somewhere. And it's cool, as long as where you start is not where you plan on finishing.

If you born in the mud, you gonna be dirty, and people don't understand that.

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Don't worry about being a star, worry about doing good work, and all that will come to you.

Doing it your own way, not having to go exactly by the book to be successful.

Money comes and goes, but your inner feelings, your gut feelings, your manhood, your womanhood, whatever, that stays with you. That don't go anywhere. So you either proud of who you are and how you handle situations or you not. If you handle a situation wrong, you, it will haunt you.

If you give anybody the chance, they can always make a decent human being out of themselves. It's the people that don't have a chance, that we look down at like they're monsters or they're animals or that they want something different than the rest of us.

You can do anything in the world if you say "Hey man, don't blame me, the devil made me do it. It's an easy way to escape responsibility.

You can't pussyfoot around. When you're talking to lions, you can't meow like a pussycat.

There's nothing wrong with starting off in a box, but you got to have a plan to come out that box.

I think people, if you really want to be happy, you have to find God yourself, and you're going to have to have a personal, one-on-one relationship and not look to get through these traditions or these rituals and all this crazy stuff when you could talk to him right here, right now, anytime, anywhere, any place, from any position. And that's the kind of relationship you want, not a standard.

Keep doin' what you're doin', fall in love with what you're creating, and everything else will fall into place.

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You wanna be remembered for making an impact and changing things. I guess for the good or for the bad, it don't matter. But I guess you just wanna be remembered when it's all said and done.

Get a grip, Oreo, and be true to the game.

I think reading is important in any form. I think a person who's trying to learn to like reading should start off reading about a topic they are interested in, or a person they are interested in.

My advice for anyone who wants to follow in my footsteps: create your own path, hone your talent, be ready to show your talent, and don't doubt yourself.

Everybody who comes from the gangster life - they want what that man in the suburbs wants. Nice family. Nice house. Nice cars. Bills paid. Kids in school. Food on the table. Nothing more.

Sometimes, when you want to laugh, reality steps in.

Rap is just somebody getting something off his chest. That's all it is.

I know that there are obstacles; I know that there are hills to climb, I know there were people before me that made my journey easier and there are people behind me that I have made the journey easier for.

Anything that got to do with a pig, I ain't eatin'.

If the day did not require an AK then it was good

There's things people say in the barbershop they won't even say in their own living room, because it's just one of those zones where nobody's going to judge you too much about your dumb opinion.

I love music. It's freedom, a way to deal with pent-up frustration.

Ice Cube is the piece of me that I give away to the public.

I always was like, "Yo, I'm here, I might as well get what I could take."

I think my fans respect me for bein' as truthful and honest as you can be and still be Rap music and not be opinion music. It's still Rap, its still style, flavor, flair, and people just kind of like how I present myself and the things that I do.

Sometimes when you're relegated to your neighborhood, you forget that there's more important things than your neighborhood going on out in the world.

I wish the world would become what God wanted it to be in the first place, before we tampered with it.

If you think about stuff that happened when you were young, it stays with you forever.

I think you have to find how the machine can work for you. That's what I mean by "attaching yourself to the machine," 'cause the machine is going to be there, and you can rage against the machine, which is cool, but there's ways that you can benefit off the machine if you're savvy enough and you're sharp enough, smart enough. We all got to live and eat.

Money is the root of all evil. Yeah, money is the root. It's not racism and "this-ism" and "that-ism"; it's our thirst and hunger for money. And that's where all the bodies are buried.

What I learned from architectural drafting is that everything has to have a plan to work. You just can't wing it. I can't get all the materials I need for a house and just start building. Whether it's a career, family, life - you have to plan it out.

Most of the problems that we have are brought on by the government and not by music. Music is a mirror of what we're going through, not the cause of what we're going through.

Don't talk about death, I've got too much life to live, To many orders to give.

A lot of people have a misconception of what the ghetto is all about. You know, it's only a small percentage of the people that are bad. Everybody else is good.

I want to do more drama. Comedy is the path of least resistance for my company. People know we can do them. People know they get a good response. People want to make them. Who am I to push up against that?

Should I peel a cap or should I let him survive?

The biggest change in the government's behavior has been because of TV and its ability to show to the world what has happened in this community... that's the biggest change. But without TV... the separation between the government and the people would be much worse than it is.

A bird in the hand is worth more than a Bush.

To me, in a perfect world, you have the flavor and the magic of movies like 48 Hours, Lethal Weapon and Bad Boys.

Our records, if you have a dark sense of humor, were funny, but our records weren't about comedy. They were about protests, fantasy, confrontation and all that.

Seeing my son getting roughed up by the police is not fun. It brings back memories of when I got roughed up by them. He grew up totally different than how I grew up, and to me, he shouldn't have to go through that.

I'm always happy. I've just got a mean face.

I don't get nothing but love. In every ghetto all over the world. Nothing but love. They respect that I came outta there and I'm doing it the right way. You can't do nothing but respect that.

[Boycott Oscar] is like crying about not having enough icing on your cake. It's just ridiculous.

Don't get a movie confused with real life. I'm a well-rounded human being like everyone else.

Everybody in the world has to compromise. I don't know one person that gets everything they want, so the politicians are going to have to figure that out and stop pointing out, "He shook hands with a Democrat in 1989. He ate with a Republican last week." It's petty high school, even junior high stuff going on. It's junior high politics going on, so it's a shame.

I'm not actually from Compton - I'm from South Central Los Angeles, and my father still lives in the same house I grew up in, so I'm there all the time.

The silver and black may have another home, but the Raiders will always belong to the people of Los Angeles.

You pay to have a good time, you don't always want to pay to be schooled or sad or reminded how bad you got it. To me a movie theater ain't always the place for that.

I don't cook gumbo, but I just know it's a lot of good ingredients in it. And, with a movie, you got to have all those ingredients.

I always want to read the script before I totally commit.

Early in my career, people wanted to hear music about protest, about trying to change things.

The thing is with hip-hop, it has its waves and the waves crash against the beach and the new waves come in. So to stay relevant you have to roll with that.

You like a woman, she's got kids, it's a package. You can't just go in one-sided.

We should love the fact that we're not just getting one point of view. That we have this diversity in entertainment, and people are not scared to be themselves, and people are not scared to make people uncomfortable, and that's all part of it. That's all part of being free.

The real is always presented. That hardcore record or movie is not needed in the hood, because it's already there. You can see it with your own eyes.

Any time there's racism somewhere in sports, we should get it out of there because sports is a place where everything's supposed to be fair.

I think when hip hop first started, people were open to it, and groups like Public Enemy and there was groups like Poor Righteous Teachers and all these people who were spitting a lot of knowledge, a lot of history, questioning a lot of societal barriers was starting to be super popular.

If you really look at my lyrics, nobody's exempt. Nobody's exempt from observation, criticism or what I think is correction.

If I only had 24 hours to live, I would spend the time telling everybody I love that I love them.

I think everybody likes a person that stands up for themselves. Nobody likes a punk or a coward.

When I was six, God was a white man with a big beard riding on a white cloud. That's the image television pumps.

Embrace what makes up you. Some stereotypes are true - I love chicken, but that's a stereotype, I love f**king basketball, but that's a stereotype, too. But who cares? Embrace it. Be who you are, and don't be ashamed of what that is.

I have great people, smart people that are around me and we love the challenge. I guess it's like climbing a mountain or building a building. It's a challenge but you love every challenge that it brings or presents itself.

Creating is really what I like to do. The best thing in the world is to have an idea in the back of your head and then to make that idea into a movie and have people all over the world enjoy it.

I'm not trying to turn into Eddie Murphy, and just do kids movies the rest of my career. I'm going to still do a wide variety of movies, as well as do hardcore rap.

I'm always the "less is more" guy when it comes to a scene. So I'ma be the one who will keep it grounded. Even if I let it go off and go crazy, I'm still the voice of keeping things grounded in reality.

I did Are We There Yet? because I wanted to do a movie for my fans' kids. Black kids don't really see movies on this budget for them, starring them. And there's so many white kids that love that movie.

I believe every pencil has to be sharpened every now and then to stay sharp, or you dull out. So my records, I chose to speak on what black people do, what white people do, what women do, what men do.

You have to resist falling in love with the money they [producers] want to give you. You have to really resist that, and you have to just think about the work and whether it's a movie that you would want to see.

The best thing to do is to write about what you know, and if you write about what you know you can always pull those nice little tidbits that hook people, that shows that you know about this world and can bring people into a world that they may not know nothing about.

Sports without music is just a game. Music makes it entertaining.

But with rap music - not just N.W.A. - but rap music in general, seeing these artists wearing these team logos all the time started bringing a synergy and energy about having to rep your city, your team, everywhere and all the time.

I grew up in the seventies and disco was big. That influenced me the most.

It's easier for me to get comedies made because of my track record. Everybody needs to find their niche. I love dramas, but I understand that I am still just a young man in moviemaking. I know there will be some time to get back to that.

You got to get used to somebody, when you're acting or going through a scene, somebody yelling, "Do it a little louder!" OK, you do it a little louder.

Music is where I have the most creative freedom, but I love producing. To me, that's kind of where all the action is. You get a chance to have your hands in every aspect of a film. From picking a director, sometimes picking a writer, to the actors, the wardrobe, set design, editing, music, and marketing.

Even though I have a nice house, nice family, the rest of my generation is still in South Central L.A. My cousins, my brothers, my sisters, they don't wanna move out. They don't want to and they don't have the means to sustain it. That's where my heart is and that's what I think about all the time.

I never was in the Nation of Islam... I mean, what I call myself is a natural Muslim, 'cause it's just me and God.

The hardest period for a writer is the period in-between writing. That's when you can go crazy if you don't allow the creative juices to flow.

I've been fighting my whole career to show a different side and prove naysayers - not prove them wrong, because I don't think you should get your energy from negative people.

Our household is built on love and respect. And we don't really let negative vibes stay too long. It's worked out. I got a great family, great kids.

There's a lot of potential that goes unused in places like South Central L.A., a lot of brilliant, smart people who just don't have that chance to show it.

Everybody thinks the grass is greener on the other side. If you talk to most artists, they think they can play something, you know, "If I had stayed playing football in high school, if I had been doing basketball..." Everybody's got their fantasies and thinks the grass is greener. It's not. It's not.

You don't wanna mess up what you've done. It's like Jordan coming back: You're scared to mess up the legacy.

You want the industry to finally admit that you're good. But I'm still good without their admission.

I've always gotten good grades, you know, with my teachers and my English teachers, 'cause I was able to - they'd say, "What did you do for the summer?" I'm able to explain it to them in a written form. And my teachers always patted me on the back for that, being able to take what's in my mind and put it on paper.

My son Darrel could recite 'Straight Outta Compton' at two years old. He loved it! You can expose your kids to anything as long as you sit there and explain it to them.

The creative process of making a movie really turned me on. I'd started getting behind the scenes with a camcorder and VHS tape when making music videos.

Sometimes when you're relegated to your neighborhood, you forget that there's more important things than your neighborhood going on out in the world. And that just gave me a chance to see how life could be. And it gave me a chance to interact with everybody, not just black people or Mexicans. It made me just a little more worldly.

I been all around the world and I haven't found a city that I'd rather be from or rather come back to than Los Angeles.

I used to game a lot, you know, back in the day. My gaming time done got so short that my skills ain't where they need to be to be online, you know what I'm saying? I just got that Xbox One. I gotta get my skills back, up the par to call myself a gamer.

If you love what you do, and you believe in your talent, there's nothing better than breaking through. There's no better feeling than breaking through.

I identify with the bottom of the pyramid, because, outside of having money, I am at the bottom of the pyramid.

Don't want to hear my favorite rapper doin' a love song. If I want to hear something soft, I'll throw on Luther Vandross.

Keep everybody out your business, that's how you do it. And I mean everybody. It ain't about having a relationship outside of the house. It's about having a relationship within each other. When something go down don't be calling your sister or your mother; I'm not gonna be calling my brother or uncles. We're gonna work it out.

There's rumors in the Twittersphere. If I find out that any of my officer is giving out drug and alcohol I send their ass to prison with a snorkel duct-taped to their mouth and me s***ing down that Snorkel

I definitely support cop acting more than cops, but all of them ain't bad, just some of them.

The moral is that a career can be gone in an instant. And all you have in this world are the people you love.

I'm always open, and will criticize myself, too. And I just think being that honest with everybody puts you in a different space than somebody who's just shooting venom at a certain group or a certain amount of individuals.

I love any time you can enlighten people to mistakes, that's how I started my career.

I have a really beautiful life right now, so there is no reason to be hostile. I'm a husband, a father and a man who tries to do the right thing in life and in my work.

The best thing I've done with my money is buy a house for my family. You wake up to a house you love and you feel like somebody.

Nowadays, you can be yourself. You don't have to put on façade. You can be who you are and still be just as successful as the ones who put on the fake façade. You know, it's like reality is just as important as fiction.

You wanna be remembered for making an impact and changing things. And I guess for the good or for the bad, it don't matter. But I guess you just wanna be remembered when it's all said and done.

Never question the size of Ice Cube's balls!

I was ready to get out of the box and play something a little different than what everybody has seen.

You don't have to be super clean to be a super star

I'm not really into the political game as far as paying politicians and stuff like that, I'm not into that. You do your job, and I'll do mine.

I am only 33, I've got a lot to do. This is the first half of my career. I'm looking forward to the future and I'm proud about the past.

Everybody that wants to be successful should always be careful of what you wish for. A lot of artists and entertainers want to put the genie back in the bottle and wish they could go back to being what they were.

To me, it's my job not to laugh, no matter what's said. By the time we shoot, I'm ready for all that's coming. I probably do most of my breaking in rehearsals, when I know that I can.

I don't think people should try to force their will on their family.

That's always been my approach, to expose what's going on and what's not being said. I could go the selfish route, and probably make a whole lot more money, but that's not what it's about, it's about speaking for people who can't speak for themselves.

I could do an interview or just as well not do one. It's not like I'm looking for extra publicity.

I know my flavor's going to work because I just know there's not a lot of guys like me around. So you got to figure out what's that about you.

You never get tired of seeing yourself on TV. It's always extra cool... always a treat.

Do not turn into just cookie-cutter producer, cookie-cutter this, but a producer that people say wow, when they do something it's great or just unique or whatever.

My worst ever car was a green Datsun B210, back when they called it 'Datsun' - now it's 'Nissan.' Very unsexy, unattractive. Girls hated the car. I was embarrassed to even be in it but it was my transportation.

Nobody I know got killed in South Central LA. Today was a good day.

I think rap music is the sole reason for a lot of black acceptance in pop culture; because the music is very popular, it gets our image out in other ways than in movies.

I'm always kind of off to the next movie, and focused on making sure that the one I'm currently working on is as good as the one that's already on TV.

I'm just an entertainer, man. I don't like to pigeonhole myself to anything. I love to do it all.

I still want to put together bigger and better programs to work with the community. I still think I could do better on that end.

I won't do anything for money. I won't compromise my manhood.

I'm not sure if music got a future. We have all these electronic ways to download and steal music and get music, but there's no money in makin' music.