Ice Cube says black Americans like him grew up with only three choices in life – a dull job, jail or death.
The 54-year-old former N.W.A star, who has gone from music to building a business empire and film career, also said his smash ‘It Was aa Good Day’ was about his real-life battle to try to escape the killer dangers of ghetto life in LA when he was growing up.
He told Hunger about the brutality of the US establishment: “For a long while I would only ever take the back streets. I didn’t want to walk on the Boulevard and deal with a cop’s attitude.
Ice, born, O’Shea Jackson Sr, went on: “The police in Los Angeles will kill you; they will set you up and murder you right there on the spot. After (N.W.A’s) ‘F– Tha Police’ dropped we felt like we had to be extra cautious in how we moved.
“I remember Ice-T told me: ‘Don’t let the LAPD catch you in a twist!’”
When Hunger asked Ice if he felt like he needed “eyes in the back of his head” when he was working on his fame, he added: “Definitely. Remember: America has an avenue for guys like us! You either get a 9-to-5 and work for someone or they have a jail cell for you. They also have the cemetery for you, too.”
Ice is behind a fast-rising 3-v-3 basketball franchise (The Big 3), as well as being a mainstream political pundit who regularly appears on everything from Fox News to CNN.
He was also the voice actor behind the villainous Superfly in this year’s hit animated movie ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtle Mayhem’.
Ice added about his 1992 ‘It Was a Good Day’ track, in which a narrator fantasies about a dream 24 hours before he remembers he is in a tough ghetto: “When I was dodging the stuff I was trying to escape, it was terrible if it happened to you.
“If I could (successfully) navigate through a day with the police looking for me, cowards on the corner waiting to shoot me, and people wanting to jack my car, then that was a good day.
“It meant that I did something right.”