Ice Cube took guns on tour with him before he was famous.
The 44-year-old star – real name O’Shea Jackson – toured with American hip hop group N.W.A (Niggaz Wit Attitudes) between the late 80s and into the 90s, and during the early years he felt he needed weapons to help stay safe.
Talking about his early N.W.A days, he explained: "We were in Detroit once with Ice-T and his crew, and some local gangsters came into the hotel, knocking on every door, looking for their people. We weren’t having it, so the assault rifles came out. We were about to have war on the top floor of a damn Marriott [laughs]. I’m thinking, ‘I could have stayed in South Central for this s**t.’ But this was the early days, when we took guns on tour with us."
Ice Cube insists that after he found fame he decided guns were best left with the police.
Asked about whether he felt they needed guns, he told ShortList magazine: "Yeah. We felt like we’d never been to Detroit or Chicago – if they ‘banging out here like they are in LA, we need guns. At a certain point, though, it was just like, ‘Dude, we’re famous now. We don’t need guns. Let’s just use the police. That’s what they’re there for.’"
Ice Cube took guns on tour in early days
