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But I was used to it because I got the sad flack when I did my biggest song, which was, It Was A Good Day.
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Some of my guys was like, man, you do hardcore music.
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Why do you think you need to talk about a good day?
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And I was like, well, I don t do hardcore music.
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I do reality music.
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And the reality is if I m having a good day, I should be able to do a song about that.
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Welcome to the School of Greatness.
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My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur.
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And each week, we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness.
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Thanks for spending some time with me today.
0
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Now let the class begin.
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I mean, what was the dream for you growing up before you found music?
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Because I think you were like 12 or 13 when you started rapping and getting into the music world.
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or being creative with it, but what was the dream before that?
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Was it to be an athlete?
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Did you wanna grow up and do something?
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Yeah, it was really all about wanting to play football or basketball.
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That was just a dream.
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When you re young and you got skills and you can beat people in your neighborhood and you think, okay, maybe I m good enough.
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And then it turned to music when I realized that
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I like playing sports for fun.
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And the higher you go, the more serious the coaches get.
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Because they feel like they re going to lose their job if you don t win.
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So they put a lot of pressure on kids to perform.
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So I played until it wasn t fun no more.
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I was like, these dudes is too serious.
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I m not trying to...
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go to college and go to the pros and, you know, it was a dream to, at a certain point, I knew, okay, this wasn t something I was gonna pursue to that level.
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You know, I was just gonna play as long as it was fun.
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And so, you know, thank God, at around the same time I was making this decision, you know, I started getting into music.
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hip-hop and writing raps and just being interested in this new style and new form of music that was sweeping through the 80s.
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Was there something you heard that made you say, wow, that s really unique and different that I want to try to get into?
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Was there a song or someone you saw that was doing it on the street?
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Or what was the first inspiration?
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I was just a fan of the music.
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was turned on to the music at 10 years old.
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Rapper s Delight was the song.
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My uncle was taking me to the dentist and he had a radio in his backseat about this big.
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Somebody had stole his block pump radio.
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He had a boombox in the backseat playing the music.
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And he was a DJ, so he would make tapes.
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But he had his style, Cameo, Confunction, Isley Brothers, and then this one song called Rapper s Delight.
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And I m blown away because this is different.
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Interesting.
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This is different.
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I just made him play it over and over and over again.
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He played it like seven or eight times.
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Now, you got to remember Rapper s Delight is
0
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12, 15 minutes long.
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I just wore him out with it.
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He just was like, no more.
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Not playing this again.
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And so I would go to school and there was a guy named Daryl Lott, who was like the, you know, he was watching the kids, you know, he was like the aide that watches the kids after school.
0
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And we was playing on the playgrounds and he would bring his radio and he would have a lot of hip hop, you know, or a lot of beats, you know, from More Bounce to The Ounce, you know, to, you know, Rocket by Herbie Hancock and all these,
0
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you know, kind of hip hop flavored songs.
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And, um, I used to just, I wouldn t want to play.
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I wouldn t be just listening to the next song and just be over there where the music was.
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And, and he brought these pop lockers to the class.
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Really?
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SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
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And, um, like older kids or they were older, you know, they were in high school.
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We were still,
0
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you know, in uh, middle school, elementary, you know, it was 12, 11, 12, 13, you know, still elementary.
0
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And they would bring these high schoolers up and they would pop lock in the classroom, you know, and I was just amazed.
0
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And, um,
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They always had a little one with them, you know.
0
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Somebody like our age, and he was the baddest one out the group.
0
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Really?
0
SPEAKER_00
It s like a little Michael Jackson.
0
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If you see a little one with the tall ones, the little one, he s there for a reason.
0
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He s better than the tall ones.
0
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I just said, damn, somebody my age can really
0
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you know, get down and steal the show.
0
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And, you know, so I just was intrigued by the music.
0
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And by the time I was 14, I started to write raps.
0
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Really?
0
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Do you remember the first rap that you wrote that was like, oh, this is actually kind of cool, kind of catchy or kind of interesting?
0
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Well, the first rap I ever wrote, the first line I ever wrote was,
0
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My name is Ice Cube.
0
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I want you to know I m not Run-DMC or Curtis Blow.
0
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That was my first line.
0
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So I don t remember the rest of the rap.
0
SPEAKER_00
I have it in a notebook somewhere at home.
0
SPEAKER_00
Really?
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
0
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From when you were that age?
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Yeah.
0
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Wow.
0
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That s got to be worth something today.
0
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Probably is.
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Your first rap?
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Probably is.
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Man, with all the awards and success,
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the money, the fame, the accomplishments that you ve had in multiple different areas of life.
0
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What would you say is your greatest accomplishment?
0
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Professionally, I ve had milestones, you know, that I can t overlook.
0
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And they ve all contributed to me being right here.
0
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And I m proud of my work, for sure.
0
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Jeezy was also telling me about how he was so inspired that you were able to cross over from
0
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you know, the music world into lots of other things, movies, TV, other different things you ve created, the business world, being a great entrepreneur.
0
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And he said, especially coming from, I guess, the rap world where they might try to keep you in that world or keep you in a box.
0
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He said he was so inspired that you re able to break free of that and reinvent and the different things that you ve done, acting movies and stuff like that.
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How do you think you were able to do that, where most people don t transition so gracefully, where they aren t able to evolve?
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Well, I was lucky because I was discovered by John Singleton.
0
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For Boyz n the Hood.
0
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Boyz n the Hood.
0
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I thought I was qualified to be an actor.
0
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I thought you had to go to Juilliard or one of these professional schools to be an actor.
0
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You can just be like, hey, I think you can do it.
0
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Really?
0
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Want to try?
0
SPEAKER_02
How did that happen?
0
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How did he find you?
0
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How did you meet him?
0
SPEAKER_02
How did he say, hey, I ve got a part for you?
0
SPEAKER_00
Well, you know, it s a cool story.
0
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He was an intern at the Arsenio Hall show.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I had got backstage because I wanted to talk to Arsenio because he had just had the 2 Live crew on his show.
0
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And I was saying, if you can have the 2 Live crew, you can have NWA.
0
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That was what I was going to plead my case.
0
SPEAKER_00
Interesting.
0
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And how old are you at this point?
0
SPEAKER_00
18, 19.
0
SPEAKER_00
Okay, wow.
0
SPEAKER_00
I m going to plead my case and I m waiting, you know, he s one of them guys that stay in his dressing room and when it s showtime, it s like, you know, so you got a few seconds to get it in.
0
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And John, here comes this guy, like,
0
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Now, this is early N.W.A.
0
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era, so I wasn t a recognizable face.
0
SPEAKER_00
It wasn t like, oh, that s Ice Cube.
0
SPEAKER_00
You guys weren t that big yet.
0
SPEAKER_00
We were big, but it was all about Eazy-E.
0
SPEAKER_00
It was like, Eazy-E and N.W.A.
0
SPEAKER_00
Got it.
0
SPEAKER_00
Gladys Knight and the Pips.
0
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You might not know the Pips, but whatever.
0
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So he comes up, he s like, you re Ice Cube.
0
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And I m like, yeah, yeah.
0
SPEAKER_00
He s like, oh man, you re an NWA.
0
SPEAKER_00
I m like, yeah, who are you?
0
SPEAKER_00
He s like, I m an intern working up here.
0
SPEAKER_00
And he s like, I want to put you in a movie.
0
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And I m like, what?
0
SPEAKER_01
He s an intern at this talk show.
0
SPEAKER_00
He s a junior at USC.
0
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He s like, I m a junior at USC film school, and I m writing this movie.
0
SPEAKER_00
And when I graduate, I m going to get it made, and I m going to put you in it.
0
SPEAKER_00
Wow.
0
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And I m like, OK, dude.
0
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But he s talking so long, I miss Arsenio.
0
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He goes on, and I m like, not waiting.
1
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So, I don t pay this no attention.
1
SPEAKER_01
I m at another event at the Bonaventure Hotel in LA.
1
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This is six months later or something, and this dude runs up.
1
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Hey man, Ice Cube.
1
SPEAKER_01
Remember me?
1
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And I m like, no.
1
SPEAKER_01
Who are you?
1
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_01
John Singleton.
1
SPEAKER_01
I met you at Arsenio.
1
SPEAKER_01
You re the one that s going to put you in a movie.
1
SPEAKER_01
I m a senior now at SC.
1
SPEAKER_01
Oh my gosh.
1
SPEAKER_01
When I graduate, it s going to happen.
1
SPEAKER_01
I m like, OK, buddy.
1
SPEAKER_01
Sure.
1
SPEAKER_01
I break up with NWA.
1
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I m solo now.
1
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And I m working with Public Enemy on my first album.
1
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And they have a show at the Palace in LA, Public Enemy.
1
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So I m like, I m going to go check out my guys coming right here in LA.
1
SPEAKER_01
I go check them out.
1
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At the end of the concert, guy taps me.
1
SPEAKER_01
Remember me?
1
SPEAKER_00
No way, man.
1
SPEAKER_01
I m like, I remember you now, dude.
1
SPEAKER_01
What s up?
1
SPEAKER_01
He was like, I graduated.
1
SPEAKER_01
He was like, this is my last week.
1
SPEAKER_01
I m gonna make this movie.
1
SPEAKER_01
He starts wanting to tell me about the movie, you know, and if anybody ever wants to pitch you a script, tell him, you know, let s do it on another day, because it took 40 minutes for him to go through this movie.
1
SPEAKER_01
I m kind of listening, half listening.
1
SPEAKER_01
We at my car.
1
SPEAKER_01
I m seeing people in the parking lot leave.
1
SPEAKER_01
He s lingering around you.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, you know.
1
SPEAKER_01
His ride leaves him.
1
SPEAKER_01
His ride leaves him.
1
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, it s like two o clock in the morning.
1
SPEAKER_01
We re in the parking lot at the palace and he s like looking around.
1
SPEAKER_01
I m like, oh.
1
SPEAKER_01
He walks around, he comes back, and he s like, man, my ride left me.
1
SPEAKER_01
Can you give me a ride to my dorm at USC?
1
SPEAKER_01
I m like, what the fuck did I get myself into?
1
SPEAKER_01
So give him a ride.
1
SPEAKER_01
He s still telling me.
1
SPEAKER_01
I dropped this dude off at his dorm.
1
SPEAKER_01
And I forget about it.
1
SPEAKER_01
I m solo, my solo album is really doing well, and I m in the mix.
1
SPEAKER_01
My manager, and I ll make this long story short, but my manager comes and says, somebody want to put you in a movie.
1
SPEAKER_01
I forget about it.
1
SPEAKER_01
I m like, who, huh, what?
1
SPEAKER_01
But my record is hot, so I m like, well, maybe people see Ice-T that, yo, I m a hot rapper, put me in a movie.
1
SPEAKER_01
I ll try it.
1
SPEAKER_01
I m thinking I m gonna go see basically some white guys that s doing a movie.
1
SPEAKER_01
I walk in.
1
SPEAKER_01
I didn t read the script.
1
SPEAKER_01
Throw it in my back seat.
1
SPEAKER_01
They gave me some lines to audition to, so I was like, I ll just read these right before I go in.
1
SPEAKER_01
I go in and it s him sitting there.
1
SPEAKER_01
He has a production office.
1
SPEAKER_01
Casting.
1
SPEAKER_01
Casting.
1
SPEAKER_01
He s doing the whole thing.
1
SPEAKER_01
He s like, I told you.
1
SPEAKER_01
Oh my gosh.
1
SPEAKER_01
He s like, I told you.
1
SPEAKER_01
And I m like, it s you.
1
SPEAKER_01
Wow.
1
SPEAKER_01
He s like, yeah.
1
SPEAKER_01
We doing this movie, man.
1
SPEAKER_01
And I audition, and I m terrible.
1
SPEAKER_01
I suck.
1
SPEAKER_01
I mean, I suck.
1
SPEAKER_01
I don t know what I m reading.
1
SPEAKER_01
I m forgetting lines.
1
SPEAKER_01
It s just very choppy.
1
SPEAKER_01
He s like, man, did you read my script?
1
SPEAKER_01
Because you obviously don t know nothing about the movie.
1
SPEAKER_01
I said, man, I didn t even know it was you.
1
SPEAKER_01
I just took it for granted.
1
SPEAKER_01
He was like, I m going to give you one more shot.
1
SPEAKER_01
Wow.
1
SPEAKER_01
Go home and read my script all the way through.
1
SPEAKER_01
Come back tomorrow, same time, give you one more shot.
1
SPEAKER_01
But if you this terrible cute, I gotta cast somebody else.
1
SPEAKER_01
I need a real actor that can do this.
1
SPEAKER_01
So once I read it, I m like, oh, they re talking about our neighborhood.
1
SPEAKER_01
Like, whoa.
1
SPEAKER_01
this is gonna be a movie, like how we grew up.
1
SPEAKER_01
So now I got the picture, I understood who Doughboy was and all this, so when I went to read the next time, I was good.
1
SPEAKER_01
And that got the ball rolling, that got me into acting.
1
SPEAKER_01
And he got me into writing scripts.
1
SPEAKER_01
Because now that I was doing the movie, we was hanging a lot.
1
SPEAKER_01
He would have me come to his house and we d watch movies like A Clockwork Orange and be like, this is a good movie.
1
SPEAKER_01
This movie sucks.
1
SPEAKER_01
This is why this one s good.
1
SPEAKER_01
You know, he was like putting me through film school.
1
SPEAKER_01
He said, dude, when are you going to write a script?
1
SPEAKER_01
He said, you think everything is gonna be, he said, you think every movie for your ass is gonna be good as Boyz n the Hood?
1
SPEAKER_01
He said, Hollywood has no movies for you.
1
SPEAKER_01
Wow.
1
SPEAKER_01
You re gonna have to write your own.
1
SPEAKER_01
Wow, this is fascinating, man.
1
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, and then I said, I went and bought a computer that day, and the Final Draft script software, that day I started writing a movie, and he started to help me,
1
SPEAKER_01
I wrote two or three scripts, but my third one was Friday.
1
SPEAKER_01
So that was when I got it on point on what a movie needs to be and do.
1
SPEAKER_00
This is fascinating man.
1
SPEAKER_00
So if you wouldn t have shown up to that audition and then come back the next day and actually prepared and auditioned and gotten that role.
1
SPEAKER_00
If he didn t let me, he could have been like, this dude is not serious.
1
SPEAKER_00
Where do you think your life or career would be without doing that initial first movie?
1
SPEAKER_01
Man, you know, I think I would just be, you know, hyper-focused on the music.
1
SPEAKER_01
And I think at some point I would have tried to flip it into something, you know, that was
1
SPEAKER_01
more creatively satisfying like movies.
1
SPEAKER_01
Movie making, if you re a artist, it s the biggest canvas you can paint on.
1
SPEAKER_01
It s nothing bigger than a movie if you re trying to paint a picture.
1
SPEAKER_01
It s no medium that s better than a movie.
1
SPEAKER_01
So this is creating on the highest level.
1
SPEAKER_01
which turns me on, you know, which I did.
1
SPEAKER_01
We even made records that sounded, you know, we have a lot of sound effects and acting and skits and stuff on our music because we wanted it to sound as real as a movie.
1
SPEAKER_01
And so to be able to actually do a movie, it was, you know, I was kind of in creative heaven for myself, yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
That s incredible.
1
SPEAKER_00
So you ve done what, over 40 movies now?
1
SPEAKER_00
That s what they say.
1
SPEAKER_00
I haven t counted.
1
SPEAKER_01
I haven t went down the line, but- How many have you written that have been produced?
1
SPEAKER_01
At least nine or 10, maybe even more.
1
SPEAKER_01
I ve polished every script that I ve produced, so even if I didn t write it from scratch- You re adding to it.
1
SPEAKER_00
You re editing.
1
SPEAKER_01
Just making sure that it s- Wow, man.
1
SPEAKER_01
a good movie that you can watch over and over again, because I think that s the key to a successful movie.
1
SPEAKER_01
What is it?
1
SPEAKER_01
Not how much it makes, because if you can only see a movie once and you don t want to see it again, do you really care how much it made?
1
SPEAKER_01
And if you can watch a movie over and over or when you catch it in the middle, you continue to watch it because you know you love this movie and it s always a good time.
1
SPEAKER_01
Do you care how much it made?
1
SPEAKER_01
You know what I mean?
1
SPEAKER_01
It s like, you know you love one movie and you may like the other movie.
1
SPEAKER_01
So, I believe, you know, I make movies that you can watch over and over and over again.
1
SPEAKER_01
And to me, those are the best movies.
1
SPEAKER_00
What was the biggest lesson you learned doing Boys in the Hood versus making your first movie Friday?
1
SPEAKER_00
You got to have great producers.
1
SPEAKER_01
You got to have people who really know what they re doing because you have to execute every day.
1
SPEAKER_01
Movies are broken down into days.
1
SPEAKER_01
The money, if you got $30 million,
1
SPEAKER_01
That breaks down, how much does it cost to shoot per day?
1
SPEAKER_01
And then that gives you how many days you re going to shoot.
1
SPEAKER_01
60 million, you may have more days.
1
SPEAKER_01
20 millions, you may have less.
1
SPEAKER_01
You know, where our movie was Friday, we shot it for 2.3 million.
1
SPEAKER_01
Wow.
1
SPEAKER_01
And we shot it in 20 days.
1
SPEAKER_01
Oh my gosh.
1
SPEAKER_01
Which is four weeks.
1
SPEAKER_01
That s fast.
1
SPEAKER_01
Five day weeks, not seven days.
1
SPEAKER_01
Wow.
1
SPEAKER_01
20 days.
1
SPEAKER_01
So you have to know what you re doing.
1
SPEAKER_00
You know, you have to have great producers.
1
SPEAKER_00
But you didn t really know what you were doing still.
1
SPEAKER_00
I mean, you d done one movie, but it wasn t your movie.
1
SPEAKER_00
You d acted.
1
SPEAKER_00
But how did you know what you were going to do for your first movie that you wrote and produced?
1
SPEAKER_00
Well, you know, I had, um... Did John help you with that?
1
SPEAKER_00
You know, John helped, definitely.
1
SPEAKER_00
He helped us kind of
2
SPEAKER_01
We knew we were making it low budget, so it was contained, which helped us, you know, we was pretty much on the porch, one street, not too many locations.
2
SPEAKER_01
And, you know, it was really about just making sure what we shot was funny, you know, and it s getting through the day.
2
SPEAKER_01
You really have to start with a funny script.
2
SPEAKER_01
If you start with a funny script, then you can enhance it when you shoot.
2
SPEAKER_01
That s what it s really all about.
2
SPEAKER_01
It s about executing every day and making your day and making sure you, you have a certain amount of scenes to shoot per day.
2
SPEAKER_00
You got to get through it no matter what.
2
SPEAKER_00
Wow.
2
SPEAKER_00
My fiancée is an actor, writer, producer.
2
SPEAKER_00
I think she s done about the same amount of movies as you, 40 movies.
2
SPEAKER_00
She s from Mexico, so she s done a lot of Spanish films.
2
SPEAKER_00
She s crossed over in the U.S.
2
SPEAKER_00
as well.
2
SPEAKER_00
She s written, I think, seven or eight, produced a bunch of them.
2
SPEAKER_00
She hasn t directed yet.
2
SPEAKER_00
And I m curious, when you are
2
SPEAKER_00
The writer, the star actor, the producer or your directing as well, how do you stay present on those four weeks or eight weeks of the movie?
2
SPEAKER_00
And how do you lead others, the production team, the crew, the cast?
2
SPEAKER_00
How do you lead everyone while you re trying to make your movie and act and produce it as well?
2
SPEAKER_01
Well, you know, what s great about moviemaking is you basically have to build each scene as you shoot.
2
SPEAKER_01
You have to, you know, you have your locations down, you have your actors, you have your props, but you still have to figure out how does this scene play out?
2
SPEAKER_01
How many sequences?
2
SPEAKER_01
to get to the end of the scene.
2
SPEAKER_01
How many shots do you need?
2
SPEAKER_01
You re doing what s called marks.
2
SPEAKER_01
So you re setting marks on, okay, first they sit here, they talk.
2
SPEAKER_01
One guy walks over here, we got to mark him over here because he talks from over there.
2
SPEAKER_01
Another guy goes to the refrigerator.
2
SPEAKER_01
So you laying it out and you have to do that every day with every scene.
2
SPEAKER_01
So as you re doing that, you re getting a chance to interact,
2
SPEAKER_01
You rehearse the scene a lot.
2
SPEAKER_01
During that rehearsal, you could tell the actor, hey, no, do it this way.
2
SPEAKER_01
So, you know, there s no pressure.
2
SPEAKER_01
The camera s now rolling.
2
SPEAKER_00
So you get a run through.
2
SPEAKER_01
You know, you get to kind of, to beat the scene out.
2
SPEAKER_01
And then you play it out, you know, without shooting it.
2
SPEAKER_01
just to make sure everything works and flows.
2
SPEAKER_01
And then from there, the guys figure out how to shoot that.
2
SPEAKER_01
And so it gives you time to beat it out, get your interaction.
2
SPEAKER_01
And then, you know, it s guys that you got to trust.
2
SPEAKER_01
Now you can go look at playback.
2
SPEAKER_01
So you can go see if you re acting in the same scene, you can go after the scene and see, did we hit it?
2
SPEAKER_01
Did we get it?
2
SPEAKER_01
And the key is to not to move until you get it.
2
SPEAKER_01
I don t care what anybody s yelling.
2
SPEAKER_01
We re running out of time.
2
SPEAKER_01
We re running out of time for this.
2
SPEAKER_01
Keep doing it.
2
SPEAKER_01
Stay there until you get what you...
2
SPEAKER_01
So then, you know, we ve worked months for this moment.
2
SPEAKER_01
Right, right.
2
SPEAKER_01
Get the shot.
2
SPEAKER_01
You gotta get it, because if you don t get it, you re going to be in the edit base saying... We missed.
2
SPEAKER_01
We should have stayed there another 15 minutes.
2
SPEAKER_01
Oh, man.
2
SPEAKER_01
We d had a perfect shot.
2
SPEAKER_01
Now it s funky.
2
SPEAKER_01
It s not really working because we...
2
SPEAKER_01
We were so worried about getting to the next scene, we didn t execute the scene that we were on.
2
SPEAKER_01
So you have time to beat it out, work it out.
2
SPEAKER_01
And you do this with each scene throughout the whole movie until, you know, you re finished.
2
SPEAKER_00
You ve done so much creatively as an artist with the movies you ve made, the films you ve made.
2
SPEAKER_00
I m curious.
2
SPEAKER_00
And so many of them have
2
SPEAKER_00
Or at least they seem to be.
2
SPEAKER_00
So many of them seem to look like you ve had a lot of fun making them.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s enjoyable for you.
2
SPEAKER_00
You ve had fun.
2
SPEAKER_00
I m sure there s breakdowns and stuff, but it seems like it was fun to make.
2
SPEAKER_00
They were culturally relevant and did extremely well successfully.
2
SPEAKER_00
And people use lines and part of scenes in culture for decades, which is amazing.
2
SPEAKER_00
And they make a lot of money.
2
SPEAKER_00
A lot of them, I m assuming.
2
SPEAKER_00
How do you kind of hit that trifecta where you make a movie that you enjoy as the artist, that culture consumes, they love, and they use it.
2
SPEAKER_00
They use these scenes, they use these lines, the phrases, they use it in daily culture, and it makes money.
2
SPEAKER_00
How do you get that trifecta when you make a movie?
2
SPEAKER_01
Man, it s hitting the sweet spot.
2
SPEAKER_01
I think having fun on set,
2
SPEAKER_01
Not to the point where you re not handling business, but, you know, some people make movies and the set is very hostile and tense and intense and, you know, people act like it s brain surgery.
2
SPEAKER_01
You know, it s kind of like, like I was saying with the sports, you know, it was like some guys out there having fun.
2
SPEAKER_01
Some guys you d think they were, you know, they life dependent on whether you get this first down or not.
2
SPEAKER_01
You know what I m saying?
2
SPEAKER_01
It s kind of, so I ve always made sure our crew and everybody is having a good time.
2
SPEAKER_01
None of this yelling, none of this, uh,
2
SPEAKER_01
you know, on the next department, because we re the this department, and you re that department.
2
SPEAKER_01
You know, none of that, you know, hierarchy mess.
2
SPEAKER_01
Let s have fun, we re making a comedy.
2
SPEAKER_01
Let s keep it in perspective, you know what I mean?
2
SPEAKER_01
Let s make sure we have fun doing it, and it s not uptight.
2
SPEAKER_01
So, I think that s a big part of it.
2
SPEAKER_01
The environment s gotta be fun, playful.
2
SPEAKER_01
The script has to be funny before the actors get a hold of it.
2
SPEAKER_01
You can t depend on comedians to make your scripts funny.
2
SPEAKER_00
How do some of these scripts get greenlit in Hollywood?
2
SPEAKER_00
These movies that are out sometimes, I m like how did this get past these executives or the financers to make this movie when it s not a good script?
2
SPEAKER_01
Well, I think Hollywood has two agendas.
2
SPEAKER_01
It s profit, but it s also propaganda.
2
SPEAKER_01
Really?
2
SPEAKER_01
Tell me more.
2
SPEAKER_01
Well, I think they want to influence society with these movies.
2
SPEAKER_01
And sometimes that s more important than making the money.
2
SPEAKER_01
And then sometimes the money is the most important.
2
SPEAKER_01
You never know which god is being served here, which master is being served here, so to speak, sometimes when you re making a movie.
2
SPEAKER_01
Because certain things are done purely for the propaganda of it.
2
SPEAKER_00
I m assuming not everyone in Hollywood is into propaganda, but it seems like some movies are.
2
SPEAKER_00
Why do you think
2
SPEAKER_00
a part of Hollywood wants to project propaganda so much and serve an agenda versus just make great art?
2
SPEAKER_01
I mean, I think movie companies, you know, for the most part, a lot of them started and were
2
SPEAKER_01
owned by the same people who want to engineer society anyway, you know, it s kind of, it s just part of their portfolio.
2
SPEAKER_01
Some of these folks are so rich, this is, Hollywood is a toy.
2
SPEAKER_01
Just like guys that own a football team, you know, some of them, the team is, is the family legacy, you know, maybe like the Cowboys, you know.
2
SPEAKER_01
But to some, you know, maybe the Rams, you know, this guy who, I don t know if he owned Home Depot or whatever else,
2
SPEAKER_01
it s probably a toy, you know?
2
SPEAKER_01
So I just think, you know, the people who have the ultimate say are people who engineer society in other ways anyway, whether it s, you know, banking or school, medicine, you know, hospitals, colleges, you know, they wanna,
2
SPEAKER_01
They want people to think a certain way anyway.
2
SPEAKER_01
And these are the same people who own studios.
2
SPEAKER_00
So that s how that junk gets made.
2
SPEAKER_00
How important is it for you to have your own creative thinking outside of that when you make music or films or any type of work?
2
SPEAKER_00
Very important.
2
SPEAKER_01
So important that I don t know, doing a studio movie does not turn me on more than doing an independent.
2
SPEAKER_01
Really?
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_01
I would just love to just do independent movies and never deal with a studio meeting or studio notes ever again in life.
2
SPEAKER_01
Really?
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_01
Just too much stress or too much?
2
SPEAKER_01
You just never know what bullshit they are.
2
SPEAKER_01
You never know if it s profit, propaganda.
2
SPEAKER_01
You never know why certain
3
SPEAKER_00
get made and other ones don t.
3
SPEAKER_00
You know, sometimes Hollywood doesn t know a good movie until they see it.
3
SPEAKER_00
We ve had people turn down movies like Ride Along and Straight Outta Compton.
3
SPEAKER_00
Studio even turned down The Joker.
3
SPEAKER_00
till they saw it.
3
SPEAKER_00
It was like, oh damn, we shouldn t have turned this down.
3
SPEAKER_00
So sometimes you have to actually make the movie for people to understand how good it really is.
3
SPEAKER_00
And I know that, so I would rather go make my movies and then present it to Hollywood and say, who wants to distribute this movie?
3
SPEAKER_01
If someone wanted to make a movie today and they didn t want to deal with Hollywood, what would be the formula you would create for someone if they only got a half a million or a million bucks or they can only get that from friends and family or an investor or whatever it is.
3
SPEAKER_01
They don t have some huge budget.
3
SPEAKER_01
They want to kind of break the system in some way.
3
SPEAKER_01
How can they do that from the financial side, the production side, and also the distribution, which seems to be the hardest part?
3
SPEAKER_01
How can they do that today and actually be profitable and make a great movie?
3
SPEAKER_00
Well, you know, at some point you wanna, you do wanna get distributed.
3
SPEAKER_00
You do want the studios to put their machine behind.
3
SPEAKER_00
The marketing.
3
SPEAKER_00
The promotion and marketing machine behind the movie for awareness and for, you know, ultimately you want people to see it.
3
SPEAKER_00
You know what I m saying?
3
SPEAKER_00
But you don t have to include them in making it.
3
SPEAKER_00
You just gotta have, you know, the courage to go make your movie and bring them a finished product.
3
SPEAKER_00
Really.
3
SPEAKER_00
And, you know, that s what, that s what, you know, the movie festivals are for when they have the Tribeca-des.
3
SPEAKER_00
Right, right.
3
SPEAKER_00
It s for people to show their movies to distributors and hopefully get somebody to
3
SPEAKER_00
to buy it and put it out.
3
SPEAKER_00
But there s ultimately, to me, so many different streaming services and so many different ways to actually get paid from a movie that, you know, it s a lot easier than it used to be.
3
SPEAKER_00
You know, I think people that make movies can get them seen and made and, you know, get people to watch them a lot easier than before.
3
SPEAKER_01
Did you feel like you had a lot of criticism when you were trying to transition, though, from NWA to
3
SPEAKER_01
to Boys in the Hood, the movies, and doing Friday, did you get negative energies or people trying to pull you back or saying, what are you doing, trying to do this acting?
3
SPEAKER_01
Who do you think you are?
3
SPEAKER_01
Or did you get a lot of support?
3
SPEAKER_00
got a lot of support but you know people did raise their eyebrow when it was when I was doing Friday and they were like well you know you do hardcore music you do you know your movies that you ve done have been dramas like why do you think you can do a comedy yeah that was weird for people
3
SPEAKER_00
But I was used to it because I got the sad flack when I did my biggest song, which was, It Was A Good Day.
3
SPEAKER_00
Some of my guys was like, man, you do hardcore music.
3
SPEAKER_00
Why do you think you need to talk about a good day?
3
SPEAKER_00
And I was like, well, I don t do hardcore music.
3
SPEAKER_00
I do reality music.
3
SPEAKER_00
The reality is, if I m having a good day, I should be able to do a song about it.
3
SPEAKER_00
Why should I just talk about the heart without talking about everything?
3
SPEAKER_00
And it s my biggest song.
3
SPEAKER_00
Really?
3
SPEAKER_00
Talking about a positive thing?
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_00
Because it was from the heart.
3
SPEAKER_00
Wow.
3
SPEAKER_00
You know what I m saying?
3
SPEAKER_00
With NWA, we didn t know we were going to be big stars with this kind of hip hop, going that hard.
3
SPEAKER_00
We thought we was just going to be underground.
3
SPEAKER_00
LA scene.
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, you know, just, you know, neighborhood stars, you know what I m saying, getting the girls in our neighborhood to pay attention to us.
3
SPEAKER_00
Right.
3
SPEAKER_00
We thought that was about as far as it was gonna go and we just came from the heart and then it ends up being our ticket to success.
3
SPEAKER_01
Wow.
3
SPEAKER_01
And you met, I think I heard you talk about meeting Dr. Dre
3
SPEAKER_01
Dre back when you were 12 or 13, isn t that right?
3
14.
3
SPEAKER_01
14?
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, yeah.
3
SPEAKER_01
The synchronicities that you ve had in your life are pretty amazing, you know, from Dre to John for the movie, like he kept just pursuing you when you weren t even acting.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yes.
3
SPEAKER_01
Like you ve been
3
SPEAKER_01
You know, maybe the environment wasn t perfect that you re in, but there were synchronicities that perfectly aligned for you to have opportunities to then take a chance, work hard, show up and create what you created.
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_00
I mean, it s been, you know, and looking back, it s just been right place at the right time.
3
SPEAKER_00
And also the courage to pursue things that you ve never done.
3
SPEAKER_01
Like, go for it.
3
SPEAKER_01
How did you know to trust that courage, as opposed to be like, eh, I m just going to stick to football.
3
SPEAKER_01
Eh, I m just going to hang out, ride my bike around.
3
SPEAKER_01
I m not going to go pester Dr. Dre and be like, hey, let me learn from you.
3
SPEAKER_00
I mean, I was so interested in the creative process of making records.
3
SPEAKER_00
First, I never thought I was going to meet anybody who made a record.
3
SPEAKER_01
And Dre had at that time.
3
SPEAKER_00
And Dre had made a single.
3
SPEAKER_00
He made a song called Dr. Dre and Surgery.
3
SPEAKER_00
How old was he then?
3
SPEAKER_00
When you were like 14?
3
SPEAKER_00
He had to be
3
SPEAKER_01
19.
3
SPEAKER_01
So why would a 19-year-old allow a 13, 14-year-old to come hang out with him?
3
SPEAKER_01
Because I was dope.
3
SPEAKER_00
I was fresh.
3
SPEAKER_00
I could rhyme.
3
SPEAKER_00
I could write.
3
SPEAKER_00
So you had some talent.
3
SPEAKER_00
I had talent.
3
SPEAKER_00
That s the only reason he let me hang around.
3
SPEAKER_00
Because otherwise he d be like, get out of here, little punk.
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, he s like, you know, watch out, man.
3
SPEAKER_00
Um, but I was helping him write rhymes.
3
SPEAKER_00
I was trying to, you know, he was in the world class wrecking crew at the time, which was, they were more of a DJ party crew who did, you know, do parties around the city.
3
SPEAKER_00
And then they were starting to dibble and dabble and make records.
3
SPEAKER_00
And I was a good writer.
3
SPEAKER_00
So I started to, you know, they wanted an L.A.
3
SPEAKER_00
hit.
3
SPEAKER_00
You know, they wanted to be played on K-Day, like the L.A.
3
SPEAKER_00
Dream Team and the Uncle Jam s Army, Egyptian Lover.
3
SPEAKER_00
So they, you know, they wanted to, you know, have getting rotation.
3
SPEAKER_00
And they had a slow song, but it wasn t, you know,
3
SPEAKER_00
full-throated hip-hop.
3
SPEAKER_00
It was kind of like a slow jam with a girl singing and then they had this slow, I need love kind of raps.
3
SPEAKER_00
Right, right, like turn off the lights.
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, turn off the lights.
3
SPEAKER_01
So they wanted a hit, you know, so I would... And you had talent.
3
SPEAKER_01
You had value you could provide.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_01
You weren t just like sitting around doing nothing.
3
SPEAKER_01
You had something to contribute.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_01
So that s a big thing to know.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s like you had the talent.
3
SPEAKER_01
They didn t have that at the time.
3
SPEAKER_00
I mean, a few of them did, but, you know, when you re trying to get on, it s like, best idea wins.
3
SPEAKER_00
Right, right.
3
SPEAKER_00
The more the merrier, you know, the more talent you can find, the more you have the opportunity to make a hit record.
3
SPEAKER_01
Wow.
3
SPEAKER_01
How did you have that confidence at 14 to be like, I m gonna hang out with these 19-year-olds who made a record or made songs that are, you know, DJing around, doing clubs and gigs around town.
3
SPEAKER_00
It was fun.
3
SPEAKER_00
I m just gonna wrap it up.
3
SPEAKER_00
You know, I m from LA.
3
SPEAKER_00
They from Compton.
3
SPEAKER_00
I m from South Central.
3
SPEAKER_00
So it was fun, it was a whole new world, you know.
3
SPEAKER_00
Being in Compton was a new world for me, you know what I m saying, in a lot of ways it was different than our neighborhood.
3
SPEAKER_00
But a lot of it was the same.
3
SPEAKER_00
And, you know, hanging out with dudes who, you know, I used to pay to get into the party.
3
SPEAKER_00
And now I can walk in with the DJs and we re carrying crates of records and we re moving Serena Vegas speakers and we part of their party.
3
SPEAKER_00
You know what I m saying?
3
SPEAKER_00
We in the DJ booth now.
3
SPEAKER_00
We actually part of the crew that makes the party happen instead of us going there and just the music already set up.
3
SPEAKER_00
It s already going on.
3
SPEAKER_00
You don t know who s who.
3
SPEAKER_00
Now I was part of the actual wrecking crew in a lot of ways.
3
SPEAKER_00
So it was exciting.
3
SPEAKER_00
It was different than what was happening in my neighborhood.
3
SPEAKER_00
And I just wanted to be a part of it.
3
SPEAKER_01
When did you know you guys had something special?
3
SPEAKER_01
Was there a moment or was there a gig you played where you were like, oh, people are actually singing our stuff back to us, or there s a crowd here, or we re in the studio and something just feels like we re in the flow?
3
SPEAKER_01
When did you know we got something here?
3
SPEAKER_00
You know, I was hanging around Dre, but we had our own crew.
3
SPEAKER_00
His cousin is named Sir Jinks.
3
SPEAKER_00
That was your neighbor, right?
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, he lived down the street.
3
SPEAKER_00
This is why I was, you know, even close to Dre, because his cousin lived down the street.
4
SPEAKER_01
Then Dre ended up moving in with them till he found his apartment.
4
SPEAKER_01
So I had better access to it.
4
SPEAKER_01
So we had our own crew and we were trying to do cool stuff.
4
SPEAKER_01
We joined this contest called the Best Rappers in the West Contest.
4
SPEAKER_01
And we came in second because they messed up our music.
4
SPEAKER_01
Back then it was a tape.
4
SPEAKER_01
It didn t start from the beginning.
4
SPEAKER_01
It started in the middle and they had to rewind it.
4
SPEAKER_01
It just killed our momentum.
4
SPEAKER_01
And so we was upset.
4
SPEAKER_01
And then Dre, who had came to watch us do the finals, he was like, man, don t worry about it.
4
SPEAKER_01
You guys was good.
4
SPEAKER_01
Y all should come perform at Dudos, where we DJ.
4
SPEAKER_01
Wow.
4
SPEAKER_01
Compton.
4
SPEAKER_01
Come perform one of your songs.
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, in front of the crowd.
4
SPEAKER_01
But you got to be good.
4
SPEAKER_01
Don t mess up like this.
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, you got to.
4
SPEAKER_01
You know, and I advise you guys to be funny or put a little fanny in there or something. 
4
SPEAKER_01
And we was like, okay.
4
SPEAKER_01
We was thinking about, okay, we got our original song, but we need, you know, we want to do something that s going to really get the crowd going and be funny.
4
SPEAKER_01
And, you know, all the ingredients Dre told us that we should think about.
4
SPEAKER_01
What we did was like, you know how Weird Al Yankovic would take a song and flip it and make it funny or whatever.
4
SPEAKER_01
So we took a song called Roxanne Roxanne by UTFO, and we did a dirty, nasty version called Diane Diane, where we was using their cadence, but we was changing the lyrics.
4
SPEAKER_01
And they just went over, like people went crazy.
4
SPEAKER_01
Do you still have that recording?
4
SPEAKER_01
Nah, nah, we did it live, we never recorded it.
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, that d be cool.
4
SPEAKER_01
It d be cool to recreate that one day.
4
SPEAKER_01
You know, but we did a second version of that, because we performed again, and we flipped a few songs, so I think we made a record of that.
4
SPEAKER_01
That d be cool to see that.
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, it doesn t have a label on it, because...
4
SPEAKER_01
Lazo thought we would get sued for flipping all his music.
4
SPEAKER_01
So it just says dirty rap.
4
SPEAKER_01
It s just a white label.
4
SPEAKER_01
But that was where we was like, oh, this is just turning the crowd on.
4
SPEAKER_01
We should just make original songs.
4
SPEAKER_01
But we shouldn t worry if we re using profanity or not, because nobody gonna play us on the radio anyway.
4
SPEAKER_00
What s the greatest lesson?
4
SPEAKER_00
I know you and Dre had some history at some point because you left the group, but then I think you guys are friends now from what I ve read.
4
SPEAKER_00
What s the greatest lesson that Dre taught you when you were in that season of life or even now?
4
SPEAKER_00
Trust yourself.
4
SPEAKER_01
Trust yourself.
4
SPEAKER_01
And I think that s the biggest lesson.
4
SPEAKER_01
And when I really think about it, that it s not about anybody, but what s going on inside, you know, you can, you can listen to all the noise and sometimes the noise can make you change direction.
4
SPEAKER_01
Sometimes the noise can
4
SPEAKER_01
can get you off your position.
4
SPEAKER_01
And, you know, I look at it like you want to be the tree in the flood, the flood so much.
4
SPEAKER_01
Everything is rushing past going, you know, a million miles an hour.
4
SPEAKER_01
And the tree is just still there with its roots dug in, which is your conviction.
4
SPEAKER_01
and live or die with your convictions.
4
SPEAKER_01
And I think that s the greatest lesson because, you know, we argued a lot making that N.W.A.
4
SPEAKER_01
record, really.
4
SPEAKER_01
And the arguments was, you know, what s dope, what s not?
4
SPEAKER_01
Should we use this or not?
4
SPEAKER_01
Should we do this or not?
4
SPEAKER_01
Should we say this or not?
4
SPEAKER_01
You know, it was, you know, us trying to get to the best version of ourselves and
4
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And sometimes he would stand on what he believed in.
4
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Sometimes the best argument would move him.
4
SPEAKER_01
So if you had something better or something that was more impressive, you would see him change his position.
4
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So that was great too, because it was like,
4
SPEAKER_01
Oh, you can affect the record.
4
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You just got to be better than what s already here.
4
SPEAKER_00
Interesting.
4
SPEAKER_00
Did you ever feel like, I don t know, intimidated though?
4
SPEAKER_00
Because you re like a late teens, he s his mid-twenties, you know, he s a little further, I guess, in success or when he s created a little bit older, like, did you feel intimidated ever?
4
SPEAKER_00
Or was it more, you felt confident to express your argument?
4
SPEAKER_00
Or if he was like, no, then you felt like you needed to back down or?
4
SPEAKER_01
Well, you know, you wanted to argue your point.
4
SPEAKER_01
You know, ultimately, he s the producer, so what he say is gonna go.
4
SPEAKER_01
The intimidation factor was just you wanted him to like what you was presenting.
4
SPEAKER_01
But if he didn t, that doesn t mean to be discouraged or even what he was saying was true.
4
SPEAKER_01
You had to fight for your position, argue your point.
4
SPEAKER_01
Best argument win, and sometimes you won it, sometimes you lost.
4
SPEAKER_01
But you have to come in with conviction.
4
SPEAKER_01
You just can t have an idea that hasn t been thought out.
4
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So you just knew you had to come correct.
4
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And you knew if you wasn t great, you wasn t going to make the record.
4
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So that was something else that kept your quality.
4
SPEAKER_01
He was quality control, so you had to get through him to get on the record.
4
SPEAKER_00
I think that s a good piece of wisdom, trust yourself.
4
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And I m curious, did you ever not trust yourself in the last 30 years of your career?
4
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Was there ever moments of doubt or insecurity?
4
SPEAKER_00
You know, yeah.
4
SPEAKER_00
Really?
4
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Just, you know, to be
4
SPEAKER_01
With all humans, I don t think anybody, I don t care how confident you portray to be, that you can walk into every situation and be totally confident about the outcome.
4
SPEAKER_01
So self-doubt can always creep in.
4
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I ve noticed that the least I m prepared, the more I doubt.
4
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But the more I m prepared, the least I doubt.
4
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When you know what you re talking about, you re very confident.
4
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When you don t quite know what you re talking about, kind of trying to fake it till you make it, then you re going to not be as confident and you re going to second guess.
4
SPEAKER_01
You may make a big mistake because you didn t study.
4
SPEAKER_01
Like your first audition?
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_01
Right.
4
SPEAKER_01
It was a big mistake.
4
SPEAKER_01
You know, that could have been, it could have changed my whole life.
4
SPEAKER_01
Wow.
4
SPEAKER_01
Isn t that crazy?
4
SPEAKER_01
You know, just think if it wasn t John Singleton, it was just some director, producer who wanted to try me out for a role and I would have blew it that day.
4
SPEAKER_01
So, you know, you take your opportunities serious or don t take them at all.
4
SPEAKER_01
Right.
4
SPEAKER_01
You know, what I should have said was,
4
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I don t want to do no f****** movie.
4
SPEAKER_01
You know?
4
SPEAKER_01
That s what I should tell my manager.
4
SPEAKER_01
I don t want to do no f****** movie, but I tried to go out, go down there and just see what was up.
4
SPEAKER_00
Winging it.
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, and it could have been a fatal mistake.
4
SPEAKER_01
Wow.
4
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Which, you know.
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Thank God that he gave me another shot.
4
SPEAKER_00
What do you think it was in John what he saw in you?
4
SPEAKER_00
That he kept persisting you for a year and a half, two years, and you show up to the audition, you kind of bomb it, and he still says, I m going to give you one more shot.
4
SPEAKER_00
What did he see in you for the role in Boys in the Hood?
4
SPEAKER_01
I mean, he knew I could do it.
4
SPEAKER_01
You know, he know I can do it before I know I can do it.
4
SPEAKER_01
Wow, really?
4
SPEAKER_01
How did he know that, though?
4
SPEAKER_01
It s like... Because he saw something in me or in an interview or in a... You know, it s what, you know, I ve brought in a lot of different actors, you know, from Chris Tucker to Mike Gibbs, Cat Williams, Terry Crews.
4
SPEAKER_01
You see something, you know, you see something in a person and you re like, yo,
4
SPEAKER_01
I could set you up to win.
4
SPEAKER_01
I see you as something different than what you re doing, bigger.
4
SPEAKER_01
I could see you as a character.
4
SPEAKER_01
And if you look in, there s a lot of talent out here.
4
SPEAKER_01
You know, if you really think about John Singleton, he s helped me, Tupac, Busta Rhymes, Tyrese.
4
SPEAKER_01
You know, we were all ludicrous, fast and furious, and hustle and flow.
4
SPEAKER_01
You know, so we wasn t thinking about acting.
4
SPEAKER_01
You know, he saw something in us and said, hey, you know, what you re doing in music is cool, but you had a charisma to be honest.
5
SPEAKER_00
big screen.
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SPEAKER_00
And we all are very appreciative of him for that because it opened up a whole new world for us.
5
SPEAKER_01
What is it that you wish people knew about success, fame, and money?
5
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Because you ve had it all over the last 30 plus years.
5
SPEAKER_01
And I think a lot of people dream about having a career like yours or
5
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even a fraction of your career, or having some of the success, the fame, the money, but what is it about those things that you really wish people knew before wanting to dive into having it all?
5
SPEAKER_00
It s hard to sustain it.
5
SPEAKER_00
Getting to the top is one level of struggle.
5
SPEAKER_00
Staying there is a whole different struggle.
5
SPEAKER_00
And look, nobody stays at the tip top.
5
SPEAKER_00
Everybody rolls down the mountain.
5
SPEAKER_00
But the difference is how far do you want to roll down before you stop?
5
SPEAKER_00
Wow.
5
SPEAKER_00
And find your place.
5
SPEAKER_00
So, you know, you might get to the tip of the mountain and you know, just know you re going to roll down.
5
SPEAKER_00
Just don t roll down all the way to the bottom.
5
SPEAKER_00
Just find a landing spot somewhere near the top and figure out how to maintain what got you there.
5
SPEAKER_00
So it s a lot of hard work.
5
SPEAKER_00
It s like the duck in the pond.
5
SPEAKER_00
If you look at him from the outside, everything is smooth, he s cruising along.
5
SPEAKER_00
Under the surface,
5
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It s going down.
5
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You know what I mean?
5
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That s where all the work is being put in.
5
SPEAKER_00
He just make it look smooth, but he putting in work down there.
5
SPEAKER_00
And it s the same thing with success.
5
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People see the finished product.
5
SPEAKER_00
They don t see the feet paddling to get there.
5
SPEAKER_01
And how have you stayed focused over the last three plus decades?
5
SPEAKER_01
Because
5
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You know, the whole idea about trusting yourself that Dre gave you early on, or that wisdom, or what you learned from him, it seems like it s worked for a long time for you.
5
SPEAKER_01
But also, you get opportunities every day, I m assuming, or you have for a long time.
5
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You should do this or try this, which could be great opportunities or big distractions.
5
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_01
How do you know to stay the course and what the course is when you have so many cool opportunities at this level now?
5
SPEAKER_00
Know your wheelhouse.
5
SPEAKER_00
Know what you do best.
5
SPEAKER_00
Know what s outside of your wheelhouse.
5
SPEAKER_00
Know what s gonna take you reaching and the extra effort and you could fall over trying to get to it.
5
SPEAKER_00
And, you know, it s like a pitcher, a hitter, you know, waiting for his pitch.
5
SPEAKER_00
You know what I m saying?
5
SPEAKER_00
You gotta know what s outside your strike zone, or what s outside your wheelhouse.
5
SPEAKER_00
And don t swing at things that s too far outside of your wheelhouse.
5
SPEAKER_00
And when it comes in your range wheelhouse, take advantage of it.
5
SPEAKER_00
So, all money s not good money.
5
SPEAKER_00
So, you know, know what you re really, what you can deliver.
5
SPEAKER_00
Don t accept it if you can t deliver.
5
SPEAKER_00
Have you turned down some big money before?
5
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, really?
5
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_01
What s the most you ve been offered that you turned down because you didn t feel like it was in your wheelhouse?
5
SPEAKER_00
Well, it s a different situation, but I turned down, I mean, I ve turned down plenty of movie roles.
5
SPEAKER_00
You know, I wouldn t even go audition because I just felt like this wasn t my kind of thing.
5
SPEAKER_00
But, you know, I just turned down a $9 million movie because I didn t want to get vaccinated.
5
SPEAKER_00
Wow.
5
SPEAKER_00
that s not in my wheelhouse.
5
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, that was the requirement from the producers that everybody on the movie has to be vaccinated.
5
SPEAKER_00
So I m like nah, I don t need it.
5
SPEAKER_00
I ll get tested every day but I m not going to take something I don t need.
5
SPEAKER_01
another romantic comedy role when he wanted to get out of romantic comedies and do other things.
5
SPEAKER_01
And he was like, first they gave me, they offered me something like eight or nine.
5
SPEAKER_01
I turned it down.
5
SPEAKER_01
Then it was 11.
5
SPEAKER_01
Turned it down.
5
SPEAKER_01
Then it was 15.
5
SPEAKER_01
And he goes, let me read that script one more time.
5
SPEAKER_01
Maybe it s a little funnier, a little better script.
5
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, without a doubt.
5
SPEAKER_01
But then he said, you know, if I really want to transform into
5
SPEAKER_01
a new evolution of myself and reinvent myself.
5
SPEAKER_01
I can t keep doing the things that I ve always done and I want to start getting into these more dramatic roles. 
5
SPEAKER_01
And he did that and it really took off.
5
SPEAKER_01
He won the Oscar and all these different things from that.
5
SPEAKER_01
But from him he was like I had to take a few years off essentially
5
SPEAKER_01
and risk being forgotten and not working again.
5
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_00
You have to make that decision.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_00
You know when you need to pivot.
5
SPEAKER_00
You know when it s time, when you kind of do like, we don t want to the well.
5
SPEAKER_00
so many times on the same thing.
5
SPEAKER_00
It s time to pivot and we shouldn t do nothing until we pivot.
5
SPEAKER_00
Interesting.
5
SPEAKER_00
And sometimes it s better to not do anything than to do the wrong thing for the wrong reasons at the wrong time.
5
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_01
Do you feel like, you mentioned this idea of like getting to the top and staying at the top.
5
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Do you feel like you ve hit your top of the mountain yet?
5
SPEAKER_01
If so, when was that if you have, and if not,
5
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What do you think you need to become in order to get there?
5
SPEAKER_00
Well, I believe I ve done a lot of cool stuff.
5
SPEAKER_00
I m in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
5
SPEAKER_00
That s amazing.
5
SPEAKER_00
I m on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
5
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And now we re going to have something in the Basketball Hall of Fame.
5
SPEAKER_00
So music, movies, sports is what I ve been pushing.
5
SPEAKER_00
And I ve made it to the Hall of Fame in all three.
5
SPEAKER_00
So I feel like I have been to the mountaintop.
5
SPEAKER_00
But I still got, you know, there s higher mountains out there to climb, you know, so.
5
SPEAKER_00
So you might hit the top, come down a little bit, then go to the next one.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, go to the next mountain and get to the top of that.
5
SPEAKER_00
So, you know, I feel like I still got a lot of great work to deliver and do and explore.
5
SPEAKER_01
This is, I mean, this is something I m really curious about is,
5
SPEAKER_01
Because you mentioned this a little bit, like sometimes it s really hard to get to the top, right?
5
SPEAKER_01
As an artist, like get your voice out there and, you know, pop in an industry, get to the top of the charts or a movie hits number one or whatever it is.
5
SPEAKER_01
It s really hard to make that happen.
5
SPEAKER_01
It s hard to sustain that, right?
5
SPEAKER_01
It s really hard to sustain that level of success.
5
SPEAKER_01
How do you stay confident and what advice would you give to others?
5
SPEAKER_01
who have first made to the top of their world, whatever that might be, their industry, their town, their whatever, their sports dreams, things like that.
5
SPEAKER_01
But then they keep going and they re not hitting the top anymore.
5
SPEAKER_01
They ve fallen down and maybe they keep falling down.
5
SPEAKER_01
How do they stay confident on the way down when they re not the talk of the town, getting the big offers, the one people are calling up for the best roles anymore?
5
SPEAKER_01
How do you stay confident and not doubt yourself and go back to what you said, trust yourself when you re going down?
5
SPEAKER_00
Well, I think it s, you gotta understand that it s not personal.
5
SPEAKER_00
It s not you.
5
SPEAKER_00
It s the Edmund Florida industry.
5
SPEAKER_00
Um, it s a law of nature.
5
SPEAKER_00
What goes up must come down.
5
SPEAKER_00
And, and you gotta really understand your fan base, what they may want from you, what they expect from you.
5
SPEAKER_00
And then you gotta decide if you want to deliver.
5
SPEAKER_00
on that, or do you want to give them new, different things that you may have churning inside of you?
5
SPEAKER_00
You know, so I think, you know, when a first, when an artist first comes out, he s, he s searching for the biggest fan base he can get, you know, but then there s a point where
5
SPEAKER_00
These fans that you ve accumulated are like clientele, like your customers.
5
SPEAKER_00
You gotta serve them.
5
SPEAKER_00
You have to, yes.
5
SPEAKER_00
You don t always need to be searching for the new fan.
5
SPEAKER_00
The new fan needs to find you.
5
SPEAKER_00
So it keeps you from reaching outside your wheelhouse and you stay doing the things that you should be doing in the creative world.
6
SPEAKER_00
in a creative, updated way, but you gotta serve your fans if you ve been in the game.
6
SPEAKER_00
You know, to me, you ve been in the game more than 10 years, you have a fan base that you need to focus on, satisfy, and cultivate.
6
SPEAKER_00
And nothing else needs to matter.
6
SPEAKER_00
Everybody else gotta get in on the back end.
6
SPEAKER_00
You know what I mean?
6
SPEAKER_00
So kinda get in where you fit in,
6
SPEAKER_00
These are my folks.
6
SPEAKER_00
These are who I m gonna please with my art.
6
SPEAKER_00
And everybody else gotta kind of, if you like it, great.
6
SPEAKER_01
If you don t, great.
6
SPEAKER_00
We re still gonna have our party.
6
SPEAKER_00
So I think you have to really
6
SPEAKER_00
you know, understand why people like you, why people have invested 10 or more years into you and figure out a way to.
6
SPEAKER_00
to touch those people and let those people know that you see them, you understand them, you appreciate them, and you re going to continue to do cool just for them.
6
SPEAKER_01
Wow.
6
SPEAKER_01
I want to talk about this third mountain you ve been climbing here in a minute with the Basketball Hall of Fame.
6
SPEAKER_01
I want to ask you a few questions on that.
6
SPEAKER_01
But this just brought something up for me when you were talking about this with the fans.
6
SPEAKER_01
Because someone on my team, Sammy, you met her beforehand.
6
SPEAKER_01
I guess she s a millennial, maybe she s Gen Z, I m not sure the exact age range, but she s a big fan of your music.
6
SPEAKER_01
Your music you made 30 years ago.
6
SPEAKER_01
And she was like for 5 years this is what I was listening to in my early 20s and it s something I still love.
6
SPEAKER_01
How do you as an artist
6
SPEAKER_01
Make something that is timeless for your current generation but lasts for generations to come and it s still fresh for people 10, 20, 30 years later.
6
SPEAKER_01
How do you create something like that?
6
SPEAKER_00
You know, it s kind of like a turn of events that happened that created this unique cycle when it comes to my fans and what they re interested in.
6
SPEAKER_00
When I did the movie Are We There Yet,
6
SPEAKER_00
which a lot of people gave me because they like you.
6
SPEAKER_00
You do gangster rap.
6
SPEAKER_00
How are you going to do?
6
SPEAKER_00
They call it a Disney movie, but I ve never been in a Disney movie.
6
SPEAKER_00
It was actually Revolution Studios.
6
SPEAKER_00
But we did a great kids movie called Are We There Yet?
6
SPEAKER_00
And the reason I did it is because, look, guys told me not to do R-rated comedy.
6
SPEAKER_00
We did Friday.
6
SPEAKER_00
It blew up.
6
SPEAKER_00
We was like, okay, what if we d go PG-13?
6
SPEAKER_00
So we did Barbershop, blew up.
6
SPEAKER_00
It s like, okay, can we get to PG?
6
SPEAKER_00
Big audience.
6
SPEAKER_00
And so, I wouldn t go down to G, but PG, I felt, okay, this is great.
6
SPEAKER_00
I did this movie because I knew my fans were having kids now.
6
SPEAKER_00
And,
6
SPEAKER_00
I didn t want to be the kind of artist where the parents say, you see Ice Cube?
6
SPEAKER_00
Boy, he used to be, you just don t know.
6
SPEAKER_00
Boy, he was, man.
6
SPEAKER_00
I didn t want to be that guy.
6
SPEAKER_00
I wanted the kids to know who I was.
6
SPEAKER_00
So doing this movie, my fans would put their kids in front of this movie, and their kids would fall in love with Nick, the guy I m playing in the movie.
6
SPEAKER_00
Know nothing about my music.
6
SPEAKER_00
And as they start to get a certain age, people showing their movie at seven, eight years old, but then as they get older,
6
SPEAKER_00
11, 12, 13.
6
SPEAKER_00
Somebody might slide them barbershop.
6
SPEAKER_00
Somebody might slide them Friday.
6
SPEAKER_00
So now they re like, oh, this is my guy.
6
SPEAKER_00
Interesting.
6
SPEAKER_00
And he s a little more edgy, you know?
6
SPEAKER_00
He s like doing stuff that I m not even supposed to hear.
6
SPEAKER_00
You know what I m saying?
6
SPEAKER_00
So they love Craig.
6
SPEAKER_00
Interesting.
6
SPEAKER_00
As they get a little older, somebody s like, do you know he rap?
6
SPEAKER_00
Wow.
6
SPEAKER_00
So they would slide them my music.
6
SPEAKER_00
And then, so now they re like, oh wow, yo, this is.
6
SPEAKER_00
Oh, he s talking some real stuff on this.
6
SPEAKER_00
I m ready for the real stuff.
6
SPEAKER_00
I m mature enough now.
6
15, 16, 17.
6
SPEAKER_00
And what put the cherry on top of all this was the Straight Outta Compton movie, because now they can actually see, okay, this is how Ice Cube became Ice Cube.
6
SPEAKER_00
So now it s like this.
6
SPEAKER_00
So now these kids in their 20s,
6
SPEAKER_00
They ve been through the Are We There Yet.
6
SPEAKER_00
They ve been through the Fridays.
6
SPEAKER_00
They ve been through my music.
6
SPEAKER_00
They saw Straight Outta Compton.
6
SPEAKER_00
They re locked in.
6
SPEAKER_00
And now they have kids, and they put their kids in front of the whole cycle again.
6
SPEAKER_00
And the whole cycle starts to repeat.
6
SPEAKER_00
Wow.
6
SPEAKER_00
Was this strategic for you, or was this just kind of?
6
SPEAKER_00
No, it s happenstance.
6
SPEAKER_00
Wow.
6
SPEAKER_00
But it s something I realized that when we did Are We There Yet,
6
SPEAKER_00
we put this cycle in motion that could continue to churn, you know, so... One thing feeds the next thing, feeds the next thing, and it just keeps... Yeah, and it keeps coming around because people love Are We There Yet?
6
SPEAKER_00
Wow.
6
SPEAKER_00
And there s not a lot of black kid movies out there, so, you know, my fan base really puts their kids in front of that.
6
SPEAKER_00
And then we did Are We Done Yet?
6
SPEAKER_00
You know, we did a few of them,
6
SPEAKER_00
So I think it s the movies and then they get turned on to the music after the movies.
6
SPEAKER_00
And then that kind of just locks them in and they just become lifelong fans.
6
SPEAKER_00
And hopefully we can just keep this cycle going.
6
SPEAKER_00
You know, that s why I did Ninja Turtles, you know, and keep doing that because your parents don t have to say, do you know who that is?
6
SPEAKER_00
The kids are saying,
6
SPEAKER_00
Did you know Ice Q rapped?
6
SPEAKER_00
Tell me, did you know Ice Q rapped?
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, we do.
6
SPEAKER_00
Oh man, that s amazing.
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, it s been an amazing set of events that s kind of, it s like creating its own weather in a way.
6
SPEAKER_00
That s incredible, man.
6
SPEAKER_01
I want to respect your time and get to a final few questions for you.
6
SPEAKER_01
Before I get to that, I want to talk about the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame that recently established the Ice Cube Impact Award, which is pretty cool.
6
SPEAKER_01
Congrats on that, man.
6
SPEAKER_01
Thank you.
6
SPEAKER_01
And this award will honor those who work to improve their community by using basketball as a tool to help kids.
6
SPEAKER_01
And I m curious, what does this actually mean for you?
6
SPEAKER_01
I grew up playing basketball, the neighborhood gym,
6
SPEAKER_01
at the park, and it really helped educate me, it really helped give me a safe space.
6
SPEAKER_01
There were some fights here and there, but no one was getting stabbed, it was just some fists every now and then.
6
SPEAKER_01
But it was a place I could go after school.
6
SPEAKER_01
be on a team, play with other guys, compete, and go until, essentially, my mom called me home, until dark.
6
SPEAKER_01
And for years I did that.
6
SPEAKER_01
And it was a part of my community and my experience growing up.
6
SPEAKER_01
So why is this award, this Impact Award from Basketball Hall of Fame, so important for you?
6
SPEAKER_01
And what do you hope it will do for communities?
6
SPEAKER_00
Well, I grew up loving basketball.
6
SPEAKER_00
Ever since, you know, I couldn t play with my brothers, you know, they were bigger and stronger and I was
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And I used to go cry to my mother looking out the kitchen window, I can t play.
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She s like, you ll get big enough one day, you ll be able to play.
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And I m like, I hate being little.
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SPEAKER_00
And then one day I got big enough, they let me actually play and I scored a couple baskets.
6
SPEAKER_00
So now I was invited to play all the time.
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SPEAKER_00
And we used to have some epic battles in my backyard.
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That was back when it was a physical, physical game.
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You know.
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You re not called fouls.
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Darryl Dawkins and Moses Malone and watching those dudes and we was emulating that.
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It was very physical games and I always remembered that.
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SPEAKER_00
Grew up playing local YMCA and after school and tried out for my high school team but
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The coach was hating on me because I played football so I came to camp late.
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So it s just a game that I love.
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I even played in the NBA Entertainment League.
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They had a weekend World
7
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thing at Crossroads High School and they would invite people in the industry to come and wear the NBA uniforms, have NBA refs, and just kind of live out that fantasy.
7
SPEAKER_00
And so we started the Big Three in 2017.
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We saw that, for one, a lot of guys were
7
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was leaving the NBA before we were ready to see him leave.
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SPEAKER_00
We still knew they had game.
7
SPEAKER_00
And the three-on-three game has been a cousin of five-on-five.
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SPEAKER_00
It s been right there under the surface.
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So when you start a league like that... I played so many three-on-three tournaments growing up in the summers.
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I can t remember what they were called, but like these tournaments that were around the country, you know, three-on-three tournaments.
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Without a doubt.
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And I was like, why isn t it professional three-on-three?
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Like, what are we waiting on?
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And so it was, to me, a void in the industry, you know, and for fans.
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So when you re starting something like that, you want to start with as much credibility
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as you can, because everybody thinks it s a joke.
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It s like, what the hell are you doing, Cube?
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Sports, like basketball, what are you doing?
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You know, stay in your lane.
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And so you want to start off with as much credibility to let people know this is the real deal.
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So, you know, getting Hall of Famers to coach our guys like Dr. J, and Iceman, and Rick Barry, and Gary Payton, and Lisa Leslie, and Nancy Lieberman.
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Like, starting off with these Hall of Famers, we knew that would get us instant credibility.
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And we ve been fighting to become
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you know, credible in people s psyche.
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So being recognized by the Basketball Hall of Fame is as big as it gets when it comes to credibility because everybody knows the Hall of Fame is ultimately where an athlete wants to be when they re all said and done.
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So being recognized
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by an institution like that gives us all the credibility we ve been looking for the last seven years.
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SPEAKER_00
Wow.
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And so extremely honored, you know what I mean?
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Extremely humbled to even be mentioned, let alone to have an award named after me.
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and we re gonna give it out every year, make it a big deal, make it a big thing.
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It s just as cool as it can be, you know, for a basketball fan who started this league, you know, not as a businessman, but as a fan too.
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SPEAKER_00
I wanna see more hoops.
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SPEAKER_00
And to get rewarded by the recognition of, you know, it s very publicized how the NBA,
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is not really liking what we re doing.
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SPEAKER_00
Really?
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Because they didn t think of it.
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SPEAKER_00
It s not their idea.
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I m an outsider.
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SPEAKER_00
Right.
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SPEAKER_00
They kind of want me to go away.
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SPEAKER_00
They don t like it, huh?
7
SPEAKER_00
No.
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SPEAKER_00
Really?
7
SPEAKER_00
No.
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SPEAKER_00
They don t like because we changed the game.
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SPEAKER_00
We were the first to embrace mental health.
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SPEAKER_00
We were the first to let our athletes get off the opioids and take CBD if they wanted to.
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SPEAKER_00
So we got the four-point shot.
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SPEAKER_00
We got our one-on-one, in-game foul challenge called Bring the Fire, where if you don t like a foul, coach can be like, let them go one-on-one and see if it was really a foul or not.
7
SPEAKER_00
These are innovations that we ve done, not to diss the NBA or show them up, but this is what we needed to do to make our game interesting and make our game special.
7
SPEAKER_00
Wow.
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SPEAKER_00
And have little wrinkles that you can t see anywhere else.
7
SPEAKER_00
That s cool, man.
7
SPEAKER_00
So make a long-winded answer short, man.
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SPEAKER_00
It s just amazed and
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SPEAKER_01
and very grateful.
7
SPEAKER_01
Wow, that s exciting, man.
7
SPEAKER_01
So how can people get involved in this if they want to, you know, can someone nominate someone every year?
7
SPEAKER_01
How s that, where can they go to learn more about this?
7
SPEAKER_00
Well, you know, we re going to really set up a committee.
7
SPEAKER_00
You know, we ll be able to have a lot of information on that, you know, if they just stay in tune with me.
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SPEAKER_00
I m the first recipient.
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SPEAKER_00
So we re going to spend this whole year looking for the next guy.
7
SPEAKER_00
So we want people to nominate, you know, people that they know.
7
SPEAKER_01
Can they go online and nominate or where s the website?
7
SPEAKER_00
Right now they can go to the Basketball Hall of Fame, you know, but we re going to set something up where they can really, you know, dial in.
7
SPEAKER_00
That s cool.
7
SPEAKER_00
And, you know, kind of get their suggestions and videos.
7
SPEAKER_00
That s great, man.
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SPEAKER_00
And, you know, we re looking for great nominees.
7
SPEAKER_01
So if people follow you on IceCube.com or IceCube on Instagram or Facebook, social media, they ll stay up to date on it there.
7
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
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SPEAKER_00
And we re supposed to do the ceremony on January 15th.
7
SPEAKER_00
Wow.
7
SPEAKER_00
It s exciting, man.
7
SPEAKER_00
You ll see more and more.
7
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, we ll have this out, I think, right around then.
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SPEAKER_01
We ll put this out to announce it for sure as well.
7
SPEAKER_01
That s exciting, man.
7
SPEAKER_01
Congrats on that.
7
SPEAKER_01
Thank you.
7
SPEAKER_01
Three things around that.
7
SPEAKER_01
One, where can people go watch games live?
7
SPEAKER_01
Is there a schedule online where they can watch
7
SPEAKER_01
Is it live or is it on TV to watch?
7
SPEAKER_00
You can watch us on CBS.
7
SPEAKER_00
You know, our games are on CBS every Saturday or Sunday.
7
SPEAKER_00
Season starts June 15th.
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SPEAKER_00
And the schedule s going to come out as soon as we finalize it.
7
SPEAKER_00
We re still locking in a few different cities.
7
SPEAKER_00
But once we lock in the whole schedule, we re going to make it public.
7
SPEAKER_00
That s exciting.
7
SPEAKER_00
You know, we re going to be all over the country.
7
SPEAKER_01
You guys playing LA too or no?
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SPEAKER_00
Anaheim.
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SPEAKER_00
Yeah, so you can see us live.
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SPEAKER_00
I gotta come to a live game.
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SPEAKER_00
Yeah, come check us out live.
7
SPEAKER_00
Once you see us live, you ll be hooked.
7
SPEAKER_00
That s fun, man.
7
SPEAKER_00
Seeing seven footers play three-on-three is pretty exciting.
7
SPEAKER_00
That s exciting, man.
7
SPEAKER_01
If you guys ever do an amateur tournament, let me know so I can jump in.
7
SPEAKER_01
No problem.
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SPEAKER_00
If you ever do an amateur tournament.
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SPEAKER_00
We just had this thing.
7
SPEAKER_00
I saw it with the shoe surgeon.
7
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, the shoe surgeon.
7
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, you could have balled him.
7
SPEAKER_00
Oh, man.
7
SPEAKER_01
Next time we do it.
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SPEAKER_00
Let me know, man.
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SPEAKER_01
Yeah, I ll connect with your team and see when I come next.
7
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That s fun, man.
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There s so many things I would love to ask you about Ice Cube, but I want to respect your time and ask you three final questions if that s cool.
7
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All right.
7
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But this is, you know, really inspiring just hearing some of your life lessons and the way you think and the way you analyze life.
7
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Hearing you talk about marriage and love and relationships, all these things are really cool.
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So I hope people have heard a different side of you that maybe they haven t seen before.
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One of these questions is about what it s like
7
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raising your kids and especially your son who got to play you in Straight Outta Compton, which I thought was really cool.
7
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I know you made it harder for him.
7
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You didn t just throw him a layup or an alley-oop to get the part, but he had to really kind of prove himself.
7
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What is it like for you being able to raise your kids and be a great mentor and empower them for opportunities in their life as well?
7
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What has that been like for you to see them thrive?
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I think it s been great.
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And I think it s one of the most important things that I have to do in life is to show them the way and be there to support their dreams.
7
SPEAKER_00
They don t have to go into the family business, but if they did, we have a path.
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SPEAKER_00
You know, I told my son, everybody talk about this Nepo, baby.
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I m like, dude, you, you second generation Hollywood act like, you know what I m saying?
7
SPEAKER_00
Like, don t pretend you ain t got to go in there like you brand new going there.
7
SPEAKER_00
Like, yo, my family do this.
7
SPEAKER_00
Wow.
7
SPEAKER_00
You know, we, we make movies, we ve been making classics.
7
SPEAKER_00
You ve been around movies since you were a little baby.
7
SPEAKER_00
You ve been on set for a long time.
7
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
7
SPEAKER_00
And so, you know, act like, you know, you know what I mean?
7
SPEAKER_00
Don t go in there like a rookie and tell them they got a vet and, um, and that, you know, all aspects of this business, you know.
7
SPEAKER_00
Not only acting, directing, editing, marketing, how to sell a movie, how to sell yourself.
7
SPEAKER_00
So it was great.
7
SPEAKER_00
And my other son just got married and just had a baby.
7
SPEAKER_00
Grandpa.
7
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, yeah.
7
SPEAKER_00
So it s amazing that he s
7
SPEAKER_00
He manages my studios.
7
SPEAKER_00
He helped me produce Stray Eye Compton.
7
SPEAKER_00
He s kind of like my Swiss Army Knife.
7
SPEAKER_00
He d do it all.
7
SPEAKER_00
Just very proud of my kids, man.
7
SPEAKER_00
They re just good people.
8
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I think that s the most important thing.
8
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Whether they get into the business or they follow any of this, it s not as important as that they re just good people.
8
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And I m just proud of them.
8
SPEAKER_02
Wow, man.
8
SPEAKER_02
I saw a video clip online of some billionaire.
8
SPEAKER_02
And the interviewer was asking him what his measure of success was.
8
SPEAKER_02
And he said,
8
SPEAKER_02
that at this stage in my life, my adult children want to hang out with me.
8
SPEAKER_02
Not because I m rich or I have money or whatever it is, but because they just like my company.
8
SPEAKER_02
And it sounds like, and I want to acknowledge you for being a great example for not only your kids, but a lot of people.
8
SPEAKER_02
I mean, being married for 30 plus years, having four great kids, providing opportunities for communities with this impact award, like so many things that you ve done,
8
SPEAKER_02
You ve paved a path for so many people to be inspired by.
8
SPEAKER_02
So I want to acknowledge you, Cube, for your way of life.
8
SPEAKER_02
I m not saying you ve had a perfect life, by any means, but you continue to show up, you re consistent, you add value, and you give with your heart.
8
SPEAKER_02
So I really acknowledge you for how you ve done this for so long, when a lot of people could treat people poorly in your position.
8
SPEAKER_02
So I really acknowledge you for the man you are, the father you are, the grandfather you are now, and all the great things you re doing in the world.
8
SPEAKER_02
Appreciate that, man.
8
SPEAKER_02
Thank you.
8
SPEAKER_02
This question is called the three truths.
8
SPEAKER_02
And so I asked this to all my guests at the very end.
8
SPEAKER_02
And it s a hypothetical question.
8
SPEAKER_02
So imagine you get to live as long as you want to live, but it s your last day on Earth, many years away.
8
SPEAKER_02
And you get to create and accomplish everything else you want.
8
SPEAKER_02
All your dreams from here to the end of your life, they all come true.
8
SPEAKER_02
Personal, professional, everything.
8
SPEAKER_02
But for whatever reason in this hypothetical scenario, you ve got to take all of your contents, your music, your movies, this interview, it s all going to go with you to the next place.
8
SPEAKER_02
So we don t have access to your message anymore.
8
SPEAKER_02
But you did get to leave behind on this final day three truths, three lessons that you know to be true to you, and this is all we would have to remember you by.
8
SPEAKER_02
What would be those three lessons or three truths for you?
8
SPEAKER_00
Always believe in yourself.
8
SPEAKER_00
Always be yourself.
8
SPEAKER_00
And always be grateful.
8
SPEAKER_00
I love it.
8
SPEAKER_02
Powerful.
8
SPEAKER_02
Believe in self, be yourself, be grateful.
8
SPEAKER_02
Final question, and I m curious if you, if there s any lyrics that you ve written before, if you want to answer them with lyrics, feel free to, or feel free to just answer what s on the top of your mind.
8
SPEAKER_02
Final question, what is your definition of greatness?
8
SPEAKER_00
My definition of greatness is,
8
SPEAKER_00
always doing what it takes in real time.
8
SPEAKER_00
That s my definition of greatness.
8
SPEAKER_00
And whatever it takes depends on the situation, but always do what it takes in real time.
8
SPEAKER_01
I hope today s episode inspired you on your journey towards greatness.
8
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Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a rundown of today s show with all the important links.
8
SPEAKER_01
And if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me as well as add free listening experience, make sure to subscribe to our greatness plus channel on apple podcast.
8
SPEAKER_01
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SPEAKER_01
Leave us a review over on Apple podcast and let me know what you learned over on our social media channels at Lewis Howes.
8
SPEAKER_01
I really love hearing the feedback from you and it helps us continue to make the show better.
8
SPEAKER_01
And if you want more inspiration from our world-class guests and content to learn how to improve the quality of your life, then make sure to sign up for the Greatness Newsletter and get it delivered right to your inbox over at greatness.com slash newsletter.
8
SPEAKER_01
And if no one has told you today, I want to remind you that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter.
8
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And now it s time to go out there and do something great.