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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

He may be in a kiddie flick, but Ice Cube still is cool


Ice Cube
 (The Spokesman-Review)
Meredith Lidard The Baltimore Sun

Ice Cube, once known mostly for his role in the rap group N.W.A., might not seem like the most logical choice to star in a PG-rated family comedy.

But he spends much of “Are We There Yet?” on a road trip with two kids.

Ice Cube made his acting debut in John Singleton‘s “Boyz N the Hood” and has continued to gain ground as a movie star with roles in the “Friday” and “Barbershop” franchises.

But how does one of the most controversial rappers end up in a children’s movie?

“If I can be a gangsta rapper and a father, I can be a gangsta rapper and an actor,” he says.

“Are We There Yet?” stars Ice Cube as Nick, a single guy who is not very fond of kids, but very fond of Suzanne (Nia Long).

When she ends up working in Vancouver, B.C., on New Year’s Eve, Nick offers to take her 8-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter up from Oregon to join her. Along the way he is thrown into some nightmarish, but funny, situations.

“It’s everything you ever went through on a road trip, times 10,” he says.

A decade ago, it might have been hard to imagine the rapper, whose work with N.W.A. was banned from some radio stations and MTV, acting in a family film.

But, he says, “It’s just one movie in a long career, hopefully. If they’re let down by this movie, they ain’t really fans.”

Ice Cube produced “Are We There Yet?” with his production company, Cube Vision Productions. Over the past few years, he has become involved in almost every area of film production. He directed and wrote 1998’s “The Players Club,” wrote and produced the “Friday” films and produced “Barbershop 2: Back in Business.” He also has contributed songs to the soundtracks of his films.

After “Boyz N the Hood,” he says, “I kinda just got bit by the acting bug and wanted to not only act, but create my own material ‘cause I was always used to doing that.”

He’s glad he got into production instead of being a “passive artist, waiting for the phone to ring.”

“By actually getting in there and getting my hands dirty, I’m able to control my own career a whole lot more than other people,” he says.

He has also tried his hand at action films. He starred with Jennifer Lopez (and a 40-foot snake) in “Anaconda,” appeared alongside George Clooney in “Three Kings” and was in “Torque” last year as the leader of a biker gang. He returns to action films with the lead role in the sequel to “XXX,” coming out in April.

Despite his success on screen, Ice Cube continues to create music. He released a greatest-hits album in 2001, and his first four albums were re-released in 2003 with bonus tracks. He plans on dropping a new album by the end of this year.

Does he see starring in a family comedy as a compromise to his original image?

“When you’re black in America,” he says, “you have no choice but to keep it real.”

The birthday bunch

Actor Ernest Borgnine is 88. Cajun fiddler Doug Kershaw is 69. Singer Ray Stevens is 66. Singer Aaron Neville is 64. Singer Neil Diamond is 64. Actor Michael Ontkean (“Twin Peaks”) is 59. Actress Nastassja Kinski is 45. Singer Pat “Sleepy” Brown (Society of Soul) is 35. Actress Matthew Lillard (“Scooby Doo,” “She’s All That”) is 35. Actress Tatyana Ali (“The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”) is 26. Actress Mischa Barton (“The O.C.”) is 19.