114 Ice Cube Quotes on Family, Life, and Entertainment

Ice Cube has always been about his family, music, and business. Born O'Shea Jackson Sr., he started his career as a rapper, singer, and songwriter with the gangsta rap group N.W.A. which he formed with Dr. Dre and Eazy-E. Read these 114 Ice Cube quotes to learn more about him.

Barely three years after he formed a band, he left after a disagreement and launched his solo rap career. In 1990, Ice Cube released his debut solo album, which was immediately followed by a second album the following year.

Although his second album was deemed controversial, it sold over two million copies. In the 1990s, he became an actor, wrote scripts, and produced videos. He has worked with stars like Dr. Dre, Public Enemy, Color Me Badd, Prince, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Big Daddy Kane, and more throughout his musical career.

Ice Cube is also known for his roles in movies such as "Boyz n the Hood," "Trespass," "Dangerous Ground," "Anaconda," "CB4," "Friday," and more. Know more about the versatile entertainer by reading these 114 Ice Cube quotes.

Ice Cube's quote: "Don't worry about being a star, worry about doing good work, and all that will come to you." — Ice Cube | Image: AmoDays

Ice Cube Quotes about Himself and His Family

"I go light on breakfast. Sometimes it's a yogurt, but a lot of times its leftovers from one of my wife's dinners." — Ice Cube

"I know kids cuss...I tell my kids, 'Don't do it in earshot of any adults, or you're in trouble.'" — Ice Cube

"My son, O'Shea. He looks like me, and he can rhyme." — Ice Cube

"You can do anything in the world if you say, 'Hey man, don't blame me, the devil made me do it.'" — Ice Cube

Ice Cube's quote: "You can do anything in the world if you say 'Hey man, don't blame me, the devil made me do it.'" — Ice Cube | Image: AmoDays

"I never get tired of 'It Was A Good Day' references or jokes or anything like that. It's just, you know, keeping my biggest hit alive. Nothing wrong with that." — Ice Cube

"South Central is just who I am. Even though I have a nice house, nice family, the rest of my generation is still in South Central L.A. My cousins, my brothers, my sisters, they don't wanna move out." — Ice Cube

"Drink some coffee, put some gangsta rap on, and handle it." — Ice Cube

"I wake up at 5:30, 6 in the morning, but don't head into the office right away. I like to hang out with my wife, talk about things, get some coffee, you know." — Ice Cube

Ice Cube's quote: "I never get tired of 'It Was A Good Day' references or jokes or anything like that. It's just, you know, keeping my biggest hit alive. Nothing wrong with that." — Ice Cube | Image: AmoDays

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

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

"I'm a husband, a father, and a man who tries to do the right thing in life and in my work." — Ice Cube

"Anything that got to do with a pig, I ain't eatin'." — Ice Cube

Ice Cube's quote: "The best thing I've done with my money is buy a house for my family. You wake up to a house you love and you feel like somebody." — Ice Cube | Image: AmoDays

"I really appreciate family. I really can't imagine life without them!" — Ice Cube

"I was given the name by my brother when I was about eleven or twelve years old. He was older than me, and around that age. I was starting to get into girls, and when they would call the house for him, and when he was not there, I would try to talk to them. I was trying to be the man and trying to get them to come and see me, not worrying about him. When he found out… he started calling me Ice Cube as a joke because he said I was trying to be too cool. I just liked it and started telling everybody in the hood "my name is Ice Cube." — Ice Cube

"Nothing wrong with being from the hood, but I'd rather my kids be visitors than residents." — Ice Cube

Ice Cube Quotes Filled with Vital Wisdom and Inspiration

"If you love what you do, and you believe in your talent, there's nothing better than breaking through." — Ice Cube

"You better check yourself before you wreck yourself." — Ice Cube

Ice Cube's quote: "I really appreciate family. I really can't imagine life without them!" — Ice Cube | Image: AmoDays

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

"People associate clothes with actual behavior... It's not the clothes. It's always the people." — Ice Cube

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

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

Ice Cube's quote: "People associate clothes with actual behavior... It's not the clothes. It's always the people." — Ice Cube | Image: AmoDays

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

"The worst thing you can do about a situation is nothing." — Ice Cube

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

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

Ice Cube's quote: "Truth is the ultimate power. When the truth comes around, all the lies have to run and hide." — Ice Cube | Image: AmoDays

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

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

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

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

Ice Cube's quote: "Ice Cube is the piece of me that I give away to the public." — Ice Cube | Image: AmoDays

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

"Young people are dying for no reason all over the world that don't know why. It's ugly, everywhere." — Ice Cube

"You can do it, put your back into it." — Ice Cube

"I don't want to get rich and die trying." — Ice Cube

Ice Cube's quote: "I'm just an entertainer, man. I don't like to pigeonhole myself to anything. I love to do it all." — Ice Cube | Image: AmoDays

"Speak a little truth and people lose they minds." — Ice Cube

"Just wakin' up in the morning gotta thank god." — Ice Cube

"My thing is: stay creative. And just because somebody starts to pay you, that doesn't mean all your creativity goes to that, and you don't save none for yourself to be able to do other, bigger and better things and still follow your dreams even if you start off inside of a box." — Ice Cube

"When you're talking to lions, you can't meow like a pussycat." — Ice Cube

Ice Cube's quote: "Speak a little truth and people lose they minds." — Ice Cube | Image: AmoDays

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

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

"Either they don't know…don't show…or don't care about what's going on in the hood." — Ice Cube, "Boyz n the Hood"

"You gotta learn that you ain't gonna react to everything, just let clowns do what clowns do and watch the show." — Ice Cube

Ice Cube's quote: "Create your own path, hone your talent, be ready to show your talent, and don't doubt yourself." — Ice Cube | Image: AmoDays

"No matter what part of the country you come from, you can always come together to make ground-breaking hip-hop." — Ice Cube

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

"They're teenagers, man. They're really stupid, so you should blend right in." — Ice Cube, "21 Jump Street"

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

Ice Cube's quote: "No matter what part of the country you come from, you can always come together to make ground-breaking hip-hop." — Ice Cube | Image: AmoDays

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

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

"I believe our society has fallen into a pyramid system where there are people relegated to the bottom of that pyramid, and there are people that feel like they're entitled to the top of that pyramid." — Ice Cube

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

Ice Cube's quote: "Everybody who comes from the gangster life – they want what that man in the suburbs wants. Nice family. Nice house. Nice cars. Bills paid. Kids in school. Food on the table. Nothing more." — Ice Cube | Image: AmoDays

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

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

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

"Success really comes down to the product, not to me, my personality, or what club I'm seen going into or coming out of. None of that matters. What's important is whether or not people feel like they wasted their time or money when they pay for a movie or a CD." — Ice Cube

Ice Cube's quote: "I believe every pencil has to be sharpened every now and then to stay sharp, or you dull out. So my records, I chose to speak on what black people do, what white people do, what women do, what men do." — Ice Cube | Image: AmoDays

"Stop expecting people to support your dreams. It's yours." — Ice Cube

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

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

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

Ice Cube's quote: "Stop expecting people to support your dreams. It's yours." — Ice Cube | Image: AmoDays

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

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

Ice Cube Quotes about Hip-Hop and Movies

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

" 'Boyz-n-the-Hood' was actually supposed to be written for Eazy's group. He had a group out in New York called Home Boys Only, HBO ... So when I wrote it, it was too West Coast for them." — Ice Cube

"Once you figure out what your own thing is it's all about trying to develop shows, programs that can, I guess, enhance what you already have and what you can add to Hollywood." — Ice Cube

Ice Cube's quote: "I love music. It's freedom, a way to deal with pent-up frustration." — Ice Cube | Image: AmoDays

"Usually people who attack the rap are people who aren't even fans." — Ice Cube

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

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

"We're in this entertainment business really to give the audience what they want." — Ice Cube

Ice Cube's quote: "I was ready to get out of the box and play something a little different than what everybody has seen." — Ice Cube | Image: AmoDays

"I've never really taken myself too serious. That's everybody else, listening to the music or whatever. I've always said what I've felt, said what I thought was right, but I've always had a comedic bone." — Ice Cube

"For me, rappers and dancers are poets and artists, and often times, the most interesting performances are given by them." — Ice Cube

"I think I'm unique to the game 'cause of my versatility." — Ice Cube

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

Ice Cube's quote: "For me, rappers and dancers are poets and artists and often times the most interesting performances are given by them." — Ice Cube | Image: AmoDays

"With film, I have to be a team player; it's a whole different thing. I can't just be a one-man show. I have to learn how to use people to the best of their ability and motivate them to be as passionate about the project as I am." — Ice Cube

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

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

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

Ice Cube's quote: "Don't get a movie confused with real life. I'm a well-rounded human being like everyone else." — Ice Cube | Image: AmoDays

"Gangsta to us didn't have anything to do with Al Capone and stuff like that. It's just about living your life the way you want to live it. And you're not going to let nothing stop you." — Ice Cube

"Rap is always evolving. It's easy for the old school to hate the new school, but it's music that got a little stifled I think, by the Internet a little bit." — Ice Cube

"I still enjoy doing music. I'm not going to stop doing it and doing it the way that I feel it should be done." — Ice Cube

"Music has done a lot to enhance the emotions of sports. It's played in arenas. Whenever there is footage cut together they're always using music. And it goes together, you know." — Ice Cube

Ice Cube's quote: "Rap is always evolving. It's easy for the old school to hate the new school, but it's music that got a little stifled I think, by the Internet a little bit." — Ice Cube | Image: AmoDays

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"It's not like I'm the first man ever to do this, y'know? You gotta go back to Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby and Sammy Davis Jr. Those are people who've done music well and movies well, and y'know, Frank Sinatra and Elvis and all these dudes have made the transition. I don't know about Elvis, 'bout doin' 'em good, y'know? It's nothin' new." — Ice Cube

"Rap is just somebody getting something off his chest. That's all it is." — Ice Cube

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

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

Ice Cube's quote: "Rap is just somebody getting something off his chest. That's all it is." — Ice Cube | Image: AmoDays

"It's always great when you're able to give fans what they expect and even a little more." — Ice Cube

"There's never really been a real hood christmas movie." — Ice Cube

"People wanted to have fun more than they wanted to learn from their music, and that's where the shift started to happen." — Ice Cube

"I always say the movie came out good if they want another one. That always tells me that people really liked the movie." — Ice Cube

Ice Cube's quote: "It's always great when you're able to give fans what they expect and even a little more." — Ice Cube | Image: AmoDays

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

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

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

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

Ice Cube's quote: "The thing is with hip-hop, it has its waves and the waves crash against the beach and the new waves come in. So to stay relevant you have to roll with that." — Ice Cube | Image: AmoDays

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

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

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

"You can measure films on box office success, or people lovin' the movie whenever they see it. That's what I measure my movies on. How much people love these movies after they get a chance to see them, no matter how they get a chance to see them." — Ice Cube

"My grandmother worked at one of those Bel-Air mansions, and we would go – not too often, but every now and then – to pick her up. Hollywood was probably 12 miles from my house, but it might as well have been a million miles away. The only time I saw that world was on TV. Until I started making records." — Ice Cube

Ice Cube's quote: "Do not turn into just cookie-cutter producer, cookie-cutter this, but a producer that people say wow, when they do something, it's great or just unique or whatever." — Ice Cube | Image: AmoDays

Over time, Ice Cube became one of the most iconic and wealthiest stars in the entertainment industry. Although music and movies became his major streams of income, the rapper has other deals he has benefitted from.

He has various endorsements and a clothing line and became one of the leading founders of the BIG3 organization which brings together retired basketballers to play in a 3-on-3 game.

If Ice Cube is one of your favorite entertainers, then you will love some of his quotes from "Friday," the movie he co-wrote and starred in as Craig Jones.