If you love what you do, and you believe in your talent, there's nothing better than breaking through. There's no better feeling than breaking through.

People are still tied to their hoods, and it's usually not the artist, it's usually the friends and instigators who get it popping.

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."

I get freedom out of hip-hop. I get to be a true artist without any shackles or harnesses.

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

I won't lay down my principles for any kind of recognition or any kind of position or trying to be more famous. It's just not in me. I'd rather be a man. And then to have all this crazy stuff on my conscience.

I feel like I got a whole lot of living to do before I think about summing it up in a book.