Ice Cube had major success with his 1990 debut album AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted, but it could’ve been bigger if one more person had been involved. The 55-year-old rapper recently revealed what kept D, Dree from producing on his debut LP.
Cube stopped by Complex’s Idea Generation and discussed his falling out with N.W.A. “I still tried to be friends with the guys who had nothing to do with the business,” he said. “Me and [Eazy E] was shaky, and I didn’t care about Jerry Heller at all, so it wasn’t no love lost there. But I tried to keep it together with [Dr. Dre]. I even wanted Dre to produce my solo record, and we was talking about it, but Eazy and Jerry vetoed it.”
The Los Angeles rapper left N.W.A in 1989 after issues having to do with money and the group’s manager Jerry Heller. He had written for both Dre and Eazy E, yet only received $32,000. After not being officially listed as part of the group on a new contract presented in 1989, he parted ways and sued Heller. Their lawsuit was settled outside of court. Watch Ice Cube on Idea Generation below.
While Ice Cube and his former group figured things out legally, they kept the attacks going on wax. N.W.A dissed him all over their 1990 EP 100 Miles And Runnin’ and their final group album, 1991’s Ni**az4Life.
Cube retaliated by dissing Dr. Dre on the infamous 1991 track No Vaseline” They eventually rekindled things and collaborated on the 1994 record “Natural Born Killaz.”
More recently, Ice Cube is gearing up for his first album since 2018’s Everythangs Corrupt. His forthcoming LP, Man Down, will be 19 tracks and includes features from Snoop Dogg, Xzibit, Kurupt, B-Real, E-40, Too $hort, and October London. Earlier this month, he shared the first single “Ego Maniacs” featuring Busta Rhymes and Killer Mike. Listen below.