Ice Cube reveals how a ninth-grade typewriting class sparked his legendary rap career and led to the creation of N.W.A., changing hip-hop forever.
Ice Cube revealed the unexpected origin story of his writing journey during his appearance on “Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend.”
The N.W.A. co-founder explained how a ninth-grade typewriting class became the catalyst for his entry into Hip-Hop, a path that would eventually reshape the entire music industry.
“I was real young, like fifth grade. I could draw real good. So, that got my teacher’s attention. And then when it was time to kind of write what you did for the summer, I was able to write a nice paragraph for a fifth grader. And so, they end up putting that in the school paper. So, as a youngster, I’m running around with this little- it wasn’t even a paper. It was like a pamphlet, you know, pointing, ‘look, look, look, my little essay got used.’ And you got positive, you know, affirmation. You did something, and it was singled out, which is huge when you’re that age,” Ice Cube said.
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He continued: “Then they came to me when I went to the sixth grade. They was like, ‘Do you want to do a speech for the class?’ Like, ‘Do you want to talk to your graduating class?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, I do.’ And I wrote my little speech and and delivered it and it got a nice a reception. So, I’m like, ‘Oh, damn. I can write it and I can speak it.’”
Cube explained that he never initially intended to become a rapper. He was simply assigned electives he didn’t choose, including typing, cooking, and horticulture.
Rather than complain, he decided to master whatever was in front of him. That competitive spirit led him to challenge a classmate to a rap-writing contest, which he won decisively.
His classmate had borrowed lines from established rappers like LL Cool J, Kurtis Blow, and the Fat Boys, while Cube wrote an original composition.
The early success in that classroom sparked something deeper.
When N.W.A. formed and released Straight Outta Compton in 1989, the group never expected the massive cultural explosion that followed.
“We was planning to be just a hardcore underground group. Locals really. Compton, Long Beach, Watts, LA. We thought that was probably our nucleus and wasn’t going to be done too far from those places. That’s that was our mindset cause we felt like the music we doing is too hard, too much profanity, and it’s too LA, you know, street culture.”
What made N.W.A. revolutionary wasn’t just the hard-hitting production and unflinching lyrics.
Cube emphasized that comedy was always central to their approach.
“People always talk about the Eazy-E record that started it all, ‘Boyz in the Hood.’ But on the flip side of that, it was a song called ‘I Got a Fat Girl on My Jock.’ It was just a rap about him running from a fat girl in the neighborhood, and it was funny.
Throughout his career, Ice Cube has maintained that authenticity and humor are essential to connecting with audiences. Whether through music, film, or sports, he’s consistently found ways to entertain while delivering substantive content.
This article was originally published on allhiphop.com.
