Ice Cube has taken aim at the record industry, claiming it uses “social engineering” to encourage criminal behavior and control society.
Last week, the rapper was a guest on Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast where he alleged there is a financial connection between the rap music industry and private prisons.
“Who benefits and profits off our bickering and division?” responded Ice Cube, when asked about the rise of petty societal debates which create division — such as faulting one another for not using updated racial terms. “Follow the money.”
“I don’t know their names Bill, but if you follow the money, you go high enough, you start to see,” Cube added. He then used the record industry as a “broad example of how people at the top can manipulate what’s going on with the people who are bickering and fighting.”
He suggested that the “same people who own the [record labels] own the prisons,” while noting that “it seems really kind of suspicious, if you want to say that word, that the records that come out are really geared to push people towards that prison industry.”
Then again, this week, during an appearance on The Breakfast Club, the former N.W.A member doubled down on his beliefs, claiming he has never had a “record company guy tell me shit about my music, about how to make it.”
Further, Ice Cube claimed he first made note of who was pulling the strings when he first got in the game — he issue has been long-standing.
“A lot of albums, a lot of dope songs people like are made by a group of people telling rappers what to say,” alleged Cube. “That’s dope. Or, that line ain’t good enough. Let’s change this. Let’s get someone up here that can write.”
Cube’s comments echo a long-running urban myth about a “secret meeting” that allegedly took place in 1991 between “decision makers” who conspired to use music to influence criminal behavior in order to boost prison profits.
Meanwhile, in other Ice Cube news, the legendary West Coast rapper has responded to comments made by Tony Yayo regarding The Notorious B.I.G. being a better storyteller than him.
“It’s subjective,” Cube told DJ Whoo Kid in a new interview. “Everybody got they favorites. I put my stories up against anybody and I have a bigger sample size. But at the end of the day, everybody is going to have their different opinion. I love Biggie, I’m a fan of Biggie.
“I’ve wrote records for Eazy and N.W.A. And look, when we talking about storytelling, are we talking about rhyming? Because I write movies too, so I’m a hell of a storyteller. I can tell a damn story. So are we just talking about rap? That’s only a portion of what I do.”
He concluded by saying: “Look, to be in that conversation, I’m winning already.”
