STREAMING AUDIO INTERVIEW

From cop-baiting in NWA to bringing Welcome Back Kotter to the big screen, Ice Cube is not a man easily pigeonholed. While his entrepreneurial pursuits are manifold (he’s starred in over 20 films and written and produced several others), music remains Ice Cube’s touchstone.

Due out here in September, his eighth album Raw Footage makes good on the promise of its title. It sees the Compton veteran cutting through the genre’s posturing to talk frankly about violence ( Why Me? ), social inadequacies ( Hood Mentality ) and hip hop as a scapegoat ( lead single Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It ). It’s an album of brain fodder, not club anthems, and Ice Cube brings a voice of authority to each story. And how couldn’t he?

With his legend status cemented in radical super-groups NWA and Westside Connection, and a string of solo albums following suit, there’s plenty of hard-won wisdom to go around. Here Ice Cube talks ITM’s Jack Tregoning through his Raw Footage.

Ice Cube’s Raw Footage is out 20 September, on Lench Mob through Inertia. He’ll be touring Australia in October and November with Snoop Dogg and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony for ‘Smoked Out’:

Wed Oct 29 – Entertainment Centre, Brisbane
Fri Oct 31 – Acer Arena, Sydney
Sun Nov 2 – Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne
Wed Nov 5 – Entertainment Centre, Adelaide
Fri Nov 7 – Burswood Dome, Perth